Monday, October 31, 2011

Dear Family,
I got the lovely phone call this morning, that I'm getting transferred, after 9 months of being in YSA, it's time. I was talking with Elder Banner, an assistant, and he told me that it's time for a change of scenery, I knew it was coming, it just took a lot out of me. My heart is here. Oh my tender heart really got the best of me yesterday and today, I know this is where the Lord needed me to be and now He needs me elsewhere. I trust Him. He led me here, so I can be assured that it will be good, if I continue to follow Him. I'm grateful for that knowledge, even though it was hard to see for a moment yesterday.

Church was hard yesterday, because I knew I was most likely getting transferred and just talking with the members, they just mean so much to me. I'm so happy I got to be in this area for so long, it has been the biggest blessing. It is going to be different that's for sure, especially teaching families, I won't know what to do:) I know that the area is going to be in good hands because the Lord is in the work. We had a lesson with a recent convert, Renee, she was one the very first people that I committed to baptism and to see how much she has grown, I know that I was called to Indiana to teach her. What a blessing it has been to see so many from the start and to see them now, I desire for more of that, and I know that there are more people out there and I want to find them, I want to find the pure and honest in heart. I'm a lucky girl, I think what did I do to deserve this happiness that couldn't come anywhere else. But I have been able to feel of true joy and so I'm going to keep going. I still get to be a full time missionary in Indiana, that makes my heart happy. I have realized that it's not only inviting investigators to come unto Christ, but the members, and my companions.

We found a lot of success this week, in our finding new investigators, and I know we were led to them. We were on campus and we were talking with people and had a really bad experience talking with a lady that was just full of misinformation and wasn't willing to listen. It kind of frustrated us as we walked away but we kept going. As we were walking, we noticed a girl on crutches and she was having a hard time, we all noticed her and I know that the spirit prompted us to talk to her. We approached her and offered to help her carry her books to class and got to know her along the way. She then mentioned that she worked with two girls that go to the YSA branch, it was a little miracle. We set up a return appointment and we had a great lesson with her and we are so excited for her.

We also met another girl on campus and we were able to teach of the Book of Mormon and she has such a open heart and desire to learn and receive an answer. We also started teaching Cristina, who has parents that are members but hasn't been baptized, she has gone to church here and there. She is the cutest little thing and I know she will be able to progress with the support of the branch in helping her feel welcome. It was really good to see the area see success again. I feel as if it has been successful the entire time, but it was good to build our teaching pool with solid investigators.

I have been reflecting a lot on the quote in Preach My Gospel, of leaving our area stronger than when we found it. I feel like I have done my very best and I can be accountable to the Lord for the work that I have done here. I'm going to miss the craziness of covering two areas and I'm going to miss being in a trio, as hard as it was and we had some ups and downs, but definitely more ups! We really have had a good time together and we all relied on the Spirit to get us through and know what we needed to do to carry two areas. It was funny yesterday, to keep me from crying, Sister Valencia wrote all the funny one liners that we all said during the transfer so that we would start laughing, it helped:)
Love, Sister Lamb

Monday, October 24, 2011

Dear Familia, That is so awesome about the guy that moved into your ward recently. I have a huge testimony of member missionary work and just how that service is part of that. We had a member come to a lesson a few days ago and they were so willing to help them temporaly that I know will help then help them spiritually to receive the restored gospel. I had some very sweet experiences that will stay close to my heart forever. In district meeting we were talking about setting goals and I loved it and it really helped me to rely on the Lord when setting my goals. Goals are something that frustrate me a lot because I can get discouraged at the results and feel like I did all I could that week to reach them but then I don't reach them and it can get me down. I expressed this concern to Elder McAllister and bless his heart, we read the first sentence in the section of A Successful Missionary, and it's about the commitment to do what the Lord has asked. He then told me that I am committed to this work and that I am a hard worker. It really meant a lot and I felt his support as my leader and I felt my Heavenly Father's love through him. Another amazing thing that happened was two lessons that we had in YSA this week. One with Brother Rhoads and he has been going through a very hard time right now and he has been tempted with things that were a problem before his baptism. He hasn't been coming to church and he has been very hard to get ahold of. The elders in Indy 2nd have been concerned as well, I asked them to help me out by checking up on him since they live closer and I don't have as much to time to get up there anymore. We went over to his house and he was home and it started out a little awkward and he was different. We decided to sing 'I am a child of God' to him and I couldn't hold back the tears when he started singing it with us. His countenance changed, the spirit touched his heart, he felt God's love. He came to church yesterday and he is smiling more:) Another lesson that we had was a referral that we received, and we finally got to meet him. He is from China, his name is LiLi, and what a kind person who was influenced from great members years ago. We asked him about his knowledge of God and he believes that we have a God of love. He is quite the talker:) We taught him about prayer and he was willing to say the closing the prayer and we knelt together and I will never forget what I felt as he said that prayer. Oh my goodness he just got it, he felt the spirit and his prayer was completely guided by the spirit. It was beautiful and I know that Heavenly Father is going to watch out for him and help him to understand what He has planned for him. Of course I was just crying during his prayer but it was so special. I went home and expressed my gratitude to my Father in Heaven for that experience. I know LiLi and I were both edified and rejoiced in the spirit. Yesterday in church I felt the Atonement. In the Brownsburg ward it was their ward conference and the theme was making Christ the center of our home and lives. That morning I had been a little down about the YSA and racking my brain as to what to do to help it be successful, and during the sacrament I was reading Hebrews 11:1 and for someone reason it just hit me really hard and I felt that my faith in Christ needs to be strenghtned and that He can help me through this. Then I felt the spirit with me as thoughts came to my mind of my Savior knows exactly how I am feeling in this moment. It was surreal. I felt the Atonement and I know that it is real. I had a hard time in the YSA branch yesterday, I have come to love these people so much and this will always be home for me, and I have that feeling that I am going to be transferred but I know that the Lord is in charge but I have been here for so long that it's just going to be hard to leave. I do keep telling myself that I just get to go to a new area and still do missionary work full time, that this isn't the end. I still don't want to leave but the Lord will still be with me, the spirit will still guide me in all I do. Everything is changing, even the beautiful trees are becoming bare, it's kind of sad. We have had so much rain that it kind of put a damper on things. It's still beautiful here and it's good that the sun is out, I think that is helping our spirits. Love, Sister Lamb

Monday, October 17, 2011

Hellooooo!!! It has been a good week, a very LONG week but good nonetheless. I'm doing well in my new little trio and we are busy, busy, busy, covering two areas but we have made it work and we got through the week. We have two weeks left together till the next transfer so it will be interesting to see what will happen. I am going to laugh so hard if I stay in Indy YSA, but I'm preparing myself to leave:( I went on exchanges up in Fishers and it was actually kind of nice to have a change of scenery. It has been so weird for me to teach families, since I'm covering Brownsburg right now as well and then when I went up to Fishers, I'm just not used to teaching families. We have been having a blast though and I'm grateful for Sister Taylor and Sister Valencia and the strength that we are able to have as we have worked through this hard time together. I have been writing down tender mercies each day and that has been helping me so much. I can say that I am back to myself and I'm so happy. It was a rough time but I got through it with the Lords help and I know trials continue to help us reach our potential. I was reading a talk from conference of last year, "More than conquerers through him that loved us" and that has been helping me to continue to keep an eternal perspective and is keeping me motivated and diligent in the work. Thank you so much for your letter of support and I just have to keep looking forward and I know that things happened for a reason and that the Lord is very aware of me and is taking care of Sister Sneed right now. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her and I just love her so very much and I know she is going to do great things. We are working with two brothers right now and they have a baptismal date for December 10. Their mom just got baptized and so the elders in Indy 2nd have been working with us with the brothers, Robert and David. That is one thing that I love about serving in such a huge area is that I get to work with lots of other missionaries and they are so much fun. Robert and David are a hoot to teach and I'm really excited for them. We have some hurdles that we need to help them overcome but I know that they will be able to do it. A fun little tender mercy that I want to share happened Saturday when we went to a dinner appointment in Brownsburg, with this adorable family. They have a little 2 year old girl, Chloe, who is just a ball of sunshine and she has red hair that I couldn't stop staring at. After dinner the mom asked me to just wipe off the food from her hands and then I went to help her do the dishes. Her dad brought her into the kitchen and Chloe kept saying, "my friend cleaned me off, my friend cleaned me off." She was pointing to me and I just about melted. Then Chloe and her mom sang us a song while the dad played the guitar. It was the sweetest thing ever, they sang Raindrops keep falling on my head (I'm not sure the official title), but oh my we couldn't stop smiling! Love, Sister Lamb

Monday, October 3, 2011

Hello my cute little family, Wasn't conference AMAZING!!! I had spent the week preparing questions that I have been pondering and I was very humbled to have them answered in the last two days. It was so wonderful as well because there were a few talks that I know some of our investigators really need right now. I was so grateful for each one and my love for Thomas S. Monson was strengthened so much. I love the person that he is and that gives me the continued desire to follow him. I hope you all enjoyed as well and I found myself just holding on to every word and felt my Heavenly Fathers love for me and that the Atonement is real. It is something that I have experienced many times especially being here on my mission, I know that my Savior knows what I'm feeling and that he suffered so we don't have to. This past week was a hard week, we had soooo many lessons fall through. We know that we did all we could though, and the members were of great support and still came out with us to our backup plans. I just have to keep reminding myself that people have their agency and we have another exciting week coming up and I know we are working very very hard. Sister Sneed and I have being doing really well and I have been grateful to share with her the last few days how much this work means to me and that she has so much to look forward too!!! The discouraging times come but we keep going because we are on the Lords errand and it doesn't get better than that:) We have been doing really well at asking for referrals this week, we didn't receive one from every single person but we were able to receive some and we were very excited about that. We received that promise again in our district meeting that if we ask for referrals from everyone that all areas in our zone could have a baptism. The other night Sister Sneed and I were pondering and praying for what our area baptismal goal should be for October. It was a special experience, we said a prayer together and then had a personal prayer. As I was praying personally, the thought kept coming to my mind of two and I was thinking the Spirit was crazy for a minute there, and then a thought came to my mind of Sister Sneed and I at a baptismal service. It was a sweet little thought. As we have been pondering about our area we feel as if one would be a good goal for us to strive and work very hard for. We have some lessons set up this week with some potentials that we have a really good feeling about and so we are going to work to prepare them and of course get some referrals from them:) It's been good to add some new names to our potentials and investigators pool, I know the work is continuing to go forth and that Sister Sneed and I can continue to work hard. There wasn't a doubt in my mind that we gave all we had this week. I'm hoping that as we work harder, that that will help Sister Sneed and that her heart will continue to rejoice in this work. I have really loved getting to know the members this week, we had members set up to go with to pretty much all of our lessons that we had this week and so it was really fun to laugh with them and get to know them. They are so amazing and have been a huge support to us. We had a funny thing happen as we were driving with a girl Rachel, there was road kill in the road and she tried to miss it but didn't and we heard the most disgusting noise and then of course all three just screamed in disgust. It was so funny and we couldn't stop laughing. We went to a lesson that was a ways away and we got stuck in back to back traffic and so were late to our appointment and the kid that we were going to see is absolutely hillarious, Ian, and in his prayer at the end of the lesson he suggested which route we take home. It was so sweet but funny and we just laughed the whole way home. Even though the week was kind of blah, we still had so many blessing and tender mercies from the Lord and we were able to see that through the members of the branch. The weather is absolutely beautiful and perfect. The trees are specatacular and I don't think the real Fall has come yet so I'm excited to take lots of pictures of that. On our way to district meeting there is a spot where we cross a lake and the trees lined up along the lake, oh my Sister Sneed and I we just gasp every time. There isn't anywhere to pull over but I'm going to try and get a picture. I'm happy it's getting cooler cuz that means the bugs and spiders are going to disappear, I have to kill one everytime I get in the shower and it's frightening becuase the spiders are huge here and there are other creepy crawly things that we do not have out West. Blah! Send everybody my love:))))) Love, Sister Lamb