Thursday, March 27, 2014

Letters from Kennewick

March 24, 2014

Subject: "God uses faith to mold character."

Hello there family!! I found that little saying in my journal the other day and I don't know where it came from but I really touched me. Acting in faith diligently is the act and process of sanctification.

Our week this week in our area was great! We had some really great lessons with a lot of them with members. We had two with Cheryl. She is doing great and she came to church!! She is progressing. We taught her about the Law of Chastity this week and we are working on other commandments. We need to help her to understand and feel the spirit confirm to her that they are the way of the Lord. We are inviting her to live them so that she can gain a testimony of them. Her desire to do her best is so strong and I know and have all the confidence in the Lord that he will prepare a way for her as she keeps working hard to follow him.

We also got to meet with Bre this week a couple of times. Our first lesson was really great! We talked all about the Plan of Salvation. At first she was having a hard time with it but at the end of the lesson she asked if she could take a picture of the layout of the plan so that she could look at it later. We invited her to pray about what we taught her that day and she committed to do it. When we saw her next we followed up on what she had been feeling and thinking about it all. She told us that she had been studying the picture and praying about it. She said that as she continued to look at it she just felt it sink in. We asked her if she feels like she has received an answer and she said she feels that that could be her answer and she thinks that it might be. We had the opportunity to testify of how the spirit works with each one of us and how it is going to be different but how He usually speaks to us through of thoughts and feels. It was such a great moment!! All of this led into talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we talked, we just felt impressed to talk about the date to be baptized. We invited her to pray about April 19th. She got emotional and said that if it were up to her than she would do it in a heart beat. It was so wonderful!! Sister Coleman was there and able to bare testimony. It was just so great!! Bre didn't come to church yesterday but as we've talked we know that we need to read from the Book of Mormon with her. We need to help her build a stronger foundation.

We have found some really great investigators this week! Sterling, Carla and Logan. Sterling is a young man who comes to one of our wards with a friend and is interested but he is also looking into other religions. We are working hard to help go to the Lord and not rely on everyone else around him. Carla and Logan are a mother and son that we found tracting. They are so wonderful! We taught them the restoration and the spirit was so strong! At first they weren't interested really in joining or really learning more but after we talked for a little bit they agreed to learn more and how a return appointment with them.

I need to be work on my faith and I know  that I need to constantly exercise faith and rely on the Lord. I just see now that the Lord is trying to help me understand that is truly is ONLY by faith that he can do things. He can bless us and help up but until we really have faith and believe him, He can't help us as much as he truly could. I love you all and I know this all my heart that this church is true! Have such a wonderful week!

Love Sister Mecham

March 17, 2014

Subject: Called to serve our King

Hello my dear family!!!
 
We had a great week this week! We taught Cheryl this week in Sister Cornia's home and it went so well! We talked all about prayer and the why it is important. We talked with her and set a goal for her to work toward being baptized on April 19th. She thought that it was too soon but we promised her that as she prayed and read the Book of Mormon she would continue to have the strength and determination to quite smoking and drinking. At the end of the lesson, Sister Cornia ran to one of her back rooms and brought out this rug. On the rug at the bottom it had the word "pray". She told Cheryl that she could have the rug to remind her to pray morning and night. Cheryl was so excited and loved it! When we saw her again the next day when went to do service for her, she told us that she had been saying her prayers morning and night! I love members and their willingness to help our investigators keep their commitments!! We saw Cheryl again on Sunday and as we walked into her house I noticed a different feeling in her home. It was more peaceful. I can't help but think it's because she is working her hardest to live the commandments given to us and that she connecting with our Father in Heaven on a daily basis. It is a testimony to me that as we live the commandments the promised blessings of the gospel are truly ours.

We had some really great miracles happen this weekend! We had a Family History open house on Saturday and some of the members of the ward brought non-members with them! Sister Flint, the Bishops wife, actually had us take her friend Myra on a church tour of the building. Myra wasn't interested but it was so great! She is still interested in family history work and will keep working with Sister Flint to keep things moving with her family tree.

At church yesterday we had TWO people come up to us and tell us that they were ready for the missionary lessons. One of them is a young man that has been coming to church with a family for a really long time. They gave him a Book of Mormon on Friday and by Sunday he had decided he was ready. We came out of helping a class and he was looking for us to set up an appointment. So we will be teaching him to night in the members home.

The other person is a Women in the ward and she had adopted a 14 year old boy from China 6 months ago and she feels he is ready to have us teach him and to be baptized. He is just a great kid and is doing so well in the ward with the other young men! He doesn't speak much english but there is a member in the ward that speaks Mandarin who will translate for us. Such a great way to get so many people involved!!
 
I know that as we press forward with faith that the Lords promised blessings for this area specifically will be a reality for us here. I feel the overwhelming determination to really help the members here and to work with them to find those that are ready.
 
The Lord is out ahead of this work and that is the most comforting thing. I love you all. I know that this Gospel is true and I know that it is through the infinite power of the Atonement that all things are made possible. I know it is through His everlasting Gospel that happiness and joy are ours. I love you all! Have a great week!
 
Love Sister Mecham

March 10, 2014

Subject: Transfer week....

We got transfer calls and.... I'M STAYING! But Hermana Gifford is leaving me :( I'm so sad to see her go but I know that the Lord is in charge and He always knows best. I will be getting Hermana Robison. She is fantastic as well!!

This week as been a great week. We had a great Sunday yesterday. Lots of members stood and shared simple testimonies of the gospel and of missionary work. It was so great! I that sometimes I have my blinders on and I don't see the little ways that members are trying to do missionary work. We were at the a members house yesterday and they were telling us all about the little things that they have heard from members and what they are trying to do. It was a moment for me to re-evaluate my thoughts and my feelings and see things with a stronger eye of faith. Lots of ward members are lifting their eye of faith and talking with more people and following the promptings that they receive.

We had a great lesson this week with our new investigator Bri on Friday night! She is a friend of a family in our ward. The spirit was so strong! She recognizes the spirit so well! As she was talking with a friend of hers who just recently was baptized, they talked about the role of the Holy Ghost and what it feels like. She was able to look back at the different times where she has felt that and a lot of the situations that she talked about was when she was involved with our church and different activities. She said she had always thought about it a little bit but after a recent experience with a friend in the church, the idea of learning more just kept coming back. As we talked about the desire that she has to learn more, you could just see how she really wants it and how it is going to change her life. It is amazing to me each day how the Lord is preparing and changing peoples hearts.

We were able to get in and see Ruby who we haven't been able to meet with for a while now. You can tell that she isn't quite ready yet. She does have a desire to read it and will barley commit to read the introduction. She is so sweet and the Lord is preparing her but she needs more time. Even after we tried so hard to help her to feel and understand the importance of it and she just wasn't there. I know that she feels something when we come over and talk with her or she wouldn't say that we could come back.. When we got back we're going to talk with her about our purpose and help her to understand that and probably stop trying to see her on a regular bases. She will be ready one day. Just not now.

We had a quick follow up lesson with Cheryl and she is still doing really good with her smoking. She is smoking less and less and she is happier! I love it! Ron and Rachel had to cancel last weeks appointment but we have a return appointment this week that we are really excited for. We are working to put them on date!

I realized the blessings that we have seen from the big fast that our mission did at the beginning of February. We fasted that our investigators would progress and that people would be ready to be baptized. The Lord really has blessed each and everyone of us. Our mission exceeded our goal of 60 baptisms this transfer. We got 95 BAPTISMS!! It was amazing! The work is hastening!

My family has been so great at helping me to prepare for when I go home. I'm working my hardest to prepare the right way. I think the right way is just to give it my all and let the Lord do the rest. That is all that I can do. This next transfer, I am focusing more on Charity and diligence. My older sister and I are studying different topics together and sharing what we learn as we study them last week was grace and this week is diligence. It works out so perfectly!

This week I have learned a lot about the love and nature of our Savior Jesus Christ. I finished Believing Christ this week. That last chapter was just amazing! It helped me to see the importance of the suffering of Christ and better understand and feel how the Atonement has played a role in my life and how it continues to do so. My love for the savior and my deep appreciation of the Atonement grew so much! I know that it really is the infinite gift that heals us and compensates us as we do our very best to follow Him. I know that it is true.
Well my dear family, I love you all!! Have such a great week. I know the Lord is with us.
Love Sister Mecham


March 03, 2014

Subject: "We seek his truth to be ours."

Hi there my great family!! I hope your week has gone well!!
 
This week was great! We received a referral for a less-active women in one of our wards and we had the opportunity to meet with her! She has made some really rough choices in her life that have led her away from the Gospel. As we talked with her she just told us all about her desire to come back to church and have a fresh new start. She is the process of getting a divorce and from what she said it doesn't sound like it was something that she wanted. As we sat and talked with her it just kept coming back to me how much she needs the Atonement and how what we teach can really help her so much!! She didn't come to church yesterday  but we are going back this week and going to work on getting her there.
 
We had some really great lessons with Cheryl this week! She has had a rough week but has still been reading in the Book of Mormon!! We were really excited about that! She also told us that she only had 2 cigeretts on Saturday and that she just doesn't have a desire to smoke anymore! She said that she doesn't know why and that it is really weird for her to not want to smoke but that she has always wanted to quite and she feels that God is helping her to do that now. Amazing!! We have some obstacles right now with her in coming to church. She feels that she will be judged. She has come once and I know that she just needs to come again to remind her of why she liked it so much the first time.
 
We are still teaching Ron and Rachel. This week in our lesson, we watched the Joseph Smith movie and talked all about it. We asked if they believed what we were teaching them and Ron said it is beginning to believe it. It was amazing!!! I loved it so much!! I really wanted to jump and shout for joy!
 
I've been studying Believing Christ some more and I am at the part in the book where he talks about our best and how our best varies. But no matter what our best is, our best plus the atonement always equals 100%. It was a powerful thing for me learn this week. I also loved how talks all about how grace is something that is all along the way. It isn't the finishing touch but rather the thing that makes all the difference. I also learned, Grace is something that we have received/ will receive all along the way. Grace along the way is the way and the plan that our Father in Heaven has for us. Each moment of each day we are trying. Trying indicates desire/ faith and progression. As we try and exercise faith each day, we are automatically entitled to Grace. It is such a powerful concept! I love it and I know that it is true. I know that grace is really the difference along the path back to our Heavenly Father.
 
I love you all!! Have a fantastic week.
 
Moroni 9:6!
 
Love Sister Mecham :)