A Week of Great Experiences! Dec 15, 2014

Hello everyone!!!! The countdown to Christmas continues!!!

This week has been incredible!! We have seen so many miracles and the blessings of the Lord pouring out on us!

To start off we received 2 new investigators...not just referrals but people who had already been taught something! The first one's name is Othneil. He is amazing. He has a thirst for the gospel that I haven't seen before. He is truly prepared!! The second one is named Zach. He went to a FHE at a members home with the elders and they invited him to be baptized and he accepted! We called him and talked about it but we haven't been able to meet yet. Cesar is doing great, he has a temporary setback this week but has come back around! He even rearranged work so that he could come to sacrament meeting. And he attended Jonathan's baptism and loved it!

In addition to all of this greatness, Jonathan Williams was baptized!!! Amid all the craziness and stress we were able to pull it off and it went well. His non-member mom was there and two of his non-member friends. He was so happy. He even bore his testimony at the end (super big deal because he is soooo shy)! Lots of people came out to support him and I know he felt the love. The next day he showed up in his white shirt and tie that we bought him to be confirmed! I'm so proud of him!!

Last night we had some great experiences as well. We went to find some less actives and ended up finding 2 different people. The first one we found was the younger brother of whom we were looking for.  We had a great talk with him and said a prayer with him. I think the Spirit really touched his heart. The next one we talked to was a 14 year old boy who is very religious. As we talked about Christ, his heart was softened. When I invited him to meet with missionaries, he thought for a second and fumbled over his words saying it was the first time he had every heard of this and um, ah, etc...then he said Yes. We prayed with him as well. Both of these experiences confirmed to me the scripture that says "open your mouth and it shall be filled". I knew my lips were moving and sound was coming out but it wasn't until I heard my own echo that I knew what I was saying. The Lord truly does use us if we are willing to be the instruments in his hands.

To top it all off we had the time with Elder and Sister Baxter!!! He is a member of the 70. He is from Scotland and she is from Great Britain. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their accents :) Sister Park and I were selected to have a special interview with them on Friday night! It was such an amazing opportunity to sit down and talk with them about missionary life and it's challenges. They asked us individually what concerns or issues that we had and then counseled us. Their advice was so inspiring and uplifting, not only for in the mission but after as well. The next day we were in a zone conference with them from 9:30 am- 4 pm :) It was incredible!! I loved them and the things that they shared! I felt so uplifted and released from whatever unseen causes were holding me back. It was indescribable the liberation that I felt as they spoke and counseled us. They talked a lot about being happy in our circumstances and what we can do to make others happy. They talked about dating and marriage and a lot about the Plan of Salvation and family history work. It was so awesome! I wish you all could have been there!!!

 I'm so grateful to be a missionary! There is no other way I would have spent my year. I have learned so much and I have changed for the better. I truly have come to understand that Christ is the gift and I am forever grateful for that!  I don't know where I would be without Him and the gospel. I don't even want to try and imagine. I'm grateful to my mission president for challenging us to read the Book of Mormon focusing on Christ. I have honestly gained a testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon and the promise that we can get nearer to God through it. I am living proof of that!  And then to top it off it's Christmas! The most wonderful time of the year when we get to remember all the blessings we have been given !! I love it and I love all of you! Thank you for your out pouring of love this year and especially this Christmas! Thank you all so much!

I love you all,

Hermana Makeesa Montgomery

December 8, 2014

Hello Everyone!

Time is short today but it has been a good week! Here are some highlights:

1- We found new people to teach!!! It made us super duper happy!!
2- I made a full 7 course Korean meal this week! (I ate seaweed...)
3- We had dinner with Cesar! He is so awesome!!!
4- We had our ward Christmas party. It was really nice and the food was delicious! Cesar came too :)
5- We had a really cool experience at church yesterday. We had 2 basketball teams from New Zealand visit our sacrament meeting. It was so awesome! They all came in in their uniforms and 7 of them are members and they bore their testimonies. Then after sacrament meeting they all introduced themselves and told about their families. Then they recited their honor code and sang us their academy song. It was so awesome! One of the coolest experiences I've had at church!
6- Today we went to an open air market! It was so much fun! Tons of stuff to buy and lots of people!
7- We had two days straight of rain! Not just a sprinkle but downpour. It was really nice but I got a cold.....

Big thing coming up: Elder Baxter from the 70's is coming to tour our mission. He will meet with us Friday and I'm leading the music :)

Anyways! I love you all and I hope you all are doing well.

I hope you all have had a chance to watch the HE IS THE GIFT video!!! If not do it and then share it!!! I'm so grateful to be a missionary and see all the miracles that happen everyday!!

Love, Hermana Makeesa Montgomery

December 1, 2014!

Hello Everyone!!

So Thanksgiving was really good!! We had three dinners. Two were planned- one was not!! All the food was good and I tried pecan pie! It was so yummy!!! There is so much to be thankful for!!

So good news of the week: Jonathan committed to be baptized on December 30th!! And he came to church early and brought a friend!!! It was so exciting!!! We also have a few more investigators this week that we are going to extend baptismal invitations too.

Church was so good yesterday!! The talks were given by two return missionaries! The one talk was so good! They are going to start coming to our branch so I'm really excited about that! They are going to help us out a lot!

I have been so touched by the Book of Mormon reading this week! I have been reading in 3 Nephi were Christ comes and it teaching the people. I have felt so close to my Savior this week as I've been reading. I was so nice to feel of that love and come to feel that the Book of Mormon is true. I'm so grateful to my Savior for everything he has done for me!! I love him so much! I'm so blessed to have the gospel in my life and I'm so glad to be here sharing it!

I hope you all check out christmas.mormon.org!!! It is awesome!! Share it with everyone!!!

I love you all! Have a great week!!!

Love, Hermana Makeesa Montgomery

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello everyone!!!!

I hope you all enjoy your turkey and yummy pie!!! But most of all- Family Time and Black Friday shopping!!! I'm a little jealous!!!

This week has been a tough but blessed one for me!

This area is really different and there are challenges but hey everything is hard the first week!!!

Here are some of this week's miracles!!! We were able to set 7 appointments for this week with new people!! We also contacted a guy named Cesear. We called and left him a voice mail and about 20 minutes later he called and said we could come right then. We did and we had a good talk with him and he came to church on Sunday! Our investigator Jonathan's car got towed so we walked 1 mile with him to church! :)

Another girl named Kenya came to church too!! And a less active we visited my second day here. She is so awesome!!!
So my first Sunday....I taught the gospel principles lesson and we had a 2 hour branch council meeting. It was a long but good day.

We currently don't have any plans for Thanksgiving but we will see if anyone offers to feed us...if not Ramen it is!!! hahahaha Just kidding....I have food :)

Anyways I hope you all have a great week and really think about what you are grateful for! I'm grateful for all of you and for your love and support! I'm grateful to be a missionary- to represent Jesus Christ! I'm grateful for the people that have gotten to this point in my life and the people I'm meeting now!! I love you all!

Happy Thanksgiving!!
Hermana Makeesa Montgomery

TRANSFERS!

Transfer calls came! I'm going to El Camino YSA with Sister Parks!!!
I'm very excited for this coming transfer. I'm sad to leave this area because things were just looking up but I guess that's the way it goes. I have really come to love the people here. The familes are wonderful and everyone is so sweet and caring. The transfer news had people in tears- I guess that's how you know you have done your job and made a difference.

Here's an update on my week:
We have had some changes in our ward missionary efforts, with the help of Bishop West and our new division of ward missionary leadership. Great things are happening!!! It is truly amazing! Yesterday a member referred an entire family!!! All springboarded by our bishop's pass-a-long card challenge. It is so awesome!!! The new elders are so lucky! The ward is finally jumping on the missionary wagon! We also had members sign up to go out with us and the response was great. The members really have become excited about hastening the work!

Sorry I'm out of time! I'll send more next week!

Love, Hermana Makeesa Montgomery

11/13/14 Highlights

Hello everyone!!! Sorry to keep you all waiting!! I'm alive and well :)

So much has happened since the last email so it's kind of all a blur. But some highlights:

1-We went to the temple and I met a really awesome guy there! He was the shining example of diligence! As I watched him walk in my eyes were glued on him. I could tell that something had happened and that it had probably been a long time since he had been in the temple. As he struggled to walk and perform the tasks he had tears in his eyes but so much peace in his expression. I finally asked him about his story...He had had a stroke or something a few years back and he cried and said how grateful he was to be in the temple that it had been so long since he had been there. I couldn't help but cry! I have never seen someone so glad to be there. The temple really is the house of God and we can feel his love there more than any other place on Earth!  

2- We had exchanges again and I got to go with Sister Nagano again! We met some awesome people on the street!! It is so amazing to hear people's stories!! We had dinner with a family and we had sweet potato and cauliflower soup. It was delicious!

3- We did a huge service project this week for a family! It was lots of hard work but it was worth it! It was so nice to see them happy and all together. I'm grateful my parents taught me hard work ethic! It really paid off!

Sorry I don't have much time but I'll be back in a few days! I love you all so much! Thanks for everything!

Love, Hermana Makeesa Montgomery

SPOOKTACULAR WEEK!! :)

Hello everyone!!! I hope you all had a fun Halloween!!!!

This week has been great! Lots of good stuff going on!

First of all Halloween! The day was just normal....but we did get to have dinner with the Strawns. We had pumpkin soup that was absolutely delicious! We also had spud nuts (home-made donuts). It was so yummy! We were going to take a pumpkin home to carve but we were running late and forgot to grab it....not the most exciting Halloween I've ever had but it was still fun because everyone here decorates!! Here are some pictures of some of the decorations---SO COOL!

This week we had zone conference!! It was amazing! I felt the Spirit so strong! We had training on teaching simply, sincere prayers, faith-filled thoughts, and following the Spirit. I have been trying really hard to implement the faith-filled thoughts training. In today's world it is so easy to be negative and get down on ourselves. But as I have been trying to work on this this week, it is incredible the difference that positive thinking can make. It is sometimes hard to do but as we keep working on it, it becomes easier. Have people around you help you re-write your negative thoughts. It is kinda goofy at first but it really works and helps keep things in perspective. I also have been working on my prayers. I'm glad to say they have improved! And I am really happy about that. I feel like I really mean what I say and I'm taking more time to really be grateful and honest with Heavenly Father. In our training we talked a lot about being open and homiest in our prayers, not just saying the thing we think he wants hear. I invite you all to try it out and see what happens!
 Yesterday we had a lesson on gratitude in Relief Society. It really struck me. I realized that I needed to be more grateful for the blessings I've been given instead of complaining or worry about what I don't have. It was very eye-opening for me. The Spirit told me to use the question, "What are you grateful for?" As a street contact approach. So I'll give it a try this week. Yesterday it worked once and didn't once.  We have been extending the challenge to our ward member to make a list A-Z of things they are grateful for! If you start today and put one or two things down you will have a list almost complete by Thanksgiving :) Then everyone can read their list after dinner!

We also had exchanges this week! I was with Sister Nagano.  I learned so much from her and I feel like we really connected and understood each other. She helped me see a lot of things I can do better. We met a new family that we are going back to this week! We are excited! We also had a good lesson with one of the guys we are working with.

There was a quote in  Zone Conference about the Savior being keenly aware of each missionary. But this week I came to understand more fully that he is keenly aware of everyone!! This really hit me when we knocked on the door of Amber Delileo. We had a list of names that we wanted to visit. I had a feeling we needed to go towards to the beach. We prayed and picked a name and off we went. We arrived but could not find a place to park. We drove around in circles and then we thought maybe it was the wrong person. We prayed again that if it was her we could get parking. Well we found one. We walked into he building and up to the door. We knocked and a woman with a face full of tears opened to the door. She told us that her husband had just died about an hour ago. She let us in and we talked for a while. She was in shock and had no idea what to do. We were able to comfort her and give her advice. I know without a shadow of a doubt that Heavenly Father knew her and her situation and we were led to her door. After we left her house we stopped to offer a prayer. I can't describe the Spirit I felt as I came to understand why I had to endure all of the heartache of losing so many people that I was close to while I was so young. But as I've been here on my mission, I have come to understand that the things I have gone through in my life have prepared me to help people here. I have been part of 3 deaths so far and I have been able to understand and comfort those people. I know the Lord has a plan for everything I know that he is keenly aware of each of you and your needs. Talk to him! He wants to help you!

I love you all so much!! Thank you so much for all your prayers! I feel them!  Thank you for being a part of my life! I can't wait to see you all again!

Love, Hermana Makeesa Montgomery