Peace. Love. and BAPTISMS!!!!!

February 10, 2014

Peace. Love. and BAPTISMS!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!

It is so nice to be sitting here and emailing again! Crazy to think that last Monday was a whole week ago and this week is VALENTINE'S WEEKKKK!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! We will be eating with Sister Jones on Friday. She is our date! And then we are going to make cookies and deliver them to loads of people! Fun! Fun! Fun!

This past week has been a blur of lessons with Matt (we saw him everyday :)..... twice a day), exchanges, revelation, preparing for the baptism, and stake conference.

We have a new mission challenge from our mission president to read all of Preach My Gospel before the new president comes in. Sister Davis and I are starting in the middle and reading a chapter a week! WE ARE SO SO SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

Monday we saw Matt and had a short, but powerful lesson about prayer! This was a week for him, so we wanted to make sure that he went to knees for help! I love what Gordon B. Hinckley says, "When life gets too hard to stand, kneel!" I know that is true! We were able to also meet with Dustin & Maddie, and read a little in the Book of Mormon. They are such a cute family and I know that this gospel will bless their lives so much! Then we had dinner with a couple in our ward, the Honeycutt's! Sister Honeycutt is so great! She is the one who gave us the Christmas tree! She has been sending Sister Davis and I cards every couple weeks! She is so great! We also dropped by Chermayne's apartment! She went to church on the way other side of town with some friends she works with, and really enjoyed it! She is excited to come on Sunday with us!! We had to rush to meet with some other sisters to go on an exchange, and switch companions for the night/next day!

Tuesday I went to the Spanish area. It was so fun to go back to the culture! I feel like I was in El Rancho so long ago!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sister Veasey just hit her year mark and we were talking about how much things have changed for us :) We both have a long way to go but we have noticed some improvement. It was nice to teach in Spanish again and to eat some Hispanic food!!!!

Wednesday we read with Matt and later had a great lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, reviewing Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End! We used those eggs with the faces! It was really fun! Matt loved it! We read with Jacob, he is really trying to find out if God is really there. Hopefully the more we work with him the greater his faith will be. WE had a great lesson with Dustin & Maddie about three things... the importance of reading the scriptures, praying, and then Dustin guessed the third was church! Brilliant! These days just seem to go by so fast! But they sure are packed full of many miracles!

Thursday we met with Matt at a member's apartment that literally is diagonal from him! He is really getting to know so many people in the ward, and they all love him. He tells us he feels like a celebrity and he doesn't know why everyone is so nice to him. We got Matt started on his Family History so he can take names to the temple! So exciting!! Afterwards we taught Dustin while Maddie was a work.. We were able to introduce him to a few members and talk about prayer and reading once more. The biggest struggle is having him consistently do these things. He recognizes they are good, but as soon as he starts to do something good he has trials that discourage him. He just needs to hold on! We also met with Jacob again, and watched Finding Faith in Christ! It was amazing!! He really liked it and loved how forgiving Christ was towards others!

Friday we had a wonderful Zone Training Meeting! The topic that were trained on was exactly what I needed to hear! We were able to get some good ideas going about our area and how to continue being successful! We were able to have a great one on one lesson with Chermayne and help her overcome some concerns!

Saturday......MATT WAS BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY AND IT WAS THE BEST EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything went super smoothly and awesome! There were so many people that came out to support. It was amazing! Like 50 ward members!!!!! Incredible. There was an open house afterwards at the Ballard's! Everyone came to congratulate Matt! Then that same day Mariano was baptized in El Rancho ward!!!! I got to go with Sister Furstenau and reunite with all my El Rancho peeps :) It was such a blessing to see that whole family now all be baptized in the church :)

Sunday we had a wonderful stake conference. It began with the new member meeting at 8:30am. President and Sister Neider were there and they were awesome! Matt was there! He is the newest member of the Green Valley Stake! Lots of new members bore there testimonies and it was really inspiring for us missionaries. Then we had a wonderful Stake meeting! The spirit was so strong!!!!! Chermayne came and she loved it! The best part was when we sang "The Spirit of God" as a stake! So powerful :) We were all crying! Then we had a wonderful lunch with Bro.& Sis. Jones!!!! It was so so so tasty!!!! For dinner we had steaks at the Klabacka's!!!! They invited their nonmember friends over too and we got to teach the first lesson :)

I have truly been so blessed this week!

Now for the new part of my emails.....Q&A session!!!! All the questions you have been dying to ask and answers that may not satisfy your questions!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!

What's the nicest thing someone has done for you on your mission?

I don't know if I could pick one thing. I love all the love I receive from my family and friends. As far as a really nice gesture...one time....on the last Sunday in my area i saw sister nolan and i complimented her on her adorable sweater....she said thank you! Later i saw her again and she took off her sweater and gave it to me and said that it would look cuter on me and then walked away...........WHAT?!?!?!? It was so nice. She was so Christ-like!!!!

What do you miss about Hawaii?

My besties! Hands down. They made my college experience. Sister Crane sent me a letter with some of our memories drawn on the back. It was the best to reminisce.

What are your plans after your mission? (people ask me this alot)

Get married. AHHAHAHAHAHAH! Just kidding. Nana said I have to go to college before I get married.

What has been the easiest thing on your mission?

Smiling! I have so many things to smile about everyday so it is very easy to smile.

WELL HAVE A DANDY WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Spread the love :)

Keep smiling!

Love you all!

LOVE,

Sister Tucker