A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, January 28, 2013

Subject: Because I know....

Oh my dear family!! This week has been one of growth. This week I learned how to ride the "big girl missionary bike"! No more training wheels for this Sister missionary. Sis. Brox left me on Wednesday morning at 8:30 and headed off to the East side to Kennewick. I may or may not have cried most of the way to the transfer site. hahaha I know I'm a big baby. I just realized at that moment that I Sister Mecham would have to take over the wards and the area and I had only been there for just a short time and how the HECK was I suppose to help another Sister get to know the area. But alas, the Lord showed me yet again that he loves me and is mindful of my every need. That is why he sent me Sis. Neumayer. Oh my GOSH! I just love her to pieces. She is from Orange County, California and is a professional opera singer!! I am just the luckiest sister ever! Her favorite color is green and we get along wonderfully! She has some awesome things to bring to this area and is so patient with me as I get us lost every once in a while. ( More often than not haha)

 

This week we have done a lot of planting and not harvesting. There is one thing that I have learned and that has been confirmed to me over and over again as I meet different people and as we teach them. That God lives. Lately, we have been hearing from investigators that they don't believe in God and that this life is just a mindless event and then we are just going to die and that is all. My heart aches for those people. We simply extend commitments to them so that their faith will grow but they won't keep that commitment because they don't have that foundation to build on. As I came out on my mission I thought that I would be teaching people who were just eager to learn about that Gospel and who just need to hear that one thing about the church that would ring true to them and then they would want to get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost and come to church every week! But what I have come to realize is that the Lord has a different plan for me. He wants me to learn that he is there. He lives and loves me. He loves the people that I am teaching and because he loves them and me, I have to learn how to help them create that foundation for them so they can build on it and come to know for themselves the truthfulness of the gospel. It makes me think of the story that Elder Jeffery R. Holland tells in his last conference talk, The First and Great Commandment. The story of Peter and Christ asking him 3 different times, "Do you love me?" after Peter answers " Yea Lord, thou knowest that I love thee." He then tells Peter "Then feed my sheep." That is the commandment that He has given us. To feed his sheep. I'm so grateful for this opportunity! There are a lot of times when it is hard but I love it so much!

 

Well family! That is what I have learned this week. Our investigators are doing great. We have some hurtles that we need to jump and some foundation that needs to be put down. After that, these wonderful people are ready to go! Thank you so very much for your prayers! I feel them all the way over here in good old Vancouver. Love you all loads and loads!

 

Sister Mecham

A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, January 22, 2013

Subject: Transfers...

Hello my dear wonderful family!! So as you can tell this week is transfers week and well.... I'M STAYING IN VANCOUVER! Sister Brox is being transferred to Kennewick and is being doubled in and training at the same time. If there is a sister to do it, it is Sister Brox. I have complete faith in her that she will do exactly what the Lord as asked of her. I will be getting a new companion tomorrow and her name is Sister Neumayer pronounced ( noi-my-er) haha. Sister Dilworth ( Sister Brox's comp. before me) trained this sister and I have heard great things about her! I can't wait! Next time I write to you I will tell you all about her and where she is from.

This week has been a great week. With last P-day starting out with a wonderful session of the temple to the different lessons that we were able to teach this week. We saw lots of people and had some great lessons! I find myself becoming more bold as the lessons happen. Which I am grateful for. I know that Lord is with me in that. There is no way that I could do that without him. I would love to just be the sweet little sister missionary I always thought that I would be but I guess the Lord has different plans for me ;) We had two of our recent converts and less actives get their patriarchal blessings on Sunday. HOLY COW! I love being able to testify that the Lord will help us through our patriarchal blessings. These two women are women who I have come to ABSOLUTLEY love! Judy, is a recent convert. She has had a rough rough life. But Judy is the kindest, sweetest person. I love her! She was one of the first people I met when I came to Vancouver. We spend a lot of time with her and I love it. We will be going there today so Sister Brox can say goodbye and talk about how she felt getting her patriarchal blessing. Sister Puppo is a Less active but is actually more active than not. Went over last night and talked about her experience and how she felt. It is such a beautiful thing! I love it! 

We had a great lesson with another less active. Pasty. She has been working on her family history so we got to go with her to the church this last week in the family history center and help her figure some things out. I didn't think my love for that would play into my serving a mission but it has. I'm grateful that I was able to help Pasty and see how important it is that we are indexing and using that information to help complete work that needs to be done. We had a great lesson with Michael on sunday. I challenged him twice to come to church but he is just not budging! That's okay.. all in the Lords time :)

Well my dear family! I love you. I love this Gospel. I know it is true with all my heart!! Love you loads and loads. :)

Sister Mecham

A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, January 15, 2013

Subject: Step by step

This week has been a great and challenging week. The Lord helps you learn knew things each day and will benefit us in the end... sometimes we don't see that but I know that it's true. This week we had some really awesome lessons! We had a great lesson on Tuesday with Shada! She prayed for the FIRST time out loud while we were there. I know that the Lords hand was in that for sure! Wednesday we had interviews and training from Pres. and Sister Greer. That was sooo good!!! They are working hard to help us understand and know the 42 principles found in Preach My Gospel. They picked a principle and gave us an outline and we went through it step by step and picked out the key main points. It was so good for me!! I learned so much!! I know that Pres. and Sister Greer are so inspired and how they can helps us in working hard to further the kingdom of God.

 

Thursday we were on exchanges all day. Sis. Ireland ( who I was with in the MTC) came and got to work in my area all day Thursday. We started working and since it was my area I was in charge... Oh boy. I was scared that I was going to mess something up and that I wasn't going to get done that things the Lord needed me to get done that day. Sister Ireland and I headed out and lots of the appointments fell through. I was getting a little discouraged and thinging that I must have not applied myself the way I needed to in my studies that morning or I was listening to the spirit last night when I was planning and so on and so on.. So I'm feeling like a slacker sister missionary and that I let Sis. Ireland down. We started tracting and door after door didn't answer... till.. drum roll please! Someone answered the door! Cute darling little boy answered the door. I asked if his Mom was there and he ran to go get her. She came to the door and kind of looked at us like she knew us. I said who we were and what we were doing and asked her if she had heard of the church before. She went on to tell us that Sisters had some by 2 years ago and never came back and she wanted to learn more. Uhhh.. say what?!?! Alright!! Ya got time now?! She didn't but we got a return appointment for this Friday at 11. The Lord works in mysterious ways. He loves us and is always waiting to see if we will listen and submit to his will. I'm grateful for those tender mercies of that Lord. That moment I knew that He was watching out for me. Telling me how much He loved me.

 

This week was just full of good things but just not enough time to tell it all. Transfers are next Wednesday. We will see what happens! I should know by Monday when I write you next. Love you all!! Thank you for the support that you have gvien to me and continue to give to me. Love you!!!

 

 

Sister Mecham

A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, January 07, 2013

Subject: We got snow!!!!

That's right! We got snow last Monday! We were coming back from hiking Multnomah Falls and it was snowing! The hike was BEAUTIFUL and the snow just made it even better. This week has been a great week. We had lots of lessons and one new investigator! Katie is her name :) We found her tracting and everytime we came back to see her she just seemed like she didn't really want us there. She would always say that she busy or no one would answer the door. So she came to the Portland Ensign Choir and Orchestra concert with us awhile back and we hadn't been able to get in with her untill this last Friday. We had a HUGE lesson on the Restoration and Joseph Smith. It was kind of like Gospel vomit all over the place but just pray that the Lord guides her and that she heard what she needed to hear to give her that added desire to hear the truth. We have an appointment to go back and teach her on Friday. Pray with all your hearts that she keeps the appointment and doesn't cancel on us. haha

Another awesome thing that happened with week was As we were planning on Monday night we felt inspired to go and see a recent convert, Abby, in one of our wards. We put her as a backup and said that if something fell through we would go see her. We didn't get a chance to see her that day but as we came home that night at the end of our day, Sister Combs informed us that Abby had fallen while sledding with her family and had really hurt her knee. Therefore she was confined to her bed and couldn't do much. Sister Brox and I made it a point to put her as a definate plan for the next day. The next day we went Abby's home prepared with a church movie, popcorn, hot chocolate, and some other goodies. As we got there she was upstairs in her room. She told us that she would come down because her room was a mess. Sister Brox and I were not going to let that stop us haha. After some convincing she agreed to stay up in her room and let us come up. We helped her clean her room and things all looking good. We sat down and had hot chocolate and treats and enjoyed the movie. We were talking about that movie after it ended and that different things that we learned from it and she informed us that the day before she had had a horrible day and with her knee hurting and not being able to do all that she wanted to do she was just feeling sorry for herself. She prayed and literally right after she got calls from the sisters in the ward and here we were the next day at her home after being prompted to go to her house. She said that she "got it" haha she got that the Lord was trying to teach her that He loves her and is mindful of her. The Lord really is mindful of our every need. I know that as we follow the promptings of the spirit we will be blessed from following HIS will. We watch the movie Legacy and in the movie Joseph Smith says some thing that I loved. "The Lord chastens us to teach us obedience and faith in Him". I loved that!!! I know that to be true. Rely on him and he will guide. Love you all!! You are all amazing!!

Love Sister Mecham

A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, December 31, 2012

Subject: Happy New Year!!

Holy Cow! I can't believe that Christmas was a week ago and we are getting ready to ring in the new year. So crazy! I've never really thought about the new year and the opportunities that it really brings to our lives. In church yesterday the talks were centered around the new year and how that can help us in our lives. One of the members that spoke said something interesting that I hadn't really thought about until he mentioned it. He talked about how even the Lord at this time of year is pleased when we try to meet and set goals. Our goals for the year can be inspired and help us grow in ways that we didn't really think were possible. I thought about the different goals that we set as missionaries each week and how that helps us in carrying out the Lord work and will. I loved it! I never really thought about that before! Kind of a no duh but it hit me as we sat in Sacrament meeting how that can be a blessing to us.

It was soo good to talk to you all on Christmas! This might be creepy but it was so very good to hear all of your voices! Everyone was looking great!! Our week was a good week! We tracted a lot and made contact with people that we hadn't been able to reach yet. The Lord really is preparing people. That is a testimony to me each time we meet someone new or continue to meet with different people. There is a difference in their eyes. You can just see it. I appreciate so much when people are honest with us about that gospel. Whether they are interested or not. We had a baptism on Saturday night! Sondra ( Mamma S) was baptized!! It didn't count for your numbers considering the fact that she is not in our area but requested Sisters but nonetheless! She was baptized and it was beautiful! Sister Brox and I got to stand at the top of the font and watch her go down into the water and watch her come our and walk up to us. I nearly cried. Seeing her face right after she came out of the water was priceless. It was one of the sweetest moments so far on my mission. She was so ready and excited. Oh gosh I love this work!! We are still working with Michael. He is so stinkin great!! It's a good thing that I have Sister Brox there with me because I would not be able to answer all the questions that he asks. I just testify that through prayer we can know God and through the Atonement and the Doctrine of Christ we can know our Savoir Jesus Christ. We had a powerful lesson with him last night. Things are looking good over here in the wonderful Vancouver Washington. The church is true. God lives and loves us. I love you all!! 

Sister Mecham  

A Letter from Vancouver: Monday, December 24, 2012

So I'm a little behind on posting Sister Mecham's letters! Forgive me! But here are her letters for the last few weeks. We should be getting another one today!

Subject: Love you all!!

Can't wait to talk to you all tomorrow! You are all so amazing! Thank you for the pictures and the letters. They mean the world to me. Thank you for all that you have done for me in supporting me here on my mission! Being able to be a representative at this time of the year is so very special. The Lord is truly preparing his children to receive the gospel. This will be just a quick little letter since I will be talking and seeing you all tomorrow :) Sondra is doing amazing! She is prepared for baptism and is looking forward to it on Saturday. She is just soooo amazing!! I can't even get over it! Well I love you all and I am so excited to talk to you all tomorrow :) Love you so very very much. Thank you for your sacrifice and helping me while I'm here. Love you! 

Sister Mecham