Tuesday, April 11, 2017

April 10, 2017-Transfers=New Companion & Crazy Weather

Hello Family,

Me and Sister Wright
This week has been a crazy one so far with a lot of changes. Sister Ure was a meanie and left me here. I am a little peeved, but I think I will forgive her eventually. (If you are reading this, you know I love you, Sister Ure) So, my new com padre is Sister Wright, from Clearfield, UT. She has been out about 16 months (2 transfers left). She is a very good missionary and works really hard, so I am definitely kicking it into high gear and learning a lot already. We are working really hard to find some solid investigators. We have a few that definitely have potential. Keep all the prayers coming that we can find some golden human beings that the Lord has prepared to hear the joyful news of the gospel.

There was a day this week where the wind was CRAZY. Trees and power lines were falling left and right. but DON'T WORRY. The Lord protects his missionaries and we were A-Okay. I honestly don't have anything exciting to tell this week. A lot of seeking referrals from members and finding them. I started reading the book "The Power of Everyday Missionaries". WOWZA! It is a good one. I would encourage every one of you to read it. It talks about the WHAT and the HOW of member missionary work and it is amazing. Missionary work is scary, even when you have a nifty tag on your chest, but there are SO MANY blessings that come along with it. I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and your support. I can feel it even all the way here in crazy Bend. 

Love,
Sister Emery

Me making a silly face in the freezing wind.
(I didn't know Sister Wright was going to take a picture) 


Monday, April 3, 2017

April 3, 2017- General Conference, Pilot Butte and Mark's Miracle

Family!
Sister Ure and Sister Emery hiking Pilot Butte

Wow, This week has been a weird one. A lot of lasts for Sister Ure. She has spent almost half her mission in Bend, so she has a lot of people she has grown to love. Conference was a GREAT way to end it if you ask me. I LOVED conference this time around. I don't know how to even choose a favorite. We got to watch every session of conference with a different investigator or less active member. It was a really cool experience to listen to the words of prophets and watch how the spirit works on people. Every session had a talk that SUPER applied to the person we were watching it with. Revelation is real and I have learned that in so many ways already. My top two were probably Elder Holland's talk about being a part of the Lord's choir and also Elder (I can't remember) talk about putting on the Armor of Light. I think I took General Conference for granted for a long time. How AWESOME is it that we have modern day prophets and apostles that can receive revelation for us in these crazy times in the world?! That is a miracle to us and I didn't look at it like that until now. Listening to our Prophet and apostles is honestly essential for our progression in the gospel. 

Besides General Conference, this week was not very eventful. We did have a super cool miracle happen. Sister Ure and I were both kind of having a down day. (Those happen every now and then, even as missionaries). We were sitting in our car, about to get out to visit a less active member and her three young daughters. When we got out of the car we noticed this man a little bit down the road who had the hood of his car open and was working on something. Sister Ure and I walked up and asked him (his name was Mark) if there was anything we could do to help him. He looked at our tags and made a weird face (we get that reaction a lot) and then he responded with, "Well, you could pray for my car to start."  He was totally joking, and laughed a little. Sister Ure, being the bomb missionary she is,  was like "Of course!  Can we say one with you right now?" He gave her the most flabbergasted look and then begrudgingly said, "I guess so."  We said a prayer that his car would start right there on the middle of the road. Then we gave him a pass along card with our number and told him to call us if he ever needed anything. As we were walking away, he was like, "Well, I guess I'll see if that prayer thing works".  So we kept walking away silently praying that his car started. He  turned the key, and the car started right up! We turned around and he had this surprised look on his face. He looked at us and gave us a thumbs up and was like, "Well, pray it keeps running." Then he drove away. It was a small little miracle, but it made our day. I love being a missionary. 

Transfer calls are scary because you are just waiting for the call to tell you your fate for the next little while. My fate is that I get to stay in Bend, which I am beyond excited about and my follow-up trainer is named Sister Wright. I am excited to see what happens in the Mountain View ward this next transfer. 

Today on P-day, Sister Ure wanted to hike Pilot Butte, which is pretty much this big hill right in the middle of Bend, and from the top, you can see all of Bend. We hiked it with one of our favorite less active members, Jacki. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike. It was nice to get out in nature and be able to see all of beautiful Bend.

I LOVE you all. I encourage you to watch or read the conference talks you missed and pray to have the Lord answer any questions you have. God doesn't answer unasked questions. So if you're asking and searching, answers will eventually come.

Pray lots and always remember your blessings, 

Sister Emery 

These pictures are from our hike to Pilot Butte...



Hiking Pilot Butte with one of our favorite less active members, Jacki.