March 27, 2017-Zone Conference, Women's Conference and SILENCE

Hey Family, 

Sister Ure and I watched women's conference at one of our
favorite members house on Saturday. This is a selfie that we
felt was necessary. 

This week has been another slow one for missionary work. It is something I am getting used to here in Bend. But though it is slow, there is still plenty of work being done. We have been really pushing work with the members this week. We have this new method where we go and visit a member family and we will play some music. While the music is playing we have each of them write down the names of all the nonmembers they can think of. When the song is over, we talk to them about how not all of those people are prepared for the gospel, but some of them are. We then ask the head of the household to offer a kneeling prayer and ask the spirit to tell us which name is prepared. We haven't done it many times yet, but the times we have we had a lot of cool experiences with the spirit bringing specific names to their minds. We hope that we can get some people excited about missionary work here in the Mt. View ward. Missionary work is pretty much NOT effective if the members are not involved. That is something I have learned really quick. 

We also had Zone conference on Friday. We drove to Redmond and were there for most of the day.  It was a really good conference. We got instruction from President and Sister Tateoka about finding through faith and being a successful missionary. Sister Tateoka talked about how we don't have to wait till the end of our mission to know if we were a successful missionary. We can ask Heavenly Father, right now, and we will get an answer. I loved that a lot. Then the AP's (Assistants to the President) did a training on lesson planning, which was very insightful. It was cool for me to see a bunch more missionaries from the OSM (Oregon Salem Mission) because on this side of the mountain, we are very secluded. I like Zone Conference and am excited for them in the future. 

Quote of the week: 

We were out visiting potential investigators near the white picket fence neighborhood (which is now our least favorite place in Bend). We knocked on this door and a lady answered. Then this happened... 

Sister Ure: "Hello! We are service missionaries, out looking for some service opportunities. Do you or does anyone you know need any help with anything?"

Women: " No"

Sister Ure: "Okay, that's totally fine. What did you say your name was?"

Women: *Sits there for literally 10 seconds straight in SILENCE* 

Sister Ure: "Okay, well, my name is Sister Ure. Have a good day."

We both walked away speechless. The lady was SO not interested in what we had to say she "forgot" her name. It was quite an experience, that is for sure. We are sorta laughing about it at this point, but it took us a few days to not be very frustrated at how lame that lady was. 

This week is the last week I have with Sister Ure. She leaves soon. I am not even sad. (THAT IS SARCASM BECAUSE I LOVE HER) We find out what happens with transfers on Saturday. I am hoping that I get to stay here in Bend, but with getting a new Trainer, it is a possibility that I will get transferred somewhere else. Cross our fingers I don't, cause I have a good feeling about Bend. 

I love and miss you all. Thank you for the prayers. I can feel them. 

Love, 

Sister Emery