And a happy new year!
So we've had some great Christmas miracles. One of our investigators that was hanging on the backburner since November came to church twice this past week and yesterday. Yeah! Don't get your hopes up though. It's not the one that won't tell her family. But we stopped by her...and she's still...yeah. Anyway, the girl that came to church yesterday also invited us over to her house for dinner, which is a huge step. So we got to meet her mom and hopefully make some good impressions. She told us that she knows the church is true and wants to get baptized. Now, the hard part is finding a time. She wants her boyfriend to baptize her and he is out of town for who knows how long. So, we'll pray for some more miracles.
Christmas Eve we got some great service opportunties. We are going to go caroling with our district on Main street which should be fun. Then the other sisters have a baptism on Christmas! How exciting is that! Doing the Lord's work on the Lord's day, cool. It's going to be a 'white' christmas, after all. It is a 9-year old boy who is super excited.
Nothing to exciting else happened this week. The other sisters are moving in with us for the holiday weekend because their family has a ton of people coming over. So it will be a fun sleep over. We had some other investigators but they are either avoiding us or loosing interest which is the hardest one because then you feel like you did something wrong for that to happen. But it is usually because they aren't keeping their commitments.
So a Christmas on a mission is quite interesting because it kind of feels like everyday to us. We talk about Christ, think about Him, study about Him everyday. But the best part is that people we talk to are in a different mindset. Either they are really stressed out because of the holidays and cranky or they have the Christmas spirit with them and are willing to listen more than if it was a different part of the year. And another great thing about Christmas on the mission is that you aren't worrying about spending time with the family or presents and so we are more focused on trying to service on Christmas which has a great feeling to it. Because that is what Christmas is all about, the spirit of Christ.
I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! The church is true and the Savior lives and loves us. So turn to him and rely upon him in every situation for "he is the way, the truth and the light."
Love, Sister Sumsion
Monday, December 20
Tuesday, December 7
"Satan is out to get me."
Hi!
This week was transfers and I'm dying in Parker! And I'm so excited about it because this place has been great. The ward is great, the bishop is great and the area is great-even though it has its challenges but what area doesn't? But the best part is that President left four sisters in Parker. Sister Staib (from MTC district-who was in a threesome with us for a week) got a new companion, Sister Hamilton who is my companion from La Junta. The bishop is so excited to have four of us still and there is plenty of work for us to do. They are living with other members but we get to see them all the time.
Remember that investigator from last email? She is awesome and Satan knows it and has been working hard on her. Two weeks ago she told us that the baptismal date we set was too soon for her so we had her pray and pick a new date to work towards. She felt really good about the 15th of December and was super excited about it. She read everything we gave her and was devouring the Book of Mormon. We did a church tour with her and she told us in the chapel that there was an overwhelming feeling there. She loved everything we taught her, she loved the feelings from the spirit, she just loved it. But good things don't come without opposition. She didn't come to church that sunday and she told her fellowshipper that she wanted to take a day off to let it all sink in (that interpets to mean "I'm nervous about coming" or "Satan is working really hard on me"). Her fellowshipper told her to take another day off but not Sunday. Satan is good and very sly and sneaky. Sometimes I want to punch him in the face but he doesn't have a face to work over. So we go over the next day after Sunday and she tells us that she is feeling rushed for baptism and that she wants to take it slow. (I hate Satan...) We pray with her and ask her to keep praying and find out if that is what God wants her to do. Well, we go over there the next day and she tells us that she is terrified to tell her parents because they won't react to it very well and she wants their support. We talk about the apostles and how they left their families for Chirst's ministry. We told her to trust in God and that everything will work out with her family in the end. But she ended up dropping the date anyway. In the end she told us that she didn't want to meet with us anymore because she wanted to take a step back and go slow (which I thought she was already doing). It is hard to see people know that it is true and know that it is a commandment from God but turn away from him because they don't have the faith to move forward. And if they aren't moving forward, they are moving backwards.
Our testimonies are like escaladers-the ones going down. We are walking up the ones going down and it takes a lot of effort but it is very possible to move forward and upward. But if we stop, then we go down. And Satan knows it all. He just has to distract us enough, either it be with good things or with bad things, that we stop moving forward or slack off and we begin to go down. Family is a good thing, school is a good thing and work is a good thing but Satan can use them to his advantage.
Well, the church is true and Satan sure makes evidence for it. Remember who you are and keep the faith!
Love, Sister Sumsion
This week was transfers and I'm dying in Parker! And I'm so excited about it because this place has been great. The ward is great, the bishop is great and the area is great-even though it has its challenges but what area doesn't? But the best part is that President left four sisters in Parker. Sister Staib (from MTC district-who was in a threesome with us for a week) got a new companion, Sister Hamilton who is my companion from La Junta. The bishop is so excited to have four of us still and there is plenty of work for us to do. They are living with other members but we get to see them all the time.
Remember that investigator from last email? She is awesome and Satan knows it and has been working hard on her. Two weeks ago she told us that the baptismal date we set was too soon for her so we had her pray and pick a new date to work towards. She felt really good about the 15th of December and was super excited about it. She read everything we gave her and was devouring the Book of Mormon. We did a church tour with her and she told us in the chapel that there was an overwhelming feeling there. She loved everything we taught her, she loved the feelings from the spirit, she just loved it. But good things don't come without opposition. She didn't come to church that sunday and she told her fellowshipper that she wanted to take a day off to let it all sink in (that interpets to mean "I'm nervous about coming" or "Satan is working really hard on me"). Her fellowshipper told her to take another day off but not Sunday. Satan is good and very sly and sneaky. Sometimes I want to punch him in the face but he doesn't have a face to work over. So we go over the next day after Sunday and she tells us that she is feeling rushed for baptism and that she wants to take it slow. (I hate Satan...) We pray with her and ask her to keep praying and find out if that is what God wants her to do. Well, we go over there the next day and she tells us that she is terrified to tell her parents because they won't react to it very well and she wants their support. We talk about the apostles and how they left their families for Chirst's ministry. We told her to trust in God and that everything will work out with her family in the end. But she ended up dropping the date anyway. In the end she told us that she didn't want to meet with us anymore because she wanted to take a step back and go slow (which I thought she was already doing). It is hard to see people know that it is true and know that it is a commandment from God but turn away from him because they don't have the faith to move forward. And if they aren't moving forward, they are moving backwards.
Our testimonies are like escaladers-the ones going down. We are walking up the ones going down and it takes a lot of effort but it is very possible to move forward and upward. But if we stop, then we go down. And Satan knows it all. He just has to distract us enough, either it be with good things or with bad things, that we stop moving forward or slack off and we begin to go down. Family is a good thing, school is a good thing and work is a good thing but Satan can use them to his advantage.
Well, the church is true and Satan sure makes evidence for it. Remember who you are and keep the faith!
Love, Sister Sumsion
Wednesday, November 24
"The First Fruits of Repentence is Baptism."
Hi!
Sorry about the skipped email last week. Too busy. Anyway, this first few days in this week have been a mad house and super packed with miracles. So last Friday, we go to a certain apartment complex to look up former investigators. As we were parking I felt really good about tracting a certain building. We start knocking doors and we tract into this YSA girl who says that we could come back. The next day we show up to her apartment and she says that she forgot about us coming but still lets us in. We start teaching a first and baptism comes up and we ask her why she thinks baptism is important. She says she has no idea why. But we start teaching her about baptism and at the end she wants to get baptized. Skip ahead a few days. At our next appointment she says that she read all the scriptures we marked, the pamphlet and the scriptures in it and she feels really good about the whole thing. She says that she was planning on cancelling on us when we set up our first appointment but she spaced that we were coming. She says that she is so grateful that God let her forget about the appointment because she believes that this is true. After our first appointment, she had talked to her Sister-in-law's mother who is an active member of the church and she told her about eternal families. This investigator was so memorized by that because she is really close with her family and wants that for hers. She said, that is a huge reason she wants to learn more. We are doing a church tour with her on Friday and she is bringing people too.
So me and Sister Sorensen went to Leadership training this past week and I learned a huge lesson about the importance of baptism. So you know the five principles of the gospel-faith, repentance, baptism, HG and endure to the end? Well, it hit me this week that no one can feel true repentance or forgiveness UNLESS they are baptized by proper authority and given the HG. In PMG pg 2 it says "Although they (nonmembers) may not know why, they need relief from feelings of guilt that come from mistakes and sins. They need to experience the joy of redemption by receiving forgiveness of their sins...
Moro 8:25- "The the first fruits of repentance is baptism..."
Baptism is a step in repentance or for those that have been baptized- the sacrament. So a nonmember who seeks forgiveness from God can pray for forgiveness and change his life but the burden and guilt will still be there. His garments are still spotted with sin until baptism and receiving the HG. So millions of people are wandering the world with loads of guilt from sin and transgression and we have the relief that we need. So please keep that in mind when you think of non-member friends and sharing the gospel.
Love Sister Sumsion
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Sorry about the skipped email last week. Too busy. Anyway, this first few days in this week have been a mad house and super packed with miracles. So last Friday, we go to a certain apartment complex to look up former investigators. As we were parking I felt really good about tracting a certain building. We start knocking doors and we tract into this YSA girl who says that we could come back. The next day we show up to her apartment and she says that she forgot about us coming but still lets us in. We start teaching a first and baptism comes up and we ask her why she thinks baptism is important. She says she has no idea why. But we start teaching her about baptism and at the end she wants to get baptized. Skip ahead a few days. At our next appointment she says that she read all the scriptures we marked, the pamphlet and the scriptures in it and she feels really good about the whole thing. She says that she was planning on cancelling on us when we set up our first appointment but she spaced that we were coming. She says that she is so grateful that God let her forget about the appointment because she believes that this is true. After our first appointment, she had talked to her Sister-in-law's mother who is an active member of the church and she told her about eternal families. This investigator was so memorized by that because she is really close with her family and wants that for hers. She said, that is a huge reason she wants to learn more. We are doing a church tour with her on Friday and she is bringing people too.
So me and Sister Sorensen went to Leadership training this past week and I learned a huge lesson about the importance of baptism. So you know the five principles of the gospel-faith, repentance, baptism, HG and endure to the end? Well, it hit me this week that no one can feel true repentance or forgiveness UNLESS they are baptized by proper authority and given the HG. In PMG pg 2 it says "Although they (nonmembers) may not know why, they need relief from feelings of guilt that come from mistakes and sins. They need to experience the joy of redemption by receiving forgiveness of their sins...
Moro 8:25- "The the first fruits of repentance is baptism..."
Baptism is a step in repentance or for those that have been baptized- the sacrament. So a nonmember who seeks forgiveness from God can pray for forgiveness and change his life but the burden and guilt will still be there. His garments are still spotted with sin until baptism and receiving the HG. So millions of people are wandering the world with loads of guilt from sin and transgression and we have the relief that we need. So please keep that in mind when you think of non-member friends and sharing the gospel.
Love Sister Sumsion
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
Monday, November 8
500 to 1: It's game time!!
Hi!
So this was a jammed pack week filled with the spirit. We had zone conference and a mission conference with....Elder Russel M. Nelson! He is the funniest cutiest old man, besides Grandpa Sumsion;) Anyway, I just wanted to share some thoughts from both conferences and hopefully you can learn something from it too.
At zone conference, we focused all about baptism. We first talked about mentality and what we should focus. It brought back the memories of my high school basketball career. My coach would always tell us that an hour before the game we needed to focus our minds and thoughts and nothing else but basketball. I had another coach that said to think about shooting and playing the game while trying to fall asleep the night before. Sports is all about the mentality. If you think you are going to lose, you probably will. But if you think you are going to win, you probably will. So I stood up and shared my ideas and thoughts with the zone and I told them that everytime they walk out the door to go proselyte for the day, it is game time. So as a missionary, you must eat, sleep, dream, think about baptizing. If you think you won't baptize or that this person isn't ready, then it won't happen. But if you have the mentality that you can do anything with God on your side (and He wants His children to have the gospel) then you have a much higher chance. Don't forget agency though. But God knows their thoughts and feelings and can help you discern them and overcome any doubts or concerns so that they will accept the gospel. Best ever!
Then Elder Nelson talked about Gideon in Judges 7 and how the Lord minimized his army to 300 people. The enemy had 150,000 people. Talk about bad odds. That makes it 500 to 1. Then Elder Nelson talked about the numbers today. There are 14 million members and 6.6 billion people in the world. And it almost equals out to 500 to 1. Interesting.... He then talked about how the Lord has the unexpected to do the impossible. If you trust in the Lord and rely upon His strength and power then you can do impossible things. We will always be outnumbered by worldly standards. But I would rather but outnumbered and on God's side then on the side that might look bigger with worldly eyes.
The church is true!
Love, Sister Sumsion
So this was a jammed pack week filled with the spirit. We had zone conference and a mission conference with....Elder Russel M. Nelson! He is the funniest cutiest old man, besides Grandpa Sumsion;) Anyway, I just wanted to share some thoughts from both conferences and hopefully you can learn something from it too.
At zone conference, we focused all about baptism. We first talked about mentality and what we should focus. It brought back the memories of my high school basketball career. My coach would always tell us that an hour before the game we needed to focus our minds and thoughts and nothing else but basketball. I had another coach that said to think about shooting and playing the game while trying to fall asleep the night before. Sports is all about the mentality. If you think you are going to lose, you probably will. But if you think you are going to win, you probably will. So I stood up and shared my ideas and thoughts with the zone and I told them that everytime they walk out the door to go proselyte for the day, it is game time. So as a missionary, you must eat, sleep, dream, think about baptizing. If you think you won't baptize or that this person isn't ready, then it won't happen. But if you have the mentality that you can do anything with God on your side (and He wants His children to have the gospel) then you have a much higher chance. Don't forget agency though. But God knows their thoughts and feelings and can help you discern them and overcome any doubts or concerns so that they will accept the gospel. Best ever!
Then Elder Nelson talked about Gideon in Judges 7 and how the Lord minimized his army to 300 people. The enemy had 150,000 people. Talk about bad odds. That makes it 500 to 1. Then Elder Nelson talked about the numbers today. There are 14 million members and 6.6 billion people in the world. And it almost equals out to 500 to 1. Interesting.... He then talked about how the Lord has the unexpected to do the impossible. If you trust in the Lord and rely upon His strength and power then you can do impossible things. We will always be outnumbered by worldly standards. But I would rather but outnumbered and on God's side then on the side that might look bigger with worldly eyes.
The church is true!
Love, Sister Sumsion
Monday, October 25
Church attendance is vital in so many ways.
Hi!
So if you all don't know. I went senior companion this transfer and I'm also training. Sister Pfile says that the Lord has catapulted me from being Junior to senior and trainer all at the same time. Her name is Sister Sorenson. She was called to the Nauvoo mission and is doing her outbound here in Colorado for 6 months. She is from Orem Utah. She has an older sister and three younger brothers. Sister Baker, my last companion, is still in the singles ward with her new companion. The Lord decided to mix it up and now there are four sisters in the ward. The bishop is loving it!
As senior and trainer, there is a different weight load and responsibility. More pressure to do good and more pressure to get baptisms. I had a personal miracle this week. I've been stressing all week and praying like crazy for the Lord to help me and also wondering why I can't baptize. I feel like there are high expections for us up in this ward, since now we can teach families too.
I didn't feel like I was really getting an answer until Sunday. I went into the Sabbath pleading for help to guide us and for help on what we can improve on so that we could baptize. I know that my desire is not bad because in the scriptures it says a dozen times that the field is white already to harvest.
So the theme of the Sacrament meeting was Prayer. When the second speaker got up, everything she was saying seemed to be directed towards me and WOW did it hit me really hard. She talked about how we are all entitled to revelation but it is us that stops it when it doesn't come. God promises to help us, not always in the way we want or in the answers we need but He does. She went on to say that sometimes God gives us promptings that require us to think, and work. I was writing down everything she said and what the spirit was telling me. Then in Relief Society this woman came and spoke about how she didn't get married until she was 33. It was to help the girls out in the ward. She talked about the Lord's timing. Don't worry, I wasn't thinking about marriage but instead everything she was talking about was pointing me back to how MUCH the Lord loves me and how He is trying my patience. The strongest thing that the spirit said to me was to "WAIT, be patient and keep the commandments then will your time come. Then will your number be called." I just keep getting this overwhelming feeling that the Lord knows that I'm trying my best and to keep improving and IT will come. Whatever that is. I just have to not worry about what people may think of me when I don't get the results that they want or that I want. God's will is different than my will. I know that it is His will to baptize and bring His children to Him but I NEED to trust Him then everything will work out the way HE wants it. I feel like the Lord is testing me and waiting for the right moment to pour out that bucket of blessings that He has been holding over my head. When IT happens, I will recognize His hand more and be more grateful then I would have been earlier in my mission.
This experience I had at church just shows how important going to church is and to ALL three meetings. We receive revelation there. We receive answers to prayers there. So don't think that church is boring because if it is boring for you then that means you aren't trying to listen to what the spirit is trying to teach you. I love church more than ever! So don't just be active in the church but be active in the gospel!
Love Ya!
Sister Sumsion
So if you all don't know. I went senior companion this transfer and I'm also training. Sister Pfile says that the Lord has catapulted me from being Junior to senior and trainer all at the same time. Her name is Sister Sorenson. She was called to the Nauvoo mission and is doing her outbound here in Colorado for 6 months. She is from Orem Utah. She has an older sister and three younger brothers. Sister Baker, my last companion, is still in the singles ward with her new companion. The Lord decided to mix it up and now there are four sisters in the ward. The bishop is loving it!
As senior and trainer, there is a different weight load and responsibility. More pressure to do good and more pressure to get baptisms. I had a personal miracle this week. I've been stressing all week and praying like crazy for the Lord to help me and also wondering why I can't baptize. I feel like there are high expections for us up in this ward, since now we can teach families too.
I didn't feel like I was really getting an answer until Sunday. I went into the Sabbath pleading for help to guide us and for help on what we can improve on so that we could baptize. I know that my desire is not bad because in the scriptures it says a dozen times that the field is white already to harvest.
So the theme of the Sacrament meeting was Prayer. When the second speaker got up, everything she was saying seemed to be directed towards me and WOW did it hit me really hard. She talked about how we are all entitled to revelation but it is us that stops it when it doesn't come. God promises to help us, not always in the way we want or in the answers we need but He does. She went on to say that sometimes God gives us promptings that require us to think, and work. I was writing down everything she said and what the spirit was telling me. Then in Relief Society this woman came and spoke about how she didn't get married until she was 33. It was to help the girls out in the ward. She talked about the Lord's timing. Don't worry, I wasn't thinking about marriage but instead everything she was talking about was pointing me back to how MUCH the Lord loves me and how He is trying my patience. The strongest thing that the spirit said to me was to "WAIT, be patient and keep the commandments then will your time come. Then will your number be called." I just keep getting this overwhelming feeling that the Lord knows that I'm trying my best and to keep improving and IT will come. Whatever that is. I just have to not worry about what people may think of me when I don't get the results that they want or that I want. God's will is different than my will. I know that it is His will to baptize and bring His children to Him but I NEED to trust Him then everything will work out the way HE wants it. I feel like the Lord is testing me and waiting for the right moment to pour out that bucket of blessings that He has been holding over my head. When IT happens, I will recognize His hand more and be more grateful then I would have been earlier in my mission.
This experience I had at church just shows how important going to church is and to ALL three meetings. We receive revelation there. We receive answers to prayers there. So don't think that church is boring because if it is boring for you then that means you aren't trying to listen to what the spirit is trying to teach you. I love church more than ever! So don't just be active in the church but be active in the gospel!
Love Ya!
Sister Sumsion
Tuesday, October 12
Following the Spirit
Hi!
This week was very interesting and had a lot of dynamics to it. We had interviews this week, found a super solid investigator in which we had the most amazing experience following the spirit and we now teach families, as well, if we find them off of tracting.
So there was one day this week that we were wanting very badly to find an investigator because we've been a little dry. So we were praying really hard all day long to know the place where we needed to be. We would go to one apartment complex that we felt good about but after a few minutes of tracting there, we felt like this wasn't the place anymore. So we would pray and go to another apartment complex. By the end of the day, we still felt positive and more sense of urgency to find someone. We arrived at another complex and felt really good about being there. We felt strongly that someone was there that we were going to find. It would have been interesting to be watching us because we were almost running from building to building. We would stop in front of one and think for a second if God wanted us to tract there. If not, we would move on to the next building. If we got to a building we felt good at we would decide what floor. As we were knocking on a door, I looked across the grounds and saw this building and said, "We NEED to tract there!" So we ran over there and stopped in front of it to decide what floor. Instantly we both looked at each other and said, "Up!" So we ran up the stairs and started knocking. We knock on a door and this man comes out and says that he would be interested in listening to us. We start asking him some questions and we find that he has never been religious but because of the events in his life, he has started to pray for help. We talk about God's love and the Atonement and he begins to cry. He cuts us off after a few minutes and we set up a return appointment with him. Well, the morning of his return appointment, we get this random call. It is a member who is works with the guy we just tracted into. He says that the guy is super excited to meet with us and has read 17 chapters of the BofM already. WHAT?! That was a surprise. At our appointment, he tells us that for about a month, he has been praying for help and he says that we were an answer to his prayers. So we take him on a church tour and he tells us that he went and bought his first bible. We invite him to a baptism that another ward is having so he can see it for himself how it is done. A couple of minutes before the baptism, he calls and says that he doesn't want to come because he is feeling totally overwhelmed. We tell him that we are there to help him and to teach him, not to push. So he says he needs to be more open minded and to come. After the baptism, we talk to him and he says that he has been finding alot of answers in the BofM. He sometimes just opens the book and flips to any page and starts reading. Well, he came across a scripture that i would think would be really scaring but it was what he needed. It was Alma 9:12-13. Read it. Now we are trying to help him learn and gain a testimony for himself.
The church is true!
Love Sister Sumsion
This week was very interesting and had a lot of dynamics to it. We had interviews this week, found a super solid investigator in which we had the most amazing experience following the spirit and we now teach families, as well, if we find them off of tracting.
So there was one day this week that we were wanting very badly to find an investigator because we've been a little dry. So we were praying really hard all day long to know the place where we needed to be. We would go to one apartment complex that we felt good about but after a few minutes of tracting there, we felt like this wasn't the place anymore. So we would pray and go to another apartment complex. By the end of the day, we still felt positive and more sense of urgency to find someone. We arrived at another complex and felt really good about being there. We felt strongly that someone was there that we were going to find. It would have been interesting to be watching us because we were almost running from building to building. We would stop in front of one and think for a second if God wanted us to tract there. If not, we would move on to the next building. If we got to a building we felt good at we would decide what floor. As we were knocking on a door, I looked across the grounds and saw this building and said, "We NEED to tract there!" So we ran over there and stopped in front of it to decide what floor. Instantly we both looked at each other and said, "Up!" So we ran up the stairs and started knocking. We knock on a door and this man comes out and says that he would be interested in listening to us. We start asking him some questions and we find that he has never been religious but because of the events in his life, he has started to pray for help. We talk about God's love and the Atonement and he begins to cry. He cuts us off after a few minutes and we set up a return appointment with him. Well, the morning of his return appointment, we get this random call. It is a member who is works with the guy we just tracted into. He says that the guy is super excited to meet with us and has read 17 chapters of the BofM already. WHAT?! That was a surprise. At our appointment, he tells us that for about a month, he has been praying for help and he says that we were an answer to his prayers. So we take him on a church tour and he tells us that he went and bought his first bible. We invite him to a baptism that another ward is having so he can see it for himself how it is done. A couple of minutes before the baptism, he calls and says that he doesn't want to come because he is feeling totally overwhelmed. We tell him that we are there to help him and to teach him, not to push. So he says he needs to be more open minded and to come. After the baptism, we talk to him and he says that he has been finding alot of answers in the BofM. He sometimes just opens the book and flips to any page and starts reading. Well, he came across a scripture that i would think would be really scaring but it was what he needed. It was Alma 9:12-13. Read it. Now we are trying to help him learn and gain a testimony for himself.
The church is true!
Love Sister Sumsion
Sunday, September 5
From 14 dollar houses to 14 million dollar houses
Guess what?!
I'm getting transferred, finally, out of Pueblo zone up to Parker where I was last week for team-ups. Interesting how this happened. Before I was transferred to Mesa, I had teamups there a week before and then it happens again with Parker. Every area I've been transferred to, I've flushed-meaning that me and my companion are new to the area. My new companion is Sister Baker from Orem, Utah and she goes home in December. She served there last year so she is not really new to the area. In Parker, I'll be in my first singles ward (weird...) and all we'll teach is YSA investigators, meaning everyone between the ages of 18-30. We'll be living with members, so that should be a new experience. But I'm super excited and ready for a change. I'll miss my Aussie companion though, we had a lot of fun together.
So some fun things happened this week. One morning, we had planned on seeing a few potentials (people who said they would be interested for us to come back) and some members but they all fell through so we went to tracting. About the last house, right before we headed into lunch, we tracted into this lady who answered the door and said, "Sisters, I've been waiting for you." What?! No one ever says that to us. She goes on to say that the sisters in that area last year said someone would come and stop by. She went to church last year and loved it and she wants to come again because she wants her little girl to be involved. We talked to her for about 30 minutes and she was really open and excited about church. Later on that day we went through the area book and she was no where in the area book. Miracle that God led us too. Also, she is crazy busy with work and school that she is hardly ever home but we caught her at home, another miracle.
Later on that day, we decided to go and see a less-active that hasn't been to church for decades. We walk up to his house and he's outside working on the garden. He is about 70 years old and we were bracing ourselves because usually old people aren't excited to see us. But man, he sure was. We talked to him for a good half an hour and after our conversation he told us that we made his day. We volunteered to help with his massive garden and he said that we could come back in a couple of weeks. We asked if there was anything we could do for him at that moment. He thought about it for a second and then gave the cutest face and said, "How 'bout a hug?!" It was so dang cute that we couldn't resist hugging this cute old man.
Well, nothing else to report. But just remember that the church is true and will always be true no matter what we do. The only thing that will matter in this life is what we did with the gospel. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God and that means every soul.
Love, Sister Sumsion
I'm getting transferred, finally, out of Pueblo zone up to Parker where I was last week for team-ups. Interesting how this happened. Before I was transferred to Mesa, I had teamups there a week before and then it happens again with Parker. Every area I've been transferred to, I've flushed-meaning that me and my companion are new to the area. My new companion is Sister Baker from Orem, Utah and she goes home in December. She served there last year so she is not really new to the area. In Parker, I'll be in my first singles ward (weird...) and all we'll teach is YSA investigators, meaning everyone between the ages of 18-30. We'll be living with members, so that should be a new experience. But I'm super excited and ready for a change. I'll miss my Aussie companion though, we had a lot of fun together.
So some fun things happened this week. One morning, we had planned on seeing a few potentials (people who said they would be interested for us to come back) and some members but they all fell through so we went to tracting. About the last house, right before we headed into lunch, we tracted into this lady who answered the door and said, "Sisters, I've been waiting for you." What?! No one ever says that to us. She goes on to say that the sisters in that area last year said someone would come and stop by. She went to church last year and loved it and she wants to come again because she wants her little girl to be involved. We talked to her for about 30 minutes and she was really open and excited about church. Later on that day we went through the area book and she was no where in the area book. Miracle that God led us too. Also, she is crazy busy with work and school that she is hardly ever home but we caught her at home, another miracle.
Later on that day, we decided to go and see a less-active that hasn't been to church for decades. We walk up to his house and he's outside working on the garden. He is about 70 years old and we were bracing ourselves because usually old people aren't excited to see us. But man, he sure was. We talked to him for a good half an hour and after our conversation he told us that we made his day. We volunteered to help with his massive garden and he said that we could come back in a couple of weeks. We asked if there was anything we could do for him at that moment. He thought about it for a second and then gave the cutest face and said, "How 'bout a hug?!" It was so dang cute that we couldn't resist hugging this cute old man.
Well, nothing else to report. But just remember that the church is true and will always be true no matter what we do. The only thing that will matter in this life is what we did with the gospel. The worth of souls is great in the sight of God and that means every soul.
Love, Sister Sumsion
Saturday, August 14
"The Work of the Lord"
Hi!
We had an amazing zone conference this week about adversity and the new curriculum that the church has set up for missionaries. Not different lessons to teach but something to help us learn more and become more converted. We read, together as a zone, 3 Nep 11, 2 Nep 31 and 3 Nep 27, which are all about the gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, repentance, baptism, HG and enduring). It is interesting to see how focused those chapters are on the importance of baptism. We read a scripture (3 Nep 9:20) some where after the destruction before Christ came and how during those three days of Darkness, Christ's voice can be heard throughout the land. It is interesting to note that Christ had just performed the Atonement and had just suffered all the sins and pains of mankind, and the thing he talks about is repent and be baptized so he can save you. He doesn't talk about the pain that he just felt but instead of what we can do to come unto him and be saved. It just shows how important baptism and repentance are to us and to mankind. They CANNOT return to our Heavenly Father without it. They CANNOT gain full access to the Atonement until they are baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Everyone receives a part of the Atonement which comes as a free gift, resurrection. But besides that... People need it to heal them and help them.
So my wonderful companion, Sister Hilbert, is very inspired (I hope she gets to read that). We were planning on Wednesday and we're going through the ward roster to see what less-actives we could go and see. So we pick a few and give them a call to see if we could stop by. Sister Hilbert felt really good about going to see a certain woman, so she gives her a call and sets up a appointment for that day. When we go over there, we find that she has company, a friend. We talk to him and he says that he isn't really interested in religion and he tries to dodge the topic. So we stop pressing it and continue visiting with the less-active member. Her friend, pretends to not be listening but he starts chiming in with all these different questions about our church. Alot is misinformation that came from TV and movies, but as we cleared those things up, he would ask another question. We continued to not push it upon him but the spirit did the work for us and it peaked his interest. At the end of our visit, we invited him again to church and he said that he would be very interested in coming and even meeting with us to learn more. I love it when I'm just the instrument that seems to do the talking and Heavenly Father is doing the actual work through the spirit. So we now have a return appointment with him at the less-active's house. Two birds with one stone, sweet.
Keep the Faith!
Love Sister Sumsion
We had an amazing zone conference this week about adversity and the new curriculum that the church has set up for missionaries. Not different lessons to teach but something to help us learn more and become more converted. We read, together as a zone, 3 Nep 11, 2 Nep 31 and 3 Nep 27, which are all about the gospel of Jesus Christ (Faith, repentance, baptism, HG and enduring). It is interesting to see how focused those chapters are on the importance of baptism. We read a scripture (3 Nep 9:20) some where after the destruction before Christ came and how during those three days of Darkness, Christ's voice can be heard throughout the land. It is interesting to note that Christ had just performed the Atonement and had just suffered all the sins and pains of mankind, and the thing he talks about is repent and be baptized so he can save you. He doesn't talk about the pain that he just felt but instead of what we can do to come unto him and be saved. It just shows how important baptism and repentance are to us and to mankind. They CANNOT return to our Heavenly Father without it. They CANNOT gain full access to the Atonement until they are baptized and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Everyone receives a part of the Atonement which comes as a free gift, resurrection. But besides that... People need it to heal them and help them.
So my wonderful companion, Sister Hilbert, is very inspired (I hope she gets to read that). We were planning on Wednesday and we're going through the ward roster to see what less-actives we could go and see. So we pick a few and give them a call to see if we could stop by. Sister Hilbert felt really good about going to see a certain woman, so she gives her a call and sets up a appointment for that day. When we go over there, we find that she has company, a friend. We talk to him and he says that he isn't really interested in religion and he tries to dodge the topic. So we stop pressing it and continue visiting with the less-active member. Her friend, pretends to not be listening but he starts chiming in with all these different questions about our church. Alot is misinformation that came from TV and movies, but as we cleared those things up, he would ask another question. We continued to not push it upon him but the spirit did the work for us and it peaked his interest. At the end of our visit, we invited him again to church and he said that he would be very interested in coming and even meeting with us to learn more. I love it when I'm just the instrument that seems to do the talking and Heavenly Father is doing the actual work through the spirit. So we now have a return appointment with him at the less-active's house. Two birds with one stone, sweet.
Keep the Faith!
Love Sister Sumsion
Monday, July 19
Seeing the promises a far off...and then waiting.
Hi Family and Friends!
This week has been a great test of faith and a builder of faith as well. Last Sunday, we had set up the baptism for the birthday investigator for the following Sunday, not knowing if she would make it. We made announcements and gave them to her to give to her family. But we decided that we were going to do our best and leave the rest of it up to the Lord. On Monday, she called us because she had something going on and wanted to meet earlier. It was amazing that she called us because she is sometimes forgetful. We thought that it was going to go smoothly the rest of the week. I don't know why I thought that because it never goes smoothly the week before a baptism. The next day we go over and she is mad at the world and wouldn't talk to us. So a day passes. But we kept calling people for the baptism and scheduling it. Wednesday comes and we call her and she is still hating the world. So we pray harder. The next day, she calls us and apologizes and asks us if we could come over. So we go over there and we are really worried that she will cancel the baptism. While we are sitting there talking to her, she brings up that she is making cakes. We ask what for and she says that she is making them for her baptism. Duh! She tells us that for those past two days, Satan had been working really hard on her and she would get thoughts to cancel the baptism or not go to church. So now we only had two days left to teach the rest of the lessons. We go over there on Friday, and as we teach the commandments we start gettting worried that she won't remember for the baptismal interview. But we put it in the Lord's hands again and we know that if she isn't ready the Lord will let the interviewer know and we would keep working with her. So we set up the time for the zone leaders to come by and interview her. We show up the next day and she's not there. Not again! We call her mom's, her brother's and no one knows where she is. So we pray again and ask that she could get her interview that day and we had full confidence that it would happen. Both us and the Elders kept stopping by all day long and then finally, two hours before curfew, she's home. She passes the interview and is super excited for Sunday. We go over all the problems that could stop her from coming to church and set up a game plan. Sunday comes, we stop by in the morning about an hour before church and see if she's up. She was already taking a shower and everything. So we drive to the church and have our meetings with the bishop. About 45 minutes later, the investigator's ride calls and said that the investigator didn't feel good and she isn't coming. (She was having major anxiety.) AWWW!!! So we take off to her house to bang down the door. She doesn't answer and we know she's there. We go back to the church in defeat but we knew that we did everything we could and the Lord had miracles happen all over the place to get her that far. Finding her was a miracle too. We did everything we could and so did the Lord, without taking away her agency. She just chose to use it in the wrong way. So we were exhausted at the end of the week and as we learned that it requires a lot of mental power and strength to have full confidence and faith in the Lord.
Faith is something that I've been learning very quickly. In my personal study this morning, I turned to my study journal and read notes I had taken from a conference talk in Nov 2003, "Seeing the promises afar off" by Anne Pingree. There are some quotes I wrote down and scriptures she used. I always turn to this when I need a boost.
D&C 123:17- "...let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power, and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
"Faith, the spiritual ability to be persuaded of promises that are seen "afar off" but that may not be attained in this life, is a sure measure of those who believe."
Heb. 11:13- "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them..."
The hard part about faith is waiting on the Lord's timing. It might be tomorrow, it might be in a year, it might be in the next life but in Alma 37:17 it says,
"For He will fulfill all His promises which He shall make unto you..."
Faith needs to live within us and we need to live our faith.
Love Sister Sumsion
This week has been a great test of faith and a builder of faith as well. Last Sunday, we had set up the baptism for the birthday investigator for the following Sunday, not knowing if she would make it. We made announcements and gave them to her to give to her family. But we decided that we were going to do our best and leave the rest of it up to the Lord. On Monday, she called us because she had something going on and wanted to meet earlier. It was amazing that she called us because she is sometimes forgetful. We thought that it was going to go smoothly the rest of the week. I don't know why I thought that because it never goes smoothly the week before a baptism. The next day we go over and she is mad at the world and wouldn't talk to us. So a day passes. But we kept calling people for the baptism and scheduling it. Wednesday comes and we call her and she is still hating the world. So we pray harder. The next day, she calls us and apologizes and asks us if we could come over. So we go over there and we are really worried that she will cancel the baptism. While we are sitting there talking to her, she brings up that she is making cakes. We ask what for and she says that she is making them for her baptism. Duh! She tells us that for those past two days, Satan had been working really hard on her and she would get thoughts to cancel the baptism or not go to church. So now we only had two days left to teach the rest of the lessons. We go over there on Friday, and as we teach the commandments we start gettting worried that she won't remember for the baptismal interview. But we put it in the Lord's hands again and we know that if she isn't ready the Lord will let the interviewer know and we would keep working with her. So we set up the time for the zone leaders to come by and interview her. We show up the next day and she's not there. Not again! We call her mom's, her brother's and no one knows where she is. So we pray again and ask that she could get her interview that day and we had full confidence that it would happen. Both us and the Elders kept stopping by all day long and then finally, two hours before curfew, she's home. She passes the interview and is super excited for Sunday. We go over all the problems that could stop her from coming to church and set up a game plan. Sunday comes, we stop by in the morning about an hour before church and see if she's up. She was already taking a shower and everything. So we drive to the church and have our meetings with the bishop. About 45 minutes later, the investigator's ride calls and said that the investigator didn't feel good and she isn't coming. (She was having major anxiety.) AWWW!!! So we take off to her house to bang down the door. She doesn't answer and we know she's there. We go back to the church in defeat but we knew that we did everything we could and the Lord had miracles happen all over the place to get her that far. Finding her was a miracle too. We did everything we could and so did the Lord, without taking away her agency. She just chose to use it in the wrong way. So we were exhausted at the end of the week and as we learned that it requires a lot of mental power and strength to have full confidence and faith in the Lord.
Faith is something that I've been learning very quickly. In my personal study this morning, I turned to my study journal and read notes I had taken from a conference talk in Nov 2003, "Seeing the promises afar off" by Anne Pingree. There are some quotes I wrote down and scriptures she used. I always turn to this when I need a boost.
D&C 123:17- "...let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power, and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed."
"Faith, the spiritual ability to be persuaded of promises that are seen "afar off" but that may not be attained in this life, is a sure measure of those who believe."
Heb. 11:13- "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them and embraced them..."
The hard part about faith is waiting on the Lord's timing. It might be tomorrow, it might be in a year, it might be in the next life but in Alma 37:17 it says,
"For He will fulfill all His promises which He shall make unto you..."
Faith needs to live within us and we need to live our faith.
Love Sister Sumsion
Monday, July 12
"The Book that saves souls."
Hi!
This week has been crazy! The birthday present investigator I mentioned last week went MIA for a couple of days and we were scrambling to find her. When we finally got a hold of her, we were amazed and our "joy was full". We knocked on her door to see if she was home, and luckily she was. As soon as she opened the door and we got a look at her, we could tell that she has been keeping her commitments. The light of Christ was just beaming from her and this once depressed person was grinning from ear to ear. She cleaned up herself a little bit and she looked great. The house even had a different feel to it. She had cleaned up her house and re-arranged a bit. She was so happy to see us! We started talking to her and she read everything we asked her to read. She said that she didn't quite understand it all but she loved it anyway and she knew that it made her feel better when she read from the BofM. She even told us that when she would have panic attacks, she would try to read but she couldn't focus so she would open up the BofM and place her hand on it while she prayed. She said that it made her feel better. The key to conversion is to gain a testimony of the BofM through the Holy Ghost and to do our part to gain that witness, we need to read it.
Her example is a strong testimony of the importance of church and the BofM. If we are struggling in our lives, we need to check ourselves and what we are doing. First, are we praying everyday? Second, are we reading the BofM everyday? Third are we going to church to partake of the sacrament worthily and going to all three hours, everyweek? If we do those things, we will be happier! We will still go through hard times but we came "endure them well" and "be of good cheer". Joseph Smith said about the BofM, "a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." Pres. Packer said, "In a world ever more dangerous...the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Christ has the nourishing power to heal starving spirits of the world." What a wonderful gift God has given us! He has given us a book that continues the fulness of the gospel with no error, no mistakes and with no questions of what God's standards are and what we can do to be happy. So many people are starving (spiritually) for the comfort that the BofM can bring because it WILL bring them closer to Christ and God. Pres. Hinckley promised that if when we read the BofM, "there will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments, and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God." The world needs it and the gospel in its fulness. So share it! God will help you help his children. For this is His work and His Glory.
The gospel is true!
Love Sister Sumsion
This week has been crazy! The birthday present investigator I mentioned last week went MIA for a couple of days and we were scrambling to find her. When we finally got a hold of her, we were amazed and our "joy was full". We knocked on her door to see if she was home, and luckily she was. As soon as she opened the door and we got a look at her, we could tell that she has been keeping her commitments. The light of Christ was just beaming from her and this once depressed person was grinning from ear to ear. She cleaned up herself a little bit and she looked great. The house even had a different feel to it. She had cleaned up her house and re-arranged a bit. She was so happy to see us! We started talking to her and she read everything we asked her to read. She said that she didn't quite understand it all but she loved it anyway and she knew that it made her feel better when she read from the BofM. She even told us that when she would have panic attacks, she would try to read but she couldn't focus so she would open up the BofM and place her hand on it while she prayed. She said that it made her feel better. The key to conversion is to gain a testimony of the BofM through the Holy Ghost and to do our part to gain that witness, we need to read it.
Her example is a strong testimony of the importance of church and the BofM. If we are struggling in our lives, we need to check ourselves and what we are doing. First, are we praying everyday? Second, are we reading the BofM everyday? Third are we going to church to partake of the sacrament worthily and going to all three hours, everyweek? If we do those things, we will be happier! We will still go through hard times but we came "endure them well" and "be of good cheer". Joseph Smith said about the BofM, "a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." Pres. Packer said, "In a world ever more dangerous...the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Christ has the nourishing power to heal starving spirits of the world." What a wonderful gift God has given us! He has given us a book that continues the fulness of the gospel with no error, no mistakes and with no questions of what God's standards are and what we can do to be happy. So many people are starving (spiritually) for the comfort that the BofM can bring because it WILL bring them closer to Christ and God. Pres. Hinckley promised that if when we read the BofM, "there will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments, and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God." The world needs it and the gospel in its fulness. So share it! God will help you help his children. For this is His work and His Glory.
The gospel is true!
Love Sister Sumsion
"The Book that saves souls."
Hi!
This week has been crazy! The birthday present investigator I mentioned last week went MIA for a couple of days and we were scrambling to find her. When we finally got a hold of her, we were amazed and our "joy was full". We knocked on her door to see if she was home, and luckily she was. As soon as she opened the door and we got a look at her, we could tell that she has been keeping her commitments. The light of Christ was just beaming from her and this once depressed person was grinning from ear to ear. She cleaned up herself a little bit and she looked great. The house even had a different feel to it. She had cleaned up her house and re-arranged a bit. She was so happy to see us! We started talking to her and she read everything we asked her to read. She said that she didn't quite understand it all but she loved it anyway and she knew that it made her feel better when she read from the BofM. She even told us that when she would have panic attacks, she would try to read but she couldn't focus so she would open up the BofM and place her hand on it while she prayed. She said that it made her feel better. The key to conversion is to gain a testimony of the BofM through the Holy Ghost and to do our part to gain that witness, we need to read it.
Her example is a strong testimony of the importance of church and the BofM. If we are struggling in our lives, we need to check ourselves and what we are doing. First, are we praying everyday? Second, are we reading the BofM everyday? Third are we going to church to partake of the sacrament worthily and going to all three hours, everyweek? If we do those things, we will be happier! We will still go through hard times but we came "endure them well" and "be of good cheer". Joseph Smith said about the BofM, "a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." Pres. Packer said, "In a world ever more dangerous...the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Christ has the nourishing power to heal starving spirits of the world." What a wonderful gift God has given us! He has given us a book that continues the fulness of the gospel with no error, no mistakes and with no questions of what God's standards are and what we can do to be happy. So many people are starving (spiritually) for the comfort that the BofM can bring because it WILL bring them closer to Christ and God. Pres. Hinckley promised that if when we read the BofM, "there will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments, and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God." The world needs it and the gospel in its fulness. So share it! God will help you help his children. For this is His work and His Glory.
The gospel is true!
Love Sister Sumsion
This week has been crazy! The birthday present investigator I mentioned last week went MIA for a couple of days and we were scrambling to find her. When we finally got a hold of her, we were amazed and our "joy was full". We knocked on her door to see if she was home, and luckily she was. As soon as she opened the door and we got a look at her, we could tell that she has been keeping her commitments. The light of Christ was just beaming from her and this once depressed person was grinning from ear to ear. She cleaned up herself a little bit and she looked great. The house even had a different feel to it. She had cleaned up her house and re-arranged a bit. She was so happy to see us! We started talking to her and she read everything we asked her to read. She said that she didn't quite understand it all but she loved it anyway and she knew that it made her feel better when she read from the BofM. She even told us that when she would have panic attacks, she would try to read but she couldn't focus so she would open up the BofM and place her hand on it while she prayed. She said that it made her feel better. The key to conversion is to gain a testimony of the BofM through the Holy Ghost and to do our part to gain that witness, we need to read it.
Her example is a strong testimony of the importance of church and the BofM. If we are struggling in our lives, we need to check ourselves and what we are doing. First, are we praying everyday? Second, are we reading the BofM everyday? Third are we going to church to partake of the sacrament worthily and going to all three hours, everyweek? If we do those things, we will be happier! We will still go through hard times but we came "endure them well" and "be of good cheer". Joseph Smith said about the BofM, "a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." Pres. Packer said, "In a world ever more dangerous...the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Christ has the nourishing power to heal starving spirits of the world." What a wonderful gift God has given us! He has given us a book that continues the fulness of the gospel with no error, no mistakes and with no questions of what God's standards are and what we can do to be happy. So many people are starving (spiritually) for the comfort that the BofM can bring because it WILL bring them closer to Christ and God. Pres. Hinckley promised that if when we read the BofM, "there will come a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to his commandments, and there will come a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God." The world needs it and the gospel in its fulness. So share it! God will help you help his children. For this is His work and His Glory.
The gospel is true!
Love Sister Sumsion
Tuesday, July 6
"Happy Birthday" - Heavenly Father
Hi!
So my 22nd birthday was this week and I can't believe how old I am. I opened my wonderful package from my mother that morning. I never thought I'd be so excited to get suit jackets and blazers. And mom, they fit great! I love them! My mom sent party supplies so we could have our own party but we were waiting till p-day to bake a cake. Then we had district meeting that morning where they sang happy birthday and then we went back to work. Afterwards me and my companion were going to go to a amazing pizza place to eat lunch. But when we got there we realized that it was going to take longer than an hour to cook and eat. We were too far from home to go and eat there, so we went to the closest place- a gas station. Wonderful... On my birthday I ate lunchables in a gas station parking lot. Pretty exciting! We laugh about it alot now. But we saw a lot of the Lord's tender mercies that day. I was thinking about homemade ice cream all week and how I could have asked Mom to make me some at home for my birthday. But when we show up at a member's home for dinner, who didn't know it was my birthday, she had made homemade ice cream. I was so excited!
But the best present of the day came later that night. Heavenly Father gave me a wonderful present, actually two presents. Here is a backdrop for the situation and setting. A week before we had been trying to get a hold of a former investigator that we felt really good about. When we tried to see her we found that she had moved and the phone number was wrong. So we dropped it. But a week later, we were scheduled to meet with a less-active member. We called him a couple of minutes before his appointment and he said that he had forgotten about it but we could come see him at his friend's house. "Perfect!" we thought. Teach him and the friend. So when we show up and when the friend introduces herself we realize that she is the former we were looking for. We teach her about the Restoration and she starts crying after the 1st vision saying how much she needs this in her life and how much peace she can feel at that moment (spirit!). She accepts a baptismal date without hesitation. She is has had an extremely rough life and she can feel the joy that it brings so she wants it soooo badly. She has been prepared by God to receive us. The next day we had the Elders come over and bless her home and give her a bless. She was crying through the whole blessing and couldn't stop thanking us for teaching her. We talked to her about church and how people dress there. She said that she didn't have skirts or nice clothes. But we were prepared and inspired to bring her clothes the night before. So we whip out a skirt and blouse and said, "No worries, we brought you a present!" She was floored by the gift and started crying again. She even modeled them for us and she was so excited to wear them to church. She came to church on Sunday and loved it. What a wonderful birthday present! I love my Heavenly Father! She is set for the 18th but we might move it a little sooner because she is just so willing.
I got another present the day after. Someone me and S. Hamilton had taught for awhile in La Junta got baptized. He was the 16 year old boy we were teaching. He was confirmed on Sunday and received the priesthood and is set to pass the sacrament next sunday then bless the sacrament the week after. I was sad that I didn't get to go to his baptism but we were working hard here in Pueblo!
Remember if we have faith and involve the Lord through prayer, He will prepare our neighbors, friends and family for the gospel. We just have to be willing to share.
Love Sister Sumsion
So my 22nd birthday was this week and I can't believe how old I am. I opened my wonderful package from my mother that morning. I never thought I'd be so excited to get suit jackets and blazers. And mom, they fit great! I love them! My mom sent party supplies so we could have our own party but we were waiting till p-day to bake a cake. Then we had district meeting that morning where they sang happy birthday and then we went back to work. Afterwards me and my companion were going to go to a amazing pizza place to eat lunch. But when we got there we realized that it was going to take longer than an hour to cook and eat. We were too far from home to go and eat there, so we went to the closest place- a gas station. Wonderful... On my birthday I ate lunchables in a gas station parking lot. Pretty exciting! We laugh about it alot now. But we saw a lot of the Lord's tender mercies that day. I was thinking about homemade ice cream all week and how I could have asked Mom to make me some at home for my birthday. But when we show up at a member's home for dinner, who didn't know it was my birthday, she had made homemade ice cream. I was so excited!
But the best present of the day came later that night. Heavenly Father gave me a wonderful present, actually two presents. Here is a backdrop for the situation and setting. A week before we had been trying to get a hold of a former investigator that we felt really good about. When we tried to see her we found that she had moved and the phone number was wrong. So we dropped it. But a week later, we were scheduled to meet with a less-active member. We called him a couple of minutes before his appointment and he said that he had forgotten about it but we could come see him at his friend's house. "Perfect!" we thought. Teach him and the friend. So when we show up and when the friend introduces herself we realize that she is the former we were looking for. We teach her about the Restoration and she starts crying after the 1st vision saying how much she needs this in her life and how much peace she can feel at that moment (spirit!). She accepts a baptismal date without hesitation. She is has had an extremely rough life and she can feel the joy that it brings so she wants it soooo badly. She has been prepared by God to receive us. The next day we had the Elders come over and bless her home and give her a bless. She was crying through the whole blessing and couldn't stop thanking us for teaching her. We talked to her about church and how people dress there. She said that she didn't have skirts or nice clothes. But we were prepared and inspired to bring her clothes the night before. So we whip out a skirt and blouse and said, "No worries, we brought you a present!" She was floored by the gift and started crying again. She even modeled them for us and she was so excited to wear them to church. She came to church on Sunday and loved it. What a wonderful birthday present! I love my Heavenly Father! She is set for the 18th but we might move it a little sooner because she is just so willing.
I got another present the day after. Someone me and S. Hamilton had taught for awhile in La Junta got baptized. He was the 16 year old boy we were teaching. He was confirmed on Sunday and received the priesthood and is set to pass the sacrament next sunday then bless the sacrament the week after. I was sad that I didn't get to go to his baptism but we were working hard here in Pueblo!
Remember if we have faith and involve the Lord through prayer, He will prepare our neighbors, friends and family for the gospel. We just have to be willing to share.
Love Sister Sumsion
Monday, May 10
"Pray as if everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you."
Hi!
This past week has been a week of crazy miracles. We are teaching a teenage boy who met with the Elders months ago but they lost tract of him (because he moved). He was about to get baptized. We've been praying to find him for two transfers and God provided. We felt inspired to go tracting in Rocky Ford on our way back to La Junta from district meeting. We started talking to this teenager and started teaching him. Halfway through the lesson, another teenage boy showed up and said that he was taught by missionaries and that he was still reading the BofM every night. When he told us his name, we looked at each other and then asked him if he still wanted to meet with us and get baptized. We were so excited! He came to church this past week and we are now re-teaching him all the lessons. Prayer does work and God does love us.
A couple of weeks ago an inactive man came to church with his two daughters. We introduced ourselves but he didn't talk much. The next week the mother (who is active) of the man told us that one of the daughters is old enough to get baptized and she invited us over to her house to teach the girl, Jacklyn. They came to church again this week and the dad is working hard to improve his life and be a better father.
Another crazy miracle. We got this call from a member in the ward and she said that her grandson (23 years old) wanted to take the lessons. That was a surprise since we have to usually do the finding. So we met with them at the church the next day and he has truly been prepared. He said that his life has been on the downward slope for too long and that he's ready to change. He's already read the first two books of Nephi, knows the BofM is true and wants to get baptized. When we asked about his feelings that he had during the first vision, he said that he felt all tingling all over. He felt the Spirit so strong! It always amazes me how God will give us miracles in a different way when we are trying our best to find people and to help them come unto Christ.
We've been thinking a lot about a former investigator, Joann, who we had worked with for a long time but she wouldn't get married. We tried calling her but both of her phones were disconnected. But then we got a call from her but since our phone was broken we only got her message and not her new phone number. She said that she's been thinking a lot about us and misses us. So we decided that we were going to try and find her. We had to time it right because she lives in a different town and we wouldn't get many shots at it. We stopped by her house and no one was home. The house looked a little different and there was a different car there. We thought about her moving, since she was struggling financially. So we said a prayer and asked for help to find her. About 30 seconds later a car pulls into a driveway and we walk over there to talk to invite them to learn. But as we got closer we found out that it was Joann's daughter and the daughter's husband who we had met several times before. When we recognized her, I thought "Well, that was fast." God didn't wait to give us an answer. She called up her mom told her that we were looking for her. We met with Joann later that evening but it wasn't as what we were expecting. The fire and spirit we had once seen in her was gone. She looked different and acted different. I was reminded of something out of Preach My Gospel that talks about the power of the Holy Ghost and how people feel it which gives them that testimony and witness but if they don't receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, they lose it. Joann had lost it. Great testimony builder of why we try to get people baptized quickly because if you wait too long they lose it. They need the companionship of the Holy Ghost to re-affirm to them the truthfulness.
During my personal study, I found a great analogy to our lives. In 1 Nephi 16:17-31, Nephi breaks his bow and the family can't get food. Everyone begins to murmur but not Nephi. He doesn't just sit around waiting for something to happen, he goes to work, makes a new bow and then asks God where to find the food. We can learn that when we have struggles we need to do everything in our power to make it better or to fix it but we also must turn to the Lord for help. This quote comes to mind, "Pray as if everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you."
The past week Heavenly Father has been giving me alot of hints and has even hit me over the head to try and get me to listen. He's been trying to tell me that I'm trying my hardest but I just need to trust in Him and His will and to have patience to see the blessings come. I think that I've been trying to force my will for so long that I've pushed the Lord out of the equation. I've wanted to baptize so badly that I've been working my hardest but without Him. I need to rely upon him and have patience in his will because he knows what is best for his children and this area. I just love my Heavenly Father so much! He desires so strongly to give me what is best for me. He desires the salvation for all of his children so perfectly, more perfect than any earthly parent could ever feel. I just think of the scripture in Moses where Enoch sees God weeping and asks, "Why are you weeping? You're God." But God says that he weeps because of his children and how they turn away from him and turn against each other. He loves me so much; He loves his children so much that he will help me help them.
Shot out to Lizzie! Congrats on the Mission Call-the Baltics, never would have thought...I'll miss you!
I love the church, the gospel, my Savior and my God! So keep the faith!
Love Sister Sumsion
This past week has been a week of crazy miracles. We are teaching a teenage boy who met with the Elders months ago but they lost tract of him (because he moved). He was about to get baptized. We've been praying to find him for two transfers and God provided. We felt inspired to go tracting in Rocky Ford on our way back to La Junta from district meeting. We started talking to this teenager and started teaching him. Halfway through the lesson, another teenage boy showed up and said that he was taught by missionaries and that he was still reading the BofM every night. When he told us his name, we looked at each other and then asked him if he still wanted to meet with us and get baptized. We were so excited! He came to church this past week and we are now re-teaching him all the lessons. Prayer does work and God does love us.
A couple of weeks ago an inactive man came to church with his two daughters. We introduced ourselves but he didn't talk much. The next week the mother (who is active) of the man told us that one of the daughters is old enough to get baptized and she invited us over to her house to teach the girl, Jacklyn. They came to church again this week and the dad is working hard to improve his life and be a better father.
Another crazy miracle. We got this call from a member in the ward and she said that her grandson (23 years old) wanted to take the lessons. That was a surprise since we have to usually do the finding. So we met with them at the church the next day and he has truly been prepared. He said that his life has been on the downward slope for too long and that he's ready to change. He's already read the first two books of Nephi, knows the BofM is true and wants to get baptized. When we asked about his feelings that he had during the first vision, he said that he felt all tingling all over. He felt the Spirit so strong! It always amazes me how God will give us miracles in a different way when we are trying our best to find people and to help them come unto Christ.
We've been thinking a lot about a former investigator, Joann, who we had worked with for a long time but she wouldn't get married. We tried calling her but both of her phones were disconnected. But then we got a call from her but since our phone was broken we only got her message and not her new phone number. She said that she's been thinking a lot about us and misses us. So we decided that we were going to try and find her. We had to time it right because she lives in a different town and we wouldn't get many shots at it. We stopped by her house and no one was home. The house looked a little different and there was a different car there. We thought about her moving, since she was struggling financially. So we said a prayer and asked for help to find her. About 30 seconds later a car pulls into a driveway and we walk over there to talk to invite them to learn. But as we got closer we found out that it was Joann's daughter and the daughter's husband who we had met several times before. When we recognized her, I thought "Well, that was fast." God didn't wait to give us an answer. She called up her mom told her that we were looking for her. We met with Joann later that evening but it wasn't as what we were expecting. The fire and spirit we had once seen in her was gone. She looked different and acted different. I was reminded of something out of Preach My Gospel that talks about the power of the Holy Ghost and how people feel it which gives them that testimony and witness but if they don't receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, they lose it. Joann had lost it. Great testimony builder of why we try to get people baptized quickly because if you wait too long they lose it. They need the companionship of the Holy Ghost to re-affirm to them the truthfulness.
During my personal study, I found a great analogy to our lives. In 1 Nephi 16:17-31, Nephi breaks his bow and the family can't get food. Everyone begins to murmur but not Nephi. He doesn't just sit around waiting for something to happen, he goes to work, makes a new bow and then asks God where to find the food. We can learn that when we have struggles we need to do everything in our power to make it better or to fix it but we also must turn to the Lord for help. This quote comes to mind, "Pray as if everything depended on God. Work as if everything depended on you."
The past week Heavenly Father has been giving me alot of hints and has even hit me over the head to try and get me to listen. He's been trying to tell me that I'm trying my hardest but I just need to trust in Him and His will and to have patience to see the blessings come. I think that I've been trying to force my will for so long that I've pushed the Lord out of the equation. I've wanted to baptize so badly that I've been working my hardest but without Him. I need to rely upon him and have patience in his will because he knows what is best for his children and this area. I just love my Heavenly Father so much! He desires so strongly to give me what is best for me. He desires the salvation for all of his children so perfectly, more perfect than any earthly parent could ever feel. I just think of the scripture in Moses where Enoch sees God weeping and asks, "Why are you weeping? You're God." But God says that he weeps because of his children and how they turn away from him and turn against each other. He loves me so much; He loves his children so much that he will help me help them.
Shot out to Lizzie! Congrats on the Mission Call-the Baltics, never would have thought...I'll miss you!
I love the church, the gospel, my Savior and my God! So keep the faith!
Love Sister Sumsion
Tuesday, May 4
Mission Revamped
Hi!
This week we had a mission conference with Elder C. Scott Grow from the quorum of the seventy. He talked with President Pfile and there are alot of new changes in the mission. Now we extend a date three weeks out so if they miss a sunday at church, they aren't hanging in limbo, it also gives us more time to work with them. We now don't set monthly goals anymore but weekly goals, focusing really hard on what the Lord tells us we should set our goal as. He has asked us to try and teach 15 minute first lessons, as to bring the spirit, gain their trust and leave them curious so that we can go back for another lesson. Because the purpose of teaching a 1st, is to teach a 2nd, which is to teach a 3rd....
We had a great lesson in Relief Society about understanding God's will. The teacher read from Joshua 3:3-5,16 and said that complete trust in Him can allow God to work wonders among you. Job got through it because he looked for the miracles/blessings that he had been given. He had the patience to say, "I can get through this." Remember the greatness of God. He has the power to overcome all no matter what. So once we have done everything in our power, then turn it over to the Lord and he will take care of the rest. Just let him take over. Be in tune with the spirit so you know we have done enough, you have done your best. She also talked about how Christ has walked the path that we are now walking. So he knows that the whole journey is worth it. We need to trust him and ask for his help. He knows the blessings that are in store.
I've come to realize that patience, faith and hope work together and that I need to improve in all of them. We need to have patience and faith as we go out and work everyday that God will lead us to his elect. As we go through our trials of faith, our patience, and faith our tested to see if we will have the patience to continue on faithfully and will have the hope that we'll see our promises afar off. I still wonder why I was called to Mongolia, why I'm here in Colorado, in La Junta and what his will is for me. It requires alot of patience and faith.
Make sure you give your mom a big hug and a kiss this week and tell her how much you love her! Happy Mother's Day!!!
Love, Sister Sumsion
This week we had a mission conference with Elder C. Scott Grow from the quorum of the seventy. He talked with President Pfile and there are alot of new changes in the mission. Now we extend a date three weeks out so if they miss a sunday at church, they aren't hanging in limbo, it also gives us more time to work with them. We now don't set monthly goals anymore but weekly goals, focusing really hard on what the Lord tells us we should set our goal as. He has asked us to try and teach 15 minute first lessons, as to bring the spirit, gain their trust and leave them curious so that we can go back for another lesson. Because the purpose of teaching a 1st, is to teach a 2nd, which is to teach a 3rd....
We had a great lesson in Relief Society about understanding God's will. The teacher read from Joshua 3:3-5,16 and said that complete trust in Him can allow God to work wonders among you. Job got through it because he looked for the miracles/blessings that he had been given. He had the patience to say, "I can get through this." Remember the greatness of God. He has the power to overcome all no matter what. So once we have done everything in our power, then turn it over to the Lord and he will take care of the rest. Just let him take over. Be in tune with the spirit so you know we have done enough, you have done your best. She also talked about how Christ has walked the path that we are now walking. So he knows that the whole journey is worth it. We need to trust him and ask for his help. He knows the blessings that are in store.
I've come to realize that patience, faith and hope work together and that I need to improve in all of them. We need to have patience and faith as we go out and work everyday that God will lead us to his elect. As we go through our trials of faith, our patience, and faith our tested to see if we will have the patience to continue on faithfully and will have the hope that we'll see our promises afar off. I still wonder why I was called to Mongolia, why I'm here in Colorado, in La Junta and what his will is for me. It requires alot of patience and faith.
Make sure you give your mom a big hug and a kiss this week and tell her how much you love her! Happy Mother's Day!!!
Love, Sister Sumsion
Tuesday, April 20
"More Holiness Give Me"
Hi!
Today has been a crazy week. We've taught a ton of lessons this week. We are getting better at teach on the spot while we talk to people at their doorsteps and on the streets. We are handing BofMs out like candy.
Cool miracle for this week. We were tracting and we saw someone cleaning out their car so we went to talk to them. It was a 20 year old girl and when we asked if we could share a message with her, she said sure and ran inside to get her mom. I was thinking, "Oh no. The mom will probably kick us out". But instead the mom, Vicky, warmly invited us in and she seemed very open about letting us teach her. We left her with a BofM and committed her to read it. We then planned to do a Book of Mormon followup in 3 Nephi 11 and stress baptism and correct authority (she's a catholic). When we came back we asked her if she had read, she said that she had read 52 pages from the BofM. That surprised us. She then told us that she felt so much a peace and could feel the power from the BofM. Her daughters read with us and when we asked about how they felt when we read, they said that it wasn't confusing, that the BofM answers itself. But then we wanted to hit our heads against the wall when she said that she was catholic and had been for 40 years. The Holy Ghost was so powerful when we were reading with her and she had felt it when she read on her own but couldn't connect the dots. But she was willing to work towards baptism, she just said that it would take along time. We thought that she was really solid for church because Vicky and tried to go and find it a few days ago but got lost. But an hour before church started they called and told us that they were all sick. We asked them if they could come to just an hour. We even stopped by on our way to church but it was a no go.
But the best thing that has happened to me on my whole mission, showed itself this week. We were teaching a lady, Christine, and would have the lesson at her friend's house, who was a less-active/recent convert (we hadn't been able to meet with her before because she would always avoid us or make excuses). As we progressed through the lessons with Christine we started to notice a change in the recent convert. She started praying, reading from the BofM, stopped drinking coffee and started to ask alot of questions, soul searching questions. The investigator would never come to church but the recent convert started to come back. When we met with just her the other day, she told us of the difference that we had made in her life. She even started to cry when she talked about how we would eventually have to leave this place and she would miss us. She even disconnected her phone because she didn't want to talk to her old friends because they were a bad influence. Her parents, also recent converts, told us of how she is always talking about us and thanked us for helping get back to church. The mom started to cry too. I felt so happy to know that I had actually touched someone and helped someone. Probably a lifechanging thing for her.
Remember who you are!
Love Sister Sumsion
Today has been a crazy week. We've taught a ton of lessons this week. We are getting better at teach on the spot while we talk to people at their doorsteps and on the streets. We are handing BofMs out like candy.
Cool miracle for this week. We were tracting and we saw someone cleaning out their car so we went to talk to them. It was a 20 year old girl and when we asked if we could share a message with her, she said sure and ran inside to get her mom. I was thinking, "Oh no. The mom will probably kick us out". But instead the mom, Vicky, warmly invited us in and she seemed very open about letting us teach her. We left her with a BofM and committed her to read it. We then planned to do a Book of Mormon followup in 3 Nephi 11 and stress baptism and correct authority (she's a catholic). When we came back we asked her if she had read, she said that she had read 52 pages from the BofM. That surprised us. She then told us that she felt so much a peace and could feel the power from the BofM. Her daughters read with us and when we asked about how they felt when we read, they said that it wasn't confusing, that the BofM answers itself. But then we wanted to hit our heads against the wall when she said that she was catholic and had been for 40 years. The Holy Ghost was so powerful when we were reading with her and she had felt it when she read on her own but couldn't connect the dots. But she was willing to work towards baptism, she just said that it would take along time. We thought that she was really solid for church because Vicky and tried to go and find it a few days ago but got lost. But an hour before church started they called and told us that they were all sick. We asked them if they could come to just an hour. We even stopped by on our way to church but it was a no go.
But the best thing that has happened to me on my whole mission, showed itself this week. We were teaching a lady, Christine, and would have the lesson at her friend's house, who was a less-active/recent convert (we hadn't been able to meet with her before because she would always avoid us or make excuses). As we progressed through the lessons with Christine we started to notice a change in the recent convert. She started praying, reading from the BofM, stopped drinking coffee and started to ask alot of questions, soul searching questions. The investigator would never come to church but the recent convert started to come back. When we met with just her the other day, she told us of the difference that we had made in her life. She even started to cry when she talked about how we would eventually have to leave this place and she would miss us. She even disconnected her phone because she didn't want to talk to her old friends because they were a bad influence. Her parents, also recent converts, told us of how she is always talking about us and thanked us for helping get back to church. The mom started to cry too. I felt so happy to know that I had actually touched someone and helped someone. Probably a lifechanging thing for her.
Remember who you are!
Love Sister Sumsion
Monday, April 12
"Don't stop Believing; hold onto that feeling." ~Journey
Hi!
This week and transfer has been one of the hardest ones on my mission. Satan has kicked up a notch and his throwing everything at us. We keep having alot of 1st lessons but no one progresses past that. We've probably talked to every single rude person here at least once maybe three times. This transfer has been full of rude, nasty people, one right after another. We keep telling ourselves (and we know this is true) that there is something amazing around the corner. Just remember the trial of your faith before the blessing.
We had a way cool miracle of the Spirit trying to tell someone that the gospel is true. We tracted into a couple who told us to come back and that they were opened minded to everyone's beliefs. We came back and taught them a 1st and the spirit was in strong abundance in the room and working through us. We were able to teach with power and clarity. When it came to time for the 1st vision I was ready for the spirit to hit the ball out of the park, which it did. As Sister Hamilton was sharing the vision, the husband all of a sudden quoted a line (...above the brightness of the sun...) from the 1st vision before she ever said it. It shocked us and it surprised him. When we asked him about it he said that he had heard it before and brushed it off like it was nothing but from the questions he had been asking the whole lesson he didn't sound like he had heard it before. It was cool to see how powerfully the Spirit was trying to tell him it was true and that it was the truth he had been looking for but he chose to ignore it. They later called us an hour before our second appointment to say they were no longer interested. They told us that they had read and prayed about the BofM (in one day span) and they didn't get an answer, so they said it wasn't for them.
There was a great idea from a letter I got from a friend who is serving in Australia. He said that we are like metal that God is trying to mold. He sticks us into the fire to heat us up and then right before we get to the melting point he pulls us out, puts us on the anvil and pounds us then sticks us the ice water to cool us off. So if we are still humble enough to be teachable and we trust his will, he sticks us back into the fire. So when we say, help me to become a better person or better missionary, we are just saying to God, "Bring it on, I'm ready." So back into the fire.
But during that "fire", God will still aid us and let us know that he is watching out for us. Let me share a tender mercy I had this week. After this long week of rude, nasty people, then came Sunday to finish it off. Sunday seems to be the hardest day for a missionary probably because of church. It started out with us missing the passing of the sacrament because we were trying to get an investigator to church. She didn't come and it bummed us out and it was extremely hard on us because it seemed like a cherry on top of this nice week. But we still needed to work. We didn't feel like talking to anyone, we didn't feel like working, but we knew we needed to. So I kept saying a constant prayer for help and encouragement. I felt prompted to open the new Gospel principles book and I opened it to one of my favorite quotes. It's by Heber J. Grant and it says, "That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing is changed, but that our power to do is increased." In high school, I kept this quote on my nightstand and read it all the time. So it was a reasurrance that God is there and that I just need to keep trying. But still bummed out, we went to walking the streets and tracting. As we were tracting, a song came blaring out of someone's car. It's by Journey and it goes "Don't stop believing; just hold on to that feeling..." My attitude changed. That song was directed towards me and God was telling me "Don't give up, continue to have faith and hold onto that 'feeling' from the spirit." I love my Heavenly Father!
During those struggles and trials (or continous trial), I just need to keep my eternal perspective that this is all for my good. We all do.
Love Sister Sumsion
This week and transfer has been one of the hardest ones on my mission. Satan has kicked up a notch and his throwing everything at us. We keep having alot of 1st lessons but no one progresses past that. We've probably talked to every single rude person here at least once maybe three times. This transfer has been full of rude, nasty people, one right after another. We keep telling ourselves (and we know this is true) that there is something amazing around the corner. Just remember the trial of your faith before the blessing.
We had a way cool miracle of the Spirit trying to tell someone that the gospel is true. We tracted into a couple who told us to come back and that they were opened minded to everyone's beliefs. We came back and taught them a 1st and the spirit was in strong abundance in the room and working through us. We were able to teach with power and clarity. When it came to time for the 1st vision I was ready for the spirit to hit the ball out of the park, which it did. As Sister Hamilton was sharing the vision, the husband all of a sudden quoted a line (...above the brightness of the sun...) from the 1st vision before she ever said it. It shocked us and it surprised him. When we asked him about it he said that he had heard it before and brushed it off like it was nothing but from the questions he had been asking the whole lesson he didn't sound like he had heard it before. It was cool to see how powerfully the Spirit was trying to tell him it was true and that it was the truth he had been looking for but he chose to ignore it. They later called us an hour before our second appointment to say they were no longer interested. They told us that they had read and prayed about the BofM (in one day span) and they didn't get an answer, so they said it wasn't for them.
There was a great idea from a letter I got from a friend who is serving in Australia. He said that we are like metal that God is trying to mold. He sticks us into the fire to heat us up and then right before we get to the melting point he pulls us out, puts us on the anvil and pounds us then sticks us the ice water to cool us off. So if we are still humble enough to be teachable and we trust his will, he sticks us back into the fire. So when we say, help me to become a better person or better missionary, we are just saying to God, "Bring it on, I'm ready." So back into the fire.
But during that "fire", God will still aid us and let us know that he is watching out for us. Let me share a tender mercy I had this week. After this long week of rude, nasty people, then came Sunday to finish it off. Sunday seems to be the hardest day for a missionary probably because of church. It started out with us missing the passing of the sacrament because we were trying to get an investigator to church. She didn't come and it bummed us out and it was extremely hard on us because it seemed like a cherry on top of this nice week. But we still needed to work. We didn't feel like talking to anyone, we didn't feel like working, but we knew we needed to. So I kept saying a constant prayer for help and encouragement. I felt prompted to open the new Gospel principles book and I opened it to one of my favorite quotes. It's by Heber J. Grant and it says, "That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do; not that the nature of the thing is changed, but that our power to do is increased." In high school, I kept this quote on my nightstand and read it all the time. So it was a reasurrance that God is there and that I just need to keep trying. But still bummed out, we went to walking the streets and tracting. As we were tracting, a song came blaring out of someone's car. It's by Journey and it goes "Don't stop believing; just hold on to that feeling..." My attitude changed. That song was directed towards me and God was telling me "Don't give up, continue to have faith and hold onto that 'feeling' from the spirit." I love my Heavenly Father!
During those struggles and trials (or continous trial), I just need to keep my eternal perspective that this is all for my good. We all do.
Love Sister Sumsion
Monday, April 5
"Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice."
Hi!
So the highlight for this week was conference. I never fulling appreciated it until my mission. Now I listen and write notes and just love every second of it. It seems that the theme of conference was the family and death which involves the eternal families. Interesting. I wonder what is in store for this world in the future. My favorite was Pres. Monson when he talked about that picture and the boy who died in the hospital. It brought tears to my eyes. For Conference, I wrote down a lot of questions that I wanted to see answered through the talks. But what happened was something I wasn't expecting. The impression I got during those talks was that God wanted me to work harder at finding those questions. He wanted me to ask, seek and knock harder by praying, looking for the answers in the scriptures and relying upon personal revelation. So it was interesting to get a smack down from God but in a very loving way. But it was wonderful to see the love he has for me. Because then he had talks about overcoming adversity and how to push through it and just other talks about how much he loves me and the wonderful loving plan he created for us and then the inspiring talks about our Savior.
This week we were moved to a new district in Pueblo. Our new District leader is Elder Oakes and we had a great, intense meeting with him. Let me share the insight he gave us.
Alma 43:37, 39-45: Lamanites in their nakedness fought like dragons but were still defeated. Then Lamanites wise up and use armor but the Nephites still beat them because they were more prepared. Apply: We are going to battle (in life) naked (without the Spirit). We still fight hard and may have a few wins but we will still be defeated. We may wise up and do a little better by keeping some the commandments which gives us some of the blessings. But we need to keep ALL the commandments to gain all of the blessings so then we will have the spirit in its fulness and we WILL win against satan.
Alma 49:25-27: Moroni Kept the commandments, so they won
Alma 43:16-21: Moroni was appointed at 25 years old (so there was probably a lot of opposition from older men who thought they knew better than him) but Moroni was appointed by God. The Nephites had good leaders and they were willing to obey. Apply: We need to obey our leaders because they are called by God. Especially, the prophet and apostles. It was sad to see this weekend how many people didn't watch conference, especially on Saturday. It just isn't the same when it is not live.
Alma 43: 48-51: Rely upon the Lord! Turn to him! Ask for help! With the power of God on your side, it doesn't matter who or how many you are fighting against.
Alma 48:11-17: Become like Moroni, so that the gates of hell will shake.
So this applies to all, if we keep the commandments fully and exactly, then the powers of satan will not prevail against us and we will win!
Love Sister Sumsion
Remember this:
Preach My Gospel pg. 11 "You show your love for the Lord and his Atonement by bringing souls unto Him."
We've all been commanded to share the gopel so be a member-missionary. Through the members, are where the strongest converts come.
So the highlight for this week was conference. I never fulling appreciated it until my mission. Now I listen and write notes and just love every second of it. It seems that the theme of conference was the family and death which involves the eternal families. Interesting. I wonder what is in store for this world in the future. My favorite was Pres. Monson when he talked about that picture and the boy who died in the hospital. It brought tears to my eyes. For Conference, I wrote down a lot of questions that I wanted to see answered through the talks. But what happened was something I wasn't expecting. The impression I got during those talks was that God wanted me to work harder at finding those questions. He wanted me to ask, seek and knock harder by praying, looking for the answers in the scriptures and relying upon personal revelation. So it was interesting to get a smack down from God but in a very loving way. But it was wonderful to see the love he has for me. Because then he had talks about overcoming adversity and how to push through it and just other talks about how much he loves me and the wonderful loving plan he created for us and then the inspiring talks about our Savior.
This week we were moved to a new district in Pueblo. Our new District leader is Elder Oakes and we had a great, intense meeting with him. Let me share the insight he gave us.
Alma 43:37, 39-45: Lamanites in their nakedness fought like dragons but were still defeated. Then Lamanites wise up and use armor but the Nephites still beat them because they were more prepared. Apply: We are going to battle (in life) naked (without the Spirit). We still fight hard and may have a few wins but we will still be defeated. We may wise up and do a little better by keeping some the commandments which gives us some of the blessings. But we need to keep ALL the commandments to gain all of the blessings so then we will have the spirit in its fulness and we WILL win against satan.
Alma 49:25-27: Moroni Kept the commandments, so they won
Alma 43:16-21: Moroni was appointed at 25 years old (so there was probably a lot of opposition from older men who thought they knew better than him) but Moroni was appointed by God. The Nephites had good leaders and they were willing to obey. Apply: We need to obey our leaders because they are called by God. Especially, the prophet and apostles. It was sad to see this weekend how many people didn't watch conference, especially on Saturday. It just isn't the same when it is not live.
Alma 43: 48-51: Rely upon the Lord! Turn to him! Ask for help! With the power of God on your side, it doesn't matter who or how many you are fighting against.
Alma 48:11-17: Become like Moroni, so that the gates of hell will shake.
So this applies to all, if we keep the commandments fully and exactly, then the powers of satan will not prevail against us and we will win!
Love Sister Sumsion
Remember this:
Preach My Gospel pg. 11 "You show your love for the Lord and his Atonement by bringing souls unto Him."
We've all been commanded to share the gopel so be a member-missionary. Through the members, are where the strongest converts come.
Monday, March 29
What's going on down here?
Hi!
Crazy stuff is happening down here. Our investigator, Joann, is having problems reaching her goal of baptism. The spanish Elders came up from Pueblo to help us talk to her "husband" about getting married (since he only speaks spanish). They resolved it, we thought and we planned for baptism that week. But five minutes before her interview she informs us that her husband changed his mind and doesn't want to get married because he doesn't want to go through the process of divorce. So we were pretty bummed. She is at the point where she has to decide if she'll move out. So we keep praying really hard and fasting for her but I don't know what will happen. She wants it so bad but she won't make that last step.
Well, we were low on our miles this month, so we went to walking everywhere. But because we walked everywhere the Lord placed people in our path. As we were walking through main street of La Junta, where all the businesses are, we passed this random house. Sis. Hamilton felt good about knocking on it and the person who answered asked if he had met me in Garden City. The first thought was "Sis. Drinkwater, the blonde hair". He had been ITLed by her and called the number for a BofM. The crazy thing is that he doesn't live there, he was helping someone move. We got his information and set up a return appt. Then we had an amazing lesson with a recent convert family. We showed them the "Testaments" and the spirit was really strong. The best part was that a non-member cousin was there and she was crying her eyes out. We gave her a BofM and she has been reading it. About 10 minutes after leaving that appt. we walked past a house and felt prompted to knock on it. An old lady answered and let us in. We taught her a first and gave her a date. The great thing is that she understood really well for a 85 year old lady. A couple of hours later, we were walking to the church for the Young Womens Broadcast and we were ITLing this guy when a member called. Some girls from the College basketball team were coming over and she wanted us to "stop by" and talk with the girls. Her husband is a basketball coach at the college. So we "stopped by" and pretended that we were just passing through. We asked if we could leave a "spiritual thought" from the BofM. We then asked if the two girls would want a copy and we asked them to read from it. We then set up a return appt for Tuesday to teach them a 1st. Sweet! If we hadn't been walking we wouldn't have had that miracle. Then we got to the Broadcast and made it for the last two talks. Sister Dalton and Elder Utchdorf spoke. They spoke on our divinity as daughters of God and pushing through adversity. All which I needed to hear. So it was an amazing day!
Love, Sister Sumsion
Crazy stuff is happening down here. Our investigator, Joann, is having problems reaching her goal of baptism. The spanish Elders came up from Pueblo to help us talk to her "husband" about getting married (since he only speaks spanish). They resolved it, we thought and we planned for baptism that week. But five minutes before her interview she informs us that her husband changed his mind and doesn't want to get married because he doesn't want to go through the process of divorce. So we were pretty bummed. She is at the point where she has to decide if she'll move out. So we keep praying really hard and fasting for her but I don't know what will happen. She wants it so bad but she won't make that last step.
Well, we were low on our miles this month, so we went to walking everywhere. But because we walked everywhere the Lord placed people in our path. As we were walking through main street of La Junta, where all the businesses are, we passed this random house. Sis. Hamilton felt good about knocking on it and the person who answered asked if he had met me in Garden City. The first thought was "Sis. Drinkwater, the blonde hair". He had been ITLed by her and called the number for a BofM. The crazy thing is that he doesn't live there, he was helping someone move. We got his information and set up a return appt. Then we had an amazing lesson with a recent convert family. We showed them the "Testaments" and the spirit was really strong. The best part was that a non-member cousin was there and she was crying her eyes out. We gave her a BofM and she has been reading it. About 10 minutes after leaving that appt. we walked past a house and felt prompted to knock on it. An old lady answered and let us in. We taught her a first and gave her a date. The great thing is that she understood really well for a 85 year old lady. A couple of hours later, we were walking to the church for the Young Womens Broadcast and we were ITLing this guy when a member called. Some girls from the College basketball team were coming over and she wanted us to "stop by" and talk with the girls. Her husband is a basketball coach at the college. So we "stopped by" and pretended that we were just passing through. We asked if we could leave a "spiritual thought" from the BofM. We then asked if the two girls would want a copy and we asked them to read from it. We then set up a return appt for Tuesday to teach them a 1st. Sweet! If we hadn't been walking we wouldn't have had that miracle. Then we got to the Broadcast and made it for the last two talks. Sister Dalton and Elder Utchdorf spoke. They spoke on our divinity as daughters of God and pushing through adversity. All which I needed to hear. So it was an amazing day!
Love, Sister Sumsion
Monday, March 15
I Love to See the Temple
HI!
Since it was my half way mark (almost), the mission has a tradition of taking those missionaries to the temple at their halfway mark. So this week I got to go to the Denver Temple. I sure needed the recharge. It is amazing to see how real Satan is and how all this crazy stuff happened this week before I went.
The first one was with our investigator, Joann. She had her baptismal interview on Monday and we thought we were in the home stretch with her. But as the district leader was filling out her baptismal record he finds out that she isn't married to her "husband". Crash and burn! We had to tell her that she needed to get married before she could get baptized. She was so heartbroken because she wanted soooo bad. She went home that night crying but the wonderful thing is that she turned to the Book of Mormon and the conference talks we had given her for her support. She is now working with her "husband" for a marriage date. Her husband speaks spanish so we are having some spanish elders come up and teach him because he told us he would be interested in learning. He even came to church with Joann on Sunday. But Joann has such amazing strength. She keeps praying for her husband, and that he will want to get married, since they've been together for 15 years. She has great faith in the Lord that he will provide a way for her to get baptized. We keep praying for her and her husband that he will do it.
As for the temple, I felt like I have a new battery to get me through the rest of the mission. In the temple I resolved to work harder, be bolder and to give it my all so that I could come home on a stretcher. I love the feeling in the temple and the peace and calm that comes from it. I love how close one can feel to the Savior and to Heavenly Father in the Celestial room. It is a wonderful blessing that he has given to us that I don't take full advantage of. I was reminded of how, as missionaries, we are working to get these people, not only into the waters of baptism, but to receive the wonderful blessings of the temple.
Remember who you are!
Love Sister Sumsion
Since it was my half way mark (almost), the mission has a tradition of taking those missionaries to the temple at their halfway mark. So this week I got to go to the Denver Temple. I sure needed the recharge. It is amazing to see how real Satan is and how all this crazy stuff happened this week before I went.
The first one was with our investigator, Joann. She had her baptismal interview on Monday and we thought we were in the home stretch with her. But as the district leader was filling out her baptismal record he finds out that she isn't married to her "husband". Crash and burn! We had to tell her that she needed to get married before she could get baptized. She was so heartbroken because she wanted soooo bad. She went home that night crying but the wonderful thing is that she turned to the Book of Mormon and the conference talks we had given her for her support. She is now working with her "husband" for a marriage date. Her husband speaks spanish so we are having some spanish elders come up and teach him because he told us he would be interested in learning. He even came to church with Joann on Sunday. But Joann has such amazing strength. She keeps praying for her husband, and that he will want to get married, since they've been together for 15 years. She has great faith in the Lord that he will provide a way for her to get baptized. We keep praying for her and her husband that he will do it.
As for the temple, I felt like I have a new battery to get me through the rest of the mission. In the temple I resolved to work harder, be bolder and to give it my all so that I could come home on a stretcher. I love the feeling in the temple and the peace and calm that comes from it. I love how close one can feel to the Savior and to Heavenly Father in the Celestial room. It is a wonderful blessing that he has given to us that I don't take full advantage of. I was reminded of how, as missionaries, we are working to get these people, not only into the waters of baptism, but to receive the wonderful blessings of the temple.
Remember who you are!
Love Sister Sumsion
Monday, February 22
Down in Farm Country
Hi!
So a little bit about my new area, La Junta. It is a small town and reminds me of the towns down in Mt. Pleasent, Manti, etc. La Junta is about 1 hour east of Pueblo. The area we cover is huge. We live in La Junta which has 10,000 people and we cover several other towns which are much smaller-Ordway, Fowler, Las Animas, Swink, Rocky Ford, etc. The climate is about the same as Pueblo which means not a lot of snow. There are about 450 people on the ward roster and between 60-70 come to church each week. So there is a lot of potential work for reactivation. The bishop, who is new, is very focused on bringing back those less-actives. This ward is the second highest baptizing ward in the mission. They had 39 baptisms last year.
The first day we got here, we spent all day and several nights, cleaning the house (not apartment) which had been lived in by Elders for several years. It was gross!
We have to travel to Raton, New Mexico for our district meetings which is about 1 1/2 Southwest of us.
We met the ward on Sunday and they were so excited to have Sisters in the ward. I guess that it's been 6 years since they've had some. The ward, especially the Gonzales family (recent converts) are always sharing the gospel with family and friends and inviting them to meet with missionaries. Most of the baptisms last year came from member referrals. It's great that the members are heeding the call of the prophet and doing their duty to be member missionaries. Something exciting though, last year the missionaries baptized a guy from Mongolia! He was here at the Junior College as a foreign exchange student. I was sad to hear that he is at BYU-Hawaii for school.
My new companion is from Fairview Utah but her family moved to Virginia when she was a Junior in High School. She came back to Utah to go to SUU for college. She has five siblings, four girls and one boy (weird...)
We had zone conference yesterday and it was awesome! There are some things that we talked about that can able to everyone. We talked about the armor of God and how the only thing that is not covered is the back. He said that we need to be the protection for our companion and to watch their back, to help them not get into trouble and to be obeident. As families, friends and husbands and wives, we should all watch each others back so that Satan won't be able to overtake them. The mission president also said that we don't have anything on our back is because we don't retreat. This is an ongoing battle with Satan which started in the pre-mortal world. It is an ongoing spiritual battle to protect ourselves from him and to save others from him.
We also talked about how every ordinance in the church is an ordinance of forgiveness. Think about that. Also, when we partake of the sacrament, we are renewing ALL our covenants (baptism, temple and personal). So there is some food for thought and remember not to take the sacrament lightly. If we do our part, the Lord promises us to always have his spirit to be with us. That is the best gift he can give us.
Remember the church is true, so keep the faith and win the war!
Love Sister Sumsion
So a little bit about my new area, La Junta. It is a small town and reminds me of the towns down in Mt. Pleasent, Manti, etc. La Junta is about 1 hour east of Pueblo. The area we cover is huge. We live in La Junta which has 10,000 people and we cover several other towns which are much smaller-Ordway, Fowler, Las Animas, Swink, Rocky Ford, etc. The climate is about the same as Pueblo which means not a lot of snow. There are about 450 people on the ward roster and between 60-70 come to church each week. So there is a lot of potential work for reactivation. The bishop, who is new, is very focused on bringing back those less-actives. This ward is the second highest baptizing ward in the mission. They had 39 baptisms last year.
The first day we got here, we spent all day and several nights, cleaning the house (not apartment) which had been lived in by Elders for several years. It was gross!
We have to travel to Raton, New Mexico for our district meetings which is about 1 1/2 Southwest of us.
We met the ward on Sunday and they were so excited to have Sisters in the ward. I guess that it's been 6 years since they've had some. The ward, especially the Gonzales family (recent converts) are always sharing the gospel with family and friends and inviting them to meet with missionaries. Most of the baptisms last year came from member referrals. It's great that the members are heeding the call of the prophet and doing their duty to be member missionaries. Something exciting though, last year the missionaries baptized a guy from Mongolia! He was here at the Junior College as a foreign exchange student. I was sad to hear that he is at BYU-Hawaii for school.
My new companion is from Fairview Utah but her family moved to Virginia when she was a Junior in High School. She came back to Utah to go to SUU for college. She has five siblings, four girls and one boy (weird...)
We had zone conference yesterday and it was awesome! There are some things that we talked about that can able to everyone. We talked about the armor of God and how the only thing that is not covered is the back. He said that we need to be the protection for our companion and to watch their back, to help them not get into trouble and to be obeident. As families, friends and husbands and wives, we should all watch each others back so that Satan won't be able to overtake them. The mission president also said that we don't have anything on our back is because we don't retreat. This is an ongoing battle with Satan which started in the pre-mortal world. It is an ongoing spiritual battle to protect ourselves from him and to save others from him.
We also talked about how every ordinance in the church is an ordinance of forgiveness. Think about that. Also, when we partake of the sacrament, we are renewing ALL our covenants (baptism, temple and personal). So there is some food for thought and remember not to take the sacrament lightly. If we do our part, the Lord promises us to always have his spirit to be with us. That is the best gift he can give us.
Remember the church is true, so keep the faith and win the war!
Love Sister Sumsion
2 Down, 13 More to Go
Hi!
This week we had a wonderful mission conference with Elder L. Tom Perry and Elder Halestrom from the seventy. We got to shake his hand so that is what the subject line is for. I only have 13 more apostles to meet. I loved both of their talks. I would like to share some notes from the conference.
Elder Halestrom's talk:
-There is no other organization that can turn young people, who are in the most selfish part of their life, into unselfish people.
-Your mission will be your foundation, your spiritual foundation for the rest of your life. You will KNOW who you are; you will know your relationship with God and that faith and trust will be so grounded into your very being.
-He talked about how we can be taught by the spirit. He said that we need to follow Moroni's advice in chapter 10:3-5. First we need to have real intent which means that we will act upon any answer or direction that God gives us. He asked us the question: "When we learn something, do we have the intent that we will follow what we learn? Second, we need to have faith in Christ. Third, we need to have a sincere heart. So we need to do these three things if we are to be taught by the spirit. We need to have this mentality when we go to church, when we go to general conference, when we read our scriptures, etc.
-He said that the greatest thing that we can give to the Lord is our WILL. Actually that is the only thing that he hasn't given to us. Everything he ask from us (time, money, etc.), he has already given to us. He tied this back to learning by the spirit. When need to be saying, "Whatever you ask Lord, I WILL DO!" if we are to be taught by the Spirit.
Elder L. Tom Perry's talk:
-He said that as members of Christ church, it is OUR responsibility to declare to the world that the power of God (the priesthood) is again on the earth.
-He talked alot about how it is essential that Christ church be set up as an organization. He shared some scriptures with us. Luke 6:12-13; Matt 17:1-4; Eph. 4:11-15; Articles of Faith #5; D&C 13; D&C 110
-He mentioned that if someone sends in a letter to the apostles that is asking a doctrinal question and it can't be answered by pointing to the scriptures or a church manual, they send the question to the prophet who takes it to the Lord in prayer. I thought that it was really cool that the only person who can receive revelation that clarifies doctrine and can find out the true interpertation of scripture is the prophet.
-I love seeing apostles not in conference because they are so much more relaxed. Elder Perry is the third in line to be the prophet after Elder Packer and he joked around that he is checking Elder Packer's blood pressure everyday. He said that he doesn't care how long he lives as long as Elder Packer lives one day longer than him. It was great to see that these men aren't aspiring to be the prophet. In fact, they would rather not have that responsibility on their shoulders. I come across alot of people who think that the leaders of our church are power hungry.
Cool miracle for the week: We went tracting in a small town called Las Animas. After 10 minutes of tracting we were let in by a woman named Joan whose niece had just died and she seemed very depressed about it. We talked alot about the Atonement and the Restoration and how this church can bring her more peace than anything else because it's Christ Church. She accepted a date to be baptized and has read from the Book of Mormon since then. She told us, when we asked about baptism a few days later, that she knew that this was the right thing and she knows that it will bring her peace. Now we just have to get her to church.
So after leaving Joan's house, we were in awe because so few people let us in and let us teach them a lesson. We went back to tracting. Both of us felt like we should no longer be on that street so we picked another street that we felt good about. Within five minutes of tracting, we street contacted a younger lady outside her house. She, Katie, also let us in and we taught her a 1st lesson too. She also accepted a date! Never has that happened where we got two new investigators within five minutes of each other! It was crazy! We had Katie pray before we left, about the BofM. She told us that she felt like this could be true and would bring her closer to God. After leaving Katie's house we looked at each other and said how awesome God is and the miracles we get to experience in his behalf.
I love my Heavenly Father and the power of faith! For without faith, miracles could not be. Miracles can and do happen everyday as long as we turn to the Lord and have the faith to trust him and his will. Give the Lord the one gift you can give, your will and many miracles will happen.
Remember the church is true so keep the FAITH!
Love Sister Sumsion
This week we had a wonderful mission conference with Elder L. Tom Perry and Elder Halestrom from the seventy. We got to shake his hand so that is what the subject line is for. I only have 13 more apostles to meet. I loved both of their talks. I would like to share some notes from the conference.
Elder Halestrom's talk:
-There is no other organization that can turn young people, who are in the most selfish part of their life, into unselfish people.
-Your mission will be your foundation, your spiritual foundation for the rest of your life. You will KNOW who you are; you will know your relationship with God and that faith and trust will be so grounded into your very being.
-He talked about how we can be taught by the spirit. He said that we need to follow Moroni's advice in chapter 10:3-5. First we need to have real intent which means that we will act upon any answer or direction that God gives us. He asked us the question: "When we learn something, do we have the intent that we will follow what we learn? Second, we need to have faith in Christ. Third, we need to have a sincere heart. So we need to do these three things if we are to be taught by the spirit. We need to have this mentality when we go to church, when we go to general conference, when we read our scriptures, etc.
-He said that the greatest thing that we can give to the Lord is our WILL. Actually that is the only thing that he hasn't given to us. Everything he ask from us (time, money, etc.), he has already given to us. He tied this back to learning by the spirit. When need to be saying, "Whatever you ask Lord, I WILL DO!" if we are to be taught by the Spirit.
Elder L. Tom Perry's talk:
-He said that as members of Christ church, it is OUR responsibility to declare to the world that the power of God (the priesthood) is again on the earth.
-He talked alot about how it is essential that Christ church be set up as an organization. He shared some scriptures with us. Luke 6:12-13; Matt 17:1-4; Eph. 4:11-15; Articles of Faith #5; D&C 13; D&C 110
-He mentioned that if someone sends in a letter to the apostles that is asking a doctrinal question and it can't be answered by pointing to the scriptures or a church manual, they send the question to the prophet who takes it to the Lord in prayer. I thought that it was really cool that the only person who can receive revelation that clarifies doctrine and can find out the true interpertation of scripture is the prophet.
-I love seeing apostles not in conference because they are so much more relaxed. Elder Perry is the third in line to be the prophet after Elder Packer and he joked around that he is checking Elder Packer's blood pressure everyday. He said that he doesn't care how long he lives as long as Elder Packer lives one day longer than him. It was great to see that these men aren't aspiring to be the prophet. In fact, they would rather not have that responsibility on their shoulders. I come across alot of people who think that the leaders of our church are power hungry.
Cool miracle for the week: We went tracting in a small town called Las Animas. After 10 minutes of tracting we were let in by a woman named Joan whose niece had just died and she seemed very depressed about it. We talked alot about the Atonement and the Restoration and how this church can bring her more peace than anything else because it's Christ Church. She accepted a date to be baptized and has read from the Book of Mormon since then. She told us, when we asked about baptism a few days later, that she knew that this was the right thing and she knows that it will bring her peace. Now we just have to get her to church.
So after leaving Joan's house, we were in awe because so few people let us in and let us teach them a lesson. We went back to tracting. Both of us felt like we should no longer be on that street so we picked another street that we felt good about. Within five minutes of tracting, we street contacted a younger lady outside her house. She, Katie, also let us in and we taught her a 1st lesson too. She also accepted a date! Never has that happened where we got two new investigators within five minutes of each other! It was crazy! We had Katie pray before we left, about the BofM. She told us that she felt like this could be true and would bring her closer to God. After leaving Katie's house we looked at each other and said how awesome God is and the miracles we get to experience in his behalf.
I love my Heavenly Father and the power of faith! For without faith, miracles could not be. Miracles can and do happen everyday as long as we turn to the Lord and have the faith to trust him and his will. Give the Lord the one gift you can give, your will and many miracles will happen.
Remember the church is true so keep the FAITH!
Love Sister Sumsion
Tuesday, January 19
"Hi Sister Sumsion" - Elder Nelson
HI!!
So this week was Stake Conference and we had an apostle come, Elder Nelson. It was a great experience and we had three investigators come who got to see the apostle speak. After the meeting everyone went up to shake his hand. When I went up to talk to him, he gave my nametag a weird look and asked what it was. I told him it was in Mongolian. He told me that country is a great place (we went there last year to dedicate their first stake). It was so cool!
Anyway, you know that family we were teaching and how they wouldn't get married. President told us to drop them at interviews if they still wouldn't get married. Well, that night after interviews, we went over to their house with the resolve to do as he asked. But Satan sure puts up a good fight. First, they had bought pizza for us and then they got each of us a necklace, that says "Jesus is Love". Satan was not going to make this easy for us. We've come to love them and see how they've gained a testimony of the church. So we sat there eating pizza, and shoving our face with food because we were stressed out. They had gotten all these things for us and we were going to have to say we couldn't come over anymore. After they were done eating we pulled out a calender for the month of January and laid it on the table. We then told them to pick a date for baptism and for marriage. Ron said that he wouldn't do it so we started to resolve concerns one more time. We made it very clear to him that sex outside of marriage was a sin. We told him that God had answered his prayers to get married. He told us that he knows that. We told him that the best way to break free from his past bad experiences was to marry the woman who had been with him for four years and who loved him. He told us that over the past few days, he had been praying for help and he has realized that, that wall (fear and pain from experiences) was gone. He told us that the thing holding him back is that he wanted to do it his way by fufilling his dream (perfect wedding, proposal, etc). Then one of my favorite scriptures came to mind (Mosiah 2:20-23) which lists a portion of what God does for and has done for us and that all he asks from us is to keep his commandments and then he promises to give us more. So I poured my heart and soul out to him and told him that God has given him EVERYTHING and that He even sent his perfect son to die for his sins! This was the first time that I truly spake from the heart and bore my sincere testimony in a lesson. I said, with tears in my eyes (of course-I always cry), that all God asks from us is to keep his commandments and that can't even scratch the surface of what he has done for us. I pleaded with him to try, try to pick a date. When I spoke to him, I could feel the overwhelming love that Heavenly Father had for him and I hadn't really experienced it in this way before. So I laid my heart out on the table and told him to pick a date. The Spirit was so strong! We probably waited a good minute while he looked at the calender and he was soooo close, so close to picking a date. I could see the fight going on in his head. But then he decided to slap his Savior in the face and told us that he couldn't do it. He didn't want to give up his dream. I felt like my heart broke. I haven't had that feeling very many times. He loved his Savior and he knew that this was the true church and he really wanted to get baptized and to be with his family forever. But he was giving all that up for a dream to have a perfect wedding on his timetable.
So then Sis. Ellison told him and his girlfriend that we couldn't meet with them (I was just trying to keep it together with bursting into tears). We would stop by every so often but we couldn't come over every night to teach them. It was probably the hardest thing i have ever done or experienced. I didn't feel sorrow for myself and how I was missing out on two baptisms (which would have been my first) but how they were missing out on the blessings and how they were disappointing God. As we left, I could barely hold it together and when we got back to the car, I broke into tears. While we were driving back to our next appointment, Sis. Ellison just comforted me in the backseat. I know that I sound pathetic but they were so close! If they had been married they would have been baptized by now, that's how close they were.
The thing I learned from that experience was that I realized what potential I have as a missionary to teach and to love.
Satan is not making my mission easy for me. But I know that the blessings will come for enduring it well. My mission has been one trial of my faith after another and it will just get harder. But I can see how God is putting me through the refiner's fire and turning me into my greatest potential, into a diamond.
Love you all! The church is true so keep the faith because that is all the God asks of you!
Love, Sister Sumsion
So this week was Stake Conference and we had an apostle come, Elder Nelson. It was a great experience and we had three investigators come who got to see the apostle speak. After the meeting everyone went up to shake his hand. When I went up to talk to him, he gave my nametag a weird look and asked what it was. I told him it was in Mongolian. He told me that country is a great place (we went there last year to dedicate their first stake). It was so cool!
Anyway, you know that family we were teaching and how they wouldn't get married. President told us to drop them at interviews if they still wouldn't get married. Well, that night after interviews, we went over to their house with the resolve to do as he asked. But Satan sure puts up a good fight. First, they had bought pizza for us and then they got each of us a necklace, that says "Jesus is Love". Satan was not going to make this easy for us. We've come to love them and see how they've gained a testimony of the church. So we sat there eating pizza, and shoving our face with food because we were stressed out. They had gotten all these things for us and we were going to have to say we couldn't come over anymore. After they were done eating we pulled out a calender for the month of January and laid it on the table. We then told them to pick a date for baptism and for marriage. Ron said that he wouldn't do it so we started to resolve concerns one more time. We made it very clear to him that sex outside of marriage was a sin. We told him that God had answered his prayers to get married. He told us that he knows that. We told him that the best way to break free from his past bad experiences was to marry the woman who had been with him for four years and who loved him. He told us that over the past few days, he had been praying for help and he has realized that, that wall (fear and pain from experiences) was gone. He told us that the thing holding him back is that he wanted to do it his way by fufilling his dream (perfect wedding, proposal, etc). Then one of my favorite scriptures came to mind (Mosiah 2:20-23) which lists a portion of what God does for and has done for us and that all he asks from us is to keep his commandments and then he promises to give us more. So I poured my heart and soul out to him and told him that God has given him EVERYTHING and that He even sent his perfect son to die for his sins! This was the first time that I truly spake from the heart and bore my sincere testimony in a lesson. I said, with tears in my eyes (of course-I always cry), that all God asks from us is to keep his commandments and that can't even scratch the surface of what he has done for us. I pleaded with him to try, try to pick a date. When I spoke to him, I could feel the overwhelming love that Heavenly Father had for him and I hadn't really experienced it in this way before. So I laid my heart out on the table and told him to pick a date. The Spirit was so strong! We probably waited a good minute while he looked at the calender and he was soooo close, so close to picking a date. I could see the fight going on in his head. But then he decided to slap his Savior in the face and told us that he couldn't do it. He didn't want to give up his dream. I felt like my heart broke. I haven't had that feeling very many times. He loved his Savior and he knew that this was the true church and he really wanted to get baptized and to be with his family forever. But he was giving all that up for a dream to have a perfect wedding on his timetable.
So then Sis. Ellison told him and his girlfriend that we couldn't meet with them (I was just trying to keep it together with bursting into tears). We would stop by every so often but we couldn't come over every night to teach them. It was probably the hardest thing i have ever done or experienced. I didn't feel sorrow for myself and how I was missing out on two baptisms (which would have been my first) but how they were missing out on the blessings and how they were disappointing God. As we left, I could barely hold it together and when we got back to the car, I broke into tears. While we were driving back to our next appointment, Sis. Ellison just comforted me in the backseat. I know that I sound pathetic but they were so close! If they had been married they would have been baptized by now, that's how close they were.
The thing I learned from that experience was that I realized what potential I have as a missionary to teach and to love.
Satan is not making my mission easy for me. But I know that the blessings will come for enduring it well. My mission has been one trial of my faith after another and it will just get harder. But I can see how God is putting me through the refiner's fire and turning me into my greatest potential, into a diamond.
Love you all! The church is true so keep the faith because that is all the God asks of you!
Love, Sister Sumsion
Monday, January 11
Wow, this has been the craziest week of my mission!!
Hi!!!
This has been the craziest week of my mission! So in the last week's email I mentioned a guy, who accepted a date to be baptized. Well, we went back two days later to teach his wife the first lesson. She accepted a date too! We also found out that the oldest child is eight years old. We went back again this week and taught them the plan of salvation with a cute married couple who are members. We focused a lot on eternal families and by their body language it seemed to be something that they really wanted. We asked the member couple to bear their testimony about being an eternal family and it brought the spirit so strong. They've been reading the BofM and the husband (they're the Franklins) has been talking to church members at his work about the BofM. The struggle with them (and their always seems to be something that hinders an investigator and could keep them from getting baptized) is they both have crazy work schedules and the usually work on Sundays. For someone to get baptized they have to come to church at least twice. So we are praying really hard that when they get their schedules on Thursday that they will have sunday off because this weekend is Stake Conference and Elder Nelson, an apostle, is coming.
We are also teaching another family, the Dikemans. We started teaching this family awhile back but only the boyfriend was interested in learning more and the girlfriend wasn't interested but liked us coming over. Neither were too excited about baptism when we asked if they wanted to be baptized the first time we taught them. Since the first time we taught them, which was over a month ago, we've only met with them 2-3 times. We decided to do a "do or die" lesson with them on Monday night. Which means that if they won't commit to setting a goal to be baptized that we won't meet with them again and use that time to look for more solid investigators.
That night, we asked the boyfriend during the lesson if he believes that this is Christ church. He told us that he does and that he knows it's true. (That's music to a missionaries ears!!) The girlfriend, Angela, seemed more interested during this lesson so we committed her to find out for herself it was true. We set a baptismal goal with them for the 17th (the same for the Franklins too.) An important thing with teaching people, is to have daily contact with them so that they can continually feel the spirit and will know that being baptized should be a big focus. A couple of days later we did a church tour with them so that we could get them in the church building and that they could feel the spirit there. This time the roles switched. The girlfriend seemed super excited about church and the boyfriend seemed nervous. (He has social anxiety so large groups are a problem for him.) The next day at our next lesson, the girlfriend told us that she had a dream the night before the church tour. That night she had been praying about the church and in that dream she was getting baptized. She said that when we opened up the font at the church tour, it was just like in her dream. When she said that, I almost cried! I could see that joy on her face and her strong desire to want to get baptized. Now she is so solid and is doing everything we ask of her so that she can get baptized!
However, during that lesson, they broke out into a small fight about how they've been together four years and with two kids and how they still aren't married. Our eyes were so huge! We thought that they had been married the whole time. We didn't want to tell them that they would have to get married if they wanted to be baptized. Because they were soooo excited about baptism and we thought that we were safe for the 17th. So that night we prayed so hard that God would give us the strength and courage to be bold with them when we taught the law of Chastity and told them that they had to get married since they are living together under common law. The problem is with the boyfriend. He's had bad experiences with past girlfriends that keep him from wanting to get married because he doesn't want history to repeat itself. The girlfriend is all for it and would do it tomorrow if he said yes. We were able to tell him that he needed to get married. He wants to but not yet. But they both came to church on Sunday which was a first for me. All I can tell you is that it is super stressful having investigators at church because you are worried about someone saying something about deep doctrine. We are praying really hard for both families to help them overcome their road blocks and can reach their baptismal date of Jan 17th.
But it has been wonderful to have someone to teach but, man, having investigators is so stressful. I always think to myself, "I prayed for this!?"
Remember the church is true so keep the faith!
Love Sister Sumsion
This has been the craziest week of my mission! So in the last week's email I mentioned a guy, who accepted a date to be baptized. Well, we went back two days later to teach his wife the first lesson. She accepted a date too! We also found out that the oldest child is eight years old. We went back again this week and taught them the plan of salvation with a cute married couple who are members. We focused a lot on eternal families and by their body language it seemed to be something that they really wanted. We asked the member couple to bear their testimony about being an eternal family and it brought the spirit so strong. They've been reading the BofM and the husband (they're the Franklins) has been talking to church members at his work about the BofM. The struggle with them (and their always seems to be something that hinders an investigator and could keep them from getting baptized) is they both have crazy work schedules and the usually work on Sundays. For someone to get baptized they have to come to church at least twice. So we are praying really hard that when they get their schedules on Thursday that they will have sunday off because this weekend is Stake Conference and Elder Nelson, an apostle, is coming.
We are also teaching another family, the Dikemans. We started teaching this family awhile back but only the boyfriend was interested in learning more and the girlfriend wasn't interested but liked us coming over. Neither were too excited about baptism when we asked if they wanted to be baptized the first time we taught them. Since the first time we taught them, which was over a month ago, we've only met with them 2-3 times. We decided to do a "do or die" lesson with them on Monday night. Which means that if they won't commit to setting a goal to be baptized that we won't meet with them again and use that time to look for more solid investigators.
That night, we asked the boyfriend during the lesson if he believes that this is Christ church. He told us that he does and that he knows it's true. (That's music to a missionaries ears!!) The girlfriend, Angela, seemed more interested during this lesson so we committed her to find out for herself it was true. We set a baptismal goal with them for the 17th (the same for the Franklins too.) An important thing with teaching people, is to have daily contact with them so that they can continually feel the spirit and will know that being baptized should be a big focus. A couple of days later we did a church tour with them so that we could get them in the church building and that they could feel the spirit there. This time the roles switched. The girlfriend seemed super excited about church and the boyfriend seemed nervous. (He has social anxiety so large groups are a problem for him.) The next day at our next lesson, the girlfriend told us that she had a dream the night before the church tour. That night she had been praying about the church and in that dream she was getting baptized. She said that when we opened up the font at the church tour, it was just like in her dream. When she said that, I almost cried! I could see that joy on her face and her strong desire to want to get baptized. Now she is so solid and is doing everything we ask of her so that she can get baptized!
However, during that lesson, they broke out into a small fight about how they've been together four years and with two kids and how they still aren't married. Our eyes were so huge! We thought that they had been married the whole time. We didn't want to tell them that they would have to get married if they wanted to be baptized. Because they were soooo excited about baptism and we thought that we were safe for the 17th. So that night we prayed so hard that God would give us the strength and courage to be bold with them when we taught the law of Chastity and told them that they had to get married since they are living together under common law. The problem is with the boyfriend. He's had bad experiences with past girlfriends that keep him from wanting to get married because he doesn't want history to repeat itself. The girlfriend is all for it and would do it tomorrow if he said yes. We were able to tell him that he needed to get married. He wants to but not yet. But they both came to church on Sunday which was a first for me. All I can tell you is that it is super stressful having investigators at church because you are worried about someone saying something about deep doctrine. We are praying really hard for both families to help them overcome their road blocks and can reach their baptismal date of Jan 17th.
But it has been wonderful to have someone to teach but, man, having investigators is so stressful. I always think to myself, "I prayed for this!?"
Remember the church is true so keep the faith!
Love Sister Sumsion
Monday, January 4
"After the trials, come the blessings"
Hi!
I forgot to mention transfers from last week. Sis. Soldinger was transferred to Colorado Springs and me, Sis. Yancey and Ellison were put into a threesome. Being in a threesome is a difficult challenge. Teaching together seems to be the hardest because everyone wants to say something but you don't want the lesson to drag on forever. But we've been practicing to polish our teaching.
Anyway, after three months of struggling to find people, our teaching pool seems to be growing at a fast rate. I mentioned a less-active mother and her son last week. That fell through because we tried several times to get a hold of her and we were unsuccessful. We left our number with the uninterested, nonmember husband and told them to give us a call if she wanted us to come over.
But here come the miracles, last night we were tracting right before a dinner and we knocked on this guy's door. We told him about the BofM and asked if we could teach him more. He said that he was busy now but to come back later. So we came back after our dinner and he was shocked to see us. (I guess they think we won't come back) He let us in and we taught him a first lesson. (He is in his early 30s and has two kids-hopefully one is over the age of eight) When we extended the baptismal commitment after the 1st vision he accepted and accepted Jan 17th to be baptized. (We always extended baptism and a date on the 1st lesson, helps us see who is really ready and commited. We give them a date to work towards to, like a goal.) The spirit was there and we could tell by his reactions and body language that he was feeling the spirit. When we asked him about the 1st vision and how he felt when we told it, he said that he didn't really doubt that it wasn't true. Those are great words to hear. So we are going back on tomorrow and we set it up so we could teach his wife too. We also have recent converts to teach (from other missionaries) and some other potential investigators that we found a few days ago. I actually feel like a real missionary now.
I keep trying to work on my faith especially in my faith to find the people who have been prepared to hear the gospel, because God has promised us that the field is white and that there are people ready. We just need to find them which he helps us do. Isn't that amazing, how God helps us accomplish his work. It seems a little backwards but that's how he works.
The church is true so keep the faith!
Love Sister Sumsion
I forgot to mention transfers from last week. Sis. Soldinger was transferred to Colorado Springs and me, Sis. Yancey and Ellison were put into a threesome. Being in a threesome is a difficult challenge. Teaching together seems to be the hardest because everyone wants to say something but you don't want the lesson to drag on forever. But we've been practicing to polish our teaching.
Anyway, after three months of struggling to find people, our teaching pool seems to be growing at a fast rate. I mentioned a less-active mother and her son last week. That fell through because we tried several times to get a hold of her and we were unsuccessful. We left our number with the uninterested, nonmember husband and told them to give us a call if she wanted us to come over.
But here come the miracles, last night we were tracting right before a dinner and we knocked on this guy's door. We told him about the BofM and asked if we could teach him more. He said that he was busy now but to come back later. So we came back after our dinner and he was shocked to see us. (I guess they think we won't come back) He let us in and we taught him a first lesson. (He is in his early 30s and has two kids-hopefully one is over the age of eight) When we extended the baptismal commitment after the 1st vision he accepted and accepted Jan 17th to be baptized. (We always extended baptism and a date on the 1st lesson, helps us see who is really ready and commited. We give them a date to work towards to, like a goal.) The spirit was there and we could tell by his reactions and body language that he was feeling the spirit. When we asked him about the 1st vision and how he felt when we told it, he said that he didn't really doubt that it wasn't true. Those are great words to hear. So we are going back on tomorrow and we set it up so we could teach his wife too. We also have recent converts to teach (from other missionaries) and some other potential investigators that we found a few days ago. I actually feel like a real missionary now.
I keep trying to work on my faith especially in my faith to find the people who have been prepared to hear the gospel, because God has promised us that the field is white and that there are people ready. We just need to find them which he helps us do. Isn't that amazing, how God helps us accomplish his work. It seems a little backwards but that's how he works.
The church is true so keep the faith!
Love Sister Sumsion
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