A (Last) Letter from West Richland: Monday, June 17, 2013

My goodness! So first things first. We got transfer calls this week on Saturday and I am leaving West Richland :( But! All things are good. I am headed up to Naches (pronounced Na-cheese :)) I will also be staying the WKM! Which I am totally thrilled about! I will be doubled in ( white-washing) the area with Sis. Zinc. She has been out for 3 transfers now.  And she was trained in the same wards I was in vancouver. She replaced me when I left that area to come here to West. So I will get to pick her brain about all that is going on over there! Sis. Meyers will be training a new missionary!! She is going to be so awesome! I know it. She is a fantastic missionary and she will only get better from here on out. 

 

So we had our baptism this weekend with Tim and Nina. It was beautiful!! Everything went well. We had a few hiccups. Just with the water being all of about 50 degrees or less. I felt so bad!! The brother baptizing them got in the water to walk over to Nina and his face was priceless. haha I felt so bad for Tim and Nina having to go all the way under the water. But! They were troopers and looked so happy to be there. They came out of that water and you could not get them to stop smiling!! We had a great turn out as far as ward members go. I was so grateful for the support of the ward. I love being able to see the ward there and feel of the incredible power of the ordinance. Many people leave those baptisms in tears. It is one thing that unifies us all together as we work hard to bring Heavenly Fathers children to him. Something kinda cool about this is that Sis. Chatwin who trained Sis. Brox ( my trainer) was one of the first sisters to teach Tim and Nina. And now, her grandaughter and great grandaughter finish it off. Kinda cool :)  

 

We had our last specialized training with Pres. and Sister Greer.It was exactly what I needed. I was thinking about how each transfer is a new opportunity for me to grow and change and become more like the missionary that my Heavenly Father wants me to be. The training was all on accepting change. Learning how we can be more dedicated and to not forget that it's all about Him. My testimony of being a missionary keeps growing. There is always room for improvement and that is why we keep working hard. 

 

We had some great lessons with week! We met with Anne and talked more about the Book of Mormon and prayer. My testimony of the priesthood and the apostacy grow each time I talk to Anne. The gift that we have to have the Book of Mormon and to be praying to a loving heavenly father. She is great and she has come a long way. We just have to keep working. 

 

Well my dear family, That is all for now. Next time I write to you I will be in Naches! Crazy! I love you all! The church is true. :) 

 

Love Sis. Mecham   

A Letter from West Richland: Monday, June 10, 2013

My dear wonderful family!! This has been one heck of a week! I had a beautiful birthday! One of our less-active families (returning to activity!! :))had me over for some cake and ice cream and they are just the sweetest people in the whole world! I love them so much. I can't imagine what it will be like when I have to leave this place. Pres. and Sister Greer call and sing happy birthday to all the missionaries on the birthday's. It just made me laugh to hear President singing . Haha I will be sad when they have to leave but I know that the new President is going to be wonderful! 

So like I said, this week has been so darn crazy and full of up's and some downs. We have been trying really hard to teach this couple that have been investigating for over a year now. I have been here for 3 and half month now and I still had not taught them until last night. They have crazy work schedules and Tim ( the husband) is sick and is in the hospital a lot. Well going back about 2 weeks ago, Nina ( the wife) had mentioned to the Stake President that she is really close to baptism. She said she was 80% there. The Stake President told us to go and meet with them so we tried and tried. They were out of town and couldn't meet. We had a ward party on Friday and they were able to make it to the last little bit of it. We were talking to our ward mission leader and walked over just as a member of the bishopric was setting a baptismal date with Nina for this Saturday... caught us so off guard but we set a date and a time to come and go over the baptismal questions and the baptismal interview all set up. Tim decided that he wants to do this together and that he is ready too so he joins in! I could not believe what was happening. Long story short, yesterday was a day where my emotions went from supper high to low to high to low all within about 2 or 3 hours. Some issues came up but nothing the Lord can't handle but if there is one thing that the Lord has pointed out to me in the last 24 hours is that he is in the details. He knows all and sees all. He knows our hearts and he knows the hearts of our investigators.We are in the processes of getting somethings worked out and helping Tim and Nina stay from and keep pressing forward. I was reading in Alma today about the Anti-Nephi-Lehi's and they kind of people that they were. The end of verse 6 stood out to me. It says "... -yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were CONVERTED unto the LORD, never did fall away." I LOVED that!! That is who we are looking for. We are looking for those that are converted unto the Lord and converted means that we can never go back. We are consecrated to him and his gospel. That is exactly who Tim and Nina are. They truly are consecrated to the Lord. Even when we weren't meeting with them, they were still coming to church and studying their scriptures and reading the Book of Mormon. Again, my testimony of the Lord's love for us has grown and he is right with us. I don't think I have every had so many silent prayers be answered and answered so quickly. 

I love you all!! I pray for you and love you!  :) 

Sis. Mecham :)   

A Letter from West Richland: Monday, June 03, 2013

Hello there!

 

I was so great to get on hear from you all today! I love logging into my account and seeing letters from my family :) Literally, it brightens my day up and makes it a million times better!

 

So this week has been kind of a slow week but we have had some really great experiences! I don't know if I told you this last week but we were out of miles and so therefore, we had to walk most of last week untill Saturday the 1st. Needless to say my feet were just one giant blister. My feet just were not used to that. It really made me EXTREMELY grateful for the luxery of having a car. We have been trying like crazy to get some new investigators. I just prayed my guts out last week to just find at least one new investigator. Well I am here to tell you that the Lord answers our prayers. He hears us!!! We finally found a new investigator on Thursday night. His name is Scott. Scott grew up Methodist and he wasn't really active in his church. He has a great foundation in Christ but we could tell that when we met with him that it is something that really needed to be strengthened. We taught him all about the Restoration and the love of our Savior. He seemed to take it all pretty well and he even said that it made sense. Which is one of my favorite things. If there is one things about the Gospel is that it all just makes sense. The way Heavenly Father has set everything up just flows together. We commited him to read 3 Nephi 11 and Moroni 10:3-5. It was one of the most bomb.com lessons that I have ever been in! The spirit it was there and testifying of what we were saying. So this week we will be going back to teach him all about the Plan of Salvation. He is married and he and his wife have never been able to have children. He expressed how he was a little envious of one his co-workers ( who is a member and in our Stake) of his relationship with his children. When we focus on our life on earth and the things that we go through and how the Atonement just isn't for when we mess up but also for when we needed to be healed from the whirlwind of life and things that hurt us. I'm so excited!!

 

Another really awesome experience we had this week was yesterday. So back tracking just a little bit, We went and saw Miranda on Saturday night. We hadn't been able to see her all week long. We got over there and she opens the door and I see that she has a nose ring now.. To other people that might not be a big deal but I feel like actions like that reflect how you are feeling on the inside. We thought we had covered with her the importance of our bodies and how they are a gift from God and that we respect them just as he would want us to. They are the tabernacle for our spirts and we have to treat them as the sacred gift that they are. We didn't get to really talk about it. I didn't know what to say. But what is beautiful is that the next day was fast sunday. So Sis. Meyers and I start our fast that night and ask Heavenly Father how he wants us to go about it and help her to come to that knowledge herself. Well testimony meeting starts in yesterday and the first brother to get up stands up there and shares a beautiful testimony about our Heavenly Father and then he says " I don't know why I feel like I need to say this but, We have a beautiful gift from God and we should treat our bodies as such..." He goes on to share a simple testimony about keeping our bodies clean and pure in every way. I know that the Lord used that brother to answer our prayers and to speak to Miranda's heart. I am so grateful for that brother and him following the promptings of the spirt. WONDERFUL!!

 

Well family, I love you all!! Have a wonderful week!!

 

Love Sister Mecham

A Letter from West Richland: Monday, May 28, 2013

Hello there my wonderful family! So this week has been a fantastic week! We have had some great learning and growing experiences and some BEAUTIFUL things happen this week! Sorry about not emailing yesterday. Because of the holiday we had to wait til today to email. 

I told you last week that Miranda didn't come to church on Sunday and that we weren't sure if she would be getting baptized on the 24th of May. We had some people in mind to go and see last Monday and thought that after we try them we will go and see Miranda and see what she was thinking and if this was something that she wanted. So all of the people we had planned for fell through and if that isn't a sign from the Lord than I don't know what is. We went over there and had just a good heart to heart. Most of the time I am so timid in being bold. I always want to come right out and say it like it is but I get scared that they are going to reject it and get offended. That is the last thing that I want to see happen. Especially when we have someone is so close to baptism. We were sitting there talking to her and she told us all about how she wants us to just tell her what to do. No one has ever said that! From the people that I have taught, no one has come right out and said I want you to be bold and tell me I don't have a choice. That I have to go to church. I was a huge wake up call to me to know that there are tons of people that we will teach that are just waiting for us to be more bold with them. I'm learning still that there is a line between being bold and being overbearing. Just because she didn't come to church this last Sunday didn't mean that she couldn't be baptized anymore. She still met all the requirements for baptism. We told her that she could still be baptized but we told her that it was up to her. She had to decided what she wanted to do. No one else was going to tell her. She had to make the choice. She decided that she wanted to go ahead with being baptized. She told us that she wants this and that she is going to need our help. I was like uhh perfect!!! That is why we are here! We had a great long conversation and walked out of there feeling great! Then of course when something huge like this going to happen, Satan has to come in and mess everything up! We were getting from a lot of people that she wasn't ready. Sis. Meyers and I prayed so hard about it! We prayed like crazy people. Knowing how we felt coming out of that lesson with Miranda and feeling the spirit so strongly and then having such opposition, it really took me through a loop. It was a moment where our faith was being tried. Our authority that we hold was being questioned/tested and I had remind myself that we have been called of God and we are his disciples and we have the mantel of missionary work on our shoulders. Our calling is to invite all to repent and come unto Christ and how we do that is by helping people to receive the restored gospel. We help them receive that by helping them be ready for baptism. We kept working with Miranda and the ward and helped to make sure that she was ready. We got everything squared away for Miranda to be baptized last Friday. Best part: SHE WAS! It was one of the most beautiful moments on my mission so far. My heart was so full!! It was beautiful! She came out the water and we were standing and top of the stairs into the font. She came out and walked up the stairs. We handed her towel to her and she just cried. My heart was so full that I couldn't even speak. 

That was the highlight to my week. I think last week I was also telling you all about the Roberts family who is a less-active family who is becoming active again. We started teaching them the lessons a couple of weeks ago and they have come so far! I love them!! My goodness! I never want to leave them. One of those families that you meet that you know that you were suppose to meet   . Well my dear family, I will try and send you a picture of us at Miranda's baptism and you can see how happy she was :) I love you all!! 

A Letter from West Richland: Monday, May 20, 2013

Hello my dearest family! It is so great to hear from all of you this week! Every time I read your emails I just get more and more proud to be apart of this great family :)

 

So this week has been one heck of a week. We have had lots of good things happen and so many of them have taught me some really great things. We had a Zone Conference this week and holy cow!! I learned so much!! Truly the leaders of this church are so inspired! Pres. and Sis. Greer had a Mission presidents seminar and Elder Holland was a surpise guest!! They came back and told us all about their experience of being able to sit at the feet of an Apostle of the Lord and drink in all that he had to say. That man is truly a man of God. He talked to them all about how it's all about HIM. It's all about Christ. We talked all about what the Doctrine of Christ means. It means unity, love, charity, change, revelation, hope, applying that Atonemen, ect. The list could go on and on. I loved that the underlying theme of it all is that Christ needs to be the center to our hearts and homes. It NEEDS to be all about Him because He is THE way! And there is no other way we can obtain salvation. We talked a lot about repentance and how we still need to be applying repentance in our lives here on the mission. Pres. Greer shared with us a qoute said by Elder D. Todd Chirstofferson: "The Atonement also satisfies the debt justice owes to us by healing& compensating us for any suffering we innocently endure." I never would have thought about justice oweing us! When we do what is right we rightfully get the blessings from the Lord. Kinda cool  :)  So needless to say, Zone Conference was an absolutely BEAUTIFUL experience!!! 

 

We have had some really great experience this week with some of our investigators and some of our potential investigators. The promptings of the spirit are so amazing! On Friday night Sister Meyers and I were trying to make sure that we were doing what the Lord really wanted us to do. We had been thinking about Cindy all day long. Mainly because she said she would call us and then she never did. So Friday night roles around and we decide that we are going to just go over there. We wanted to try a potential investigator named Jane but also wanted to try Cindy. After we prayed about where the Lord wanted us to be we sat there and thought about it. We both got the answe to try Jane and if Jane couldn't meet then we will go and see Cindy. So we go and see Jane and she tells us that she doesn't feel good. She tells us that we should come back on Sunday. So then we go and see Cindy. We were both slighty nervous and excited and we didn't even know why. As we drove us Cindy and Jay her husband were outside. Turns out they had just gotten home and were getting ready to back inside. They invite us in. We sit down and start talking. We talked for about 2 hours. We got to know them, talked about their kids and where they grew up and all of these different things. We talked about the gospel and how important our Savior is and how he answers prayers. Before I knew it, it was 9:00 and we needed to be leaving. We left them with a prayer and I couldn't help but feel that it was planned by our loving Heavenly Father. No we didn't get a new investigator out of it but something that I have to remind myself of is that being on the mission is all about spreading the word. If we are spreading that word and working hard to bring people closer to Chirst and inviting them to change then we are doing our job. Our success isn't always manifested in our numbers but by true conversion. Alma and Ammon and all these great missionaries we read about in the Book of Mormon weren't worried as to how many baptisms they got but they worried about making sure they did the Lords work and they did it because they loved the Lord and wanted other people to have better relationship with him. I truly love being apart of this work. It is amazing.

 

Miranda didn't come to church yesterday which makes it hard to know if she is truly committed to be baptized and become a member of this church. Just pray for her that she will decide what she wants and have the faith to make it happen. I love you all!!

 

Love Sis. Mecham

A Letter from West Richland: Monday, May 13, 2013

Subject: My wonderful family!!

My wonderful family!! It was so good to talk to you all yesterday and see all of your bright and happy faces. It means the world to me to have such a FANTASTIC support base. You all truly are amazing and I am so proud to call you my family.

 

So as I explained yesterday on skype, Denise was not able to meet with us. We know she needs the gospel and that she has been prepared to receive our message. It's just getting that chance to actually do it! haha But I know that as long as we trust in the Lord and look to him, he will show us the way and help Denise on her journey to find more happiness. She is just one of my favorite people in this world and we just want her accept it all!  :) In the Lords time :)

 

We went and saw Miranda yesterday after I talked to you all and she is doing so great! Like I said she is back on date to be baptized on the 24th of May. We are so DANG EXCITED for her! That cutie made us treats! She is so sweet to us!! We took her a picture of Christ and chatted about church. She said she loved it! In Gospel Principles they talked about the Priesthood which is exactly what we talked about with her when we taught her Friday night. She said it was really good and loved that just because the dad holds the Priesthood doesn't mean that the sons automatically hold the Priesthood. They have to be worthy and want it themselves. She just has been so willing and accepting of the gospel. Sometimes I have to pinch myself and ask myself if this is real life. She is just the very best! 

 

We have been trying to work with a less-active family in the ward. The Roberts :) I don't know if I told you about them last week but they are just so great! They also came to church today! That is only the second time since I have been here that they have come to church. I may or may not have wanted to scream when I saw Sister Roberts at church in the hall. They are some of my very favorite people in the world! They truly are trying so very hard to make changes in their lives. Wonderful people! 

 

So here is something I learned in my studies this morning. I've been thinking about the last days a lot and things that we will be jugded on and what our character has to be like in order to withstand the temptations that Satan will throw at us. I think often times we just want to over look what is coming our way and the sin that is invading the world around us. While I was thinking about this I remember the scripture in 2 Nephi where it says: " Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion.." When I read that for the first time I didn't quite get what Nephi was saying to us. But as I think about it, we can't say that all is well in Zion.. Things are happening and they are going to get worse and it is our job to get with the program. We are either with it or against it. We have to decided.. no one else can do it for us. As I kept studying and reading today, my love for my Savior grew. I know that as we prepare ourselves and make sure that we are doing all we can to continue to keep the commandments that we will be blessed and we will not be caught in the ways of the world. I LOVE this gospel!! It provides me with so much peace!!!

 

I love you all!

 

Love Sis. Mecham

A Letter from West Richland: Monday, May 06, 2013

Subject: Hello!

Hi my wonderful family!

 

I hope all is going well! So this week has been a wonderful week. On Monday we had a lesson set up with Denise and she totally forgot about it... BUT! Something that I am constantly reminded of is that the Lord knows all things. So we are at the church and we are waiting for Denise to come to the lesson. We wait and wait and wait. She doesn't come. We prayed and decided to go and see if she was home but turns out she was really busy and couldn't meet. We were sure that that is where we were suppose to be but turns out the Lord had other plans for us.We had gotten a call from our Elders and so we called them back. They told us about this Sister in their ward who had met this sweet women named Cindy at the doctors office that morning and they had gotten on the subject of religion. This women told this Sister that she was on happy with her church and they weren't being spiritually fed when they went. She said she would be interested to know more about the LDS church. So of course this sweet sister got her first name the street she lived on just before she was called back to see the doctor. Called our Elders and told them to tell us to go and see her. So we did!! In this part of our area there were two streets named the same thing. One is east court and the other is west court. We didn't have her house number so we ended up going to every door on one side and tracting that court, asking everyone if they knew Cindy. But no one knew her. It was getting late and almost time for us to turn in fo the night but we were determined to find Cindy. We ran over to the next court and starting knocking on the doors. Finally at the second house we asked and they told us exactly where she lived! We ran over there and met Cindy. It was EXACTLY where we were suppose to be. She said she couldn't believe how fast this sister had sent us to meet her to give her a Book of Mormon. She is just the most darling lady in the world! I already love her! So here is the even cooler part of this story to me..... So jump back about a month and a half ago. Sis. Duncan and I received a referral in this very same court and turns out they weren't really that interested. So we decided to tract that court thinking not very much of it. Met this sweet women named Cindy who said she was Lutheran and she was happy with where she was at. Flash forward to Monday when we met Cindy. I didn't realize where we were at until Sis. Meyers and I started to walk up to her house and I stopped. Looked around and just about jumped for joy! It isn't a huge deal but I just thought it was the coolest thing that I had only met her a month ago and she said she was perfectly happy with where she was and now here we are giving her a Book of Mormon and talking about a good time for us to come back. The Lord prepares hearts in his own due time. We can't complain with how the Lord wants HIS work to go.

 

We had Miranda's baptismal interview on Saturday. She was so excited and seemed to ready. We told her that if she didn't come to church on Sunday that she couldn't be baptized. It was Stake Conference and so we set up with our Ward mission leaders wife to come and pick up Miranda for church so that she didn't have to walk in by herself. We told her that we would safe her a seat and we would be right there with her. Well... she calls Sunday morning and tells Sis. Woodward that she won't be going to church and that she is just is feeling really crummy. The Woodwards texted us and told us about had happened. We did what we have been taught to do and that is to go over there and tell her to get her butt to church! In the nicest way possible of course :) Well she wasn't going to come no matter what. It was so sad to leave her house that morning knowing that she would not be baptized. She is so fantastic and she is prepared but she just seems to not want to put in the effort to get to church and keep that commitment  We were sad and disappointed but then we had to think, all things happen for a reason. This could deepen her conversion and want to be baptized even more because she will have to wait or it help us to know she is not the elect YET. I'm so grateful for the spirit in helping us to discern what an investigator needs and where they are at. Obviously, there is something that is holding her back. We just have to figure it out. 

 

Well my wonderful family, I love you all! I can't wait to talk to you on Sunday!! I will have Sis. Nelson email you with more of the specifics. We are trying to set up put Skype times and everything with the family that we will be with. But it will around 7 pm your time.I know that's late but we don't get out of church until 4 and then we have dinner at 5. Sis. Meyers will be skyping her family at 4 before dinner  so that means I'm after. I love you all!!! 

 

Love Sis. Mecham :)