week 26

Familia--

 

Wow. I don't even know where to start. ELDER TANUVASA COMES TOMORROW. and i'm praying that for some reason I have the miracle and blessing of seeing him. 

 

This week, well things are all over the place as always. But I noticed something as we talked to person after person this week.

 

A common question we are asked is, "Were you raised in the church?"

 

At the start of my misison, I HATED that question. I always felt like the person immediately discredited everything else I would say after that because they knew that was how I was born and raised and I really don't know any different. As time has gone on though, I've started speaking up. Now when someone asks my response goes a little like this, 

 

"Yes. I was born and raised in the church. But their comes a time in everyone's life where they have to know for themselves. I can honestly tell you that my parents wouldn't be able to send me off to Florida for a year and a half to teach this gospel. I could only rely on them for so long before I had to know for myself"

 

There is a quote in Preach My Gospel that has come to my mind again and again this last week: "Every man eventually is backed up to the wall of fiath, and there he must make his stand" - Ezra Taft Benson

There are very distinct times in my life where I feel like my testimony grew a little more. And as I reflect on those times it helps me to better understand how personally God knows each of us. Our testimonies develop according to our needs. God works in mysterious ways, so that one day, when we are backed up to our wall of faith, we truly will be able to make our own stand.

 

Love you all!

Sister Mal

 

P.S. Sister Olson and I are making big changes this week and we are really excited to see what the Lord has instore. We just hope we have enough faith to carry it out. Prayers for faith would be wonderful :)

This is what sister Olson looks at all day. Hahahahahah

Hermione on her way to District Meeting! 

the bump on my left heel is a bug bite... shoes are painful to wear because of it.

The last picture of the Tampa 2 sisters all together. Sister Tawzer leaves us this week! 

week 25

i have no idea what even to say about this week....

 

BUT PEPE COMES NEXT WEEK. oh my hannah. I'm SO excited. you have no idea.

 

so i really don't know where to start. i feel like this might just be word vomit.

 

we got a call on tuesday this week from our ward mission leader and it went like this...

 

Me: Hello this is Sister Sackley!

Him: Hello! Do you want to baptize some people?

Me: Umm... of course we do.

Him: Well perfect. We have a family that has an 8 year old and an 11 year old. Their dad is a member but hasn't attended church in years. Their mom is not a member. The bishop just got a call from their grandpa, who is an active member, saying that the grandkids want to be baptized. The grandpa said he got a call from his son this week saying that his kids wanted to be members. So he told his son that they needed to meet with the missionaries and gain testimonies and go through the whole process. And his son said, "we'll do whatever we have to do". So go baptize them!

Me:................................................... what.

Him: You heard me.

Me:................. This isn't a bad april fool's joke or something... right?!

Him: I wouldn't be that mean!

Me:.............. OH MY GOODNESS. YOU'RE SERIOUS.

Him: Yes....

Me: WE'RE ON IT!

 

so it's taken just about the whole week to get in contact with the family, but we finally have an appointment set up for this week. We're beyond excited. Pray for the Callicoat family. God works in mysterious ways and we are excited to help them come closer to Christ. The day we got the call we had worked ridiculously hard, and had seen nothing come of it. Our prayers aren't always answered how we want, but God's plan is better than anything I could have even dreamed of.

 

Love ya!

Sister Mal

Tina-- the less active i wrote about a couple weeks ago. She's heading out of town for the next couple weeks and since we don't know about transfers yet we said goodbye yesterday. she cried and said, "my love for you two is eternal!" she's precious. we love her

coooookies. it was a good day.

death by sister olson. i came out of the bathroom and this is what she had done to the apartment in about 30 seconds.

the bugs get crazier each day!!

thanks mom and bailey!!

week 24

Family-

 

John broke my heart this week. We'll keep it short, because it's depressing, but he called to inform us that he doesn't want to be baptized right now. He knows it's what he needs to do, he's received his answer from God, but he doesn't feel like he can do it at this time. We will continue working with him in the future, things are just put on hold. Thank you for all the prayers!

 

This transfer Sister Olson and I have had to see two of our sisters that we are over go home for health challenges. It's been quite the eye-opening experience. Last night as we talked with one on the phone (she goes home later this week), we asked if she felt like she had done all she could. She responded with a firm, "yes, I really feel like I have".

 

I went to sleep last night thinking a lot about that. Have I done all I can? 

 

I woke up this morning and found a journal entry from the day before I entered the MTC. In it I had wrote the advice that was given to me at my setting apart. Each piece of advice touched me, but Tai Tanuvasa's really stuck out to me. 

 

He said, "Remember that God is the teacher. Just like you were once my piano teacher, and I didn't always do my homework and practicing, you still worked with me. God is the same, you have to do all you can and then He will work with you".

 

Amen Tai. Amen. 

 

I will continue to do all I can and trust in the Lord to make up the difference, because He truly is the ultimate teacher. This is His work, and I am blessed to be a small part of it.

 

Love you all!

Sister Mal

shoe shopping last monday with sister wilkenson. she's the best!

throw back to south tampa days... me hanging with eric jeune and rehnaya. my favorite haitian children ever. sis judkins just sent this to me

random lamb family

a HUGE thunder storm came in this week. this is one of 5 trees that we found that day that were struck by lightening in our neighborhood. God is forcing me to get over my fear of storms.

Oh i love her!

Happy 4th!

week 23

hello fam and friends--

 

this week I want to tell you all about Sister Tina. She is absolutely incredible.

 

My first interaction with Tina was in the first couple days in the area. She is a less active that had a note left on her teaching record saying that she was interested in coming back to church. So in our first phone call she told me she had just downloaded the gospel library app and how she listens to scriptures and general conference ALL the time. we set up an appointment to meet with her.

 

in our first appointment she tells us all about herself. raised in upstate new york, grew up going to the hill cumorah pagaent every summer. always had a very strong testimony that joseph smith is a prophet. she went to college and married a muslim man who did not let her practice her faith. she's been inactive for 30 years.she now has 4 children, and a couple of them don't even believe in God. it's hard for her, but she does all she can to help them.

 

in recent years her husband's heart has been softened, and she has been allowed more and more to return to her roots and rediscover the testimony that has always been there. and that's where we come in. every time we teach her, she knows everything and has a strong testimony of it. she just hasn't been able to live it for 30 years. she often ends up teaching us. one of her son's has sat in on our last couple lessons and she ends up teaching him.

 

yesterday in sunday school we were talking about gifts of the spirit. one of them that was talked about is the gift of knowing Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Tina made the comment of, "I think i have this gift, in fact I know I have this gift, because I married an Islamic man many years ago and if it weren't for my knowledge that Jesus Christ is the son of God, I would probably be Muslim today".

 

she comes to church every week and wants to be involved in everything. she introduces herself to everyone and is so excited to finally be returning to what she was taught as a teenager. 

 

her faith has lasted through everything, for over 30 years.

 

two weeks after we started teaching her, we went to an appointment and she said, "i finished the book of mormon!" she listens to the scriptures for an hour or two everyday on the gospel library app. 

 

she is AMAZING. she has taught me so much about not taking the gospel for granted. in fact the last couple weeks, she has made the comment after church that the members forgot how blessed they are to be able to attend church each week and practice as they will. I'm grateful for the freedoms we have, and for the knowledge of the gospel, and for the power of a testimony that lasts through the trials of life.

 

love you!

sister mal

finally found a dead big one-- they come out during rainstorms. they hop like two feet in the air. THEY ARE DISGUSTING.

Florida sunsets tho

how we avoid the wind.

 sis sackleys first time dipping Oreos in milk. Im forever changed.

tina gave us eggplant sandwiches and dates this week... it was one of those "mission prep" moments... oh wait. this is real life!! haha

chasing after birds level 10

How I come up to the doors when we are tracting,

that one time our car got stuck in an elementary school parking lot for the night. let's just not talk about that shall we?

week 22

Hello fam and friends!

This week. Wow. I’m just not even sure what to say about this week.

We met with John three times this week and one of the times we met with him he told us how he had just read 2 Nephi 2:11, “for it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things”. He told us how loudly it spoke to him and how it really touched him. 

And that my friends, is our theme for the week. We felt serious opposition this week.

·         We got caught in a thunderstorm almost every day but had an opportunity to clean up our former investigator lists.

·         John’s date has been pushed to July 11^th  but we are really happy about it because he feels like the timing is right and that the Lord is really answering his prayers now.

·         I almost passed out from heat exhaustion… but don’t worry mom. The Lord provided, as always. And we got a little bit of time in the air conditioning!! 

·         We knocked more doors than I can count and I can count on my fingers how many people gave us the time of the day but we got our name tags out and we pulled weeds and planted new seeds!

·         We ditched our bikes countless times at random locations to take shelter but we were safe.

·         We walked. And walked and walked. Just like the pioneer children. And now have sweet calf muscles. 

·         Appointments cancelled left and right but we found out who is truly interested in learning more.

·         Sister Olson found a spider living in my bun one day but I learned that my fear of spiders has almost disappeared.

·         We got kicked out of 2 neighborhoods (new record!) but we realized that’s clearly not where the Lord wanted us to be at that time.

·         Every day the weather said: feels like 100+. But I mentally tell myself it’s only 70 degrees each day, and it’s starting to work. Dad- I freeze when I’m anywhere under 70 degrees… I’m going to die in a year!

·         I gained a new hatred for dogs and was attacked by a few too many this week but now I know I truly never ever want a dog.

Every single day, we laughed, we smiled and we had a good time. I am especially grateful for Sister Olson this week and the fact that no matter what the day throws at us, we truly can be positive about it. Each day we woke up a little more determined to have a great day, and when that day was a little bit worse than the previous, it pushed our determination even more. It’s been a hard week, but we are happy. We are exhausted but we are working hard and see countless miracles each day. Life’s not fair, but the Lord always provides and without hardship and sadness we truly can’t know joy. Here’s to good things to come, and here’s to good things that are right in front of our face.

Love you!

Sister Mal

p.s. 5 months…. What the what?!

mom-- i also got your package... you're the best :) let it be known that this is what i look like everyday. how we are allowed to represent the church... i have no idea. but the dress was put to good use the day it came! love ya!!

pure joy came on monday... shout out to mad for being the BEST. i literally was DYING of happiness.

the magic shirt mad!! us riding after a lesson with a Less active family. they have a 9 year old daughter that will go knock doors around their neighborhood with us. she's the best. (Madison's note: this is the "magic shirt" from my mission that I sent her this past wee)

parrots in someone's FRONT yard. oh florida. you kill me.

hunchback of notre dame biking.

one of the new neighborhood developments... wesley chapel is growing rapidly. everything is under construction in these parts of town

week 21

update on John: first of all. I have had a fear all week that we are going to meet with John and he is going to say, "HAHA! I've been a member the whole time!" He knows so much. He's going to be baptized on June 27th. We are BEYOND thrilled. Sister Olson and I screamed and danced and we've been on cloud 9 all week. The things that he says are a clear testament to me that there is no possible way man could have prepared his heart. God prepared him and he is so ready, and we are so grateful. 

 

This week we tried doing some contacting at the local mall. We saw a man on a bench and we began talking to him. 

 

He said, "LDS? Every time i talk to an LDS person I get nervous!!" 

 

We began talking and he couldn't really come to a conclusion as to why Mormons freak him out, but we do. We talked a lot about Christ being the Savior of the world and he expressed interest in knowing what we believe. We began talking about the Book of Mormon and how we believe in the Bible too.

 

At one point in the conversation he states that he was in the bookstore with his wife and he told her, "I'm going outside to talk with someone" then he met us. I had a lot of faith in that moment. He seemed stubborn, but open and curious.

 

But as we continued talking, things changed VERY quickly. I had just offered the Book of Mormon to him and he began to tell me that I was going to hell for preaching of this book. It hurt, but not because he told me I was going to hell, but rather because I had the clear thought, "This is how Christ felt. He just wanted to help, and people persecuted him". So I let him say what he desired for a minute.

 

I realized in that moment that my hands were still extended with the Book of Mormon in them. I had again, a very clear thought, "Mallory. He won't love it". I pulled the book back and said, "I'm sorry, but if you don't want this, that's ok. Because I know there is someone else out there who is desperately searching for it. I know it's true and I left home and family for 18 months to share my love of it with others. If you're interested you can give us a call, but we have to leave". 

 

Maybe a little too bold? But after we left I thought of Christ again. I have a whole new appreciation for his life since being on a mission. People told me I would, but I don't think I really believe it. Now I understand, and I am grateful every day that I have the opportunity to serve. This is the work of God and I am so blessed to be a part of it. But more importantly, I am grateful for my Savior and everything He experienced. He lives.

 

Love you all!

Sister Mal

that one time i prayed for a hair tie because i forgot one, and one LITERALLY fell from the sky. i almost cried i was so happy. GOD LIVES.

florida has the weidest bugs. hands down.

biking into the storm... with an umbrella. we get creative.

that one time the random person felt so bad for us they gave us popsicles.... did we really look that pathetic?! haha we'll take it!

our favorite walk way to walk through the neighborhood. we live in the jungle!

grasshoppers get bigger by the second. this one hopped a foot in the air after i took the picture.