A Week of Blessings!

Hello! This has been an awesome week to be a sister missionary in the Paseo Verde ward! We have been working really hard this transfer and are really starting to see the fruits of our labors! Next week is transfers and I'm nervous to see if I will stay or go! I love this ward and the people in it.  

On Monday after p-day we went to the Wadsworth's for dinner. They are so funny. Apparently they put the rice on too late so it was still a little crunchy, so we all made jokes about crunchy rice the whole time. Brother Wadsworth used to do the emergency signal back when it wasn't a recorded voice, so he did it for us - so funny. After dinner we  had Family Home Evening with the Brown's. We did an object lesson with them about the importance of going to church, praying, and studying the scriptures. It was fun! Their kids are really cute. One of them was talking about how all of that helps us to "cling to the iron rod" and then he proceeded to show us how he would hold on to the iron rod by pretending to hold on all the way around the room and scooting himself along.  Cute! 

Tuesday morning we had a lesson with Denia and did the same object lesson with her. We committed her to read The Book of Mormon every day. After the lesson she went to Seagull Books and bought some Book of Mormon study books - all FOUR volumes - to help her in her studies! She also bought a bunch of Mormon Tabernacle Choir CDs and some Vocal Point CDs :) When she commits, she really commits! After that lesson we went with Sister Furstenau to a lesson that she had with an investigator that is struggling with depression. We talked to her for a long time and told her to read Jeffrey R. Holland's "Like A Broken Vessel" talk from General Conference. She was an awesome lady and we are praying that she'll be able to feel her Heavenly Father's love for her. For lunch we went to Great Harvest Bread Co and some members bought us sandwiches and loaves of bread! It was so nice! The members here are so good to us. 

We also started teaching new member lessons with one of our recent converts, Apple (she was baptized right before I came to Anthem). Apple is awesome. She is so kind and has really strong faith. We got to talk about the Restoration and the priesthood a bit with her. After that we went to visit a lady, Myrtle Brown, in our ward that lives in a care home outside of our area. She is NINETY EIGHT YEARS OLD!!  She is so sharp and so smart! We sat with her for a while and she told us about her family and grand kids and a whole bunch of really neat stuff! We had a great time with her. That night we went to the Christensen's for dinner and then to do ward visits with the ward council!  

Wednesday was a really fun day. We were driving past Denia's house and saw that she was outside. We stopped to say hi and saw that she was taking her groceries inside and was getting ready to plant some flowers in her front yard. We, of course, helped her take her groceries in. She was telling us all about the strange vegetables and fruit that she had gotten (she is a nutritionist). We found an apple in the bag of pomegranates that she had bought.  Then after that was all done, we went out and helped her plant the flowers! It was so much fun! She told us about her family and her life growing up. She told us about why she knows that the Church is true. It was awesome!! While we were there, one of our investigators that we have a hard time getting a hold of drove past and stopped and talked with us! And one of the less active members in our ward stopped by and talked with all of us for a few minutes! It was awesome! 

On Thursday we had another lesson with Denia, and then later in the day we held a stake out right outside of her house while we made calls. We waited for our investigator that we had seen while we were planting flowers in Denia's garden to pass! We waited for about an hour and then he came around the corner! He stopped to talk to us again and we set up a lesson with him! Hooray for persistence! Hahaha. That night we had dinner with Sister Parker and her husband, Irwin. We love Irwin! They took us out to the Cheesecake Factory.  YUM. Sister Parker has a daughter on a mission in Argentina. We love them, they are so nice to us. 

Friday was interviews with President! I love interviews!! It was crazy, we started at 1 and weren't done until 6...and I thought running 5 minutes over during Sacrament meeting was bad... Try 3 hours! It was still a blast though. Sister Neider always has the best trainings and talking to President is always the best. We also got to interview with Sister Neider, she always makes me feel so good about myself! She told me that I am a really strong leader in our mission and that it shows through the progression in our area. 

After interviews we helped set up for the Anthem Stake Relief Society Activity. IT WAS CRAZY. The Relief Society presidency brought 5 trucks full of stuff and a U-Haul (one of the full sized ones!) of stuff for decorations! They made about 150 cake plates to have the food on, brought full sized antique doors and frames, hung things on every wall - when it was done it was probably the most beautiful church gym I have ever seen. Mom, you should probably step it up with your Relief Society activities... ;) There was a former General RS President coming to speak to the stake, so that was a neat thing! We even had some investigators come! 

Saturday was Zone Training. Another meeting that went a few hours over... hahah! It was really good though. That night we had dinner with members from Sister Furstenau's ward. The people we had dinner with were from Michigan! And they had just been back to Holland to visit!! I was so excited! So I got to eat some candy that they brought back from my home :) That night we had a really powerful and spiritual lesson with our investigator, Matt, at the Zitzmann's house. We taught the Restoration. It was amazing! 

Sunday was a miracle! When church was about to start, one of the less active families that we have been working with walked in and sat in front of us!! We were beyond excited! We stopped by that night and they told us that their 13 year old daughter woke them all up for church and made them go!! Then they told us that they want us to come and teach all the lessons... and that they want to take all the empty days that we have left on our dinner calendar!! They are awesome! Also at church, our Stake President invited Denia and us to go to Family Home Evening at his house tonight.  Denia was so cute and came early to church for choir practice! And she also said that she wants to be called "Sister Mette'" :) ALSO one of our members called us and said that she was talking to one of her friends and she used the willing and brief invitation that we've been teaching to our members and it worked! We have a lesson on Thursday with her friend! 

Our investigators are great! Denia moved her baptism up to February 22! She calls us her kids. Missy is doing well too. I love it here.  Sister Harrison is great, I love her. We have so much fun together, and we love Sister Furstenau :) We are still obsessed with braindrops. We throw them over the shower curtain, during studies, at lunch, pretty much all the time. 

Have a great week! Serve others! I love you!

 

Love, Sister Coltrin

 

PS. Happy Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

More Braindrops fun

 

 

 

Sister Harrison and Sister Coltrin at the Las Vegas Temple