another week and a party

Another week came and went! They go so fast. 

Last Monday we traveled on down to Gary Indiana for a baptism Sis. Bishop had. It was cool to be in Indiana, I felt a little closer to family and I was think it just may be the only time I will get to be down here on my mission. Maybe someday I will get to see my dad's old stomping grounds. It's my dream! 

But because we traveled down there... Our limit for miles became very slim, so we have walking a lot which is always nice to get out and about. Right now we are focused on finding more people to teach. Things are running pretty slow at the moment in our area, but really it's okay because there are many less actives to teach and service opportunities. 

We got to teach a woman from Mongolia for the first time about church things. We taught her about Heavenly Father and prayer. At first she didn't understand really the reason for praying, or why we do it. Haha she asked what percentage of your prayers actually get answered. 

The idea of God is so foreign to people, but it's cool to see them as the humbly begin to build that relationship with Him. 

We had a Halloween party this week too, the thing I love about church activities is they are PERFECT opportunities for missionary work! You just invite people to a party and it's in a church, how perfect. We had a lot of members invite their friends, and part member families came. It's was a success and we got to meet and talk to a lot of new people. 

The people in this area are great, and we have awesome members. It's great to be here, doing work seeing the Lord's hand and having the opportunity to serve him everyday. 

I hope you have a good week! 

Love, Sister. Tincher 

 Making ravioli with Sister B

 We had a Halloween party so we dressed up as triplets. :)

Great surprises

Hey Guys!! 

This week was well great though we have been doing lots of service and seeing many members, less actives and investigators progressing in the gospel. 

We got to teach our Mongolian investigator this week. She is still progressing she wants to be baptized. She brought it up her self after she told us about how much she agrees with the gospel principles books she has been reading. She is a very serious, educated and well mannered individual. She will be such a good member. Her daughters are so cute and do really good in primary. She helped out with the sunbeams on Sunday so we got to see them singing a long with all the kids and everything. We love her and are excited to see her grasp the gospel and bring her family into it. 

We have been working with a less active family. They are a broken family the boy is nine and we are working on him being baptized. We got him on date for Nov 8 and he came to church with another family for the first time maybe this year! It was great to have him. He is going through more than any little boy his age should even experience, but the ward is aware and are wanting to work with him and his mom to feel loved and supported. We are going to have fhe's with them at members home so that he can see what a priesthood hold should be like in the home. The member who took him for the day Sunday called us and had the same idea. I love how the Lord helps unify us with the members. It's truly his work! 

So after a dinner appointment with the senior sisters and Jasmine we were walking back to our car when we decided to stop by this guy's house who we talked to a couple weeks ago, who said we could come back sometime. 

He wife answered the door and they had really cute kids, she was so nice! Then he walks in and we sit down. The first thing he says is, "you know I have a history?" 

We look at each other, look back at him, and are like, "oh? What is it?" 

So he goes on to tell us of all this crazy stuff, he is from Iraq and I guess some girl poisoned him, he used to have a army of 2,000 Mexicans on motorcycles and now he can't sleep anymore,he said he has to take pills to sleep!   And now ever since "he can't trust nobody" 

It was a very intense story. Haha we showed him a quick video about Christ, and afterwards asked him if he had any thoughts about it! Well he just went straight into how..

 "You can't trust Americans! They don't have any respect, I used to have an army of 2,000 soldiers. Just like Jesus had the 12 apostles, and it took one person, one girl to take it all away" 

So that was an adventure, pretty cool.... Hahaha. It was weird and funny at the same time. 

So this week has been full of great surprises and everything. I love it! There is nothing more true than the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's the key happiness. I know this to be true with all of my heart. All we have to do it pray, read the scriptures with a sincere heart to find this out. 

I love you guys and I hope you have a great week ahead of you! 

Keep on keeping on!!! 

Love, Sister. Tincher 

Teaching English

So this week we had such a good time teaching our investigator Oyunna, she is really loving the gospel. She is from Mongolia and we have a few families here in the ward from there as well, so she is getting fellowshipped so so well. She was given a gospel principles book a week ago, and she said she wanted to read it because she really thinks her questions she has had her whole life about where she came from, why she is here and where she is going will be found or established in this book. Well we show up for this lesson and she already read the WHOLE book! Oh my and she really liked it, so that is a plus. She agreed with everything she read and said that it was true and they are good teachings. It really cool.

I talked to president about her and she said that in Mongolia the church is really growing! 1 out of every 10 people are apart of the church! It's so cool! She loves coming to church, and she had finally found the peace she has been looking for in a long time.

 

We have been teaching English to another lady from Mongolia. We had her meet us at the church on Saturday and so while we were there we explained what we really do (teach the gospel) and then about church. We went on with our lesson and then about half way through she started to ask us if we believe in Jesus and that she wants to find him and learn more about him. It was so cool!!! So now we are going to begin teaching her as well.

These are both referrals who asked on their own to learn more. The Lord is completely preparing everyone.

 

I love this area because everyone is basically not American haha when I first got here I was like... everything has an accent. Including my companion haha. so it's a perfect service opportunity here to teach English and we have been blessed to find people to teach the gospel as well.   

 

So we got a call Saturday night from president telling us that he is doing an emergency transfer and we would be in a trio... we had to drive to the mission home that night and pick up our new sister. And guess what, you'll never believe it! I got Sister  Bishop back!! She is our third companion, how cool!!! I trained her just in case you forgot. So we have been catching up. Being in a trio is way too fun.

 

On Sunday Jasmine came into sacrament and showed us a picture she made on her phone... haha it was like a digital cartoon. But it was of Sister  Bonvissuto and I. I was holding a book, because she said I am always carrying a journal around... I think she was just thinking about me at conference time. Too funny. And then Sis. B was holding her hands in a heart shape, because she was the first one to tell Jasmine she loved her. I thought that was so tender. Jasmine has come such a long way. It's so cool, and you can really see the difference in her continence its like night and day almost.

 

The Atonement is real, it will change us. It heals the broken, wounded and tired parts of us. I know this is true. I am so thankful for my Savior, and for Heavenly Father who loves each of us so perfectly.

 

I love you guys. I hope you have a good week :)

 

Love, sister tincher

Things are changing around here

Helloooo! 

This week was good, pretty awesome. I just keep thinking to my self of
how lucky I am to be here, doing this work and being surround with the
people I love. I don't think we ever are aware of what we are walking
into when we open a door. We are always scare, nervous or maybe
apprehensive when it comes to the unknown of experiences, but God
always requires us to stretch out of our comfort zones. This is where
faith in Jesus Christ and the enabling power of the Atonement step in.
I am sure you can relate with experiences like these.

With people we are teaching I have seen great changes come about and
it's because of the hope for a better twirl they have found by letting
go and launching forward into unknown path, to and all knowing God.
There is no failure when we choose to follow someone who loves us more
than we can imagine and who knows our destiny better than we do.

One night this week we taught a brother in the ward who is struggling
with activity, and who knows where it really starts, but he brings up
the subject of tithing a lot. So let's say that is the problem. He is
a really cool guy! Just has trouble with trusting the lord, and it all
starts from how he grew up. It makes me sad to see all of these
problems that start with family. So many people want to feel excepted
and loved, but because they feel different from "average" they feel
like they are being judged.
It's not that way at all. I always think back to what our stake
president said "the more you pay attention you will notice that satan
divides, while God gathers" just like sheep. The wolf comes and splits
the weak from the strong and then attacks!!! While the shepherd tries
his best to have a good view of all his sheep and keep them close by.
When we choose to disobey the prophet and the commandments or things
he has said, we are wandering from our Shepard making it easier for
the wolf to corner us into a dark, hopeless problem.
With this guy, I so bad wanted him to just clear off the dirt from his
glasses and maybe then he could see things the way God wants us to and
make the changes that would actually help him.

After this appointment it was getting close to curfew, we were
deciding whether we should make some phone calls or do the one last
stop by we had planned. We decided we could do the calls later and it
would be better for us to try and see this less active (who I have
never met yet!) As we knocked on the door we heard her yelling, "the
sisters!! How did you know I was thinking about you!" She opens the
door and says it again. We were planning on just inviting her to
conference and leaving, but she invited us in and just talked to us,
told us the load that she was baring. She had some questions she
needed answered and really she needed the comfort of the Lord, so he
sent us. She was reading the church website right before we got there!
And we were able to set up a priesthood blessing for her the next day.
It was so perfect. I love how the Lord can use us to help bring his
love to his children. It's the way the church works, we need each
other.
It reminds me of something I hear in conference about how the love we
feel for the prophets and gods leaders is the Love that God has for
them. I feel like that is so true for every day life.

Jasmine who was baptized last week was able to come to all the
sessions of general conference and even on Saturday she came with us
to watch it at a members place. It was so great to have her come, and
she made it through all the sessions! I was way happy for her, haha
that's rough for the first time!

Things are changing around here, I can't tell if it's the weather or
the work, but I know it will be good!
I love you guys, thank you for everything. I hope you have a really
great week, if it isn't one, make it one! ;) y'all deserve it!!
Love, sister. Tincher