A Letter from West Richland: Monday, March 18, 2013

Subject: What a FANTASTIC week!!!!!

Hello there!!! This week has been wonderful!! Did I mention how much I love West Richland?! Because I do :) Well this week we started out kind of slow. After Sis. Duncan and I recovered from the stomach flu we hit the ground running. Like I've said in the past couple of emails, we have been trying really hard to make sure that we are in the right place at the right time and doing the right thing. Really trying super hard to listen to the spirit and do what the Lord has asked us to do. We've been trying really hard to get in with members and share Doctrine of Christ messages and ask for referrals. We were able to meet with some awesome Less- Actives and get them to commit to come to church on Sunday! Something that was confirmed to me this week is that obedience really does bring forth the blessings of heaven. As Sis. Duncan and I were trying really hard to be obedient and follow the rules, the Lord blessed us. We went over on Wednesday and set up and return appointment with a potential investigator Anne, the darling lady that I told you about last week. We set up a return appointment for Thursday afternoon!  Well the next day came and went to over to Anne's to share with her the Restoration. As we met with Anne were were able to answer her questions and help her get over somethings. It was then that I was so happy to be apart of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was talking about how she had gone to so many different churches and how they all kind of taught different doctrine. When we explained to her that we believe that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are all separate beings she said to us " Okay you got one things right!" haha She is just the greatest! We challenged her to come to church and at 10:55 a.m who walks into church? Oh just our darling Anne! I could hardly move! I was so stunned to see her there!!! I was so happy!!!!! Hahah I'm sure I kind of freaked her out because I just wouldn't stop smiling. haha

 

That was really one of the biggest highlights of my week! The Lord really truly blesses us when we are trying so very hard to do what is right. Anyway, We have been teaching this Part memeber family in one of the wards and goodness do I love them! The Bowmans are fantastic! Brother Bowman is a less- active member and is the only member in his family. We have been teaching his daughter Lindsey who is a Junior in High school and his son Andrew who is in his 20's. Sis. Duncan and I felt really impressed to talk about the Doctrine of Christ last night as we met with them and focus on baptism... I always get nervous talking about baptism and extending that invitation. After sharing the messages and teaching there was just a long really quite spiritual pause and I felt like that was when we needed to ask Andrew and Lindsey to be baptized. So I just said it. haha I couldn't even control what was coming out of my mouth! haha After I said it, I just sat there and prayed that they would take it well. Turns out it is something that they would love to do but they just don't feel ready yet. They don't know when they will be ready but we challenged them to pray about when they should be baptized and focus on trying to do what the Lord wants them to do. After we left that lesson I was thinking really hard about what part of the gospel do they not understand yet that could be holding them back from making that commitment.  I came to the conclusion that it all comes back to the Atonement. They need to understand what the Savior has done for them so they will be willing to do all that they can for him.

 

I just want to all to know that I know the Atonement is real. I know that it is the infinite atonement and all things can be made right through it. I'm so grateful to know that!! I don't know where I would be without it. I can't wait to be able to go back and teach the Bowman family more about the Atonement and help them feel of our Saviors grace and mercy. I love you all!! The gospel is true!!!

 

Love, Sister Mecham

A Letter from West Richland: Monday, March 11, 2013

Subject: Hello my dear family!

West Richland is still just as great as ever! Sis. Duncan and I have had a good week. We just got over the stomach flu and hope to be over the worst by now. We are still teaching and trying so hard to find new investigators. This week was a little trying for us but as to be expected. The Lord gives us challenges to teach us obedience and faith in him. So here in the Richland Zone, we have what we call, Mucho Monday's. We as a Zone decide on a goal that we want to reach by the end of the night to get us pumped up for the rest of the week and to not let us get lazy after P-day. Last week we set a goal of finding one new investigator. Sis. Duncan and I had a few people that we could try that could become new investigators. We went out with a plan and excited to reach this goal. Everyone that we tried either said that they were no longer interested or they weren't home... Gosh! We were trying really hard not to get down because than we wouldn't be able to see the miracles or receive that inspiration. After trying everyone we had down, we finally decided to go over and see this darling lady named Anne. She is an older lady but just as sweet as ever. We weren't able to teach her a lesson but she wants us to come back this week and is very interested in learning more. Although we did not reach our goal, we tried really hard. I went to bed that night knowing that I had not stopped. What a glorious feeling that was! The rest of the week kind of feel into that pattern of no one answering so what did we do?.. We went TRACTING! My favorite thing besides teaching lessons. Our Tuesday night was challenging but again, it all worked out because of the big man upstairs. After dinner we decided to re-evaluate our plans to make sure we were headed in to right direction for the night. After praying, we decided to read D&C 18 which is one of my very favorite sections in the Doctrine and Covenants. All about bringing one soul unto the Lord. At that point it was a time where I just wanted to throw my hands up and say "FINE!" haha the Lord knows how to get to us. He knows how to speak to our hearts and He will do all that he can to get us to listen to him.

 

I'm grateful for the challenges that we faced this week in learning how the spirit was speaking to us and how we can always improve in that area. I love being a missionary!!

 

Well my dear family, I love you all!!! The Church is so stinkin true! The power of the priesthood is real. I'm so grateful for priesthood leaders and the power of faith. I love my Savior and I know he lives and loves me. Love you all!!

 

Sister Mecham

A Letter from West Richland: Monday, March 04, 2013

Oh my dear family!! Can I just tell you that I love this place?!!? I LOVED Vancouver and it treated me really well. I cried when I left. I loved the people so much and I loved the beautiful weather. But this place... Oh gosh. hahha the work is happening!! My companions name is Sister Duncan. I love her to pieces! She is from Alaska. You can hardly tell she has been out for only 6 weeks. She is the bomb!! She has helped me in coming into this area and trying really hard to get to know it as soon as possible so that I can contribute to planning and ect. Good things are happening :)

Subject: Greetings from West Richland!

When I got here on Wednesday, the first thing I heard was that we had a baptism set for Saturday. I might have cried. haha We have been going crazy since the minute I got here. There are so many people and so many things to do. I feel like I can hardly catch my breath! But the baptism went great! The investigator that got baptized name is Rees Harrison. Gosh he is great! Elder Risenmay from the seventy, his older brother, Brother Rees Risenmay gave Rees a Book of Mormon 10 years ago and here we are.. 10  years later Rees gets baptized. Brother Risenmay ended up being able to come to the baptism and it was so powerful!!

We had some great experiences yesterday while we were tracting. One of the stories from yesterday was about a man named David. We knocked on Davids door and we didn't even get to get out who were before he started to shut the door in our faces. He told us he wasn't interested and we said goodbye and left. We kept tracting and ran into a darling girl named Rebecca. We asked her what her relationship was like with her Savior and she sat there for a minute and it got really quite. The spirit was so strong! Sis. Duncan and I each bore testimony of our Savior and the Book of Mormon. She was staying at a friends house and doesn't live in our area. But the good news is, is that she lives in Pasco... We got some great missionaries that serve there so we just pray that the missionaries knock on her door. We left her with a Mormon.org card and a Book of Mormon and went on our merry way. We kept tracting and as we were about to turn up this driveway we see David walking toward us. I started to get a little hestitant wondering what he was doing. After all, it was like 7:45 at night. He came up to us and told us he was sorry for slamming the door in our faces. He said that he had Jehovah Witnesses come to his door and he said it just gave him a bad taste. He then told us he would love to learn more about the church. Say what?!?!?! hahah I got the biggest smile on my face and I'm sure I looked like a freak. I was stumbling over my words and could hardly get out what I wanted to tell him. Luckly that is why the Lord says that he will send us two by two, preaching his word. Sis. Duncan came in and we taught him about the Book of Mormon. It was so awesome! We gave him a BofM and a card with our number on it to call us. We plan to go back and see if we can teach him more later this week.

I love this gospel!!! Doing the word of the Lord is amazing!! He truly is preparing hearts!! I'm so grateful for the gospel and the peace and joy that it brings to my life. Alma 25:26 :)

Love you all!!

Sister Mecham

A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, February 25, 2013

Subject: Transfers??

Hello my dear family!!! Well this last Saturday was transfer calls...... and well... I'm leaving good old Vancouver and heading over to Richland in the Tri-Cities. I will be finishing training a sister over there. Her trainer right now has finished her mission and is heading home. I'm terrified and excited all at the same time!! I know the Lord calls us where he needs us. I'm going to miss this place like crazy. I have loved the people and the weather and BEAUTIFUL scenery! But I hear Richland is just as great. In different ways but just as great!

So we got a lot of really cool news this week! I'm sure you all have heard that Vancouver is going to be it's own mission!! Gosh when I found that out.. I might have cried. haha I cried because I was excited and because the Lord his TRULY hastening his work. The work in Vancouver is great but it's not totally booming. That means that the Lord knows there are people in this area that are waiting and waiting to just receive the truth. What this means for us missionaries in the mission is that our mission will be cut in half. They don't have any specific boundaries for us yet but the new mission won't be in effect until the end of June/ beginning of July. It is so cool!!!! I can't wait. So just because I am going over to Richland doesn't mean that I now am in the Kennewick Mission. I could be transferred back over here or I could stay there. The possibilities are endless!! So exciting!!

As for the work this week, we had another slow week. People canceling on us and not being available to meet. We did have something really neat happen on Saturday though. We had just met with our ward mission leader and remember that there were some people that we had forgotten to plan to go see. We had an appointment right after our meeting with a recent convert. I thought about calling and changing times or whatever we needed to do so that we could go and see these families. We thought about it and decided that we should keep our appointment with Judy and just leave a little bit earlier so we could do both. Well we got to Judy's house and she didn't answer. We took that as a sign that the Lord really did want us out visiting these families. We went to the first family. The Ostermillers. Turns out they are never home on the weekends and were just about ready to leave. We were able to share a message with them and get to know them better. Uhh hello! Haha if that is not the Lords hand than I don't know what is. haha The next family was pretty similar  They weren't as interested as the Ostermillers but the husband who is not a member is not home very often and only has 2 days a week off from driving truck..Friday's and Saturday's. The Lord is mindful of his children. I don't know what that did for either of those families but I know that spirit was there and I know that either way, It was a reminder to them that God loves them. Gosh how I love this work!! It is incredible!! I know the church is true. I know our Father lives. Love you all!! Have a great week!!!

Sister Mecham :)

I know that Sister Mecham would LOVE to hear from all of you!!

Washington Kennewick Mission

8202 West Quinault Ave

Suite D

Kennewick, WA

99336-1017

A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, February 19, 2013

Subject: My dear family!

Hello there my dear family! We didn't email yesterday because of the holiday. We actually went down to the Dalles and had an epic game of nerf gun wars! It was so fun!! Needless to say, Sis. Neumayer and I are pretty sore today. haha This week has been a great one. The work is going great and our investigators are really progressing! We were able to go in exchanges this last week. There are 2 sets of Sisters in our Zone. The other sisters are in Goldendale which is about 40 mins outside the Dalles. Sister Neumayer went down to the Dalles and I stayed here in good old Vancouver. We had some really awesome experiences!! I'm telling you, the way to find is through members and through former investigators! I LOVE the area book!! There is wisdom in using the area book. We had been getting a little frustrated because we weren't find anyone... We just weren't looking in the right places. So while Sis. Neumayer was in Goldendale, Sis. Ellingson and I went and contacted a bunch of former investigators. We didn't find anyone that night but the really cool thing happened the next day after we had exchanged back. Sis. Neumayer and I went to go and visit a potential investigator who didn't answer the door, we realized that a former investigator lived on that same street. We had contacted them before but it was later at night and the Mom just wasn't really interested then. We decided to try again.. Well we knock on the door and this darling teenage girl answers and we tell her who we are and asked if we could take just 5 minutes of her time and share with her what we believe. She said we could and right there on her doorstep we taught her a simple version of the Restoration. It was so awesome! She answered questions, she shared little things that she thought were interesting. We asked her if she would like to learn more and she said yes! The Lord really is preparing people to receive the gospel. I knew that we were prompted to go to their home that day and talk to Doreen. We set up a return appointment for when she comes back from vacation. I'm so excited to teach her!!

 

Michael is doing great! He came to the second hour of church on Sunday which is a huge deal for him!! He is keeping commitments and progressing faster than I expected. The Lord really teaches us a lot. We think we understand something and we've got a handle on it. Our idea's may be good but there are not always in line with what our Heavenly Father has planned for us and for our investigators. It has been a really good experience for me to be able to teach Michael and the rest of the Bush family. I love them dearly! Transfer calls are this weekend and I could very well be transfered somewhere else. But good times are ahead!

 

Well my dear family, I love you all. I'm grateful for the things that the Lord is teaching me while I am out here on my mission. I know that this church is true and it is lead by a Prophet of God. Love you all!!

 

Love, Sister Mecham

A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, February 11, 2013

Subject: Well hey there!

So this week has been a great week! Something that I learned... We as a Zone have a goal to get 500 lessons by the end of the month. 500 lessons with members present or other lessons with investigators. Something that we can get caught up in here is less active or recent convert lessons and those could easily fill our day fast. Something that they really are focusing on is us making sure we are seeing our investigators and filling them as much as we can. These people are the elect. We need to be focusing on that. I was little worried and wanted to make sure that we could do our part of this. Each companionship needs to get 5 other lessons during the week. Now that doesn't seem like much and for some areas that's a piece of cake but for us.. it has been challenging. So with last Sunday being fast Sunday  one of the things that I fasted for was to be able to meet our goal of 5 other lessons... My dear friends and family, I want to bear testimony that the Lord hears our prayers!! He hears them and is aware of the strength we need to be able to get through anything. By Friday we already had 4 other lessons and would later meet our goal on Sunday. I am so grateful for the Lord. Although this may seem small, the Lord knows what is important to us and is willing to bless us as we strive to do our VERY best. He knows and loves us.

 

Not only did we get 5 other lessons and accomplish our goal but we were able to get some member referrals and gain some more trust in one of our wards. From missionaries that had served here long ago members had lost some trust and didn't know think that they could trust us with their friends.. That is somethings that is a big deal to me. Having other people trust me and want to give us referrals. The Lord has blessed us this week as we have tried to think of new ways to help the members and new ways to involve them in missionary work.

 

Michael is doing great! This week he told us that all of this sounds appealing and that he has the desire to pray... UHHH! I think I might have started to cry. We shared with him Alma 32:27.. "Experiment on my words and your will receive a desire... " He really seemed to respond to that! It is so cool to see people change and myself change in that way. Gosh I love this Gospel!!! Well my dear family and friends. I love you. I know that this church is true. I know that as we stick to what our Heavenly Father has taught us and work hard, He will bless us more that we can even comprehend.  

 

Love, Sister Mecham

A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, February 04, 2013

Subject: Say what?!

Hello my dear family! So this week is week has been another slow week. We had some awesome things planned and lots of things to get done but as we all know, people have their agency. Darn that agency!! We make appointments and then people totally forget or they cancel and then... We tract :) haha it is all good though! Frustrating at times but it's good. We were low on miles and trying to safe up for a drive that we had to make out ot Washouagal which is about 15 miles away. So therefore, we had to walk everywhere which we weren't used to but it was actually really nice! It made me appreciate the luxury of having a car :) The appointment in Washougal cancelled... We tried really hard to laugh when that happened as we looked at our blisters and swollen feet :) hahhaha it all worked out in the end.

 

This week was like I said really slow but we did have some really great experiences! I keep forgetting to tell you all about Judy and her patriarchal blessing. Oh my goodness!!! How I love her!!  Judy is my girl. haha She is the kindest, sweetest person in the world. And just down right funny. Judy has a hard time understanding things and putting together things about the Gospel but she loves it so she tries really hard. She shared with us her patriarchal blessing and wanted us to tell her what everything means... Sis. Neumayer and I read through it with her and asked her questions about what she thought.. Helping her learn and not us telling her. After all, that's not how it's suppose to go anyway. As we were reading through her blessing, the sweetest feeling was there. If there was anything that I learned from that experience is that God knows us. I just felt this insane power that he knew Judy better than I will ever know Judy and that he loves her. Sis. Neumayer and I bore testimony of his love for her and how we can't interpret that for her. She needs to read it over and over. It was beautiful! I loved every minute of it! We had a lesson with Michael yesterday and Sis. Neumayer pointed out something that I didn't even think about. Michael always has these super deep deep questions about the Gospel and just life in general. We in the past would answer those questions to the best of our ability. What we were missing in those moments though, was the simplicity of the Gospel. He needs to build that foundation and not worry about the deep stuff yet! Gosh! I knew that we needed to get back to the simple stuff but I think I was just lost in how to do it. This is why the Lord sends us two by two. We need companions. We are working with Michael in that core foundation. We will see how this goes. The Lord loves him and will help him. Shada is really keeping her commitments.. we still work with her and pray that her heart is open to an answer from the Lord.

 

A quick something funny that happened last week while Sis. Neumayer and I were tracting.. We knocked on this ladies house and she answers the door. We state who were are and our purpose. She then tells us she isn't interested. We tell her thank you for your time and say our goodbye's. Just as she is about to shut the door she opens in back open and says "I believe in womens rights and your church just doesn't support that. Thank you, goodbye." Sis. Neumayer and I just looked at eachother and start to kinda laugh.. As we walk away thats when I really got what she had said to us. That's when I got mad and said something about how she was a mean person and whatever else... Here comes the lesson... As we walked away there on the sidewalk was dog poop. Who doesn't see it? Me. I step right into it. Moral of the story!! We are all God's children. We shoud head to the counsel in Mosiah 4:30. Watching my thoughts and my words.... hahah

 

Well my dear family. I love you!!! The church is true!!

 

Love, Sister Mecham