Week 8 (4/23/18): Four Ponies of the Apocalypse

The title this week is from probably my favorite street contact. We're walking down a street and this guy in a wheelchair just starts talking to us about the Four Ponies of the Apocalypse, the precursors to the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. He said Donald Trump was one, but I can't remember which. Never a dull moment. 

The other potential title for this week was "I can now say I've prayed over a flashlight. And it was healed." Prayer works. 

We had a lot of tender mercies this week. First, on Thursday, as we went to get back into our car after working on the Area Book at the church, we noticed that one of our tires was flat. Upon further inspection, there was a fairly large screw in our tire. So we called Elder Noyes and got permission to go get it fixed, and then stopped by a gas station to fill it up so we didn't have to worry about getting there and it damaging the rim of the tire. We went inside to get quarters to start the air machine, and the man working said that he'd turn it on for us and not charge us. But we're so grateful we noticed it when it was first starting to go flat so that it was a fairly easy fix and it didn't cause any other problems. 

The other big tender mercy was after exchanges on Wednesday. I stayed in Visalia with Sister Burnside and on Thursday morning, she left me a note with some words of encouragement. In that note, she suggested I read her mission scripture, which was Doctrine and Covenants 68:6. There is no way she could have known, but that is my mission scripture too, because it was the Lord's promise to me during the roughest part of the time I had to wait before being able to serve. It was just amazing to be able to have that message from the Lord that even though I'm having some difficulties, He is aware of me and will help me bear testimony of Him. 

Our ward has really welcomed our recent convert Stefania into the ward. This week she went to the YSA FHE and to a Priest/Laurel activity and to Yosemite with a family in the ward. It's amazing to see how the Lord looks out for each of us. So yes, if you want to help the missionaries, fellowship the investigators and recent converts. It makes such a difference! 

Oh, they want us to be friends with as many members as we can on Facebook, so they can comment on our posts and like and share them. So friend me! My new account is Rebecca Cate. I have had fun making some really cool edits with pictures I've taken and gotten off of lds.org. 

One thing that I've started doing after listening to President Nelson's conference talk again is having a notebook and pen right beside me when saying my personal prayers so I can write down the revelation I've received, and it has made such a difference! Elder Richard G. Scott said, "Knowledge carefully recorded is knowledge available in time of need. Spiritually sensitive information should be kept in a sacred place that communicates to the Lord how you treasure it. That practice enhances the likelihood of your receiving further light" and "Inspiration carefully recorded shows God that His communications are sacred to us. Recording will also enhance our ability to recall revelation." And it is amazing how much inspiration I've received as I've shown the Lord that I value the answers I receive. So I would invite you to try praying with a notebook and a pen handy so that you can write down the inspiration the Lord wants to give you. 

Love you tons! 

Sister Cate

PS Oh, also, I get to give a talk next Sunday. And while I like doing the preparation, I hate actually giving the talk. So please pray for me. 

Week 7 (4/16/18): We Boil the Bishop

Alternate titles for this week were: 

"I thought the baptism of fire was supposed to come after" 

Apparently my name is Sister Gate

Stefania got baptized!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited for her. The baptism was good, though a little eventful. You may have guessed, but we accidentally made the water too hot. Normally you have the opposite problem. Anyways, everything went smoothly until we went to do the actual baptism, and the bishop stepped in and said, "That's hot!" So she came back out, we had the talk on the Holy Ghost and the welcome to the Young Women's, and Bishop added cold water to the font. After that, it was fine, and we had the baptism. 

The confirmation was amazing. She was given some awesome promises, and I really felt the Spirit. We get to go to the temple on May 17th, since we get to go every other transfer, and then we have a ward temple trip that Stefania is going to go to on May 19th. So we'll get to go to the temple twice in three days!! 

We had exchanges this Wednesday, so I went with Sister Decker to Porterville, and we had some pretty amazing experiences. We taught 9 lessons. At least, I think it was 9. It may have been 7. In any case, it was a ridiculous amount. We did family history work with a recent convert couple, taught a bunch of lessons about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation, and contacted a couple of potentials. After dinner was when we really had some miracles, as if we hadn't already had tons. We stopped by a less active member's house and ended up talking to his daughter, who isn't a member. We taught her the Restoration and she was fascinated by it. For her, it was mind-blowing to think that there is a living prophet and that God has given more scripture. I seriously hope she continues being interested in the church. Then we went to a less active couple's house, fully expecting not to be able to talk to them, since they always cancel on the missionaries, or aren't there. But when we drove up, we saw the dad and his two sons playing basketball. So we started talking to us, they invited us onto the porch, and we just got to know them for a while. The dad is a convert, and while he hasn't been coming to church, he and his wife, who is also a convert, still have the goal to be sealed in the temple. Then he asked us if we had a lesson we wanted to share with them. We hadn't expected to get that far, but we shared the Restoration, and the boys absolutely loved it! Oh, the boys haven't been baptized. So hopefully they'll come back to church and the two boys will be baptized and they'll go to the temple and be sealed! The Spirit was so strong!! 

And then John Paul is just amazing. I got to teach him with Sister Ferrell a couple times, and he has the most amazing story. It's definitely been rocky for him, but he wants to go to the temple. He has such a strong testimony and has seen God's hand in his life so much. 

Oh, apparently lots of people read my nametag as Sister Gate. I've stopped correcting people. It happened in the MTC too, so I'm fairly used to it by now. 

On Thursday we got smartphones, and it's the best thing ever. We have Gospel Library and LDS tools, and the LDS Media Library. That one may be my favorite, since it makes it possible for us to show videos during lessons. That will help us so much, since it can reach people more than we can sometimes. And we have a couple people who talk so much that we can't really get a lesson in, and interrupting them with a video might get the lesson on track. And we can send people videos and websites in texts! Because there are many people who we can't reliably see in person, this gives us a way to still help them progress. 

So I am on Facebook, and you can send me a friend request, but I may ignore it. But then you can follow me and see my posts. And if you like or share them, that's an awesome missionary opportunity! 

Love you tons!

Sister Cate

Stefania's baptism

Week 6 (4/9/18): Locking Sister Grammer in the garage...

So this week was interesting. A lot happened. 

As you can guess, I accidentally locked my companion in a garage. It was one of those garage doors that sticks, and people can never actually get them to open. However, the last time someone got stuck in it, they were in there for 2 hours, and I got Sister Grammer out in a minute. And then put tape over the mechanism so that maybe it wouldn't actually close from now on, so no one else gets stuck. 

So I led our area yesterday for about 2 hours. Sister Grammer went to a baptism in her old area, and so a recently returned missionary in our ward was my temporary companion. I am still learning my way around Visalia, so that was interesting. We stopped by one investigator's house, and no one answered the door, so we went on to another investigator's house that's fairly close, but who we can never get a hold of. And she actually answered the door and talked to us for a little while, and then we set up a return appointment. So that was definitely God guiding us. 

Okay, in my defense, I have a great sense of direction. It's totally Visalia's fault. The problem is that the streets don't connect. It's kind of like a grid, but with pieces missing for added privacy. The problem is that the street names don't change. So there's a piece of a street in one place, and further in one direction is another piece with the same name that doesn't connect to the first piece. So trying to find people is hard because if you don't get the right piece of the street, you can't find the number you need. And my internal compass is 90 degrees off. The mountains are in the east, so I shouldn't have a problem, but I do. Though you can hardly see the mountains. 

Oh, I've found my new favorite snack- frozen peas. I go through them so fast. But they're so good! 

We were about half an hour late to dinner one day this week. We stopped by some people on the edge of town and normally she'll just talk to us on the porch for about 5 minutes, and instead her husband invited us in and we got to teach the Restoration and answer a bunch of their questions! For anyone wondering, no, investigators don't have to sit anywhere specific in sacrament meeting. But the members were so patient. 

One of the other sisters in our zone has been sick a lot this week, and so we've been helping out. It's been pretty amazing that the days they need us, we can't get solid appointments, so it's not a problem to go help them. But last night, they needed someone to stay with her, and both of us had appointments, so we found a member willing to step in last minute and go to our lesson with Sister Grammer so I could stay with Sister Jesperson. It was nice to get a bit of peace and quiet. I needed that. She slept most the time, and then woke up right at the end. We were waiting for her companion to get back, and we were talking with the door open, and she still wasn't feeling well, and we were joking that she just needed a cat to snuggle, and a couple minutes later, a cat comes up and is determined to get into the apartment. So she had a cat to pet. God really does know us. 

So one day this week, our district leader challenged us to contact 4 former investigators. So we were working on finding a fourth and stopped by this house. An older lady answered the door and said that the person we were looking for wasn't there, but her husband was moving their stuff back in in about 30 minutes. So we walked around and happened into the house of someone in the Spanish ward (and they fed us dinner, which was a tender mercy, because our dinner appointment had cancelled, so we worked through dinner) and then came back. We talked to the lady for a little while longer, and then her son showed up. We helped him move in, and then found out that he was a former investigator too. Then we shared a quick message, then asked if we could say a prayer. And he said that he'd say it! Which was awesome. 

I feel like I get so many tender mercies. There were two big ones this week, like last week. The first started last Monday, when I was reminded by my mom's email that I hadn't done anything for Passover. So when I went to the store, I got apples, planning to make haroset, which is one of the traditional Passover foods made from apples, cinnamon, almonds, and grape juice. Of course, when I got home, I realized that I'd forgotten almonds and grape juice, so I gave up that idea. Well, on Friday, I was missing home, but specifically my Grandpa's apple crisp. (I promise not all my tender mercies have to do with food.) So as I'm sure you've guessed, I found the apples in the fridge and was able to make apple crisp, not nearly as good as my Grandpa's, but good enough. It mostly just reminded me that God knows me, and that He knew that I'd want apple crisp later in the week. 

Second, I'd been having a hard few days, and during personal study one morning, I came across Alma 26:27, which says:

"Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success."

And that was exactly what I needed to hear. 

If you hear from me next week, that means I've survived the beginning of the process to put all the records in the online area book. And we have two 2" binders full of former investigators. So it'll take forever, since we have to put in every lesson they've ever had. Needless to say, we've been trying to visit some so that if they've moved, we don't have to put them in.  But at least we'll have Gospel Library again. 

Love you tons! 

Sister Cate

Week 5 (4/2/18): WE'RE GETTING A TEMPLE!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell what the highlight of my week was? It's crazy that we're finally getting a temple [in Richmond, Va]! 

Anyways, General Conference was amazing. I loved it! And I can't wait to have smartphones so it's easier to listen to it again. Only 10 more days! 

There have been so many tender mercies this week. The biggest two may seem super insignificant, but they meant a lot to me. The first happened Wednesday, when Sister Radmacher fed us dinner. She made Zuppe Tuscana, which is one of the soups they make at Olive Garden, and one my mom makes too. And it tasted just like my mom's. It felt like I was at home. Which I really needed. Second, on Thursday we went to the Wilson's for dinner, and she hadn't had a ton of time to prepare dessert, so she gave us a bunch of jelly beans. There is no possible way she could have known that my family has jelly beans during General Conference (we play Conference bingo to help my younger siblings focus, and when you get a bingo, you get jelly beans), and I didn't have any. But God knew and made it possible for me to have jelly beans during conference.

Anyways, sorry it's a shorter email this week. 

Love you all! 

Week 4 (3/26/18): So. Many. Prayers.

Seriously, I have never prayed so much in my life. Over the last four days, we have probably said 100-150 prayers. And I thought we prayed a lot in the MTC! But praying is good. I doubt I could do this without it.

So on Wednesday, I got to Fresno at about 4:15, and then we stayed in the mission home for the night. President Mackay is amazing. And Sister Mackay is the greatest. They really made us feel comfortable being here that first day, and we can really feel their love in every interaction. It's the best. 

And for those who've asked, no, I can't read email during the week at the moment. Because our mission doesn't become a smartphone mission until April 12th, they're holding onto our phones at the moment. But I'll have it again after that. I'm really looking forward to having Gospel Library again, and not having to use a slide out keyboard. 

On Thursday, we did a bunch of training, and I met my trainer. Her name is Sister Grammer, and everyone was telling me the night before that she was a perfect fit for me. And they were right! It has been awesome learning from her. We jumped right into the daily schedule, which has been a little bit crazy, but so good. I'm starting to really love this work. 

I'm in Visalia right now, and it's interesting because the ward boundaries just got reorganized and renamed about a month ago. Before I got here, the ward council gave the sisters a huge list of about 50 households that they had no information about and asked us to try and figure out if they were less active or moved, and if they should assign them home and visiting teachers. We have stopped by so many these last few days. Granted, a lot of the time, they aren't home, but whatever. 

It has been really awesome though. On my first evening in the area, we stopped by this less active house, and the woman who answered the door recognized us and said that she knows she needs to come back to church. And she wants to. So hopefully she'll be assigned visiting teachers soon and they'll come back to church. It's crazy to think that I can actually make a difference in people's lives.  

And that leads me to a truly amazing experience we had on Saturday. We were contacting these less actives in the morning, and we decided to visit this one household first. When we walked up, she was just about to get into her car, and she saw us and was super excited! She said that she'd never had sisters, missionaries or visiting teachers, come to visit her before. And she was so excited! We talked to her for a while, and later she mentioned that this was the first day off she'd had in years, and she's in Porterville most of the time. Of course the one day we decided to visit her was the one day we actually could make contact with her. God really does have His hand in the details. 

We had an amazing lesson with our investigator Robert on Saturday, and we read Mosiah 18 with him and invited him to be baptized, and he said yes! He said that he could feel that being baptized into our church was different than being baptized into another church. And he still has a ways to go, but he has a strong faith in Jesus Christ and a desire to change, and the cool thing is that I can picture him in the temple. It would be a bit, but I certainly hope he makes it there. 

There are a couple other experiences that I wrote in my journal that I'll attach pictures of. 

Anyways, it's definitely been an adjustment, but I'm loving it here. It's amazing to see people come unto Christ and choose to make covenants with God. It definitely makes me appreciate them more. 

Love you all! 

Sister Cate

Here are the two other experiences promised. 

Bye Bye MTC

Here are a couple of pictures of when she got to Fresno, California.

First companion 

Becca with President and Sister MacKay

Week 3 (3/20/18): Ammon and his Buff Brethren

Quick backstory on the title of this email: When we did a quick summary of the Book of Mormon in class (it may have been last week. Time is funny here), Brother Allred called the group that went down to see what had happened with the people of Zeniff "Ammon and his Buff Brethren." 

(Titling emails is the hardest part of emailing people. I hope you appreciate the effort.)

Well, in less than 36 hours, I will be on my way to Fresno!! It doesn't feel real that I'm actually going to be leaving the MTC, but it's so exciting. It's definitely bittersweet. I will miss the other sisters, who are going to Canada, as well as our teachers, but I'm excited to meet my mission president and my trainer, and the people in Fresno! 

How do I sum up this week? Well, we had a new district come. They're awesome. And a bunch of them are going to the WV Charleston Mission!!!!!! I did audibly gasp in sacrament meeting when they first announced that they were going there. So if you see an Elder Gardner, Elder Peterson, Sister Henrie, Sister Boswell, or Sister Musynski (I may be spelling that wrong...) please say hi for me! They're all awesome. 

There may have been an incident this week where Sister Servoss, my companion, started belting Never Enough from Greatest Showman in the elevator (she has an amazing voice!!! I wish I'd recorded her singing at some point) and then the elevator doors opened on the next floor down, the elders who were getting on having heard every word. I haven't laughed so hard in months. 

Laura, I've been eating a lot of peach yogurt for you. It's amazing the things we do to feel close to family. It makes me think of you every morning. 

Mom, the bracelet you gave me before I came to college still comes with me to the temple each week. (So does the CTR ring, Rachel and Laura. I wear it everywhere.) 

The devotional on Sunday was amazing. If you want the whole story, first you need to watch a BYU devotional given recently (I think his last name was Davis, but I'm pretty sure he's in charge of helping get temples built). It gives the first part of the story of how the Philadelphia temple actually got on that property, and all the problems they had getting it there. I didn't have time to write down the whole story, so I just wrote down the extra stuff that wasn't given in that talk. 

/*

The week before the meeting, the stake president and Via Sakahema (?) went tracting in the city building. They didn’t actually get to talk to anyone until they got to Council President Clark’s office. He let them in, where they found out that he and the stake president had lived two streets apart, and knew a lot of the same people, and they started talking like old friends. After about 30 minutes, he asked why they’d come, so they told him all about how they were trying to help build support for the temple, and how the temple would increase the property value of the properties nearby, how it’d bring business, etc. He seemed very receptive, and they left and jumped around and chest bumped like 19 year old missionaries who had just gotten in a door. President Clark did his research, and went around to the local businesses and told them about the project. They were all in favor. In that meeting, he shared this with the mayor, and that helped get the temple built.

At the temple open house, the mayor gave Sakahema a hug and whispered to him, “If we had known what this temple would do, we never would have objected. I’m so glad the temple is here.” 

*/

(And yes, those symbols were intentional, for those who know C++.)

That was just such a cool devotional, especially because the Lord knew that both DC and Raleigh would end up closing at the same time, and that we'd need another temple to attend, so he put people in the right place at the right time so that it actually could happen. After all the trouble I had getting out here, I know that this is the right time for me to be out, and Fresno is the right place. I don't know why God needs me there yet, but I know I'll find out eventually. 

The other cool thing I noticed during my personal study this week is that in Alma 36, when Alma the Younger is recounting his conversion story, in verse 15, he says that he'd rather be extinct than to stand in the presence of God. But only 7 verses later, in verse 22, he sees a vision of God, and he says that his soul longed to be there. That's the power of repentance. 

Anyways, it's time to go pack... The number of times I've packed up my life in the last 8 months is astounding. And I'll do it plenty more times over the next 18 months. At least I'm getting rather good at it. 

Love you all!! 

Sister Cate

My favorite picture that Abby Wilkins took of Rachel and I right before I went into the MTC. It is now the lock screen on my phone. Thank you so much Abby!!!

My view during most personal studies. Isn't it gorgeous???

Sister Servoss and I with Angela, one of our investigators here at the MTC

I found a French hymnal here and thought of you, Rachel. (I promise I didn't intend to match the hymnal.)

Week 2 (3/13/18): We have a starfish in our trashcan

Meet Jeffrey Star Holland. We are the ninth generation of sisters to have him. The picture really doesn't do him justice. And apparently we have to read the Book of Mormon to him every night. 

For those of you wondering if it's possible to get sunburnt in Provo in the winter, the answer is yes. We had class outside yesterday, and my left arm got sunburnt... But it doesn't hurt at all, so it's fine. But because it's only the left arm, I've gotten a couple weird looks and people asking me if I'm okay. 

This week has gone by so fast!! Last Tuesday night, Elder Ballard gave the devotional and did a question and answer session. The Spirit was so strong! I feel like that's the theme of my whole MTC experience. 

And then Sunday night, President and Sister Gilbert (he's the first counselor in the MTC presidency) spoke about loving enough to lift. They shared stories from when they were mission presidents in Japan or Korea about how their missionaries lifted each other. And I love that part of our purpose is to lift others. We watched David A. Bednar's MTC address "Character of Christ" and he talked about how Christ's character is to turn out in compassion and love when the natural man in us would turn inward. And that's so true. And as we try to turn out like Christ did, we become more converted to Him. 

Sister Servoss and I have had a great time. She's definitely a louder personality than I am and, as Robert can attest, she's kind of crazy, but it's never dull! And she has such a genuine love for people, especially our investigators, and it comes through so clearly. I really lucked out! 

Something the MTC choir director mentioned is that in Jacob 5, the last time they care for the vineyard, they call for more servants. And that might be referring to President Monson lowering the mission age. It's so cool to be fulfilling prophecy. There is nothing like being a missionary!! I definitely have a lot of growing still to do, but I've come so far in my confidence in sharing the gospel. 

This week, our zone didn't get a new district. So tomorrow, after the old district leaves and before the new district gets here, we'll be the only people in our branch! But some of the new missionaries we're getting tomorrow are going to be serving in the West Virginia Charleston Mission!!! I'm so excited that I get to meet them (and tell them to say hi to my family for me!) Of course, because our district is pretty much our branch, we've got all the leadership roles. Sister Servoss and I are the technology sisters and the branch music coordinators. The number of times we've tried to get Salt Lake to fix our online training... 

I love being able to go to the temple every week. It is such a blessing to have that time each week to focus on the fact that baptism isn't the end goal for the people I'll be teaching. They need to make it to the temple to receive all the blessings God has for them. And the peace in the temple is so needed after the craziness of the week! I'm so glad there is a temple in Fresno. 

I already have my travel plans, and it's finally feeling like I'm not just going to stay at the MTC for the next while, but that I'm actually headed to Fresno!! And my mission president is either the brother or brother-in-law of the second counselor in our branch president's wife! She sent a picture of us and says that he is excited to meet us! And I'm so excited to get there! 

Love you all!! 

Sister Cate

PS (And FYI, the starfish is fake. It's made of foam. :)

Jeffrey Star Holland

I got to go to the temple!!

Week 1 (3/6/18): I have a name tag!!

It's hard to believe that I've been here for almost a week. It feels like it was just yesterday, but at the same time, that it was a month ago. It's been so good though. I'm really enjoying it here. 

I have been blessed with an amazing district. There are four sisters and four elders, so it's very small for a district here, but it's been really good. We all get along really well, and it's been so fun to spend time with them. 

My companion is amazing. Sister Servoss and I work really well together, and she's just fun to be around. She's headed to the Canada Winnipeg Mission, as are the two other sisters, while the four elders are headed to Fresno with me. Sister Servoss is one of the most genuinely happy people I've ever met, and she's so loving. I really lucked out. 

We have the best teachers ever, Sister Winegar and Brother Allred. I have learned so much from them. And Brother Allred and Sister Winegar's assistant teacher, Brother Wilson, both served in Fresno!!! You should have seen Brother Allred when he heard that we were serving in Fresno. He was happier than a child on Christmas! He's told us a fair amount about the people there, which has been really cool. It's hard not to be excited about Fresno when they're both so excited! It's definitely been a tender mercy. 

So we're already done teaching our first investigator. Her name was Joan, and she looked scarily like Sister Winegar. ;) But it was actually really cool, because she felt like an actual investigator, and the Spirit in those lessons was like nothing I've really felt before. It was so cool to feel God's love for her. 

And then yesterday we taught our first real investigators. Their names are Angela and Jalyne, and we don't know if they're a member or an actual investigator. There is a real possibility that they could be actual investigators who have come to the MTC to learn about the gospel. Which is scary but cool. I've never felt God's love for someone else like I have here at the MTC. 

 I think the best part about being here at the MTC though is that the Spirit has become my best friend. I'm much more aware of His presence, and I've learned that I can't do anything without the Spirit's help. Every lesson we've taught hasn't gone according to plan, but when we've taught by the Spirit, it went so much better than planned. The only annoying thing is that whenever I'm trying to have some quiet, alone time, the Spirit keeps interrupting me with inspiration. Which I guess is a good thing. It just means that I have to dedicate more time so I actually get some alone time. Which I'm not so good at yet. 

It's crazy that I'm almost a third of the way through the MTC, but it's been so good. It helps that I know that this is where I'm supposed to be, and that being here has helped me learn why God's timing was the way it was. 

Love you all!! 

Sister Cate:

Becca and Sis Servoss