Sister Inman Letter - January 19, 2016

Aaaaaaand I'm back!

Hello family and friends!

These past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy, and my journal entries are pretty much useless to me when writing my email today. So, I will try my best to make it interesting. :)

ALRIGHT, So... Last week, (as in January 4th-10th) I was actually able to go home for the week. (I know, right?) Seeing as I was originally called for three months, and I had initially only said goodbye to my family until then, my mission president agreed that it would be good for me to go home, spend some time with my family, go through the temple with my family, (I hadn't before, per instructions from Salt Lake), refresh, restart, and reboot before returning back, this time for 15 more months. I was also still a set apart missionary. (Not released). With that in mind, here's what happened, or at least my favorite parts.

Tuesday, January 5th

Got up at 5am, left at 5:45am to drive all the way to Tucson. It was so foggy and thick and wet and cold outside, pitch black, with very low visibility. Essentially, we were driving through the clouds. We got to the transfer site in Tucson at around 7:45am. I saw a few people I knew! We sorta just hung out there for a couple hours, waiting for companions, etc. President told me that I could hang out with the departing missionaries, so my companion could go back to our area with another sister who would be replacing me for the week.

I met up with the departing missionaries, and they decided to go tracting as their last big "hurrah". So I went with them, with Sister Brown, my first trainer, as my companion :) We knocked into this interesting couple, who immediately invited us in "to see where they do yoga"... Kind of a weird/creepy situation, right? At least we felt that way... But then they talked about how the Elders used to come over, and they had never seen Sister Missionaries before. Anyway, they were some strange faith that I had never heard of before, I won't name it, because I don't want to bash anybody, but apparently it is "just as popular as the Mormon faith". Huh. Well cool. We started with a prayer, we said one, and then they would say one. So after ours, she recited one of her favorite prayers that the founder of their faith had written. We, expecting just a spoken recitation, were... privileged... (and shocked haha) when she started singing. Yeah.So she finished her prayer, and we went from there, discussing beliefs, understandings, etc. Then we hear a knock on the door. Sister Brown and I looked at each other like, Just watch, it'll be other missionaries. IT WAS. Three Elders had knocked on her door, began to introduce themselves, Elder O'shia, Oviedo, and Gilson. Elder O'shia made eye contact with us, and we were like "this is seriously happening right now..." they knocked on a door that already had missionaries in it. HAHAHAHAHA! So she invited all of them in, so we had 5 missionaries in the room at once. We shared a video about why we need a Savior. Pretty funny experience. (Turns out Elder O'shia had previously taught them a long time ago, but it's still funny.)

My parents picked me up at the transfer site. And we drove home. Crazy.

Wednesday, January 6th

Happy 26th Anniversary Mom and Dad!

I had my temple recommend interview, and received some counsel from President Rolfe. It was good :)

Satan has been working on me this week. He knows I'm going to the temple. Grr.

Saturday, January 9th

Temple Day!

Lots of emotions today. Lots of new things. Lots of crying on my part. I was able to have my entire family in the temple with me that day. Lacey and Eric and Jake flew down just for me. My Grandparents were there, and just a couple of other people. I wanted it to be small. There is a special feeling in the temple, especially in the Celestial Room.

Sunday, January 10th

Church was good today, I got some confused people, and that's okay aha. It was good to see familiar faces.

Tuesday, January 12th

Happy 3 Months!

I had to say goodbye to my parents and family again, as they dropped me off. I think I was more ready this time, but it's still a bittersweet time.

Today was Zone Temple Day! I got to go through the temple with my zone, and that was a really neat experience, to see everyone dressed in white, and to see all of these other missionaries in a different light. The Spirit was so strong this time. I gained a lot more out of my second time through, because I'm a pro now. :) But I was overwhelmed with the strong Spirit there, and it was a sweet experience. :) We went out to lunch as a zone, too.

Wednesday, January 13th

BAM. Spirit-packed day. I got up early, and exercised, using the workout that Lacey gave me when she was home. (Thanks Lacey!) 

We were early to zone meeting, and had super awesome trainings by our leaders! We went out to lunch, about half of us to Chipotle. Yum!

Okay, so intense lesson tonight! To introduce my experience, our Sister Training Leaders challenged us to the 5 second challenge. Basically, when you get a prompting, you have 5 seconds to follow it. Kind of scary sometimes! But we have been striving to follow that rule, and have seen TONS of miracles!

Here is one that completely blew my mind. I am not boasting of myself, but have just a stronger testimony of the power of the Spirit, which really is the one that can do these things, and put words into our hearts.

We had a lesson with the Norris family, which was the most intense, spirit-filled lesson I have ever been a part of. The Nelsons, who are the members that have invited us to teach the lessons in their home, gave the most powerful testimonies as well. I remained quiet for most of the lesson, as every second of silence was filled with someone talking, but I was also waiting for the Spirit to direct me what to say.

Last time, they were invited to read from the Book of Mormon, and then pray to know if it was true. There were quite a few disputes from the Norris' about physical evidence, and the minor things that, although can prove that such people existed, cannot give you a witness or strengthen your personal testimony that these things are true.

After many discussions, questions, agreements, disagreements, plus many bold testimonies given by the members and Sister Adams, I had this very strong urge that I needed to speak up. "You need to bear your testimony that this Book is true. You KNOW it is true. You cannot just sit here, with the knowledge that you have, and not speak up. Speak now. (A.K.A. the Holy Ghost)

So amongst the many words which had been spoken, my hand shot up. (What? you ask, Why? I was moved upon by the Spirit. That's why. So I don't ask questions.) So I did. I raised my hand about head height, and said "Can I say something?" Everyone was quiet for a second. They said of course! So here are some of the words that I felt like I should say, and so I did:

"I have been quiet for most of this lesson, but I just need to say something. You said that you want proof. If you want proof that this Book is true, look at those people who live it.Look at the lives of those who have read the Book of Mormon, have prayed about it, and have lived the principles found in its pages. Look at the Nelson's. You said yourself that you can see they have a happy family. They are sealed together for all eternity. They have a happy family, because they live the doctrines and principles of the gospel, found in the Book of Mormon. I didn't know this Book was true until a few years ago. i grew up in the church, but didn't really pray or try to KNOW for myself that it was true until i read it, and found out for myself. i never wanted to be a missionary! [Until I learned that this was true.]"

I continued to bear the most sincere, bold, and powerful testimony that i have ever given in my life. I have never had the Spirit have such a profound, even a physical effect upon me. before i spoke, my heart began to race, and it felt heavier and heavier as if it would continue to weigh me down until I finished/bore my testimony. The Spirit shook just about every ounce of my being, physically and spiritually. I was seriously trembling. That doesn't usually happen on a regular basis. And even though I felt like my voice would crack, I was able to boldly testify clearly. (continuing)

"God wants all of His children to hear His Gospel, not just the sheep in Jerusalem. They didn't understand the scriptures, because they were not spiritually in tune. We can tell if a seed is good if we plant it, nourish it, and allow it to grow. That is all we are asking you to do. We have given you this seed, and we are asking you to plant it, nourish it, and allow it to grow. You have all of the evidence in your very hands, and you have not even read it. No matter how many online sources you read, no matter how many other people you ask, you WILL NOT gain a testimony or know if this Book is true, unless you read it, and pray to know."

And while I bore my testimony, they both actually listened, as I could tell by the expressions on their face. They didn't interrupt. 

And although these situations don't happen all of the time, it was just a firm testimony to me that the Spirit can put words into your mouth. if you are exactly obedient (I had been working on that especially this week) then the lord HAS to bless you with miracles, big or small. And we continue to move forward.

They said that they (primarily brother Norris) don't want to continue to meet, but they kept their copies of the Book of Mormon, and said they would continue to try and read it/study into it, etc.

Thursday, January 14th

Anna has a baptismal date! It's going to happen, we can feel it. It was her decision this time. February 20th. It's kind of far out there, but it gives her enough time to come to church a few times, go over the things we have taught her, etc.

We invited Elder Judy and Wilson to come meet her, as he would be the one to do the interview, to help ease her anxieties. he cannot participate in teaching her, and only stayed for like 10 minutes, but it was good!

This week, I have seen a lot more successes than ever. The Spirit is more likely to help you out when you're obedient! (seems i would have learned that by now...)

Anyway, I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you!

Sister Inman

P.S. I am on exchanges in Benson, AZ and we came across somebody (a potential investigator) who knows Daniel Tillett! We were parked in front of their house too! They are in one of the Benson wards. Small world!

I want one.

Sister Inman Letter - January 4, 2016

Happy new year! It's crazy, the work keeps going forward

Hey-o!

So this week has been crazy. I've been sick all week, but it has also
been pretty successful of a week! Most of this week's emails will be
just fun experiences, because other than that, most of things were us
just trying to settle in, figure things out with scheduling, packing
and unpacking, meetings, etc. I promise I did do missionary things
this week, we actually had a really successful week as far as that
goes.

I apologize if there are some misspelled words, some of the keys on
this keyboard aren't working very well.

Monday: We packed this morning. Then emailed, then went back home to
finish packing, then started the move into the Naegle's house. The
Phippen's helped us gather stuff together, and we started loading the
truck. We had asked the Elders for help moving, and so pretty much
every missionary in the zone showed up at our house. Except the
Missionaries by the border. So we had Elders Whittle, Garcia, Jeffery,
Ludlow, Judy, and Wyman. Then later Sisters Daun, Diderickson, Walter,
and Jones came over. So at one point we had 12 missionaries in our
house. Every one of them (primarily Elders, they were flipping out the
whole time) were just in shock that we had a HOUSE to ourselves. They
all like ran around the house and were saying "man, if I lived here,
I'd do studies in a different place every day. Dude, check out the
basement! Whoah, they have a huge bathroom, WAIT they have TWO
bathrooms! What? They even have a basketball hoop?! And a piano? And
and an upstairs?!" Yeah. So it was mostly just them coming over to
party. But it was all good, they helped us move our stuff and take it
into the new house.

Once we got to the house, the Elders totally schmoozed the people who
own the house, (it was planned) by saying things like "You have a
beautiful home." And "I've been on my mission for 16 months, and these
two are some of the best sisters in the mission." Whatever, guys. But
she fell for it haha :) They're awesome.

Tuesday: We did a trio-exchange with one of our STL's (Sister Training Leaders). Tuesdays are
typically are least busy days as far as lessons.
I felt pretty terrible today. I'm hoping it's just allergies, but...

Wednesday: We stayed in our new house today!
We had District meeting and we all set goals for the new transfer! Our
goals as a companionship were: 5 New Investigators, and 1 baptism. We
will be exercising a lot of faith this transfer.

BUT, We had a MIRACLE tonight! We had dinner at the Nelson's home, and
they invited their nonmember friends (we met the wife at the Christmas
party) and we were able to teach the Restoration! They asked a lot of
questions. They were already Christian, and have faith in and a love
for Jesus Christ, so we were on a similar page there. Some of their
questions were solid, reasonable questions that took some
understanding from both parties. But we finally got a commitment from
them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Laura (the wife) said
"Well, I am always wanting to be closer to Christ, and if you say that
this book is what is going to bring me closer, I will read it." *fist
pump to the air* Yay! We have two new investigators :) Miracles
happen, even if they don't happen until the very last hour.

Thursday: Holy cow, the year is over!!! We had a pretty good day, I'm
still sick though.


We had service at the ranch. The Elders chopped/chainsawed firewood,
and we picked up pecans that had fallen from the trees. Then we
stained a wooden wheelbarrow with flaxseed/motor oil.
At the ranch, there is a tire swing, so we played on that after we
were done with everything.


The Elders stood on it and swung on it, and then after that, they
decided to climb up the rope that attached to the tree. They tried
different things, Elder Judy ad Wyman both made it to the top. E. Judy
climbed it just using his ARMS the first time. I can't even lift my
own weight hahaha. They kept trying to outdo each other. The ZL's were
matching today, with the same green button up shirt. Yesterday they
wore matching ties that E. Judy's mom got them.

New Year's Eve: The most exciting part of the night was that we went
and got ice cream at McDonald's, then decorated a gingerbread house
that Sister Adams got for Christmas.

Sunday: we taught Gospel Principles, and I am still sick! It is hard
to talk and teach. Anna came to church!!!!!!! All three hours!!!

Well the computer deleted everything else I put here before I could
save it, so I forgot what I wrote, and now don't have any more time to
re-write it. The most exciting part too, you know the missionary work
part? Grr. -_- Transfer news! Long story short, half of the zone is
leaving, we are staying, Elder Burns is going up to Thatcher to be
companions with Elder DILWORTH!!! How fun :) and then Elder Judy and
Whittle are switching positions as DL (District Leader) and ZL (Zone Leader)! Crazy!
But anyway, have a great week! Love you all!

Sister Inman

Gingerbread House

Hoop at the House
(the Elders decided to play)

Sisters Inman and Adams

Sierra Vista District

Sister Inman Letter - December 28, 2015

My middle name should be "One-in-a-million"

Wow. Can I get any more of a crazy past few months? My goodness. For a few months, it felt as if my whole world was crashing down and bursting into flames. Now, it seems like nothing could possibly go better, and the blessings of heaven are showering down upon m. I am happy, and I feel so blessed. I have definitely been able to feel the Lord's love for me during the past week. Holy cow.

 

These are some excerpts from my journal:

Monday:

P-day, lots to do. Sister Holden next door is SUPER nice and did all of our laundry, because we don't have a washing machine anymore and there are no Laundromats nearby. We owe her big time.

Tuesday:

Not a bad Tuesday!

Visited Brother Dahlke, and had a super good conversation with him about his mission in Austria and Germany. He has some pretty aweet stories!

We went Christmas caroling in our area with the Elders... That was fun... Nobody really answered in our area that we wanted to see, and we started late, (like 8pm) so it wasn't as effective as we had hoped. But it's okay! It was fun. TOMORROW IS THE HALF MISSION CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE/PARTY! I'm so excited. We are actually carpooling with the Phippen's and the Zone Leaders! That oughtta be fun. Road trip to Benson!

WEDNESDAY.

 

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE. I can't fully describe the joy that I have experienced today, but I will try.

 

So this morning, we met at the Stake Center where the Phippen's picked us up. Then we drove to Huachuca city to pick up the Zone Leaders (Elders Judy and Wyman).

 

Anyway, so the Christmas conference. I think there were about 80 missionaries there, plus the mission office staff. Gila Valley, New Mexico, and Sierra Vista Zones were there. I got to see Elders Dilworth and Deyarmond from last transfer there! It was fun to see familiar faces. :) I saw President Passey and he said, so, do you want your mission call? And I was thinking, "Um, yeah I want my mission call!!!!! :D" So he gave it to me in a FedEx envelope and I started flipping out a little bit inside haha. I went around and asked people for guesses. Not even President or Sister Passey knew where I was going!

 

Anyway, so we did recitations and the mission song. Some fun things there were a paper snowflake contest, a clothing exchange, a photo booth with a backdrop, and Elder O'shia set up a little shop where he will shine and buff your shoes haha. Good things like that. But after recitations, President announced good news in the mission, and then he said, "We also have some exciting news... Sister Torie Inman has been serving with us for almost 3 months now, and has received her permanent mission call! (etc.) Let's get some guesses where she will be serving!" (People shared some of their guesses).

I then began to open it, and realized we needed to call Sister Brown (my first companion). So we did, and then I opened it! I debated whether to look ahead or not, but I decided to anyway. OH. MY. GOODNESS. My jaw dropped, I couldn't believe my eyes. It took some effort, as I had to stop a couple times, but I finally was able to read, "Sister Inman, you are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... You are assigned to labor in the Arizona Tucson Mission......I lost it. Tears everywhere. Huge claps and shouting and cheering from every single person in the room. Almost everyone was standing up, cheering for me, grinning from ear to ear. Some people were even crying, (including President and Sister Passey, as well as some people who never even show emotion!) I felt so loved and welcomed into the mission. Like I was finally a part of the mission, like I can claim ownership of it completely.

 

Words cannot describe the joy that I have felt today. I am just so filled with gratitude for the knowledge that Heavenly Father is very much aware of me. He loves me so much that He sent me to Tucson, Arizona, and allowed me to become comfortable here, knowing that this is exactly what I needed. He knew what my anxieties and personal struggles were. He knew I needed this experience first. He knew I needed the guidance and love of President and Sister Passey to help me during this whole thing.

I got to call Mom at home with everybody there, and then Dad was on his lunch break at work, so that worked out perfectly. Everyone was surprised when they picked up the phone and heard "Mom?" "Dad?" Crazy.

I am beyond excited. I am so so thankful. The Lord has blessed me so much, and I know He answers sincere prayers. He has sure answered every single one of mine during this time. Today is the best day ever. I am so happy. :)

Thursday: Christmas Eve, we did service at the ranch, pulling tumbleweeds again. We had first dinner with the Haws family (one of the Haws' families, there are a few) 2nd dinner was at the Stacey's. That was fun. She gave us lots of heartfelt gifts for Christmas, and she is a wonderful lady.

Friday: CHRISTMAS!

Super busy day!

We did Christmas morning as a district, so I made breakfast for everyone. We opened presents together. Good times! We went home. Then had first dinner at the other Haws', then to the Ott's (in the Elder's ward, they gave us little presents from the kids), Skyped home, second dinner with the Williams, third dinner at the Marturello's (We had pupusas! Salvadoran food, really good). I feel like there was another one, but I forgot.

Saturday: We packed most of the day.

Sunday: Pretty good day!

Anyway, I hope you have a great week! We are moving today, so that should be... great! yeah...

It was so great to see all of you on Christmas! I truly am so blessed to have such a great family. Thank you for all of your generosity and love and prayers sent my way. I really appreciate everything you do for me!!!!

I am trying to attach pictures and/or a video, but we will see if it works. Have a great week! I love you!

Love,

Sister Inman

(scroll to the bottom to watch Sister Inman open her call on video!)
 

Our pretty Sister Inman

This is what the missionary sees when they Skype home!

 

This is Sister Inman opening her call (below)

 

 

Sister Inman Letter - December 21, 2015

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I HAVE A MISSION CALL!!!!! :D

Good Morning everyone! How are you all doing? I'm fantastic!

So first off, I'll explain the heading. To all of you who didn't know, I am being reassigned to another mission. I was interviewed by my mission president, and he sent his recommendation to Salt Lake, who have decided to issue me a mission call somewhere else! Currently, that white envelope is sitting either in the mission office, or is in the possession of President and Sister Passey. They were going to forward it to me so I could have the experience of getting it in the mail, but I wanted to make sure to have it before Christmas so I could tell my family where I was going. I has prayed to know if I should just open it with my district, and record it, or do it by myself over Skype, but I wasn't sure. I wanted at least someone to physically be there with me when I opened it. So I got my answer, And GUESS WHAT. I called Sister Passey yesterday because my Area Book app said I wasn't authorized to access the app, and she said " So... I think the reason is because you have a mission call sitting in the mission office right now. Did President tell you that?" No, because I told them to keep it a surprise unless something different happened. " Well, your call has been assigned, and we have it in our possession right now! It just came in last night." We discussed possibilities of when I could open it.

SO... this Wednesday morning is the 1/2 mission conference (Where we have half of the mission meet together for a huge conference, eat lunch probably, then we will do fun games and things, and a white elephant gift exchange).... AND I WILL OPEN MY CALL IN FRONT OF HALF OF THE MISSION.

All of New Mexico, all of the Gila Valley, Benson, etc. Missionaries. (The other half is Tucson, which won't be there). But we will record it and send it to you :)

ISN'T THAT CRAZY?!?!?! IT'S FLIPPING SWEET! You have no idea how excited I am. But this also means that Elder Deyarmond and Elder Dilworth will also be there, and I didn't think they would be able to see or hear me open it. Oh I am so excited. Yay!!!! :)

SO, I NEED EVERYONE TO SEND ME THEIR GUESSES ASAP. Where am I going?!

Anyway. So since I took up most of my time with the fun stuff, you probably couldn't care less about the rest of my week. But I'll tell you the main things anyway. We had a couple miracles :)

So I'll skip to Wednesday, we tried some potentials that the Elders gave us, as well as one of our own. Turns out, the one we thought was really interested has dementia and won't be meeting with us. Grr.

Just about everybody and their mom has at least one dog, and at least one of them is crazy. Typically they all look like they want to eat us or at least bite our legs off. But you know, whatever (nacho). Speaking of which, Hermana Adams has never seen Nacho Libre all the way through. She thought it was stupid. Shake my head. "I'm not listening to you, you're crazy".

Thursday we did service, where we took all the tumbleweeds off the side of the road (at the ranch) and smashed them down, put them in the back of the truck, and dumped it into a huge pile. They all had thorns and none of us had gloves. Yay... I was mostly in charge of smashing them down, so I got up into the back of the truck and stepped on/smashed them down. I had probably hundreds or more tiny thorns in each hand that had broken off and stick under my skin. I still haven't gotten them all out, and so I tried to get a few out with a sewing needle. Yeah my hands are all cut up now aha. Elder Judy was driving the truck, so he did an "earthquake test" a few times to see how my balance was. It was all fun though.


Our zone has a lot of fun together :)
More and more people want us to come over for the Holidays, so that's so awesome :) We will be very, very busy this coming week. And next. Because we are moving next week. -_-

We are hoping to have breakfast together as a district+Zone Leaders, where we all pitch in and bring something, open presents, etc. So we hope it works out and nobody is lame :)

I got my packages! Question. Is everything wrapped inside? Can I take the stuff out and put it under the tree? The house owners let us borrow a full sized tree, and I want to put things under it :)

Did you get my packages? Everything is wrapped, so feel free to open it.

On Friday, our Ward mission leader took us out to lunch to a place called Vinny's, possibly the best pizza and wings place I've ever been. It doesn't taste like every other fast food pizza place! It's an actual sit down restaurant! So good. I don't even really like wings, but those were some really good ones.

We went out to eat on Saturday, because the family we were going to have dinner with got sick, so they said they would pay for us to go out to eat. Woop woop!

The Christmas Cantada (program that has shows on two nights) was really good! Lots of people I didn't know there, and a couple referrals! We got a lot of referrals from the Christmas party last week. Yay! God answers prayers!

On Sunday, lots of people came to church that I didn't expect! Less Actives, in particular, and a new family that just moved in.

Miracle! So we went to see a less active/recent convert/part member family that apparently has been hard to contact, and the last real missionary that they liked and was open to was a year ago. So we talked to that missionary, and decided to go visit them, to just stop by as they randomly showed up to church on Sunday. So I had the feeling we should go  visit them that night instead of another family. So we prayed that the Spirit would be with us, and it went SUPER GOOD! It was awesome! They opened up to us, and were more friendly towards the end, and the kids even put on a show for us. It goes to show that when you have a prompting, follow it. If you have the faith to follow it and act upon it, the Lord will bless you, and you will know what to do as you continue to act in faith. Awesome way to end the week. :)

But that's about all of the time that I have, I will see if I have any worthwhile pictures to send you. I'm super stoked to Skype you guys on Friday! Enjoy little Christmas, and Christmas Eve, and I'll see you on Christmas woo hoo!

Have an awesome week! Love you!

Love,
Sister Inman

Sister Inman Letter - December 14, 2015

Finished Week 10 and still "Sister Ingham". Oh and it's also really cold outside

So one of our investigators, Angelina, still calls me Sister Ingham. As in "eeng-ham". She sometimes gets it, but it's still funny aha. I have a nickname :) Sort of.

 

So this week was AWESOME!!! So many fun things, new experiences, miracles, and blessings this week.

 

I'm going to tell you about the cool things first, so I have enough time to elaborate on my TOTALLY AWESOME week. Sorry if it is kind of long, I hope you like reading.

 

Cool experiences this week:

On Monday night, we had Greek food, and it was so good! They were Pitas with chicken (with a different kind of seasoning, I'm not sure what kind) and some Greek dressing, Feta cheese, anyway. It was pretty good.

 

Wednesday was Zone Meeting, and I got to meet all of the new faces in our zone!

Elder Rassmussen- (Looks like he's 13, but apparently has been out 16 months)

Elder Baker- Douglas/Bisbee District Leader (Espanol) Who Is a former drum major and pit person!!!! I guessed he was a former drum major by the way he conducted the music, and he's like yeah! How did you know?! So we had that in common and it was cool, because he said his favorite was marimba and he primarily played that in pit. :)

Sister Diderickson- Played basketball in college..... so she's really good

Sister Quinonez- new sister in Douglas

And then Elder Wyman (ZL) and Sister Jones (STL)

We had a cool training on how to better achieve Standards of Excellence in our key indicators, and follow up from Zone Conference. We talked about how we can use the Christmas video more, so we set a zone goal to share/show the video 150 times in a week. We are halfway through the week, and as of Sunday morning, we were at 70 views! Go team!

I was called to give a spur-of-the-moment testimony at zone meeting, so that was good, I guess!

So on Thursday we had our first Christmas party, in Sierra Vista 2nd ward. The two wards shared decorations, and servers. So, people from Hereford ward served the food at the SV2nd ward, and vice versa, so they could all sit with their families.

The decorations were LEGIT. Seriously, like almost the amount of time and effort that went into Lacey's wedding. even the ceiling lights. Down to every detail, it was perfect.

Really good food too.

Friday we had our 2nd Christmas party, for Hereford ward.

Super good food, We had smoked brisket (as in somebody smoked 50 pounds of brisket in a smoker for something like 17 hours). And pulled chicken, cornbread.... sooo good. These people down here are dedicated to these things...

We met a couple nonmembers at the party! It's funny, because as a missionary, you hear "nonmember" and suddenly you forget how to socialize.

We visited Anna, and she was home! We have to continue working with that one. But we won't give up just yet.

 

Saturday We did a blitz in our area, and all of the Elders came! Elders Whittle, Garcia, Jeffery, Ludlow, and even the zone leaders! (Judy and Wyman) We were so grateful. So we went out around1:45, and tracted a couple streets in Sierra Vista. And we actually had some successes! But guess what. As soon as we approached the first door we knocked on, it started SNOWING. We tracted in the snow. New missionary experiences! It was freezing cold outside, (well, 37 degrees). Sadly, that didn't give us much more luck than if it wasn't snowing. But of all of the times, it only snowed when we tracted. After that, it stopped.

We had Stake Conference this weekend and it was SO awesome! Probably one of the best ones I have been to. Did you know that to have a stake conference, a member of the 12 has to authorize it? Elder Greer got a letter from President Nelson, calling him to go down and have a Stake Conference in Sierra Vista, AZ on December 12th, 2015. Isn't that crazy?

We had Elder Greer from the 70 come and speak to us in all of the sessions. I learned so much! In parts of it, it was more of a discussion, where there were comments from the congregation.

The main points/my favorite points covered were:

1. The importance of councils (Ward, family, and personal councils)

2. MUSIC! Sing the hymns with confidence and spirit! This is your time to sing praises to God, whether you have musical capabilities or not. Show Him that you are serious in your praises. Music is so important, that in a 70 minute time frame, we can have up to 6 times for music in Sacrament.

We tried it out. And it was powerful. I even felt a little out of breath and lightheaded, but it presents a whole new spirit.

^ Cool story: Apparently before conference, when the choir was practicing, Elder Perry would run up and down the stairs, and when he got to the top, he would stop the choir, just to say how wonderful they were. Elder Scott would sometimes get up, and walk over to the choir, and face them when they sang, because the TV on the stage didn't do it justice.

"When you sing, you need to have a little bit of baptist in you! Make the windows shake!"- Sister Greer

3. When we understand the "WHY" we do things, we start to care about the "HOW". He talked about why the chapel is so sacred, and why sacrament meeting is so sacred.

4. The world doesn't have to get any more wicked. It already will. So stop praying that it will, so the Second Coming will happen. What we need right now is a righteous people. And what will separate us from the world is our understanding of the Sabbath.

Did you know that every once in a while, members of the twelve and other leadership meet together to discuss concerns of the people in the church? They have a meeting where they ask a question, and discuss one with another their thoughts. We got to watch a couple of those, because they were recorded, and it was really cool to see them counsel together the concerns of members, each response being thought out and genuinely concerned.

The topics they discussed in this one were:

Sabbath Day Observance, Reverence, and the Sacrament. There were some really cool insights given there, and specifics on how we can improve.

Quote from President Russell M. Nelson: "Christ came to pay a debt He didn't owe, because we owed a debt we couldn't pay. If we can't see ourselves in that debtor's prison, we don't understand the Atonement."

They talked about in Handel's Messiah how the money gained from Handel's performance was all given to free the debtors in prison. Cool analogy!

On Sunday we had another awesome session!

"If you are lukewarm, God will spit you out". Don't be wishy-washy, don't play both sides, choose THIS DAY whom ye will serve. Appeal to the Lord to increase your understanding. Don't be like Laman and Lemuel who murmured because they did not understand.

"As you love others, it shows in your countenance! Our countenance shows where we are at with the Lord. You cannot hide it. It will shine through."

Did you know that the Brethren can see which scriptures are most marked in the Gospel Library? Kinda cool! The #1 most marked scripture in ALL of the standard works is Helaman 5:12 (figures) but it's so true! That scripture is so solid! (You know, like the foundation we should build on? :))

"If we build upon the Rock of our Redeemer, we cannot fall, because He WILL NOT fall."

"If you think it's up to your Grandma Sally to do all the family history work, you're missing the point. Family History work can give you the strength to get through each day. Your burdens will be made lighter, and you will receive peace. If we don't turn the hearts of the children and fathers, the entire creation was a waste."

The First Presidency's challenge for us right now is to " Make Family History work the FOCUS of Families" at this time. They knew that this is what would strengthen families right now.

Elder Greer's invitations to us were:

1.Become converted to the Lord. Don't just become united to the church. You need both. Put Christ as the center of your life.

2.Sustain and Follow the Prophets and Apostles. (even in Sabbath day observance!)

3.Consider the gifts that Heavenly Father has given you, especially as you exchange gifts one with another.

Consider on these: 1. The light of Christ and Gift of the Holy Ghost 2. Knowing the Plan of Salvation "There are many exit ramps off the plan. Stay on it." 3. Having a calling and most importantly, 4. The Gift of the Savior Himself. All that is unfair in this life can be made right through the Atonement of Christ. If you receive not this gift, we will not have exceedingly great joy, or a need to rejoice.

Something I thought was cool: "Why do we not sustain full-time missionaries publicly in church? Do you know why?" I never thought about that! He says, "I don't know." But he has one reason that  could be the case. He says: "The reason I think missionaries are not sustained before they are set apart is because the Savior Himself sustains them. He supports all of His missionaries." That just makes me feel so good inside! The Savior Himself sustains us.

Anyway, that was most of my week, at least the good stuff! Now I don't have much time left haha. But this week was great :)

Have an awesome week!

Love,

Sister Inman


Also, Here are some pictures you can put in the blog.

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​We were trying to do pictures with the props and there was this random kid that kept photobombing us, and wouldn't leave. Cute kid, but we have no idea who he is hahahahaha. Look at his face. x)

I got that side saddle though :)

And the skirt from a previous Sister who didn't want it! jackpot!

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It's SNOWING!!!! And we were cold. But we were happy about it.

Sister Inman Letter - December 7, 2015

Hay hay! I forgot what week this is. And that bothers me because time flies so fast.

 

 

Monday:

Pretty good day. had a rough week last week, but it will be okay! Emails, shopping, then sports. We played basketball :) Elder Wyman (the new Zone Leader with Elder Judy) is totally awesome! Super chill, always smiling, and very uplifting and encouraging. One thing he said to me (I was on his team for basketball) was: "Dang, Sister Inman, did you play basketball in high school?" HA! No. Not a chance. Nope. But I have been able to make quite a few shots which is pretty awesome. It helps when it's all for fun.

 

I was informed that we are going on the same hike as last time... next Monday. E. Judy was like "You've already done this hike, so you're a pro by now! You got this Sister Inman!" So I said fine, I'll go. Because nobody likes that missionary who you have to drag behind you just to do something. But it will be fun. :)

OH so we are being kicked out of our house. There is a new family that needs the house more than we do, so we are on the hunt for a new house or apartment to live in and be moved into by January 1st. Fun stuff.

 

Tuesday:

WHERE DID NOVEMBER GO?

Crazy day. Not really, but a good day.

 

We got up and went for a walk in the freezing cold. For studies, I read a talk by Neill F. Mariott of the Relief Society Presidency called "Yielding our Hearts to God". It was just what I needed. Perfect.

We decided to drop by some houses of members in one of our wards. Particularly those who might need a visit. We dropped off cookies and an invitation to the Christmas party.

 

Also, a MIRACLE! We may have found a place to live. We went to eat dinner with a member, and she showed us this area of the house that has a spare room, bathroom, and study room that apparently she used to loan to sister missionaries. She was like "I mean it is always available, if you ever come across a time where you need somewhere to live, I've got a place for you!" Sister Adams and I just looked at each other in awe. "Actually...... we are needing a place to live right now!" haha. God answers prayers, and takes care of His missionaries.

Wednesday:

District Meeting, Enchiladas for lunch (made by Sister Phippen)

 

Lesson with Angelina that was all over the place. She's 14 and has a hard time focusing or understanding most things. It is hard to keep her attention. Plus there were twin 8 year olds demanding our attention. So that will be some work.

 

I cried in a lesson for the first time tonight... Like embarrassing type crying. I bore my testimony of prayer and how important it is, and I started crying..... But it brought the spirit so that was good I guess. We also sang I am a child of God with the terribly out of tune piano, but yeah! New experiences are great!

 

Thursday:

GREAT DAY! (happy birthday Dom!)

 

So we did Exchanges today, due to a Spanish conference in Tucson. So I was in a trio with the STL's for the day. We did service at the ranch, and raked up a ton of leaves for like 2 hours straight.

 

We went to visit Josie, but only were able to share the Christmas video.

 

After Josie, I was like "Let's go see if Anna is home." She was! And she was happy to see us! To get to the good part, we talked about her concerns, and assessed her desire to be baptized, etc...and explained the process... and then I asked, "would it make you more comfortable if you had a date to work towards? She either said yes or I don't know. So I asked her, "Anna, will you prepare and set a goal to be baptized on January 2nd?" She said "*gasp* really???!! Next month? I can be baptized??" She was so excited. I don't think I have ever seen her more happy and full of joy before.

 

We set a baptismal date! It was my first time inviting someone to be baptized. I am so happy :)

 

Friday:

Missionary correlation with Bro. Chipman at Culver's! He bought us lunch and dessert. And his wife also bought us Chocolate oranges which reminded me of home :)

 

So not much else happened today, or at least I didn't really write anything down. So... next.

Saturday:

Helped a new family move at 8am, then rushed to Johnny's baptism. Anna went! Then we did a Blitz in Elders Jeffery and Ludlow's area. Not much luck. Tracting usually isn't very productive.

 

Dinner at Hibachi Grill Buffet with a member, who also gave each of us a box of chocolates for Christmas :)

 

Sunday:

Good day, I suppose!

 

Met a lady in my ward who knows the Inman's! Brooke Monseur I think her name was? She knows Grandma and Grandpa, Reed, Kevin and Rachel, and Rick. And she guessed that my dad was Tom. Apparently they saw Grandma and Grandpa at a wedding and said they were living in Sierra Vista, and then the connection was drawn from there! Small world! So cool!

 

The Christmas Devotional was so good! I loved all of their talks and insights. I love how Elder Bednar told the Christmas story from that perspective! Super cool!!!!!! And about light and all light being Christ and the symbolism there. I will never look at Christmas lights the same, it makes me appreciate them that much more.

 

I love my companion. I can be myself and be stupid. And it's okay. She is always super positive about everything, and is very patient with me. She is an example of strength to me! She keeps pushing forward.

 

Anyway! That's all the time I have for today, I love you all and hope yo have a fantastic week! This church is so true! if you don't believe me, find out for yourself. Also, there is an awesome Christmas video on Christmas.mormon.org or navidad.mormon.org, with another video about what the world would be like without Christ. Check it out!

 

Love you!

Sister Inman

Sister Inman letter - November 30, 2015

Week 7, going on to Week 8 ...

Hey there!

So most of my emails are just what I wrote in my journal for that week, but I usually will add some commentary in addition. Sorry if it's confusing when I use the wrong tenses and you can't tell if it's past or present.

So some cool things from this week:

I am determined to learn as much Spanish as I can this transfer, because Hermana Adams is Spanish speaking, so we have an hour of language study 5/7 days a week. I can now successfully do a decent street contact in Spanish. BAM. And I finally got the name of the Church down: La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias. Working on it :)

I love my companion. It will always be an adjustment, because people are so different, but that's not necessarily a bad thing! Hermana Adams is so sweet, she always has such nice things to say about everybody, and can laugh and enjoy life. She is from Farmington, UT, and has been out for a little over 9 months. This is her first English Area, and her last area closed, or at least they took the sisters out and didn't replenish with new missionaries. There are still Elders there, but there wasn't much work there. She is about 6'1" and plays basketball (imagine that), piano, likes making things, and more things I still need to learn about her! But she is awesome. I think it's gonna be a good transfer. :)

We have been running/walking almost every morning. It is so cold outside.... but it's good that we actually get up and try to exercise. Even though I die almost every time. Hopefully I'll get used to it... I need the exercise, considering we get fed so much every night.

My week:

Monday-

P-day (preparation), and the Zone Leaders surprised us by showing up to sports instead of hiking or going to Benson. They must love us :) They brought and gave us banana bread that Elder Judy made. :) We played chair hockey. I'm not very good at it... I can't kick a ball to save my life. Finally we played some basketball, so I was happy about that. I've come to really like it.

Tuesday- TRANSFER DAY

We met in Benson (about an hour away) at 8:45am ish and I picked up my new companion.

It's so weird to have a new companion but stay in the same area. Especially when their personalities are way different. Not better, but different from each other. I am really happy that I still have all of the rest of my district though!

Wednesday-I'm getting so FAT. Ugh :(
Anyway. So today I contacted a couple people! We went to a pie party- Where we all gather together and eat pie... lots of it.... the day before Thanksgiving, because you almost never have enough room after thanksgiving dinner! I love the idea!!!!! There were several nonmembers there, so it was a perfect finding opportunity. We got two potentials/referrals that want to meet with us! It should be great!

Thursday- Thanksgiving!

I will never eat again. I feel more stuffed than the turkey we ate today. Nope, that's it, it's almost like eating is no longer a joyful thing. I can go a week without eating and still be full.

Anyway. So we had this AMAZING dinner at 2pm (haha). We went to the Wallace's (Less Active, but becoming reactivated! So happy for them. They're such an awesome family) and they had a serious feast for us there. They invited the Sukuts as well (Part Member Family, in their 80's, but she only seems 60). I can't even remember everything they had there. 3 different kinds of meat. Well, 2 turkeys, one baked and the other fried, and then one ham. Stuffing, mashed potatoes, super good baked beans, green bean casserole, rolls, jello/whipped cream thing, yams (which were actually really good! I know Dad doesn't like them, but... they were really good)... and pies. And probably more things, but I can't remember. I didn't want to fill up too much, because we had another dinner at 3pm, but I wish I did. Our 2nd dinner was with the Gonzales' (Ward Mission Leader) and it was really nice! They had the traditional Turkey, casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, stuffing, etc. and then pumpkin pie. It was really nice! And they invited a family from the ward. We had a nice discussion about various things.

Then we went and tried a couple people. We got to see Anna! After forever! And she told us her concerns. She opened up to us. So we are keeping her in our prayers, and trying to see what would be best for her, and how to help her have the faith to be baptized again.

Then we went over to the Holden's (next door neighbors) who gave us leftovers. 3 different kinds of potatoes, casserole, rolls, pie, turkey....

I will never eat again.

Friday-

We walked and ran this morning, and it was SUPER WINDY and COLD! We ran downhill, then tried to power walk it uphill... But the wind was so strong and pushed directly against us, so it was really hard. I felt like I was going to die.

We tried a couple of Less Actives with no luck. Then some potentials with little luck. But we contacted a man on the street and He basically explained his beliefs to us, which encompassed most of lesson 1 and part of lesson 3! Firm belief in Jesus Christ, and said he appreciates when people like us go around and share that knowledge with others. We asked if he would be interested in learning more about Jesus Christ, and he paused, and said "Well how would I go about doing that?" Golden, right? So we said we could come over and talk with him, and he said well... how about I just read my Bible, we are pretty active in our church. We're all Christians!

Darn. We probably should have pursued that a little better.

Saturday-

I'm learning Spanish! I'm getting better and it makes me happy. We read a chapter a day in El Libro de Mormon (Spanish Book of Mormon) and it's exciting because I can understand most of it! It also helps that I have read the English one a couple times. But I am going to start setting weekly Spanish goals with my companion. Anyway. I was kind of in a "meh" mood today. I am trying to be a good missionary, but this week has been rough adjusting. I've been more frustrated, and more emotional, but it's not always going to be sunshine and daisies all the time! It's part of life. I guess I just got spoiled with not having too many down moments the first part of my mission.

I prayed about what Christ-like Attribute I could work on this transfer, and I haven't gotten a clear answer, but I have had a few thoughts about diligence. So, I have decided that God wants me to work on Diligence. It will be good for me.

Sunday-

Sunday was really good! The talks were mostly on gratitude, and it was great! I learned from each one of them. Hermana Adams got to meet some people today. We had ward council in Hereford ward. I am super stoked for the Christmas parties coming up! (We get to go to TWO!) And they are sharing decorations, so the theme is "A Cowboy Christmas" and there will be brisket and chicken and other awesome stuff.... Like... a legitimate cowboy feast. And then pulled pork or something for the other ward. So excited :) We have been inviting lots of people to it, so hopefully it will turn out to have been a great missionary tool.

Today was Elder Whittle's 20th birthday. So for end of the week/month calls tonight we sang to him and it sounded awful.

So that was my week! I will try to attach/send pictures. I love my area and my district. I love this gospel. I love my mission. I love the people here. I love the Book of Mormon with all of my heart. Read it! If you can gain a solid testimony of the Book of Mormon, a testimony of everything else will come! Because if you know the Book of Mormon is true, you can know that Joseph Smith and all of his successors are true prophets, who receive continued revelation for all of God's children.

Happy Birthday Dom! You're getting so OLD.

Have a great week! I love you all and keep you in my prayers!

Love,

Sister Inman

 

Yo y mi companera, Hermana Adams

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Hard to see, but our Christmas decor.

The Everett's made a fairy garden..... Pretty legit, I must say. They said that if they like the door, then they will make it their home. At night the blue rocks turn into water, and they built this nice little yard for themselves.

Elder Judy...