God Loves All of His Children 9/14/15

Hello everyone!!

First of all, thank you to everyone for the birthday cards and emails! You are all so supportive and great and I love you :)

                                                             

Pics:

• How I feel when I get a package!
• Sister Barton baked me a cake!
• Sister Barton ....such a sweet woman

 
Life has been busy and good here in Elko, Nevada. This week was by far the busiest Sister Hingano and I have had so far and we got to teach A TON of lessons and see a lot of miracles. We have currently have 8 investigators with a baptismal date, so that;s exciting! I took the lead in setting a lot of them this week, so that was an exciting experience for me. 

This week was one of Less-Active miracles. We had a bunch of less-active families let us in that have not done so in the past. And a few even came to church! We know that God loves all of His children and ALWAYS wants them to return to Him, even if they've strayed from the path for a while. 

We did exchanges with the Lovelock Sisters this week, and they both came to Elko, so that was a different experience. We basically just did splits all day and had double the appointments. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about patience. 

We had quite a few people drop us this week, but we've also met a bunch of new investigators, so that is really exciting! 

Favorite quote from this week: "Sometimes God calms the storm. Sometimes God lets the storm rage on and calms His child." I know that is true. When we feel like the storms of life are beating upon us, we can rest assured that The Lord is aware of our needs and our fears and that He will either calm the storm or give us the strength and comfort that we need to get through the storms with His help.

General Conference is coming up! Is anyone as pumped as I am?? I'm kind of hoping to stay in America for one more transfer so I can watch it in English (and be here for all of our investigators), but whatever the Lord's plan is, I'll be happy. 

Hope you are all doing well! I have loved hearing about how you are doing. Shout-out to my little brother, Ethan, who received the Aaronic Priesthood this week. You're awesome, and the Priesthood is one of my favorite things ever. Jack, nice job helping with that. Mary, you're awesome!

I love you all! Keep praying, reading the Book of Mormon, and serving those around you. You have so much potential, you can't even realize it! 

Don't forget your prayers, Jesus loves you!

All my love,

Sister Doyle

Extra pics from the week:

• Some members gave us some coconuts! 
• Elko Fair with Sister Hingano

                                               

                                                    

Pretty Much a Roller Coaster! 9/7/15

Hello everyone!!

How are you all doing? I want to thank everyone who has sent emails and mail! You're the best!! 

This week was definitely different than our normal routine. Pretty much a roller coaster.There wasn't a single day that didn't have some special event, which was stressful, but really fun...

Monday was P-day as always. We did our normal stuff and we also got frozen yogurt (thank you grandma!) and waxed our car by hand! I'm learning a lot about how to take care of a car and that's exciting :)

On Tuesday, we had District meeting in the morning and then set out for our four-hour drive to Reno, Nevada for Mission Leadership Conference (Sister Hingano is a Sister Training Leader, so she goes to a bunch of extra meetings). All highways. Lots of trucks. Great stretcher for me :) Nevada can be pretty boring to look at sometimes, but it's also very beautiful in its own way. The desert is pretty cool. When we finally got to Reno, we ate at Olive Garden with all the Elders who are leaders in the mission. We then stayed the night with the Reno STL's. 

In the morning, we played Oompa Loompa ball (like ultimate frisbee but with a football) with about 20 Elders. It was insane and kind of my worst nightmare hahaha but I survived! And I even caught the ball once ;)

I then spent the day with Sisters MacNeil and Finch in Reno. It was really fun to be in a city (maybe a taste of what Sao Paulo will be like?). I loved being with them and we had some really powerful lessons. I hope I get to see them more! Then, that night we drove the four hours back to Elko! It was A LOT of driving for 24 hours. But it was good and we stayed safe :)

Thursday was our weekly planning, and we also had a lesson with our new investigator, Wa, who is 18 and awesome! He's so prepared and I committed him to be baptized! That's the first time I've been able to do it without any help from Sister Hingano and it was a really great feeling :) Thursday afternoon, we drove to Spring Creek to do exchanges with the SC sisters. And then I drove back to Elko with Sister Torres and Sister Hingano stayed in Spring Creek!! I was super nervous about this exchange because I would be without Sister Hingano in Elko, handling the driving directions, the phone communications, and all of our appointments in Elko. I prayed a lot and relied heavily on the Lord and the members and it went so well!! God definitely helped us out. Thursday night, we taught Ca The Word of Wisdom and she accepted the challenge to quit smoking!! She's gonna need a little more time before she quits alcohol, but it's a start! We then had one of our less-actives call and ask for a blessing! We brought the ward mission leader and the spirit was super strong!! He had never let us into his house previous to that.

Friday was a busy, stressful, and miraculous day. I tried to plan super well (so we wouldn't end up lost in the middle of nowhere haha) and we ended up teaching more lessons than we've ever taught in Elko since I've been here! It was a fantastic day and I'm so grateful :) Friday night we switched back and Sister Hingano came back to Elko. It was definitely a confidence booster to know that I made it through Thursday and Friday without messing anything up too bad :)

Saturday was Zone conference from 8am to 4pm. It was nice to see the mission president and his wife and all the other missionaries in our zone. We have some really great people in this area :) The baptism for Saturday got cancelled because the girls met with their dad and he convinced them that they're not ready. That was really hard for us, especially for Sister Hingano, since she's been teaching them for a long time. We've just tried to have Christlike love for the dad and understand his point of view. The girls will get baptized eventually, because they know it's true. Saturday night we had a lesson with an investigator, and he was being very stubborn and I was too bold and dropped him. I felt pretty terrible afterward. But something I've learned is that Christ's Atonement covers not only our sins, but also our accidents and mistakes. I know that Christ can make up for all of what we lack. After that lesson we ate dinner with three of the YSA guys. It was little weird. But I'm grateful for worthy priesthood holders and the fact that they help us to move the work forward in the YSA branch :)

A couple miracles that I left out:

We helped some little girls find their mom's EBT card the other night, and we prayed with them and then found it and they said they want to pray from now on. So precious. Tender mercy.

We did a church tour with Al last night and the spirit was so incredibly strong and he wants to get baptized next month and come to church and everything :) The Spirit can do amazing things :) 

Mel came to church!! Woohoo!We got a hold of Ka and rescheduled her wedding and baptism dates! 

Life is good. The Gospel is true. Have the missionaries over for dinner. They are hungry. Give them referrals. They will love you. Use Preach My Gospel in your family scripture study or FHE; it is such a fantastic resource!! 

I love you all!! Keep praying :) God is working miracles all over the place.

All my love,

Sister Doyle

Stretched in Every Way Possible 8/31/15

Hi family and friends!!

Hello hello. How is everyone?! Thank you for all of the emails!! 

So...this week was really good! Of course, it still had it's rough moments, but I'm really liking it here in Elko, and I've actually found myself wanting to stay another transfer so I can be with our investigators as long as possible :) They are such great people who are really trying to make the necessary changes in their life so they can align their wills with God's will. I'm so grateful that I was able to grow up in the church and learn about the blessings like the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity and Family Proclamation and Book of Mormon. What amazing modern-day revelation we have!! 

I went on splits for the first time this week. We drove two hours to Lovelock, NV, where I stayed the night with Sister Liddle. Highlight of that exchange: getting to have family song and prayer with a bunch of kids on the Indian Reservation. It was a very sketchy place, with lots of wild dogs and flies and broken things everywhere, but the kids were so innocent and fun! The Spirit can dwell in even the most broken places when there is faith and a desire to follow God. The exchange was good, but I was glad to be back in Elko with Sister Hingano the next day. This coming week, we will be having exchanges again, but this time I will be the one staying in Elko!! I'm more than a little nervous, since I'll be primarily in charge of teaching our investigators and knowing my way around XD

Also this week is a Mission Leadership Conference in Reno. Since Sister Hingano is a Sister Training Leader, we get to go to Reno. That means eight hours of highway driving for me....daunting, but also exciting. The Lord will turn our weaknesses into strengths, right? haha

I have found myself being stretched in every way possible since being on a mission. Everything I was scared of before...dogs, driving on the highway, sports, drugs, dark alleyways, sweating profusely, rejection, strange foods, etc....the Lord is definitely showing me that I'm braver than I realized :) I'm grateful for that. I'm learning so much!!  

Speaking of learning...we play basketball with a bunch of Elders every morning. Definitely needed some improvement on that sport haha. 

Our investigators are awesome and Sister Hingano and I are super busy all the time trying to keep up with everyone we are finding! We have a baptism this Saturday of two little girls, Li and Em (as long as their dad gives permission...praying nonstop...) so that should be a very sweet experience! We also have a few more investigators preparing for baptism this month. Everyone we teach has their own stuggles and difficulties, but they're all awesome. We just contacted a new investigator this past week, Mel, and during our first lesson, she already had a list of questions ready for us! Turns out, she had already downloaded the Gospel Library app, read multiple conference talks, and read all of 1 Nephi!! She's awesome. We also contacted a part-member family, the Su's. The kids were super excited and were begging their mom to let them get baptized haha the two girls came to church yesterday, and Na leaned over to me during sacrament meeting and whispered, "I wish Jesus was in my house right now!" So precious. Our investigator, Ca, is making really great progress as well. She has a lot to get through but she's really trying. We're hoping to have a wedding this week or next for Ka, so hopefully I'll be writing about that soon :)

The members here are so ready and willing to help and they are really the key to any success we have. The Gospel is so good!! 

Yesterday at church, there was a couple visiting who both served their missions in Brazil! And the woman served in Sao Paulo East!! She was also a visa-waiter, and she served in California for 11 months! It was such a tender mercy to be able to meet them yesterday!

Sister Barton, who we live with, is super sweet and she reminds me of Grandma Marcia a little bit, because she works so hard to serve everyone around her. Funny moment this morning...she made us crepes for breakfast, and as we were sitting down to eat, she says, "Oh blast, I forgot my teeth!" So she goes to her room, comes back a few minutes later, sits down, goes to take a bite, and then says, "I went to the bathroom, blew my nose, and completely forgot my teeth again!" Haha she keeps us laughing and it's a joy to live with her :) 

Anyways, you guys are awesome! I love you and I hope you're doing well :) I know that God will help us with whatever we are struggling with if we turn our will over to Him and make the decision that we will do whatever we need to to choose the right. The Savior is proud of anyone who is willing to repent. He wants to help you, so just let Him! :)

SHOUT OUT TO MY AWESOME BROTHER ETHAN WHO WILL BE TWELVE TOMORROW!! YOU'RE NO LONGER A BABY! I might cry. It's fine. Anyways, I love you baby brother! You're one of my favorite people in the whole wide world and I know that an awesome new priesthood holder like you is going to make some amazing changes in this world and be such a power for good. Can't wait to see what God has in store for you, Beef. You're awesome :)

Don't forget your prayers! Your Father in Heaven loves you and so do I!

All my love,

Sister Doyle