Dear All,
Biggest news is that I am now in northern Provo, the area is called Edgemont. My companion and I cover three Stakes, two Family Stakes and on YSA Stake. My companion, Sister Garding, is from Seattle area in Washington and we have hit it off pretty well so far. It helps that both of us are missionaries that like to be on time, clean up after ourselves and don't take long to get ready for the day in the morning (to just name a few things :) )
I have also had at least one person per day ask me if I am either related to Rod Meldrum or the other Meldrum's in the Stakes we cover. I always reply with 'somehow, if not Adam and Eve' or 'if they tell me who their parents, grandparents and great grandparents are on the Meldrom side we could probably figure it out' There are 4 Meldrum families between the two family stakes :P
Saying good bye to some particular people in Lindon was hard. Cecil, a nonmember I have mentioned before, told us how unfair it is I am leaving and he can't hug me. He has told Sister McIntire and I several times how much we are the best missionaries he has ever had. He wants to adopted us. For me he is one of the few people I have met that I felt like I was meant to meet them and help. I could barely make it through the closing prayer he and his wife asked me to give. It took all my faith to leave and not stay. He wasn't doing well that day. He made me promise to come back when I can hug him and to stay in touch. No doubt about that, they have woven their way into my heart.
We stopped by many people of significances to me, but none were more emotional then this one. I hope someday in the next years and months he has left on earth Cecil will humble himself before God and recognize what he has been missing; a deeper and more meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ.
I have met many wonderful people so far in this area and I look forward to the next while I can be here, serving God's children in Edgemont :) I have already had the opportunity to serve and lift those who are heavily burdened. I know God will use us to bless the lives of His children, our brothers and sisters, if we just desire and then act on that desire. I am in no ways perfect at this but I have seen how a willing heart, acted upon, has produced miracles. Pray for the opportunity to serve and you will see what God can work, through you.
God is good,
Sister Sarah Meldrom
Dear All,
I feel numb. A change has been announced, I am being transferred! I
don't know where yet. You will hear where in my next email. It has
been official so far: I have been in an area for 168 days or 5 months
and 15 days, both Vernal and Lindon.....CRAZY!
We had a miracle occur in the fact that hardly any of our Less Active
Recent Converts met with us this week, yet be got our goal of 12
lessons! We met a lot of new people this week and received many LARC
referrals! In small and simple ways The Lord blesses us.
On Thursday we taught some Relief Society Sisters about how to use
Facebook for uplifting/ missionary purposes. ~ Do the messages and
thoughts you post lift and help others? If not how can you improve?
Humbly I admit we were the answer to a Sisters prayer this week. We
have felt like we should visit a certain Less Active Sister, Sister
Bryant, in the 4th Ward for a couple weeks now. We have stopped by
several times to no avail. We did catch her at home two Fridays ago
and shared a message and asked her if she would like the discussions.
When she agreed we asked her if there was any certain topic she would
like to cover. She told us she wanted to learn more about Christ and
how He can help her. So this past Friday we prepared to start reading
particularly good chapters in the Book of Mormon of Christ's
attributes and what these attributes help us to do.
At the appointment we read and commented as we went and then nearly
at the end of the chapter Sister Bryant opened up about how she knows
God loves her but doesn't understand or feel like Christ can or is
forgiving her because of her guilt. We bore testimony of the truth
that Christ welcomes and can heal all. We pointed out she was doing
the best she could so there is no reason God wouldn't answer and bless
her with peace according to her desires. We told her He would show His
love to her to help her know. After she expressed some concern and
doubts we bore testimony that God does answer our sincere prayers,
sometimes answering through His other children. A little while later
Sister Bryant asked how we had come to start teaching her, or who had
told her to come. We told her we had just felt we should, no one told
us. This made her cry. The realization slowly dawned on me and made my
heart swell as the Spirit bore witness that we were helping answer a
beloved daughters plea for love and help. I shed a tear as I realized
we were being tools in God's hands. It is humbling to realize God uses
us, imperfect as we are, to bless our brothers and sisters. We don't
know their needs but our loving Father does and He knows how to help.
It is through the simple things, the gradual efforts. This dear
Sisters problems are not over but she has been able to see how aware
and beloved she is. We know one day all her guilt and pain will be
completely 'melted away' and in its place will be a new person, ready
to move forward with confidence and courage. All because of what Jesus
Christ did, does and will do for each and every one of us every day.
We had an awesomely fun zone activity today! This elementary school in
PG, has a space simulator that we went to and broke into two
groups-District against District, got a briefing, picked a mission,
picked assignments between: Captain (Elder Knight), 1st Lieutenant/
Radar Controller( Elder Heyen), Navigator (Sister McIntire),
Operator(Sister Hadley), Tactnition (Sister Funaki) and Engineer(Me),
and followed our flight instructor to The Galileo. It is a stealth
ship, 6 persons only. Inside the ship were 6 screens, each for the 6
positions. Because I was the Engineer I got hands on training on how
to fix problems and upgrade the ship by activating 'this' by switching
a button up, deactivating 'that', plug 'this' there and here and so
forth. My screen just told me step by step instructions. The rest of
the crew had head sets that told them what to press on the screens and
why. After 'taking off' I worked primary with the Operations and
Tactical Directors to shut off power to things and to ramp them up
after I fixed them.There was no just sitting around for my job,
especially since the we got damaged quite a bit because we didn't know
what we were doing or how to work together until almost the end. Our
damage mainly came from attacking enemy ships and running into
asteroids! We got into a couple of prickly situations through out and
everyone had fun acting their parts. At several portions of our
mission, which was to gather info and potentially rescue kidnapped
ambassadors, the whole crew was yelling ad screaming and panicking
because we were getting hit and the computer voice(who was actually
our flight director in an outside station helping us) would tell us
how long we had until we were dead! No freaking out for me though. I
completely enjoyed working behind the scenes and didn't have an idol
moment! (Yeah, we had some pretty close dead calls :P) Occasionally
the Captain would shout back to me, "We need more coolant", and I was
on it :) In the end we succeeded in collecting information of the
whereabouts of the ambassadors and send it back to our intelligence
headquarters so they could rescue them :D Best Zone Activity Ever!
I am grateful for this time I have to labor with all my might for God.
I know on a mission is where I need to be. I know God loves me and
will help me through any challenges. I know He will help you too!
God is good!
Sister Sarah Meldrom( the Engineer :D)
Dear All,
This week we were able to get up with a investigator who has been gone
for quite a while. We mostly just tried to understand why he is
interested in learning more and we told him our purpose for inviting.
He will be gone for another two weeks but Sister McIntire and I feel
good that even if we only plant seeds, it is going to be good to share
the teachings of Christ with him. We know how they have blessed and
helped us. We know it can help him too.
On Wednesday we had the Restoration lesson with a mother and her 8
year old daughter. The two younger sisters (4 and 2) sat and listened
as well. We were glad we had planned a more visual lesson using cups
to represent different principles because all the kids were a bit
wiggly. I loved how this lesson helped to build my testimony of the
Restoration of Christ's church by the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know he
did see God, our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. I know
they live, have bodies of flesh and bones and that they love us. All
that they do is to help us.
We had the privilege to be present as Kevin, our recreate record
investigator was baptized on Friday. The Primary room was packed full
of those that came to witness this wonderful day as well. One of my
favorite things, however, at first seemed to be a disaster. Kevin's mom,
who is not supportive and a bit anti came to the baptism after texting
Kevin nasty things. She sat in the bathroom, as far as I know for the
whole program. Through all the baptism program we could tell this was
bothering Kevin. After the program was finished he excused himself
from the 'well wishes' and went outside with his mother to talk to
her. He came back in a few minutes later with a brighter countenance
and a happy smile. He had been able to have a long hug with his mother
and they parted in love. This I loved because I and countless others
have been praying that Kevin's mothers' heart would soften because
she means a lot to him and he can barely stand the negativity. This
helped me to build my testimony that God does answer prayers and He
answers them most often with simply more strength to us to bear our
struggles. Kevin's mother isn't super gung-ho but she has accepted her
son a bit and it means the world to him. Kevin is an awesomely
courageous young man. We have been blessed and taught more then I
think we have taught him!
I am grateful for my parents who taught and showed me the example of
working hard and serving others. Service has opened more hearts then I
will even know. We have seen this time and time again, my companions
and I, throughout our missions. If ever someone wants to lighten
their burden, they only have to lift another.
I decided to put my IPad background as this picture for a while. I am
hoping it will remind me of the scene that is going on:
John 21:14 - 17
14 This is now the third time that Jesus shewed himself to his
disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.
15
So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord;
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.
16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest
thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.
He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou
me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest
thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou
knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Sister Sarah Meldrom
Dear All,
We met with Kevin nearly everyday this week to 'teach him' but we were
mainly just reminding him. He amazes us every lesson. Yesterday's
lesson, Sunday, we were making plans for his baptism and he broke into
silent tears and hid his face. We remained quiet until he spoke and
told us he had been to his mother house that day and she neither his
sisters are coming to the baptism. He amazes us because he presses
forward regardless of the lack of support he gets from his family. We
know this can only be attributed to his faith and hope in Jesus
Christ. He knows this is where God wants him to go and he will not be
moved. He is built upon the Rock, who is Christ.(Helaman 5:12)
We had two saddening spots in the week. One of our investigators met
with us, finally after weeks of not meeting with us, and told us she had
read the whole Book of Mormon and what she thought of it. We listened
as she continued to tell us what our religion does wrong. She was not
unkind about anything she said. It would have been completely sad if
she hadn't opened up to us so much about her concerns and desires,
something she hasn't done much. We listen and made occasional
questions or comments of understanding and at the conclusion we bore
our testimonies of the love of God and our love for her. We promised
we would still visit her occasionally if she would like. She agreed
and decided she would tells us when she is ready to learn more again.
Second, a less active family that has been doing well since
missionaries first met with them told us they were done with the
lessons, again after weeks of not meeting with us. We are sad but they
have gone as far as they are willing right now. We hope someday they
will be able to find the answers they search for and understand what a
testimony of the scriptures and attending church can do for them.
We are starting to get the church tour fireside set up in the Lindon
stake. This week we had a run through with the Wards Mission Leaders,
the High Counselor over Missionary Work and the Senior Missionary
couple. Also who joined us was Kevin, his girlfriend Kinzie and our
other investigator Elisabeth. After we ended and quietly filtered from
the sacrament room to the hall many people shook hands with us and
told us how they love the church tour firesides! The Spirit is so
strong they told us and one Ward Mission Leader told us that though
nothing we said was new to him the Spirit built his testimony that
Jesus Christ is his Savior and that he loves him. Our investigators
felt the same way. I think it particularly touched Elisabeth who
seemed to be more at ease and at peace as she spoke to us afterwards.
We gave her hugs and told her we would Skype teach her while she is in
Ohio for the month visiting her family. She liked that idea. She is
awesome!
On Friday morning we set up a giant maze of chairs in preparation for
a lesson we had that evening. The appointment canceled a couple hours
before and we were left with a elaborate maze and no one to go through
it. :( We thought of two families that had kids that could go through
so we ran over to their homes. The first family wasn't home, but the
second one was, at least some of them. This family actually was having
a horrible day because of legal griefs the mothers ex- husband was
giving them. We invited all of them to come but the mother was to sick
at heart to do anything. She did however beg her 14 year old daughter
to go with her friend who was there. She consented reluctantly and we
walked to the chapel. Both girls seemed to enjoy leading each other
through the maze verbally as the other was blind folded. We likened
this activity to how God guides us throughout the mazes of life and He
does that through his 'still small voice'. We encouraged them to ask
God for guidance and comfort and we promised they would receive it. As
we walked back both of them seemed less weighed down then before. It
caused me to ponder that this is a difficult journey we have here on
earth but I know God is aware of our struggle, heart ache, failures
and trials. I know he loves us, that all unfair will be made right
through him and we can rely on his strength when ours is gone. I know
this was the strength that these girls felt. I have felt it too.
On Sunday our dinner canceled so we sat in church wondering whom of
the many people we should call on our ' in case dinner cancels' list
when a brother came up and told us he would love to have us eat
anytime with his family. We sheepishly asked if that evening was okay
and he exclaimed, Perfect! This was a small miracle but great in our
eyes. To us it was a tender mercy and a show of God's love for us by
taking care of our needs. He did likewise with missionaries many
hundred of years ago:
"37 And after that they did separate themselves one from another,
taking no thought for themselves what they should eat, or what they
should drink, or what they should put on.
38 And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither
should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they
should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in
the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and
this because he prayed in faith."
Alma 31:37-38
I know God loves me, this is what sustains me though the hardest days.
He is good to me. Others deserve to know this too. Share you testimony
of Jesus Christ, sharing lifts our burdens and others,
Sister Sarah Meldrom
