Sister Inman Letter - September 19,2016

Off to a New Adventure!

Well family, it looks like my time is done here in the Northwest. And I'm off in a new direction, headed for the Southeast Zone! And guess what?! I already know and love my new companion! Sister McCombie, from my last area. She came out with me the second time. And this will be the first time I am senior companion! Crazy! But anyway, I am being sent to the Cienega and Corona Wards in Vail, AZ. Another Outskirt! I love it! I have loved Oro Valley, and I have loved these amazing wards here, and the wonderful people, and our ward mission leaders and ward councils, and I have absolutely loved the experiences that I have had with less actives and investigators here. I have witnessed so many people prepared to hear the word of God. I am so going to miss it. And I am very sad to leave this area so soon after getting here. But I think I am handing it a lot better than I have in the past. 

It is funny though, because you remind me that there really is only one Sister Torie Inman. Well when I told people in the ward that I was being transferred, and who was coming in, pretty much all of them said, "Well, she won't be another Sister Inman. You can't replace her." Haha. 

I'm sorry I don't have a ton of time. Unfortunately, I have had my time cut short today, as I have a ton of packing and cleaning to do. I will probably need to send some stuff home. Things I still want, but won't need or use until I get home. I am so sorry this letter is probably going to be lame. I have a lot on my mind. I will probably just do short snippets.

Bob came to church on Sunday AGAIN! And LISA!!! So many tender mercies. Well, this week was pretty good! We had some great experiences! We got a new investigator this week, named Alicia. She had apparently met with missionaries before when she lived in Nevada. She has been going through a terrible time in her life, and she called our Bishop for spiritual help. He referred us to her, and she invited us over this week. We are meeting with her again tonight. She is so sweet, and I could just feel the love that God has for her. We told her that we loved her and gave a simple prayer to bless her and her family and she cried. It seems like nobody has told her or expressed genuine love for her in a long time. We gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet, and she read it after we left, called us, and said how much she LOVED it! She said that it gave her such hope and happiness to know that God loves her, and what His Plan is for her life. She said she couldn't even express how much it meant to her. She is truly one who is "hungering and thirsting after righteousness"!

We met with Enrique and Grisel, and Enrique told us, "I'm just going to tell you guys something. I feel like this is true. I have a feeling in my heart that this is what God wants for my family. I just want to know all of the components to what exactly it is that is true about it." WHAT?! Did I hear the word GOLDEN? I am going to miss them. They are SO prepared to hear the gospel. He said he was relieved when he heard that it was a Mormon Temple being built. And in between our appointments, he looked up a talk by a general authority, because he wanted to know what the church's stance on something was. Who actually goes to the right source for answers? What? And he read the first chapter in Alma, and said he really liked it. He even marked his favorite verses in the Book of Mormon! And his comprehension was fantastic. he apologized that he didn't get all the way through the chapter. Are you kidding me? Every missionary's dream right here.

But that's about all of the time I have today! Sorry!

Our mission has been given a mission-wide challenge, #FTF, #Faith to Find #Fill the Font, which is to get at least one baptism and reactivation in EACH companionship and area, before our next Zone Conference in November. BRING IT ON! LET'S DO THIS!!!

Have a great week! I love you! :)

Sister Inman

(A sweet sister in Torie's area snapped this picture and texted it to us. THANKS! Here's what the text said. ) "

I had to snag your wonderful missionaries for a picture tonight, while I was waiting for my YW to be picked up.

Sister Inman Letter - September 12, 2016

Wow, Satan is trying really hard. And yet... I'M HAPPY! Why?! Because the Gospel, that's why.

Hey there, hi there, hoo there!

Howdy doodie, ya'lls?!

Kay, I'm done.

But this week was great! I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I am so grateful to be a missionary! I feel like I have had a change of pace, a new outlook on my life and service as a missionary, and I feel more confident that I am doing the Lord's work, and He is pleased with the efforts I make, even if I am not perfect. When I keep trying my best, the blessings come!

To explain the Subject Line, I feel like Satan has been trying every little thing he can to get me down, and especially to get those we work with down. Luckily, I have managed to bounce back pretty well, but not so much with those who haven't strengthened their faith as much. Por ejemplo, this week, I was looking for a temple name to take. He kept shutting down the page when I'd start to find something. Srsly...

Our apartment seems to be falling apart lately. Our sink didn't work for like a month and no one came by to fix it till recently. Our A/C Broke and smoke started coming out of the vent... turns out it's the original motor which has been there for about 40 years or so? when the apartments were first built. Our microwave stopped working, and the plug-ins didn't work. Our kitchen chair broke. All sorts of fun stuff! (Sounds like something similar is happening back home? It must be because you have a missionary out haha. Sorry.)

And then, the NIGHT before I went to the temple, I get a package from some random person I don't know, addressed to me, which had 5 CDs in it. Here's what it looked like:

Yeah, uh huh. "These CDs can help you become a master teacher of the gospel." "Your brother in Christ". "Mr. Mormon"? And each of the CDs were titled with controversial topics. Yeah that's not going to help me with ANYthing. Nice try, bub. Ugh. But needless to say, but I guess not, you can rest assured that I broke one of them and will figure out how to dispose of the rest. Satan's a real jerk, that's for sure, trying to kick me when I'm down.

Lisa and Megan have been struggling a lot. Megan had a death in the family, and got a new job which has been exhausting and taking up a lot of her time. Then Donna has a neighbor that is a creep that wants to butt into her business, and called her former missionaries to tell us that she's not interested and got offended and doesn't want to meet with us again. So frustrating. But we met with her and found out that it was all a lie, and she is progressing nicely. :) Lisa has been having some family give her trouble about her meeting with us and going to church, and her work has been stressing her out beyond belief. I've never heard of work doing this much to a person. BUT, SHE CAME TO CHURCH ALL ON HER OWN!!!! MIRACLE!!!!!!! We were so so happy to see her! :)

Satan cannot win. He's a gimpy loser.

On Thursday, we got to go to the Gila Valley Temple. :) Back to my last area! It felt wonderful to be in the House of the Lord, and Sister Hunt and I did two family names that Grandpa gave us! I learned some new things. And I didn't let anything get me down the whole day, which was wonderful! 

​

The other Sister Hunt and I rode in the transfer van with a whole bunch of Elders. Needless to say it was an adventure!

Sorry, I didn't get a serious picture. Those are to come. 

From back to front, L to R: Elders: Taylor, Duncan, Dustin (behind E.Carr's head), Stephenson, Witzel, Carr, and Hansen. Elder Jackson was driving, and Elder Ludlow was in the passenger's seat.

On our way home, we went to "The Thing". It's a museum, but it's mostly bogus. It's a dollar fee, and mainly for kicks and giggles.

  

Here's "The Thing", a totally made up mummy haha.

 

OooooOOOooooOOooOooohh!

Anyway, so enough nonsense. We had some awesome things happen this week! 

Today, in the parking lot of Walmart, we saw an older man that was obviously homeless. And so I said hello, and he asked if he knew us. We said no, and he asked if we were the Jehovah's Witnesses. We said no, we are missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And we legitimately talked to him for about half an hour in the parking lot. He seems to not be all there. His name is Gene. But it was just so sad to talk to him, because he doesn't know why he is even here, why he has to live with the body he has, and he just wants to give up. He didn't understand why people were so mean to him and didn't want to help him, but rather just called him crazy and treated him unkindly. He shared an experience where he felt like he was going to be beat up (he was a little guy) and he cried out to God, saying "Jesus, help me!" and the person left him alone. We testified that God was watching out for him. We testified of God's purpose and plan for him, and that God loved him so much. We shared with him a pamphlet of the Plan of Salvation, and tried to give him a Book of Mormon, but he said that he couldn't read. So we invited him to pray for help, to pray to god, and to look at the pictures in the pamphlet, and to think about how he feels. Along with other things. I realized over again the reality of the Plan of Salvation, and how blessed we are to have this knowledge of God's purpose and Plan for us to be happy and receive Eternal Life with our families.

We met with Bob again, and had a good visit. We talked about the doctrine of the Holy Ghost, and he seems to be having a hard time distinguishing the difference between our spirits and the Holy Ghost. But he's still a witty old man, pushing 90. And he came to church on Sunday again! :)

We met with the Bothwell's, the father and grandmother of Spryte and Gaven (remember them?) and talked about enduring to the end, and what their vision for themselves is. We had a VERY spiritually powerful lesson with them, and testified of the Doctrine of Christ.

We met with Mirjana, and gave her the Family Proclamation. She was very interested and excited to read it!! 

Other than that, we did mostly finding and contacting people that the bishop and ward council have asked us to see.

We might be getting a new investigator!!! She has met with missionaries in the past, but she contacted Bishop and said she is in desperate need of Spiritual help, and asked if the missionaries could come by and meet with her. We will meet her tomorrow morning. She sounded very distressed and distraught on the phone, and so we pray that we will be inspired to know what the Lord wants her to know, especially of His love for her. Her name is Alicia.

I am sorry, I don't have a ton more to report this week! I've been terrible about writing in my journal :( But not to worry, I really am doing quite well. I can feel the Lord working through me every day. Sister Hunt and I have been working well together. We feel the Spirit in our teaching and planning. I love this work and this Gospel! :)

As missionaries, we learn and teach the Gospel of Christ, the very basis and core of ALL of our practices and beliefs in the Church, which is that Heavenly Father sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for the sins of the world. When He came down, He taught us the Gospel, and asked us to have Faith in Him, believing that through Him, all of us could be washed clean of our iniquities, and that we can make it back into God's presence again, to stand blameless before Him. With this faith comes a desire to change, to Repent and turn again to those righteous desires to follow Christ. When we truly desire to follow Christ, we covenant with the Father through the ordinance of Baptism, through the Priesthood power and authority of God. He covenants with us that we will have the third member of the Godhead to be with us to sanctify and cleanse us from our sins, and every other gift that comes from the Holy Ghost. Once we have entered into this strait and narrow path, the cycle continues. We increase our faith, we continually repent and renew our covenants. We do all we can to remain worthy of the Spirit, and we continue to make more covenants that draw us closer to our Heavenly Father. This is known as Enduring to the End. 

This Gospel is so amazing. To think that our Loving Heavenly Father sent us down here not to fail, but to succeed and grow and progress, ultimately to become like Him, eternally happy.

Happy early birthday Lacey! You're halfway to middle-aged! ;) So... does that make you... quarter aged? After all, you're a quarter of a century old! Ha HA! Love you! :) 

Today we get to meet with Lisa after dinner. Then the rest of this week we have Megan, Bob, Alicia, Mirjana, and Enrique and Grisel! So excited! Our stake is changing... and two new wards will be created. We are praying that we will not lose those investigators we have developed a good rapport and relationship with. We don't know what will happen. But there will be new missionaries coming in. I want to keep both of our wards.

Also, TRANSFER CALLS are this Saturday night... We have no idea what is happening. Sister Hunt has one transfer left and goes home Nov. 2nd. We both came in at the same time. President isn't opposed to "one and done's", but either of us could leave. Dunno... 

Well, that's all i got for ya. I love you tons, and keep you in my prayers!

Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Inman

P.S. Oh and also, we got to be in a hurricane, so that was cool. It passed right over Tucson. And it's also pouring super hard right now.

Here's Temple Pictures!

 

NORTH. WEST. ZONE. *snap*

Sister Inman Letter - September 5, 2016

Happy Birthday Jesse! And Happy Labor Day!

Hey Hey hey, the baby's on the way!!!! I can't wait to meet my niece!!! Daw, she's gonna be so cute :) (so cuuuutee!!! Read it in my voice, the same one I talk to the dogs in) Speaking of which, how are my Chloe and Callie doing? Are they still cute? And happy and healthy? I miss those girls.

But anyway, happy 18th birthday Jesse! You're a legal adult!!!! That's so crazy. He's getting so big. I'm sure he likes to think he is a "man" now, haha. ;)

Well, how are you doing? It sounds like things are exciting back home! How fun that Eric and Lacey and her baby bump get to be home for a while. And Jake and Chauncey are busy and successful and happy together! Yay! And Jesse is so close to officially becoming an Eagle Scout! Wow, what an accomplishment. I'm so proud of him, that is such an amazing thing he has done, and he has worked so hard to get there! Give him a big hug and a huge hi-five for me! You go, buddy!

Sorry, because of the Holiday, I am having to type out my emails on my iPad. I will try to type fast haha.

This week has been crazy busy and so exciting! We met or exceeded 4/5 of the Standards of Excellence  (SoE's) this week! (SoE's are guiding goals to help us to focus our efforts and provide balance to our work, in order to help the work continue forward, and help people progress). For example, this week, we met or exceeded for Member Present Lessons, Less Active/Recent Convert lessons, investigators at Sacrament meeting, Progressing investigators, and Investigators with. Baptismal date. We were so excited.

We had some awesome lessons this week!

We met with Donna twice, who seems to really be enjoying learning about the Gospel. She has been very prayerful about the things she is learning, and has been prepared to have those truths she has pondered before confirmed to her heart and Spirit! Love that woman!

We met with Mirjana from Serbia, and talked about the Vision of the Tree of Life. It is so sad, because she seems to be understanding pretty well, and she is practically already living the Gospel! We just need to convince her that the Restored Church is what will truly bring her lasting happiness and bring peace to her home. She seems to enjoy the Book of Mormon so far, though.

We finally got to meet with Kristina! She is an incredible lady, who the Elders had taught before us, but she had to push back her baptismal date because of her new career... Stem cell and Cancer research. She has a Doctorate in Endocrinology........ A.k.a. She is a genius. And she is a researcher. So she soaks us everything the church teaches, takes notes, the whole 9 yards. Plus an extra mile. We went over the Plan of Salvation. :)

We also met with Bob again! Finally! There was a while there where we weren't sure if he was still around..... He is almost 90... And we hadn't heard from him in a while. But we finally met with him, and it seems that our time away has had an effect on him! I think we made a breakthrough! He finally came to recognize in his own life that God is a real person, and that he has received strength from Him in his life before. And at the end of the lesson, we invited him to pray. And I felt like I should ask if he knew how to pray, and he said not really. So we offered to help him. And he gave a simple, yet beautiful prayer to his Father in Heaven. The first time he had truly prayed, probably sincerely and ever, in his 80+ years of life. Bob even came to church this Sunday. :)

We met with Megan, and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then afterwards, she came to a baptism!!! Finally! Statistics show that 80% of investigators who attend a baptism end up being baptized. :) GO TO AND INVITE PEOPLE TO BAPTISMS!!! :D

Our lesson with Enrique and Grisa went super well! We brought another member with us. Enrique asked some amazing questions, and we had a fantastic discussion about God being our Loving Heavenly Father, and how we can learn truth through acting upon our faith. The member shared Alma 32, Alma's discourse on faith, and read some of it out of the Book of Mormon. We explained that if he did that, and acted upon it, tested it out and felt good about it, and felt the feelings described in those verses, the. He could come to know that the things we teach are true. Enrique loved it. He said, "I've been searching my whole life for answers. And that was the best answer I've ever heard. That's exactly what I'll do." He then asked, "What is the best way to start a study of the Book of Mormon?" We answered that he could start from the beginning, or topically, or we could give him specific sections to read. He said, "Can I start by reading that chapter you shared with me?" Absolutely, Enrique! We were so impressed with his desire to search for truth, and his willingness to experiment upon the word. So he said, "Okay. That's what I'll do. I will read that chapter, and do what it says. That'll be my commitment." Wow. This man
has truly been prepared to receive the word of God.

This Thursday, I get to go to the temple! I am so happy, I need it so much! I love the temple, and the comfort and peace I receive there. I love temple work. I've missed it!

Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic week this week! I love you all so much. Toodle-loo!

Love,
Sister Inman

Sister Inman Letter - August 29, 2016

God is a God of Miracles! Hurrah for Israel!!! :)

Wow, what an incredible week! I don't think I have ever had so much success and results from working hard and setting goals than I have this week. Last night, Sister Hunt and I reviewed over our week, and we were PUMPED. So stoked and happy and we felt accomplished. God has helped us and strengthened us SO much this week, and I can honestly say that I have felt Him bear me up and keep me going every day this week. I have been struggling with some aspects of missionary work lately, and so it has been wonderful to see how God has made up for my weaknesses and has given me success as I earnestly strive to achieve and look for it! 

Wow, where do I begin??? 

First things first! The best ones will take the longest, so this might not be as long of an email. I'll try to stay focused haha. I can't possibly write them all, but here are a few experiences from this week!

We found 3 new investigators this week. That's more than I have ever received in a week, I think throughout my whole mission! We set a baptismal date with Megan! September 24th :) We helped two or three more investigators progress, and we had one come to sacrament meeting! Very rewarding week. 

We had a lesson with the Dukes, the couple working towards the temple, and it was awesome! We went over President Monson's conference talk, Choices, and then finished the Restoration. The Spirit was so strong, and it confirmed to me ever so strongly that the Restoration really did happen, Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration, the priesthood is restored, and this is the true Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth today.

We met a couple, Enrique and Grisa, who moved here from Puerto Rico. Enrique speaks fluent English and Spanish, but Grisa speaks mainly Spanish. They were a referral from a man in Sister Hunt's last area in Sahuarita. We met with them, and they are AWESOME! It sounds like Enrique has had many positive experiences with Mormons throughout his life, and he recognizes that we have a glow about us. He mentioned how impressed he was with the missionaries that go out into the field and come back fluent in another language. He said he was told a little bit about the "language school" we go to before we go on our missions, and found that fascinating, haha. He wondered about it, and we told him that we learn by the Spirit with all things, no matter what kind of knowledge, and so when we are going out to do the Lord's work, he gives us the extra help of the Spirit to help us learn the language. Kinda cool, they thought that was interesting!

They both loved how the church has a big focus on families. They love the values we have, and love that we actually live our religion! It's funny, that's not the first time I have heard that from a nonmember! This gospel is not just a fun thing to do on Sundays, it is very much a lifestyle! We have another appointment with them on Saturday! Woo!

Wednesday was our Zone Conference with both the Northwest and Central Zones. It was awesome! We learned about setting inspired goals, effective and Spirit-driven planning, being diligent with our time, recognizing and relying upon the Spirit, etc. It was really good, and I felt the Spirit super strong! There was a beautiful musical number as well. Savior, Redeemer of My Soul, one of my absolute favorites. :)

That night, we had an intense lesson, that totally turned out completely differently than I had ever experienced. We went to go visit a less active lady named Darlene. We taught the Restoration, and we both felt the Spirit fill the room. I then felt an overwhelming prompting to invite her to kneel with us right then and ask God if Joseph Smith truly did see God the Father and Jesus Christ, and if this Gospel really is true. We testified that we can continue to receive further witnesses of the truths we already know when we ask God to strengthen our testimony. She told us that she never had even thought about asking God, but has always just believed, having faith that it was true. And to our complete surprise, she declined, and said that this was a difficult assignment for her to do, as it was against her beliefs. She did not want to disrespect us as servants of God, but felt that we were accusing her of not being strong enough, and causing her to doubt the faith she already had, and felt it was disrespectful to ask God these things. We had no words or ideas for how to respond to this woman, but tried our hardest to ask inspired questions, and carefully respond to her comments and concerns. She then opened up to us why she felt this way, and it all made sense... Wow. It seemed like after everything Sister Hunt or I would say, something else would come up, and we seemed like terrible people for asking her to do such a thing, for coming into her home, and forcing her to think and doubt and wonder if we are truly there to build her up, or to tear her down. It was very rough. She was deep in thought, and cried a little. 

And it just came to the point where I didn't know what to say anymore. Sister Hunt had been silent for a while. And because I didn't say anything, Darlene asked if I was okay. and I said I didn't know. But then I just expressed to her that I was sorry that she took things the way she did and that we made her feel that way, and told her that our true purpose was not to tear her down, but to build her up and help her strengthen her faith. We assured her of our love for her, and God's love for her, and I just cried. I have never been so much at a loss for words, or what to do. I could not understand why, nor deny that the Spirit had given me such a strong prompting to ask her to kneel down and pray to know. We just testified of truth, etc. and then Darlene came over and offered me a hug. And she said it was okay. But we continued to try, and then Sister Hunt bursted into tears as well. I've never had that happen on my mission like that before. But we talked about it later and concluded that yes, we did indeed follow the Spirit, and because of that, we were able to get to the core of her struggles, and have a better understanding of where she is at Spiritually. I now have experienced a time where the Spirit has instructed me to do something that did not turn out as planned, but if we trust in God, that the Spirit will guide us to do right, that everything will work out in the end. We ended on good terms, and the Lord continues to bless us with His Spirit. 

We had a lesson with Maria from Columbia about La Resturacion! I need to brush up on my Spanish...

Another lesson with Mirjana from Serbia, and we read from the Book of Mormon with her. That's all she wants to do, so after some thought, we realized, well, she's reading from the source we get most of our truths from! So this is good!

Another lesson with Donna, and we taught the Restoration! She asked questions and made comments that perfectly lead up to the next points in the lesson. I love when that happens! She is going to pray to know if God and Christ are two separate beings, and if Joseph Smith really had the First Vision. :)

Another awesome Sunday with awesome talks and lessons! Lucky us, we get to go to 5 hours worth of church :) It's good for us though.

Anyway, that's all the time I have, sorry!

I hope you all have a great week!

I am happier, healthier, and safe! I keep you in my prayers!

I love you,

Sister Inman