Christmas 12/26/16

Hey Guys!!!

Merry Christmas!!!! This week was super good!! The members are so nice to us and we got a ton of stuff. Mostly candy and treats...so we're going to get fat on that. The week of Christmas is the best because everybody is so excited to talk about Jesus! We were able to find a new investigator. He was a referral from someone we tracted into and one of his friends is a member and he went to church a couple of times with her. But he was super open so that was awesome!!! We went caroling with some members this week....they have a crazy child. He's four and has the most energy of anyone I have ever met. It's insane. We also went caroling with some sisters from our district and that was fun! We had another zone conference this week! It was my last one so that was pretty sad. But it was awesome!! 

So an update on Kristine: we finally had a lesson with her and it was a super super long lesson but it was so cool! Every question they asked just highlighted a principle of the gospel and they need the gospel so badly!!! And they are so ready!!!!! They came to church on Sunday!!! And the ward pulled through and swarmed them and it was great!!! Another one of our families that we are teaching came to church as well! It was awesome! Well I love you all!! Have a great week and Happy New Year...next Sunday!!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Centerton!! 12/19/16

Hey Guys!!!

Guess what?!?!?!?!?! So remember how like 3 months ago or so I told ya'll about Kristine Collins whose husband was murdered and she told her coworker that we were messengers from God and her coworker was a bishop and he told us that she would be the miracle of our mission??? So the sisters went and knocked on her door last Tuesday and she said to come back on Friday or Saturday. We were going to go on Saturday but it had rained and the temperatures dropped and we weren't supposed to be out on the roads because everything was stinking frozen and then there was snow stuff to top it off so we couldn't go visit her but then on Sunday we stopped by and she came out in the freezing (really really really really cold) to talk to us and she started crying and was saying that she has been super stressed financially and emotionally because of Christmas and it was so heartbreaking. She told us that she doesn't have enough money so her kids can have Christmas this year so my comp and I are going to get them Christmas and we are going there on Friday to do service with her and then teach her afterwards! Also my companion was super inspired to ask her if she would like to attend our Christmas service on Sunday and she said she really wants to because her church isn't having church on Christmas and so she's going to come to church!!!!!!!!!!!! Agh I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!! Please pray for her!!!!

It's been really fun to see everyone again and to meet all of the new investigators!! This area is looking pretty promising right now. We have a couple families we are teaching and it's the best!!! Saturday the temperatures were dropping quite a bit.....lots and lots and we were advised to not drive a lot on Sunday either so my companion still has that greenie fire and wanted to walk to church....so we bundled up quite a bit and walked the hour to church haha. We got a ride home though because the roads weren't bad at all. But it took us a couple hours to thaw out haha. Church was cancelled but they had a sacrament meeting at 1 that we went to so I wasn't able to see all of my people. But we have had a great 1/2 week so far!!! I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!!! Love you!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

BACK TO MY HEARTLAND !!! 12/14/16

GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the best week ever!!!!!!!!!!!! We just got transfer calls last night and I'm going back to Centerton!!!!!!!!! That's the area I just was in before I came to Joplin and it was my favorite area!!! And now I'm going back!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the best news I've ever gotten!! 

And to top it off, Elder Gay from the Seventy came on Monday and we had a mission conference excluding the three zones in Oklahoma. We actually found out that they are revising the mission boundaries and the three Oklahoma zones/stakes are no longer going to be a part of our mission. They'll be a part of the OKC mission but we'll get to keep all of our missionaries and they'll cover the areas that are double areas. That will be in effect as of January 1st. It was kind of sad because I love Oklahoma so much. I'm glad they did it my last transfer! 

Elder Gay taught us so many things! One thing that stood out was the part about returning home because it's my last transfer. He said, "The point is not to get to the summit but to return home." A lot of times we focus on the summits of life like going on a mission, getting married in the temple, etc. But it's not about that part. It's about getting home in one piece. It's about returning to Heavenly Father and enduring to the end. It's about taking what you learned and applying it to life. He said that there shouldn't be an adjustment when you go home. He said that you spent 18 months to 2 years learning how the Lord wants you to live so you shouldn't 'adjust' to the world. It was awesome!!!! He also said, "Don't be like the Brother of Jared when he was stuck on the shore doing great things but not the Lord's will." Man we learned so many things. 

Joanna Farley gave me my INDIAN NAME!!!!!!!!!! The long version is: Chunkash yukpa atapa hine hanta kostini'Ohoyo. It means a woman who brings peace and joy and is cheerful. The short version is Yukpa'Ohoyo: one who is cheerful. We were supposed to have a feast tonight but I had to come to Bentonville early. We had a very tearful goodbye this morning but we found out that they are moving into a different ward so I'm glad I'm going to Centerton! Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Sister Larmouth

Baptism 12/15/16

Hey guys!!

So this week was pretty AMAZING!!!!! Joanna got baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was probably the best experience of my mission!!!! When she was about to get in the water she started getting sooo excited and she started crying and when she bore her testimony she said that she's been baptized 6 times and this one she knew was real. She said that she is clean now and she felt the Spirit so strong! I'm so excited for her! We taught her on Wednesday and we told her that the same feeling she had, her parents can have in the temple when she does baptisms for them and she cried and cried and of course we cried too. I love her so much!!! Also she is close to finding me an Indian name so that's pretty cool :) 

So the guy who came up with Precious Moments happens to have lived in our area and made a Precious Moments chapel so we went and saw it and it was super super cool!!! Weird but really cool!

On Tuesday we were contacting a potential and there was a whole bunch of stuff outside and a lady walked up and she was moving down the street so we offered to help her and we taught her the gospel as we walked down the street and she was excited to meet with us :) She also has cotton candy hair and it's great. Overall it's been a great week!! 

Love

Sister Larmouth

It's Starting to Feel a Lot Like Christmas 11/28/16

Hey guys!!!

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving!! Mine was pretty great!!! We got to spend it with a family out in Diamond and we got enough left overs to feed a small army so we're doing pretty good haha. So Joanna is getting baptized tomorrow!!! We're super excited!!! We went and saw Joanna and her husband last night (who is a recent convert himself) and we found out that his testimony is wavering a lot! It was so sad! We know it's because he hasn't been reading his scriptures, praying and attending church. Guys, these things are real real important!!! Testimonies only live on those things. 

This week was pretty much a blur! We did a whole lot of service and got a little sore from doing renovations to a house. It was fun though!! We put up our Christmas tree!!! I'm so excited for Christmas!! We've been blaring Christmas music when we can. 

We went and delivered a pie to a less active and we've shared the Christmas initiative to everyone and their dog. Do ya'll know about the initiative??? You'll have to do it!! Go to Mormon.org/download and you can download the advent calendar!!! Do it do it! Well I can't remember anything else that happened.. but I love you all!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Interviews 11/21/16

Hey guys!!!

This week has been pretty great! We have seen a whole lot of miracles!! We had interviews with the mission president and his wife on Wednesday and it was super super good! Sister Loveland talked about how the words we use to extend an invitation to baptism are sacred and that we are inviting them to sacrifice everything to be baptized. It was a pretty neat concept. I had exchanges in Miami which always makes me love my area so much more. I hate to leave my area but it helps you learn. 

We've been meeting with a whole bunch of less actives of late and some of them have a goal to get to the temple :D I love those kind of goals! We had quite a few of Less actives at church! Speaking of church: so we had a nonmember sacrament meeting so people invited their friends to come to church and it was great! So during Relief Society, a member came in and got us and told us that a man had just walked in and he was in the chapel praying. So we grabbed our RS president and we went and talked with him and had a lesson. He's from Mexico so his English wasn't very good. He was going through a hard time and he was driving around and saw our church and said he felt like he needed to come in and pray! Isn't that so cool! He was talking about how all he wants is a family and how it's not working out and it was soo sad and we have a return appointment and we're going to teach him! I love miracles!! They're so great! 

Also, a Joanna update: last time we saw her, she wanted an elder who just got transferred to come back and baptize her and we told her that he probably couldn't come back and she told us that she didn't know if she wanted to get baptized then. But she drove us to our next appointment and wanted to teach with us and after the lesson she told us that she still wanted to get baptized she was just upset because he was like family to her. Her heart literally softened in 20 minutes. It was so cool! We set the baptism date for next Tuesday the 29th. And we're super super stoked! She's so amazing and she has a strong testimony of the gospel! Well I love you all and hope you have a super great week!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Lovelands in Sacrament! 11/14/16

Hey guys!

So the last 5 days were pretty good. Yesterday, President and Sister Loveland came and spoke in our sacrament meeting on missionary work and inviting. It was a great! Sister Loveland shared a story of a lady in their ward who was terrified to talk to people about the gospel but she wanted to follow the counsel of their stake president and she believed the promise that if she opened her mouth it would be filled. So she prayed that someone would be placed in her path to talk to in some form or another about the gospel. So she was doing laps at the pool and when she got out she noticed her son's old football coach sitting at the edge of the pool and she knew that he was the one she was supposed to talk to. So she was super nervous but she asked if he was the football coach and she was able to tell him her son is on a mission and talked about the church with him and it was a really natural thing. So she started making a goal to talk to 2 people the next week and eventually it turned into 1 person a day to 5 people a day to 100 people before Thanksgiving to 200 people before Christmas. Not one of the people she has spoken to has taken lessons from the missionaries or come to church but she has been able to see the blessing in her life from inviting and sometimes she is able to know the seeds she is planting. It was an amazing story about inviting. "We succeed when we invite!"

 Joanna is on day 12 of not drinking coffee and is getting ready for her baptism in a little over 2 weeks! On Saturday we had some super cool experiences. We knocked on a door and this girl answered. She wasn't interested but she gave us vague directions to her friend's house who loves religion but is scared to go back to church because of some things that happened to her. So we set off walking to contact the referral we saw a cute house and we knocked on the door and the lady invited us inside! And we talked with her for an hour and she has a whole bunch of questions but invited us back this week for another appointment and she wants to feed us as well! She is 26 and married and she was adopted at age nine. She's originally from Bulgaria and she was an orphan and she has seen a lot of scary stuff. Not too many other things have happened since Wednesday....But we get to have interviews with President and Sister Loveland this week so that'll be pretty cool! Well I love you all!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Baptism 11/9/16

Hey Guys!

So we got transfer calls and we're both staying in Joplin. This next coming transfer is only 5 weeks and ends right before Christmas and then my last transfer will be 7 weeks so that'll be interesting :) 

So this week had it's up and downs but our major highlight is that Joanna (our investigator) is getting baptized!!!!!! Her story is awesome. She got married to a guy that was taking the lessons and he and his son got baptized. She said that she would get baptized because he was the "spiritual leader" of the family (she's native american) but the missionaries said that she needed a testimony. So she has been meeting with missionaries for about 6 months and when we first met her she said she wasn't ready to make the change though she believed Joseph Smith is a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. Her concerns were that she had been baptized 6 times previously in different religions and she didn't know why she needed to be baptized again. So we taught her about the Great Apostasy and all that good stuff and asked her to pray about priesthood authority and she did. She told us that she felt peace about it but that she still wasn't able to commit. We gave her "Our Search for Happiness" to read and some things it said really struck her. She attended a baptism for another ward and then prayed about being baptized and she said she felt peace about it!! We're so excited!!! She's getting baptized December 3rd. Also she loves me a lot because I look like her niece and make all kinds of facial expressions and she's going to give me an Indian name! So I can check that box off on my bucket list haha. 

We got to do some service this week for some members and we wore respirators and scraped popcorn ceiling off. Turns out that renovation isn't my skill set haha. We also survived a lesson last night with a cockroach infested house...it was a close call though.

Well I love you all! Hope you have the best week!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Temple 10/31/16

This week was pretty great! We had the temple this week!!! It was so great to be able to go there and feel the peace and the happiness that is there. We had exchanges in Miami (pronounced My-am-uh because they like to make things interesting haha) and it really made me appreciate my area a whole lot more haha. I've come to really love Joplin and the people here. Missouri people are the best people :) On Saturday we had the best day! We had some interesting experiences haha the kind you can only have on the trolley and we just talked to soo many people and picked up two investigators and it was great. We also met more people from Micronesia! Love that place! The people are the nicest people. Well I hope you have a great week!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

40 Hour Exchange! 10/24/16

Hey Guys!

What an interesting week! It started with a 40 hour exchange...and we have another one this week...ha gotta love exchanges. It was actually really cool because our STL blitzed our area and we were able to find 4 new investigators and we talked to a whole lot of people! It was pretty neat :) Also one of the miracles we saw this week was on Wednesday. We were walking and we tried to visit an investigator who wasn't there. So we had to walk to the trolley stop and it started pouring rain! We were soaked! As we were waiting at the trolley stop, a lady who lived next to it invited us to come and stand under her car port. It turns out she's from...wait for it...Micronesia! And guess what? She knows our members that are from there and she knows our investigator! And when she was younger she was going to be baptized but her father wouldn't let her. But she wants to meet! So that was super cool! On Thursday we had "3rd Thursday" where they close down main street and we were able to set up the traveling visitor's center and OTM'd people with other missionaries! It was super successful! On Friday we were sick so that was a bummer. It was the one day we had a vehicle haha. It was an awesome week! Love you all!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Micronesia 10/17/16

This week was pretty great! We saw some pretty cool miracles! Last week we had the feeling to go back to a street we had tracted on and so we went back but the person we were going to see wasn't home. So we saw a house and decided to knock on the door before we tried to catch the trolley. The lady answered and said that her nephew used to meet with Mormon missionaries and to come back on Tuesday when he would be off work. So we went back on Tuesday and there was a guy sitting on the front porch who turned out to be the nephew! He said that he was almost baptized but his schedule got in the way and he wanted to be baptized...So that's pretty neat :) And then a car pulls into the driveway and it was his friend. He said that he wanted to learn too so we taught both of them! They are from Micronesia and on Friday we had dinner with a member who was from Micronesia and her daughter is related to our investigator! So we're excited to see what happens. Also, I think I should have got called to Micronesia because the people are my favorite haha. They have such big hearts and are willing to give you anything when they don't have anything to give. But this area really is primed and ready for the gospel! We have found soo many people to teach. Our investigator, Chris, who said last week that he wanted to be baptized in a month came to church! We're going to meet with him tomorrow to set a date for baptism :D Our members are awesome too! We were walking to some appointments and one member dropped everything to not only drive us but to also visit people with us! Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Roller Coaster Week!! 10/10/16

Hey Guys!

This week has been pretty great! It's been one of those roller coaster weeks! We have found quite a few new investigators and the area is amazing! We got everything figured out so we ride a trolley everywhere and walk so that's good! The ward is awesome and they help out a ton! We went to ward council yesterday and all they talked about was missionary work!! It was so cool! So the ward and the people we teach are pretty neat :) We're still working on getting to know everyone better. One investigator that we met with named Chris is super solid. We brought a member (who we hadn't met yet) and she really really liked to talk and bring in a lot of off topic things but the Spirit is real and makes everything okay! At the end he asked us what he has to do to be baptized....umm...no one ever asks us that haha. He asked how we figured out when a good time was and we told him that we pray to know when he can be ready by and we invited him to pray to know when he could be ready by and he said he already did! We were scared he was going to say 6 months out but he said that he wants to be baptized within the month! We're so excited! Well I love you all!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Joplin 10/3/16

Hey Guys!

This has been a crazy couple of days! We shotgunned in the Joplin 2nd ward and we replaced Elders so you can imagine what our apartment looks like haha. It's pretty bad. Like really bad. But it's okay because we get to clean the whole thing today! Also, I found out that it's a biking area....so there's that haha. We actually got major chastised during conference from the Yamashita guy from the Seventy. We felt really bad about complaining about riding bikes after that talk. We've actually managed to not ride bikes since we've got here haha. We've gotten extremely skilled at networking rides with members which also gets them really involved in the work. So that's a plus. And we found out there's a trolley system in Joplin so we can ride that! It'll be great. We have met so many amazing members. They all love to tell us about their missionary work (the ones that we've met) and we're pretty sure that the Joplin 2nd ward is going to turn into the city of Enoch haha. We've only been here 4 days and we've already seen a lot of miracles! Our second day here and our first day meeting people, we went to contact an investigator but he wasn't there. His mother-in-law wanted to take his place and wanted us to teach her! So that was pretty neat! Turns out she's super prepared to hear the gospel and accepted an invitation to be baptized! She also said that she really wants to find something positive in her life...so yeah. She's amazing. She was going to watch a general conference session with us at the church on Saturday but she went to the hospital :( 

Speaking of General Conference, it was sooooooooooooo good!! I'm really sad it's over but we're going to try to watch the priesthood session sometime so we've got a little more left. I just felt so inspired and it was so cool to see how all of the subjects worked together! There were definitely a lot of themes! Missionary work was a big one. Elder Oaks talk was one of my favorites! He gave so many good tips for missionary work no matter what part of the world you're in! Even Utah! No excuses guys! I loved the three things he suggested to do: pray for the desire, then keep the commandments fully, and then pray to know where to go, what to do and what to say and commit to act on the answer you receive! We've been using that in active member lessons that we've done since that talk was given. Which we've done a lot of active member lessons trying to meet people in the ward. Some quotes I liked:

• We tread a path of diamonds but sometimes consider them ordinary pebbles.
• When we love the Lord, we will suffer less.
• We cannot pray away another's agency.
• Every moment of precious prayer can be a holy experience.
• The Lord pays attention to our voice even when we don't pay attention to His.
• Conversion is not in our timing
• Gospel Extremism
• As she looked to the Book, she looked to the Lord
• Divine love can transform the willing soul
• Be ambitious for Christ
• Missionary work is not a program but an attitude
• Joy has nothing to do with the circumstances of our life, but the focus in our life.
• Whatever the cost of repentance it is swallowed up in the joy of forgiveness
• Sacrifice transforms a remorse of conscience into a peace of conscience
• Do we believe what we know?

Conference is the best! Something that our mission president's wife told us is that if we follow the prophet's and apostles counsel, then our efforts will be magnified an hundred-fold! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Transferred! 9/28/16

Hey Guys!

This is a really sad day because we found out last night that I'm getting transferred! This has been my favorite area so far and it will be really hard to leave but that's okay. I'm going back to Missouri!! It's been a year since I served there! I'll be in Joplin and we'll be shotgunning in so it'll be fun. My new companion's name is Sister Bisch and she came out with Sister Martin so she's pretty new. Guess where she's from?? Twin Falls, ID. So she has to be a great person right? haha Well I'll catch you up on what has happened in the last 10 days :) It's been a pretty great week! We did a lot of service last week which was fun and we found quite a few solid potential investigators! We tracted on an amazing street and everybody was so nice! That never happens! And we got three return appointments in twenty minutes! It was a pretty good day!

We had Women's Conference which was the best thing ever! I'm super excited for the rest of conference! Sister Stephens talk was soooo good and so was Sister Oscarson's and President Uchtdorf's. They were all amazing! One of my favorite quotes from President Uchtdorf is "Faith comes to those who pay the price of faithfulness." I love that. I also like how he talked about encouraging people to listen differently instead of listening harder.

We had a pretty cool experience with a less active this week. We've been teaching her the lessons again and she doesn't seem too interested in us teaching her but we keep feeling like we should keep on keeping on and last Sunday we went with the lady's visiting teacher. Well we were teaching the "gospel of Jesus Christ" and talking about faith. Then we got to the subject of repentance and I felt prompted to read the story of Alma the Younger with her in Alma 36. We talked about how we could have as much joy as our pain or guilt. She asked if anyone had ever felt that in modern times and we were able to testify to her from personal experiences and promise her the same thing could happen to her. It was a powerful moment and it was a blessing to see her grasp the knowledge that she doesn't have to live with her guilt and shame and she started crying and committed to repent. Sometimes we think repentance is for the big things or we're in trouble if we have to repent. But in reality, repentance is one of the most beautiful parts of the gospel because that sorrow and that pain can be swept away and replaced with joy and peace and happiness. I love that!

I love you all so much! Have the best week!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Temple!! 9/19/16

Hey Guys!!!

This week was pretty awesome!! I had MLC and got to see my trainer and other missionaries I haven't gotten to see in a while! And we learned a lot of cool things to start doing and I just left there feeling super inspired :) I also got to go on exchanges with one of the sisters in my zone and we had some crazy good experiences!! So the Bishop wanted us to start teaching a lady who got into some anti and had her name removed two years ago but she started coming back to church and wants to be rebaptized! So we had a lesson with her and it was one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever had! She told us that she would go to all of these other churches and she never felt the Spirit. She said she felt like they were more for entertainment than for spiritual learning. Anyways she said that she kept getting promptings to come back to church but she had been pretty negative on social media so she was kind of scared to come back but she had a dream that basically made her feel like everything was going to be okay! She's awesome and it's so cool to see people come back! We also had an amazing lesson with Chester (our investigator). He's so close to figuring everything out! We also got a new investigator this week! She is GOLDEN!!!!!!!! When we met with her she started talking about how there was so many churches and they all said that they were right but she just couldn't figure out which one she should go to. She always felt like something was missing.....Sound familiar? haha so we immediately started telling her the Joseph Smith story and about the First Vision and the Spirit was really strong! At the end she said that she wanted her family to hear our message too! Isn't that crazy? We're super excited about her! 

We also got to go to the TEMPLE :D It was amazing!!!! Tasha got to do the work for her Grandma and I felt like her grandma accepted the work :) It was really neat to watch! We went to the Kansas City Temple in Missouri! 

So one morning while we were walking to the gym in our apartment complex we stopped to put a letter in the mail and there's this door next to the mailboxes that you put a code in and you can go in. Well there was a notice that went to all of the residents that there was a pet spa in this room and also some new snack machines....so naturally I wanted to check this out haha. Well we check it out and it's pretty neat and we go to leave this room and the door won't open! We were stuck in that room for 20 minutes!!!!! We had the windows open trying to yell at people to help us hahahaha. Finally we got someone who heard us. That was our adventure for the week :D 

Well I love you all!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Temple!!!! 9/12/16

Hey Guys!

This week was pretty good! We got a new investigator on Tuesday and her name is Becky and she's amazing! She lives in Sulphur Springs and her mom referred her to us. We went with a member and getting out there was fun haha. She lives in weird place and I don't even know how to describe it....crazy. That's how. Some places I'm just shocked to find out they're inhabited. But anyways she has three kids and she is getting custody back in a few weeks. She's super humble and the Spirit was so strong in the lesson! You could tell that she felt it :D We're going back tomorrow night with our recent convert, Tasha. Speaking of Tasha, WE GET TO GO TO THE TEMPLE :D We're soooo excited!!! This Saturday a member is driving us up to Kansas City and Tasha got permission from an uncle so she can do baptisms for her grandma! She also got called to be a ward missionary. Things are going great. 

We went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leader Leaders this week and that was pretty cool! We saw a whole lot of miracles! One lady invited us in when we tracted into her and we taught her the Restoration and she had soo many questions! It was awesome! 

I don't remember a lot that happened this week...but it was a good week :)

Love you all!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Amazing Miracles!! 9/5/16

Hey Guys!!

This week was sooooooo amazing!!! We had the most awesome miracle ever! 

So here's what happened. Ever since Tasha got baptized we began to run low in solid investigators so we prayed the entire week for a new investigator. The Friday before last we prayed to know which member knew someone who was ready to receive the gospel. Sooo the name that came to us was the family that we just happened to be eating dinner with that night! That was really convenient! So we asked them for a referral and they gave us their next door neighbor who had just moved two streets down. So we contacted them a couple days later when they finally gave us the address and this lady answered the door. I felt prompted to talk about eternal families and we talked to her about five minutes but she said she wasn't interested. She was really nice though! We asked her, "Who do you know who would be interested in or benefit from our message" and she said that she didn't know anyone. So we asked her if she knew of anyone who had just lost a job or had a big change in her life and she said that she knew a neighbor 3 doors down that had just lost her husband. So we couldn't contact the lady that night but the next night we did and we talked to her. She said that she knew a member who had a leadership position and she told us that her husband had passed away in the last year. We shared Alma 40:11-12 with her and it says, " Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow." We asked if we could come back and share more and she said that she was extremely busy this week and Sundays were the only good days so we made an appointment for the 11th of September. She didn't seem overly interested but at least she made an appointment with us. Soooo last Friday we had zone conference and President Loveland came up to us and said that his Bishop had called him and left a message that some sisters in Centerton had tracted into his coworker and that she was a lot more interested than she had let on. He said that it would be the miracle of our missions! That made us pretty dang excited!! We could hardly concentrate during the conference because we were so excited! Well we called the Bishop and he told us that he had tried working with the lady when her husband had passed away. He was murdered last November by a coworker and she went through a really really really hard time. She finally told him that she wasn't interested, but he kept praying for her. Well he had a luncheon with her and a couple of other coworkers and she said that a couple of church girls had stopped by her house. She said that she had had the worst day and did not want to answer the door at all. But she said that when she answered we had a cheerful and pleasant look about us and the scripture that we shared was exactly what she needed to hear! When she went inside her daughter asked who was at the door and she said, "They are messengers from God and everything is going to be great." Isn't that amazing!!! The Bishop asked if the church girls happened to have black name tags and she said that we did and we were from his church and he said that he was hardly able to keep his composure. She told him that she looked forward to our meeting on the 11th. 

It's an amazing feeling to know that you are being a tool in the hand of the Lord to help others come closer to him. That was the biggest miracle that I probably have seen on my mission. I know that it came because we prayed with faith and knew that the Lord would answer our prayer to find a new investigator. Another scripture that my zone leader shared with us is in Ether 12. It says, "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith. 13 Behold, it was the faith of Alma and Amulek that caused the prison to tumble to the earth. 14 Behold, it was the faith of Nephi and Lehi that wrought the change upon the Lamanites, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost. 15 Behold, it was the faith of Ammon and his brethren which wrought so great a miracle among the Lamanites. 16 Yea, and even all they who wrought miracles wrought them by faith, even those who were before Christ and also those who were after. 17 And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith. 18 And neither at any time hath any wrought miracles until after their faith; wherefore they first believed in the Son of God." Please pray for her that her heart might still be open and ready to hear the gospel! Her name is Kristine :) 

I love you all!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

More Miracles!! 8/22/16

Hey guys!

This week was pretty great! We're working with Tasha to get her to the temple! If she goes then we get to go too!! That would be the best thing ever!! She's doing so well! There's a glow about her now and even though she still has to deal with many of her problems, she says she feels peace about them. 

We dropped one of our investigators and we're going to drop another one this week. We think another one of our investigators is dropping us....soooo we're in the finding stage of missionary work right now. But it has been really cool! We prayed about who in the ward knew people who were ready for the gospel and a name in the ward came to mind and it turns out we were eating with them that night. So we shared a message with them and they gave us a referral! We contacted the referral yesterday and she was really nice but not interested. But I felt prompted to talk about eternal families with her and then I asked who she knew who just lost a job or something big just happened in their life and she referred us to a neighbor who just lost her father! So we're going to contact her tonight! 

Another cool experience this week: so on Tuesday all of our plans fell through and we didn't really know what to do and I was feeling 0 motivation so we prayed and I prayed for the Lord to help me to have motivation. I felt prompted to open my scriptures and I opened to 3 Nephi 11:41 which says, "Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth." Isn't that so cool? It was neat too because I never felt so motivated in my life afterwards. My companion felt like we should visit a couple who is borderline less active and so we decided to go there and as we were trying to find their street we saw a potential's house and we knocked. They told us they weren't actually interested but he said his friend at work probably was so he wanted to give him our card! When we got to the couple's house we found out she was just diagnosed with cancer and needed an uplifting message! 

We definitely saw a lot of miracles this week! Another one is that I didn't get a ticket last night! I got pulled over and was going 13 over.... My TIWI didn't even tell me! He let me off with a warning though haha. The speed limit had just changed so he was feeling generous. Well I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Baptism 8/22/16

Guys!!!!

TASHA GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing!!! It was a little stressful getting everything together for it but it all worked out! It was a little crazy because she didn't know any priesthood holders because we mostly just introduced her to sisters...haha but we made it work. Her husband came to the baptism too!! That was really big for him because he has PTSD. I'll make sure to send a pic! But she was anxious the night before the baptism so we offered to get her a priesthood blessing the morning before the baptism. The blessing was sooo good! It said that her baptism would make the way for saving ordinances to be done for her ancestors that had gone before and that she would have the opportunity to do the work for them! It was so cool because Sister Martin and I were talking a day or two before about getting her to the temple so she could do the work for her Grandma. And it was so powerful because we could both feel that it was her Grandma that wanted her work done. Such a good experience!! She didn't want to bear her testimony at the baptism so she wrote it down and we read it and it was so powerful!!

So.....in other news....we got a text from Nancy (one of our less actives) saying that she has 60 days to move and asked us if we knew if the church could help her find a place and her car was broken so she needed help with that. Well we gave her the Bishop's info and we talk to Amy (Nancy's fellowshipper) and it turns out that Nana (Nancy's mom) tried to STRANGLE Faith (Nancy's daughter)!!!!!!!!! Isn't that the craziest thing you've ever heard??? Yeah so that went down. Never in my wildest dreams could I see Nana doing a thing like that. So that happened. 

 And Chester is pretty much our only solid investigator at the moment. We're going to have to drop Jennifer because she's not progressing or making any steps to progress. Chester went really downhill after the Philippines both investigator-wise and health-wise. But we made really good progress the last three lessons with him! He's so on the verge of figuring everything out. He's listening to the Book of Mormon on the app everyday and re-listens to them so he can understand. He's having trouble with his memory. He's also doing family history with us every Wednesday!

I hope you all have the best week!!!

Love

Sister Larmouth

Transfers :) 8/17/16

This week and a half have been crazy and crazy good! So much has happened! So for transfers: I'm staying!!! So is my companion :) I am going to be an STL again. I have to say that those two transfers not being one was a nice break haha. We're getting a lot of newbies in our zone this transfer so it should be fun! 

So Tasha is getting baptized this Saturday and everything is going super well!! I have this paranoia about baptizing people when they're not ready so I was worried we were rushing it but one of our lessons she basically bore her testimony to us and it was powerful! I'm so excited! Sister Loveland (our mission president's wife) in a prayer said that I would see an investigator get baptized in the near future and that's coming true!! Tasha has been through a lot and Satan has thrown a lot her way in the past week or so but she is determined to get baptized!

We also had Gravette day this week! That was super fun! We set up a booth and we had a spinning wheel with trivia and candy. That attracted a lot of children! We also got a couple Bible bashers so that was interesting haha. I'll send some pics :) 

We went on exchanges last week with our STLs in Rogers and we went to contact less actives and one opened their door and it turned out to be the less active's mom and she was packing up his stuff because he was moving. We offered our help and at the end she started crying. It's really the best feeling knowing you're in the right place at the right time :) We also saw a part member family and they have been swapping church's each week. So they go to our church every other week. Anyways, the husband (non member) raised a lot of politically charged questions which is always fun and then his wife who is the member also voiced some questions that she had regarding the church's stance on certain things. It was a weird experience because I felt impressed that she wasn't reading her scriptures or praying daily and if she didn't start to do so, she would be less active in 3 years. The little things are often the most important things. This member was a really really strong member two years ago but because she stopped doing the small things then she started doubting. Don't forget to do the little things :) Well I love you lots!

Love

Sister Larmouth