January 13th, 2014

Dear All,

I have learned this week that if you are diligent about receiving a list of less actives, part member and unbaptized members over 9 from wards it will be given you. We have enough people to testify to for quite a while.

This week we were able to meet two amazing women that live in the Jensen area. 

The first is married to a less active member, and they have two daughters. This wonderful lady welcomed us in after we began to testified at her door. We were able to share the first two points of the Restoration but mostly ended up listening to what this sister had to say to us. I believe we establish trust from listening and finding similarities in our experiences. She was open to us teaching her and her daughters. We set up our next appointment for Wednesday.

The next lady is a less active Sister that lost their 2 hour old baby back in the spring. I felt strongly that we should visit her after the ward Mission Leader gave us her name. We ended up coming to her home just as she came home from work. She invited us in and we shared that God was our loving Heavenly Father. She cut us off with saying, "I don't know about that." We were silent for a bit and then I don't remember what we said. We just listened and looked at pictures of her infant son. She had a lot of questions and shared some personal experiences she had had recently. She is struggling to receive an answer to a prayer she has had and she felt like we were part of the answer. We asked her to talk to her less active husband about us coming over to teach the whole family.

I learned about the importance of listening to people and the Spirit. 

I stressed a bit over the two talks we had on the 12th. I felt negative and I felt I hadn't prepared them well. Long story short, we ended up missing out on a couple hours of time we could have been visiting the many people we have responsibility for on Saturday. I learned something from this experience and I hope that I can show God that I am sorry for the not-so-good use of his time by doing better this week. I learned that I had partially prepared my talks wrong. I was asking myself, "What should I say?" when I really should have asked, "What do they need to hear?" I am a bit irritated with myself it took me so long to figure that out. Next Saturday will not be like the 11th. Several people have come up to us and expressed with deep sincerity that they need both of our talks. I felt the Spirit as I talked, I felt it was good, I just make everything I do 100% harder because I have such high expectations for myself.

Something else I have learned this week is to delegate better; let Sister Christiansen call some people :P

I know God loves me! I just need to find my balance between humility and pride. I feel like if I beat myself up I am being humble but that isn't being humble and it doesn't help anything so it isn't good but I don't want to be prideful...it is a vicious circle. :P Every week I get little clues how I can manage this better and number one is to move on from mistakes with a determination to do better and not let myself wallow.

Remember that God love you!

God bless you,

Sister Meldrom

January 6th, 2014

Dear All,

I have a negative feeling that keeps nagging at me today. I don't feel like emailing and I don't know why. So I will try to shake off this feeling as I push through emails. 

We had a good week. The crowning event was the baptism of our 17 year old investigator. Her conversion started about a year ago with a couple of her good friends giving her a nice copy of the Book of Mormon with all of their individual testimonies for her birthday. At the time Kaylynn's mother was completely against her taking the discussions and being baptized, so Kaylynn waited and prayed patiently. About November one of her friends texted us and asked us to come to his house to teach her. We began the discussions and asked her to invite her mother to our appointments. When her mother didn't come we invited her by phone and by face to every lesson but she still didn't come. It was a bit concerning because we didn't know if her mother was truly open to it as Kaylynn had told us. We tried our best though to include her mom in everything. Before the baptism, we gave her the baptismal form to sign and she did. I internally breathed a sign of relief because I wasn't sure what her mothers take on it is and I don't want to do anything against her will. Kaylynn glowed the whole baptism. The room was filled with supportive members, as well as her mother and younger sister. The service was very spiritual and Sister Christiansen and I bore our testimony of the Restoration as Kaylynn changed after her baptism. The inspired part of the baptism, to bear testimony of the Restoration, is brilliant and we always have comments about it later. I love it because it does bring the Spirit all the more and everyone can feel it. Kaylynn's confirmation and testimony the next day was very spiritual. We did not have the opportunity to talk to Kaylynn's mom after but we will definitely keep including her and hopefully someday she will have the desire like her daughter. 

Also at church with us was another one of our investigators. I believe she felt the spirit much throughout the whole three hours and I know I gained a testimony of the importance of helping the investigators to church and helping them feel comfortable. Her attendance at church was a team effort of our invitations and members she knew invitations.

We have been more actively meeting up with ward leaders to try to receive referrals and other peoples names to visit. I have seen God blessing us, though our efforts are not perfect. It reminds me of Alma 32:27 "yeah if you no more then desire [to do better], let this desire work in you(action),even until ye believe in a manner that ye can.." I desired to do better, felt the weight of not-so-good use of the Lord's time in the past but through God's grace was able to just put one foot in front of the other this week. Now we are in no ways done with our labors(and I am thankful because Sister Christiansen and I both don't like to idle) but I pause for just a brief moment and express my sincere gratitude. I can do nothing of myself.

I feel a little better. Reflecting back on my week, I have realized that I have plenty of desire in the right direction. I just need to put a little more umph by proceeding with actions and remind myself that beating myself up is a step in the wrong directions .So thus I will try to combat my negative feeling. 

I look forward to what we can accomplish this week, one step at a time, and a whole lot of thrust and help from God's hands.

God bless you,

Sister Meldrom

December 16th, 2013

Dear All,

  It has been a roller coaster of a week but through God's love shown through my companion and others, I ended my week leveled out and happy.  I was stressed about driving, being in charge of the area, not being able to do 'this' or not being able to do 'that'. Thursday and Friday were the rough days. I got a blessing on Friday after DTM and talked and cried and talked and cried to Sister Christiansen. I am grateful to her. She lovingly threatened to call the Sister Training Leaders if I didn't get better. I know she loves me, just as Christ loves me. I also went through "the Adjusting to Missionary Life" and determined that in order to manage the stress I felt I was going to: 1. Pray fervently, alone and with my companion 2. Sing 3. Recognize God's hand 4. Make sure I exercise every morning that is appropriate and 5.Befriend my companion. I focused on these 5 simple things and they helped immensely!

Sister Christiansen is from Los Angeles area California. She is 20, been out for 9 months, loves horses, and has two of her own, and likes the smell of pines/Christmas tree like me :D

  Our weekly planning was a bit crazy because we have done it a bit differently from one another and we didn't find quite a balance between both of our ideas. I am one to nod my head at suggestions but wonder if what I have done should still be implemented. Every third Sunday we meet with the Stake President or one of his counselors and yesterday 1st Counselor Ipson told me to not forget what I have done because it has been doing well. I have concluded that the best way to sift through what I have to offer, and what Sister Christiansen has to offer, is to bring up my thoughts and to ask the why behind her thoughts so I understand. It seems at time she was annoyed by my lack of understanding but I tried to humbly give her the benefit of the doubt. After all, I told myself, she is in a new area, new companion and such and may feel a stressed as well. She told me though the other day that she doesn't mean to sound that way and I believe her. She is awesome! We are both morphing to each other so we can be unified. Sister Christiansen has gone through a lot and I am grateful that we are companions. She has taught me things that I needed to learn from the very second we were companions.

  One other thing that helped this week was a prompting from the Spirit when listening to a talk at church yesterday. It was about hope. I realized I had lost hope for a bit, but through God, was gaining it back. I wrote down my hopes and recommitted myself to focus. 

Sister Christiansen is going to help me recognize the Spirit better by this route this week: After every lesson she will tell me when she felt the Spirit when I was talking and I will tell her when I felt the Spirit when she was talking. It has worked well so far!

We also have had a lot of laughs like when we  rushed out to the hall because my Ipad glitched up and started playing a hymn in the middle of sacrament and wouldn't stop! :) 

I am grateful for the hope that we have through Christ. I am grateful that I am happy and ready to be better and work better this week. I could go on forever, I know my Redeemer lives,

Sister Sarah Meldrom

December 9th, 2013

Dear All,
It has been a wonderful week. Busy, sad at times, but Sister Hedley didn't let me mope :) The wisest thing she said to me is that my mother won't always be there to celebrate my birthday and take me out to lunch as she has almost always did. It was that tough love that caused me to cry a bit more then move on. It was hard and I think I need to pray from now until Christmas that I can handle Christmas a little better. But I agree with what my mother said before I left, "This is the best way for you to leave the house for the first time. God will support you when you are sad, and He has through other people. I like to be busy in this work, it causes me to focus outward a lot better :)

My Birthday was good. I went to the temple and did a session(service) and then the Vernal Sisters and Sister Hedley surprised me to ice cream. We had dinner at a members home and she made chicken enchiladas and we had chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and MOOSE TRACKS! No one liked the moose tracks besides me so I have nearly a whole quart to myself :P They also gave me a missionary journal and a 2 dollar bill :P I got my b-day packages from my family and from my Aunt Michelle. I loved them! I also got a b-day package from my Aunt Rachel back in November and realized it was for my b-day after I opened it :P  Plenty of chocolate and cupcakes(Michelle :D) STAMPS, cards, b-day party stuff, subway gift card to just name a few things :) Thank you for making it wonderful all of you!  

We had several last new member discussions this week. No one wants to see us go but they know we have other people to help. I am grateful I have been able to see and feel their newly developed testimony and it has strengthened mine.

I am working on praying with more gratitude. But more specifically. I have my planner from the MTC that I have decided to write the needs of others as I hear them so that I do not forget what they need my help with. One new investigator this week told us she made a promise at the request of her dying husband that she would remain in the Church of Christ and keep their grown children in it as well. She was very emotional when she told us. She wants to obey his wishes out of respect and love. We encouraged her to ponder and pray and God will lead her in the right direction because He knows her. I wrote this down so I could remember her in my prayers. She also has had trouble with her eyes and I have grown in appreciation that we have the Book of Mormon on CD so even .." the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness." Isaiah 29:18 We plan on giving her the CD our next meeting.

I was looking at my emails and it looks like Sister Hedley is being transferred :( Like I said in my last email, she has been a good friend and trainer. I am a bit anxious about what I do now but I have faith that Christ will not give me anything I can't handle with Him.

Happy Transfers! May God bless and keep you, 
Sister Meldrom

December 1st, 2013

Dear All,

It has been a good week despite the slow down from the Holidays and almost everyone to busy to meet with us. 

I am having a bit of a struggle overcoming the natural man of thinking of myself these past couple of days. I try not to think about myself and focus on the people we are teaching but I leave almost every lesson lately feeling like I didn't do very well and I mentally beat myself up. Perhaps I should just ignore such feelings because I am trying to be well prepared and to follow the Spirit but I always wonder if I have done enough to prepare or am I good enough to have the companionship of the Holy Ghost. All of that is just thinking of myself but how do I make sure I am doing all I can. I worry about this constantly. 'Have I done my part?' 'What can I do better?' I know Jesus Christ will help me figure it out but for now I am on a roller coaster of trying to fight against feeling of being unprepared and to stop thinking of myself. Is the cure to this fluctuation of feelings just losing myself? Probably. I just make it so much more complicated then it needs to be.

 Every day there are miracles.One of the attributes of Christ in Preach My Gospel is, 'I have enough faith in Christ to accomplish anything He wants me to do- even miracles if necessary.'  I have added this to my list of Christlike attributes to work on. It seems a bit bold to me to expect miracles but even when I don't expect miracles they still happen. Every person we teach is a miracle, every member is a miracle and the ability to do the work that we all do to contribute to the Lord's kingdom is a miracle. How amazing that we have God's help behind our work. We could never do it without Him.

 

Transfers are next week - ALREADY! I am excited but also sad because there is only a 20% possibility Sister Hedley and I will remain together. Sister Hedley has been a wonderful trainer and friend to me. I will be sad to part with her one of these days. God knows exactly who we need, when we need them and what they will teach us. Sister Hedley has got me off to a great start as a missionary, been patient, counseled and love me. With the Lord as both of our guides we have learned to work together and got along well. I am forever grateful for her and to God for allowing me to work right beside her.

We helped with a charity on Wednesday, "Trees for Charity", where you decorate a Christmas tree according to a theme and for a certain cause of the decorators choice. The Sister we helped did a Cowboy Christmas theme and did it for a girl with mental disabilities. So today they auction off the trees and give the money and sometimes the buyer give the tree to the family/cause.

We ended up with 5 Thanksgiving appointments! Needless to say we ate light at each place and still ended up stuffed. Sister Hedley isn't a pie fan so I think she had a lot less dessert then me. :P I couldn't resist the apple, cherry and pumpkin pie. 

Happy December,

Sister Meldrom

November 24th, 2013

Dear All,

This week has flown by and it causes me to wonder if I have done all I could. I feel myself falling more naturally into missionary work and I am not so anxious before every lesson. I hope though that I am not relying on myself but on God. I know it would be a sad use of the Lord's time, that He has given me, if I have to be continually humbled. I haven't found my balance in this yet. It causes me to second guess all my thoughts and actions because I am so worried about just relying on the arm of flesh. The greatest struggle I have every day is with myself. "Am I doing all I can be doing?" "Why don't I understand this better?" "Am I doing well enough?" But I believe God is slowly coaching me on something that you probably see. I am thinking too much of myself. 

So this leads me to the other thing I have pondered on this week. I believe God gives us experiences as missionaries, and even before, so that we can relate and help those we teach. I hope I am getting this right, 'that by helping others I am helping myself to learn'. I am going through Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel and I do set goals (which could always use improvement) but agonizing over it doesn't help. I am working on using the Vision, Goal, Plan, Implement and Evaluate system more into my goals so I not only have the 'What I am doing' but 'Why I am doing it'. I really like how in Zone Conference I was reminded that the Why I am here is the people, and that the keys of missionary work are with the Stake and Wards and the church members. Also that our authority as missionaries is in the teaching. I don't know why I like this so much but it has filled me with a sense of direction and hope in myself and an increase of recognizing the Spirit. Small and simple means.

We had the privilege of two of our investigators getting baptized and we have received three new investigators this week. Members have told my companion and I 'good work', but this really is much like in marriage, a three way partnership. God, members and missionaries. Whenever someone is baptized most people just see the missionaries as the primary source of the event but really all children of God that come back to God have to have the relationship with all three. I have no cause to be EVER ungrateful because God blesses me so abundantly. All glory goes to God.

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Sister Meldrom

November 17th, 2013

Hello All,

  This past week we have had the privilege to be at the forefront of a excommunicated member coming back. Excommunication is where the members records are removed from the church till they are ready to come back. It is a state of mercy because then they aren't held to the promises that come with being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It all started with a referral from a church member and a lesson with some ward members who ended up being this man and his wife's friends. The first appointment they were "yeah we want to come back" with a slight hesitation but the second appointment was a spiritual and amazing change. They know they want to return. They are ready. They know it will be a difficult road but they are ready. How glorious is our God! They came to church yesterday and he is setting a time to meet with the Stake president. 

  There was also, at church, a couple we have been trying to get a hold of but we haven't had any success. They want to come back too, so we shall visit them. The Lord is blessing this ward, that these less active members live in. He knows it is time for these sheep to come back and the members are helping them. Soon there will be two baptisms in this ward. God is blessing this ward because they are working diligently to find, retain and reactivate.

  As part of the 12 Week training, my responsibility and privilege this week was to "invite to baptism". We had two wonderful women that we taught for the first time this week. After our lessons, I had the privilege to invite them to baptism. Both sisters are going to pray and ponder about baptism. I could see that, if they were willing, God had prepared them to accept the gospel at this time. 

  We also had an appointment with an investigator we haven't seen in a while because of her work schedule. I was able to invite her to baptism as well. She is going to pray about it. I am grateful that God knew I would need these experiences this week. 

  One of my favorite things that I have experienced is feeling the Spirit as people share their stories. God has prepared all whom we run into to accept our help, whether it is to enter the waters of baptism or to continue on their journey toward Christ. What a blessing it is to be at the front of the Lord's holy army. What a serious responsibility. I pray every day I can be better then yesterday. I pray every day that I may have His Spirit. I know I am nothing and I am left to the natural man without Christ. The success I have is not my own, but my Redeemers.

I am humbled that God loves me so much. When I cry unto Him, He hears me. He pours His blessings upon me and I marvel. I wish I was stronger so I could show Him, by being excellent, how appreciative I am. Yet, I fear,I lose faith, and I become intimidated. The solution isn't to focus on myself but to focus on Him and to remember my favorite Book of Mormon scripture Ether 12:27, our weaknesses can become strengths if we are humble and have faith in Jesus Christ. I know we can be instruments in God's hands BECAUSE of our weaknesses. God knows exactly who can benefit from your unique experiences. I have been told over and over again since starting my mission: 'Be yourself'. God doesn't need the learned and perfect preacher, but He needs the humble and sincere teacher and doer of His words. By small and simple means are great things brought to pass.

God bless and keep you, 

Sister Meldrom