Dish Cryer
This week was a good one. We had district pday where we played sport... I love the elders but in all honesty none of them put up a challenge + as missionaries you cant box out or really guard... so that was cool. But then we had Missionary Coordination Meeting with the stake president. It was good, but I realized there needs to be a lot more going on. That meeting was all the fluff, we need to get down to the heart of things how we can really gather scattered Israel because I can assure you it doesnt happen at the hands of the missionaries. If it were up to us there would be no success. The members supply the real success through love and testimony.
Thursday we had service at our ward mission leaders house, we pulled weeds and in return we got a life lesson on the gottman ratio. You need to have 5 positive experiences to every negative one to want to continue with something when you get to a 1 negative to one positive ratio you will stop doing it. But we have an assured 5 things to stay positive with the gospel. 1 read your scriptures (but dont just read them. Apply them.) 2 say your prayers (we all have a million questions, why not take them to the man in charge and get the real answers) 3 go to church (church is a hospital where those that need to be healed go. Not where perfect people gather if that were the case churches would be empty.) 4 Service (when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.) 5 Following the counsel of the living prophet (God doesnt just have a prophet for show or anything. But to actually help us and teach us to change.) It's very real when you think about it. If you're starting to dislike something find more things you like about it and focus on the 5 positive and not the 1 negative. Interesting theory that I LOVE 💕 then we went and visited a few members. One was the grumpiest old lady but she was sassy so I brought out the attitude and bit and we were instant best friends. Plus she has the coolest stories shes from Fleetwood England and has some stories that are unreal! She was funny! Then we went to another member whose from NZ and that's the coolest thing ever! Kiwis are the sweetest people and this lady decided to start a dance class to keep the culture alive within the polynesians but to also be a refuge for the returning members which is keeping them in line and hello I am so gonna join that dance class to bring back my polynesian ways!! I miss my sweet samoans (xoxo sepah- married yet?)
Friday we had weekly planning And attempted door knocking. Then we went to go see that Brazilian family that we are teaching we had texted him the day before or maybe even that morning but he is famous for not texting back for ages..but we sat in the car for a few minutes planning out what we were going to do and solidified everything. Then we go up to the door and have a very powerful lesson about the Plan of Salvation and gave them a Portuguese Book of Mormon and invited them to dinner with some members on Wednesday (tonight) and we are more than pumped THEY ARE FINALLY GOING TO COME TO CHURCH BECAUSE THEYLL HAVE FRIENDS. they are going through some challenges right now and we know that just being at church will help them find that peace they need in their lives! And an invitation from someone other than 2 missionaries will be great. But here is the funny part of our visit. We showed up to their door and Hector looked a little confused, then as we were leaving we looked at our phone and saw a text from him saying, " Hello! How have you been? We're going well. We already submitted all the documents. We're waiting for the answer 🙏. We are free today" and literally as soon as he sent it we were at his door step! That was a powerful witness to me that God really does place into our minds where we need to be and helps us get there at the exact moment we are needed.
Saturday in the morning we played some volleyball with a few of the YA/YSA and a member of the bishopric it was Brother Hansen, Sister Houston and I verse two YSA/YA and we smashed em. It was awesome Brother Hansen was so happy and it was the greatest thing (we talked to his family later and they said he was happy all day Saturday because we beat them so bad that morning. 😂 then we went and helped weed at the Gabeharts, that was so funny. They didnt have many in the back but Brother Gabehart comes around from the front with a bigger pile than Sister Houston and I had combined from thr backyard.. guess we chose the easy route! But it was good! We walked the beach walk and street contacted for awhile. Then we went to dinner with Silvie and her family. It was the funniest thing. Silvie just says what's on her mind and does whatever she wants. Shes the one that was so excited to give us a tour of the house that we ended up sitting in the hallway on the floor. She is just so real and told us. She'd like us to prepare her son for baptism! WOOHOO.
Sunday was great we went to youth Sunday school again, and we must be cool or something because the YW love us. (I promise I'm humble) but it's awesome because YSA and youth are our focus to build this ward with families! We then had coordination and our ward mission leaders in townsville at the moment so his daughter and son in law ran it and it was so funny. Brother Smith (our ward mission leader) always shares stories so at the end of the meeting Brother Van Trigt was about to end but we didnt want to leave until we heard a story so we had him and his wife both tell stories. It was a great day! And warm enough that I didnt wear a jumper! (For part of the day) it felt like spring cause it was warm in the sun and cold in the shade.
Monday we trained at Firle District council and had a council study of Alma 18 which was so awesome. One of my favorite elders is in that district. Elder Nayusan is my favorite because his comments are so real and powerful! But it was one of my favorite trainings I've given. We then started trade offs with the City Sisters and you bet your bottom dollar I did NOT go back to the city of Adelaide. I was in Fulham with Sister Thom. Shes from South Africa and we had a great time. We went door knocking so she could have the experience, and we met the drunkest man. He opened his door and said, "feel free to come in if you'd like." Obviously we didnt we just stood there and I yelled in, "we cant come in unless there is a woman here, but I like your flag" (he had an American flag out front.) So he came back and talked to us. Again he was drunk so we arent to sure what he really got out of it. But he said he needed a lot of help with his life and so we gave him a book of mormon and pray that when he is sober he will read it! Was my favorite experience at the doorstep ever! We then went to dinner with Silvie. That was cool she talked about a friend whose boyfriend just passed away recently her friend was having a hard time coping so her daughter was spending the day at Silvies, but just as we were going to start dinner she shows up. So we went through dinner conversation then after we were all finished Betty (silvies friend) was washing dishes and looks at us. "Since you're here can I ask you a question" we said sure. "What do you believe happens to someone after they die?" So we talked about the plan of salvation and shared experiences of death of ones close to us. I was able to share my experience with Tyson's death. And can I just tell you something the spirit in the room was tangible. You could feel the peace that flooded the room. As we shared about the spirit world. I was trying to keep eye contact and look at Silvie and Betty and their other friend that came. But my eyes drifted to Betty, she was crying as she was washing the dishes. I know she was able to feel comfort and peace through the Spirit that was so very tangible in the moment. That was a testament to cement my testimony of the plan of salvation. Shes coming to dinners at silvies now so we can share more with her. These are the moments I live for on my mission. To bring that peace into peoples discomfort and sadness. After Silvies we went to the Hansens. We had FHE with them and let's just say it was the greatest thing ever. We played telestrations and then we shared this quote "When we have felt, or feel, uncertain, alone, frustrated, angry, let down, disappointed, or estranged from God and His restored Church, it may take an extra measure of effort and faith to enter again on His covenant path. But it is worth it! Please come, or come again, unto the Lord Jesus Christ! God's love is stronger than the cords of death—temporal or spiritual. Our Savior's Atonement is infinite and eternal. Each of us strays and falls short. We may, for a time, lose our way. God lovingly assures us, no matter where we are or what we have done, there is no point of no return. He waits ready to embrace us." It relates so perfectly to that game. We usually never end up with the same thing. Some come pretty close. But some go far from the path, but no matter how far we think we have gone. God sees how close we are to coming back to him! It was really cool and we loved it!! The Hansens are the coolest family! So it was a great night and a great trade off!!
Tuesday we ended trade offs at the city district council where we trained as well. We were given 15 minutes but did a GREAT training (ok maybe that's a lie but we did really well for the 0 time given to prepare and for the 15 minutes we were given.) We then went to a returning members who really just likes the company she tried so hard for us not to read the scriptures but the stubbornness in me came out and I didn't take no for an answer. We read it. We brought the spirit unto her heart so we are excited to see if she will let it into her heart! We then went finding and it was funny it was freezing so people were nicer to us. But the best part of the night was that we had dinner at the Gabeharts, we gave them an invitation to Josh's baptism and game night on Saturday. And told them to give it to someone. Brother gabehart (who is very similar to papa in a lot of ways) was joking around and was like oh you could take it next door, or down the street, or so and so. Oh wait shes dead. (Horrible to laugh at that but the way he said it was so funny)
Ok another funny story about trade offs. Sister Thom is still in training so she is very new to everything. But she is not shy about her ideas. This was one of them. That she set an alarm for 6:15 am so then she can turn it off and "sleep in" for 15 minutes. I about died because I dont sleep very well as it is so I take all the 15 minutes I can get.. she genuinely thought it was a great idea. I just pray that I am not going to finish her training because 6:30 sounds like a good time to wake up 😂 those 15 minutes mean alot the further you are in the mission. <--- this story was added on behalf of Sister Houston. She dies everytime I tell this story.
I hope you all have a great time enjoying the heat I am wearing jumper over jumper because the 9 degree weather feels like 6 degrees and its FREEZING. Cant wait to come home just in time for more winter. Please keep me in your prayers. As well as Hector, Lavini and Davi (the sweet Brazilian family we are teaching), Mrs. Hart (a cute grandma we are teaching), Betty (Silvies friend who we taught on Monday), Silvie, pipi and Biana (who we are going to put on date this week), Maddy (a sweet yw in the ward who wants to be baptized but cant at the moment because her mom doesnt want her to be).
It was a great week. Full on and I'm exhausted (maybe that's just from the 15 minutes of sleep I lost 😂😉) in the best way because we were so busy back to back lessons for most of the week!!
I know that the plan of salvation is really gods plan of happiness for us! That we will live together as families after this life for eternity. Because God wouldn't just give us this life to dink around and the die but to really learn and grow and enjoy the time we have here without worrying about death because that's just the next stage for us after this life. After having many people pass away around me it brings so much peace to know I'll see them again and that they are happy. 💕
It was a good week and I am just praying that Sister Houston and I stay together. We get packing calls on Saturday.. kinda antsy about because we have so many good things happening right now we dont want to lose traction at all!!
I love you all!!
Xoxo Sister Standage
Thursday we had service at our ward mission leaders house, we pulled weeds and in return we got a life lesson on the gottman ratio. You need to have 5 positive experiences to every negative one to want to continue with something when you get to a 1 negative to one positive ratio you will stop doing it. But we have an assured 5 things to stay positive with the gospel. 1 read your scriptures (but dont just read them. Apply them.) 2 say your prayers (we all have a million questions, why not take them to the man in charge and get the real answers) 3 go to church (church is a hospital where those that need to be healed go. Not where perfect people gather if that were the case churches would be empty.) 4 Service (when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.) 5 Following the counsel of the living prophet (God doesnt just have a prophet for show or anything. But to actually help us and teach us to change.) It's very real when you think about it. If you're starting to dislike something find more things you like about it and focus on the 5 positive and not the 1 negative. Interesting theory that I LOVE 💕 then we went and visited a few members. One was the grumpiest old lady but she was sassy so I brought out the attitude and bit and we were instant best friends. Plus she has the coolest stories shes from Fleetwood England and has some stories that are unreal! She was funny! Then we went to another member whose from NZ and that's the coolest thing ever! Kiwis are the sweetest people and this lady decided to start a dance class to keep the culture alive within the polynesians but to also be a refuge for the returning members which is keeping them in line and hello I am so gonna join that dance class to bring back my polynesian ways!! I miss my sweet samoans (xoxo sepah- married yet?)
Friday we had weekly planning And attempted door knocking. Then we went to go see that Brazilian family that we are teaching we had texted him the day before or maybe even that morning but he is famous for not texting back for ages..but we sat in the car for a few minutes planning out what we were going to do and solidified everything. Then we go up to the door and have a very powerful lesson about the Plan of Salvation and gave them a Portuguese Book of Mormon and invited them to dinner with some members on Wednesday (tonight) and we are more than pumped THEY ARE FINALLY GOING TO COME TO CHURCH BECAUSE THEYLL HAVE FRIENDS. they are going through some challenges right now and we know that just being at church will help them find that peace they need in their lives! And an invitation from someone other than 2 missionaries will be great. But here is the funny part of our visit. We showed up to their door and Hector looked a little confused, then as we were leaving we looked at our phone and saw a text from him saying, " Hello! How have you been? We're going well. We already submitted all the documents. We're waiting for the answer 🙏. We are free today" and literally as soon as he sent it we were at his door step! That was a powerful witness to me that God really does place into our minds where we need to be and helps us get there at the exact moment we are needed.
Saturday in the morning we played some volleyball with a few of the YA/YSA and a member of the bishopric it was Brother Hansen, Sister Houston and I verse two YSA/YA and we smashed em. It was awesome Brother Hansen was so happy and it was the greatest thing (we talked to his family later and they said he was happy all day Saturday because we beat them so bad that morning. 😂 then we went and helped weed at the Gabeharts, that was so funny. They didnt have many in the back but Brother Gabehart comes around from the front with a bigger pile than Sister Houston and I had combined from thr backyard.. guess we chose the easy route! But it was good! We walked the beach walk and street contacted for awhile. Then we went to dinner with Silvie and her family. It was the funniest thing. Silvie just says what's on her mind and does whatever she wants. Shes the one that was so excited to give us a tour of the house that we ended up sitting in the hallway on the floor. She is just so real and told us. She'd like us to prepare her son for baptism! WOOHOO.
Sunday was great we went to youth Sunday school again, and we must be cool or something because the YW love us. (I promise I'm humble) but it's awesome because YSA and youth are our focus to build this ward with families! We then had coordination and our ward mission leaders in townsville at the moment so his daughter and son in law ran it and it was so funny. Brother Smith (our ward mission leader) always shares stories so at the end of the meeting Brother Van Trigt was about to end but we didnt want to leave until we heard a story so we had him and his wife both tell stories. It was a great day! And warm enough that I didnt wear a jumper! (For part of the day) it felt like spring cause it was warm in the sun and cold in the shade.
Monday we trained at Firle District council and had a council study of Alma 18 which was so awesome. One of my favorite elders is in that district. Elder Nayusan is my favorite because his comments are so real and powerful! But it was one of my favorite trainings I've given. We then started trade offs with the City Sisters and you bet your bottom dollar I did NOT go back to the city of Adelaide. I was in Fulham with Sister Thom. Shes from South Africa and we had a great time. We went door knocking so she could have the experience, and we met the drunkest man. He opened his door and said, "feel free to come in if you'd like." Obviously we didnt we just stood there and I yelled in, "we cant come in unless there is a woman here, but I like your flag" (he had an American flag out front.) So he came back and talked to us. Again he was drunk so we arent to sure what he really got out of it. But he said he needed a lot of help with his life and so we gave him a book of mormon and pray that when he is sober he will read it! Was my favorite experience at the doorstep ever! We then went to dinner with Silvie. That was cool she talked about a friend whose boyfriend just passed away recently her friend was having a hard time coping so her daughter was spending the day at Silvies, but just as we were going to start dinner she shows up. So we went through dinner conversation then after we were all finished Betty (silvies friend) was washing dishes and looks at us. "Since you're here can I ask you a question" we said sure. "What do you believe happens to someone after they die?" So we talked about the plan of salvation and shared experiences of death of ones close to us. I was able to share my experience with Tyson's death. And can I just tell you something the spirit in the room was tangible. You could feel the peace that flooded the room. As we shared about the spirit world. I was trying to keep eye contact and look at Silvie and Betty and their other friend that came. But my eyes drifted to Betty, she was crying as she was washing the dishes. I know she was able to feel comfort and peace through the Spirit that was so very tangible in the moment. That was a testament to cement my testimony of the plan of salvation. Shes coming to dinners at silvies now so we can share more with her. These are the moments I live for on my mission. To bring that peace into peoples discomfort and sadness. After Silvies we went to the Hansens. We had FHE with them and let's just say it was the greatest thing ever. We played telestrations and then we shared this quote "When we have felt, or feel, uncertain, alone, frustrated, angry, let down, disappointed, or estranged from God and His restored Church, it may take an extra measure of effort and faith to enter again on His covenant path. But it is worth it! Please come, or come again, unto the Lord Jesus Christ! God's love is stronger than the cords of death—temporal or spiritual. Our Savior's Atonement is infinite and eternal. Each of us strays and falls short. We may, for a time, lose our way. God lovingly assures us, no matter where we are or what we have done, there is no point of no return. He waits ready to embrace us." It relates so perfectly to that game. We usually never end up with the same thing. Some come pretty close. But some go far from the path, but no matter how far we think we have gone. God sees how close we are to coming back to him! It was really cool and we loved it!! The Hansens are the coolest family! So it was a great night and a great trade off!!
Tuesday we ended trade offs at the city district council where we trained as well. We were given 15 minutes but did a GREAT training (ok maybe that's a lie but we did really well for the 0 time given to prepare and for the 15 minutes we were given.) We then went to a returning members who really just likes the company she tried so hard for us not to read the scriptures but the stubbornness in me came out and I didn't take no for an answer. We read it. We brought the spirit unto her heart so we are excited to see if she will let it into her heart! We then went finding and it was funny it was freezing so people were nicer to us. But the best part of the night was that we had dinner at the Gabeharts, we gave them an invitation to Josh's baptism and game night on Saturday. And told them to give it to someone. Brother gabehart (who is very similar to papa in a lot of ways) was joking around and was like oh you could take it next door, or down the street, or so and so. Oh wait shes dead. (Horrible to laugh at that but the way he said it was so funny)
Ok another funny story about trade offs. Sister Thom is still in training so she is very new to everything. But she is not shy about her ideas. This was one of them. That she set an alarm for 6:15 am so then she can turn it off and "sleep in" for 15 minutes. I about died because I dont sleep very well as it is so I take all the 15 minutes I can get.. she genuinely thought it was a great idea. I just pray that I am not going to finish her training because 6:30 sounds like a good time to wake up 😂 those 15 minutes mean alot the further you are in the mission. <--- this story was added on behalf of Sister Houston. She dies everytime I tell this story.
I hope you all have a great time enjoying the heat I am wearing jumper over jumper because the 9 degree weather feels like 6 degrees and its FREEZING. Cant wait to come home just in time for more winter. Please keep me in your prayers. As well as Hector, Lavini and Davi (the sweet Brazilian family we are teaching), Mrs. Hart (a cute grandma we are teaching), Betty (Silvies friend who we taught on Monday), Silvie, pipi and Biana (who we are going to put on date this week), Maddy (a sweet yw in the ward who wants to be baptized but cant at the moment because her mom doesnt want her to be).
It was a great week. Full on and I'm exhausted (maybe that's just from the 15 minutes of sleep I lost 😂😉) in the best way because we were so busy back to back lessons for most of the week!!
I know that the plan of salvation is really gods plan of happiness for us! That we will live together as families after this life for eternity. Because God wouldn't just give us this life to dink around and the die but to really learn and grow and enjoy the time we have here without worrying about death because that's just the next stage for us after this life. After having many people pass away around me it brings so much peace to know I'll see them again and that they are happy. 💕
It was a good week and I am just praying that Sister Houston and I stay together. We get packing calls on Saturday.. kinda antsy about because we have so many good things happening right now we dont want to lose traction at all!!
I love you all!!
Xoxo Sister Standage
West beach sunset
Waiting for volleyball to start
We love beach finding
(Sorry lisa I let you down... I have been trying to take more and better pictures. I just have a million videos)
Comments
Post a Comment