Week 65: God's Creations + the Plan of Salvation

Dear Friends and Family,

          I just wish all of you could go on a day exchange with me out here in the sticks.  Just to experience what it's like tracting in the dark up everyone's driveways.  It's just hiking the same hill over and over. Actually, I feel bad for the missionaries that never get to have the full tracting experience.  I am serious! That's when you get to know your companion more.  That's where all the  best stories come from.  That's where you get to meet lots of people.  We literally ran into a couple on a dirt road the other night.  We were walking and they were walking and wham!  Haha we ended up looking at the blood moon with them. How cool was that?!

          Last Monday we had a great FHE with Simon and the Kenyon family.  The Kenyon's have 8 kids, coming up on their 9th, so Simon got to experience all aspects of a fun Mormon family.  We taught him the Plan of Salvation.  He told us how he has always felt that earth wasn't his real home and that he had existed before this life.  Well, we have news for you Simon!  One of his friends from school is actually one of the Kenyon girls.  She was so excited the whole lesson!  She couldn't believe that this boy she had been eating lunch with and sitting on the bus with was so prepared for the gospel and in tune with the Spirit. Moral of the story is:  You never know who is prepared.  Always share the gospel and invite people to learn about it. 

          The other thing that we have been dedicating a lot of our time to this week is cleaning.  We had a former investigator who is in the hospital right now.  Some of her neighbors have taken on the project of cleaning her trailer.  It's really bad.  Hasn't been cleaned in years.  As gross as it is, I love being able to do service.  It makes me feel very humble and Christlike to be able to get on my hands and knees and scrub someone's floor.  I love it! 

          As missionaries we get to go to the Stake Center to watch General Conference.  Wasn't the Women's session incredible!?  It was very inspiring for me.  I received loads of revelation to help me know what I need to change to have a successful mission, which is a jump start to a successful life.  I am so blessed.  I am so humbled and grateful to be here.  I absolutely love this work.  I am learning everyday more about my Savior and what He has personally done for me.  If you have ever even considered going on a mission, do it.  Just do it.  You won't regret it.

Con Amor,

Hermana Stoddard

Week 64: Animals Galore!‏

Dearest Family and Friends,

          It's a sure, proven, without doubt fact that I saw more animals this week than people.  When I was little I promised myself that I would have a big dog.  Now I realize that I have turned into my mother...no big dogs for me!  Everyone has at least two mangy mutts here.  They are slobbery and hairy, but they are great missionary tools!  You ask people about their religious beliefs and it's a "no go."  If you just pay a little attention to their dog and start talking about the K9, wow, people will start talking and telling you all this stuff which typically will go into their whole life story.  So I guess you could say we are starting to figure out the people of Tiger Mountain.  But we still get more than a few doors slammed in our faces.  We just start singing hymns louder and go skipping along down the mountain.  Sister Partridge and I are pretty much running our own "The Sound of (Gospel) Music" around here.  We just frolic in the meadows and forest. 

The Sisters of Tiger & Cougar Mountains

           But when the sun goes down we get a little freaked out about the bears and cougars.  No bueno. Luckily, we have had lots of lessons with members at this time of night.  We are getting to know them and they are all very unique and very incredible brothers and sisters.  We had a lesson with the Collins (the couple we are living with).  Brother Collins is a fire chief, but he is going to retire soon so we are currently looking for housing elsewhere. I really do love living with them. They are so sweet. 

This is where I live!

          We also have been working with the Anderson's in our ward.  They are converts of 5 years and love the gospel! The best part is that they have no fear in sharing it.  Brother Anderson was a jockey for many years, but said he "ate himself out of a job" hahaha.  He is this little fire ball that invites everyone to church and passes out the Books of Mormon like hot cakes. They even have a sign in their driveway that says "Mormons park for free"!  He is so great! Everyone, members and non members alike know Brother Anderson.  I am so grateful to these members and all the sacrifices they make in the name of the Lord. They help us out a lot in furthering His work. 

          Now the update on Simon.  He fell off date for baptism which was unfortunate, but its okay. We are making progress.  The reason he fell off date is because he hasn't been able to come to church...his mom wants him to have all his homework done.  So we are the nagging big sisters that constantly remind him to do his homework, pray and read the scriptures!  He love us though.  And we love him!  We are making progress with his family too.   They invited us in this week! They started making deals with us....be careful what you get yourself into Hermana Stoddard!  So Simon's dad catches critters for a living.  They told us to hold a tarantula.  Of course I was like, "No way Jose!! Never ever!!" But then I saw all the symbolism in this experience.  By holding the tarantula, I realized that I will have faced all of my fears head-on while on my mission.   So I gritted my teeth and I did it!!! But then I screamed and had him take it back. But I did it! Haha. 

AHHH!!!

          Something that I have been working on is truly loving the gospel and loving the people.  I am just trying to be more passionate about being a missionary and a disciple of Christ.  I want to be better at putting my whole heart and soul into my testimony when I share it.  Something I learned yesterday in church is "The Holy Ghost gives us courage to use and love to share."  As long as I can bear my testimony with the Spirit, the Spirit will make up that difference that I am lacking.  I am so grateful everyday for the opportunity to serve.  Thanks for your love and support! Have a good week!
Love,
Hermana Stoddard

We found sparkling cider!

Pday Activities

Pizza for lunch

Week 63: Service is the Answer

Dear Friends and Family,

          Hola!  How are you people?  This week was good up on the Mountain.  It was warmer and dryer than last week.  We had a few fun things happen.  One of them was Zone Conference.  We talked about becoming Consecrated missionaries and then about member missionary work.  Both good, both inspiring. I would like to share some of the thoughts that I had with you this very day.

          Consecrated missionary:  I hated when we talked about this subject as a new missionary, but now I am not scared of it.  It still is a daunting thing to think about, but a lot of things have been put into perspective for me.  Beforehand, I would get so stressed because I just felt like I couldn't put everything on the alter of sacrifice.  It's hard giving up everything to do the will of God.  I thought I had given everything up before I got to the field.  Little did I know that on the mission and through out my life I will constantly be asked to give things up.  Sacrifice is crucial for salvation.  But there is good news. Putting everything on the alter of sacrifice is a life long pursuit.  It's demanding perfection which everyone knows can't be reached in this life.  

           Every time I leave the apartment I state "my purpose" as a missionary by saying, "Hermana Stoddard, forget yourself and go to work!"  It's taken me a long time to understand how to forget myself.  Forgetting myself means that I change my nature so that I naturally do the Lord's will before mine.  I will naturally think of others before myself.  It's not about forgetting who I am and not taking care of myself.  It means to be submissive and humble, willing and accepting.  President Schofield also talked about how we are to find joy in the journey.  We can expect to find joy at the destination because there is no final destination until we live with our Father again. S o being truly consecrated means that we find joy in the daily steps.  Now there is the real challenge!  Be happy!

          Member Missionary Work:  President Schofield has received revelation from the Lord that they only way the work is going to truly move forward is through the members, which is so true.  The only thing is a lot of members don't know what to do or how to start.  Members freak out because they think they need to know all the answers, but much more important is just bearing their testimonies.  We get the opportunity to do that all the time at church, but how often do we give little simple sparkles of truth in our daily lives?  What we have is so precious.  We have THE TRUTH.  The truth will set you free! We have the knowledge of how to free souls within our grasp and we need to tell people about that. 

          The whole training given to us was from a member of the stake presidency in Shoreline.  He talked about how members don't necessarily need to be the teachers, but they need to be the finders.  If all 15 million members of the church would find new investigators for us, we would constantly be teaching and baptizing.  That's the Lord's vision and we are working hard to put that into effect. We have been role playing(practicing) with members on how they can share the gospel at school, work, grocery store, ect... I hope that I will be a better member missionary when I get back.

          This week we were able to give service to a lady that really needed it.  We scrubbed her kitchen which was full of mold.  I was makin' my mamma proud!  Another awesome thing that happened was a sister in our ward turned 100!  She requested a luau for her party so our ward threw this huge Hawaiian themed party that was super fun and effective.  Lots of people came!  So fun!  Anyway, I love all of you! God loves you.  Be happy.  Read John 16:33.

Con Amor,

Hermana Stoddard

What Week Am I On? 62!!‏

Dear Friends and Family,

          Everything has been hunky dory in the woods this week.

Hermana Stoddard & Sister Partridge

People are so funny here.  They moved to the mountains with lots of property and trees around their houses to get away from people so when people (us) show up on their front stoop, they don't seem to really like it.  But they always talk to us for just a few seconds because we are girl missionaries and they always seemed shocked by that.  Then they always tell us that they have big dogs (which a lot of them do) and that there are bears in the neighborhood to shoo us away.  It's hard to tell when they are being serious or not. hehe

The Great Wall of Tiger Mountain

Into the Woods

          We saw a lot more horses, chickens and lot and lots of goats and dogs and a few people this week. I feel like it's required to have at least two dogs to live in Washington.  For reals!  We normally have lots of paw prints on our skirts by 11AM...so attractive, I know.  But it's been fun.  The small town girl in me is coming out!  I feel at home and I talk to people about my days of pig raising.  A lot of the members in this area are older.  As in great-grandparents older, so there are lots of war stories and pie eating.  It's pretty great.  The big challenge that we are facing is that it gets pitch black by 8 at night.  There are no street lights and the trees block out pretty much any light coming from the sky.  We have flashlights and we are fine, it's just that everyone else goes to bed and aren't super happy to see us at their front door.  But no matter, nothing is going to stop this work from moving forward.

          We do have one progressing investigator we are working with right now.  He is a 16 year old named Simon.  He is such a sweet, sincere kid.  He has never had religion in his life, but whenever we teach him, he recognizes truth.  It's literally just bringing thinks back to his remembrance.  The problem is his parents, particularly his mom, aren't so fond of organized religion.  She makes excuses for him to not go to church and meet with us.  The times we have met with him have been miraculous.  Definitely God's timing.  Simon loves it and knows it's true.  He is starting to get up at 4 in the morning to read the Book of Mormon before his family is awake.  We have fasted and are praying for his family to have a change of heart.  We know that the gospel will truly bless all of them by bringing them more unity and love.  He is on date to be baptized October 3, but he needs to come to church two more times and we still have three lessons to teach him. Please pray for Simon and his family!

Delivering a package to Simon

          I studied this week about trials.  I have a James Christensen calendar on my wall and I was looking at a painting that had to do with adversity.  It is a painting of a hunchback man, which represents the everyday man, with the tree of life sprouting from his hunched back.   He is enjoying the fruit which is eternal life. Isn't that so true.  It is better for us to know sorrow and pain so that we can know what real happiness and love are.  Through our adversities, weaknesses and challenges, we know what it's like to be free and happy and stronger when we overcome them.  I have seen this time and time again out here in the front lines of the battle of good verses evil.  Just like the stripling warriors were wounded from their battle with the Lamanites, the servants of the Lord, all the missionaries, receive battle wounds.  But that's okay.  It's a chance for God to show is mercy and His miracles.  None of the stripling warriors died. Likewise, no matter what the adversary throws at us, we can overcome it.  We may get injured in the process, but he will not win.  He may bruise the heel, but we have the power to crush his head.  I know that our Heavenly Father has given each one of His children the power and authority to overcome the world.  He also gave us our freedom to do so.  So the choice is ours.  Who are you going to let rule your life? Who are you going to let win? Food for thought... 

          Have a fantastic week!

Con Amor,
Hermana Stoddard