A Letter from Naches: Monday, September 09, 2013

Subject: Hey there family!

Hi there family! This week has been a little slow but great things have happened! 

So first things first, we tried to get Adrian who I told you about last week, to church but.. We think his parents aren't too happy about him wanting to come. We went over on Saturday night to invite him to church and Sis. Pratt saw him run in the back room and then his mom told us that he wasn't there.... We aren't too sure what to do but I feel like we at least need to try him one more time and just know what the questions are see where they stand as far as at least letting him take the lessons. We will just see what the Lord says. 

So we have been working with a lot of the Less-actives in the ward and helping them come back to church. Sis. Summa is doing awesome!! We had a break through with her this week! So she had been canceling on us a lot and not keeping her appointments. She we just stopped by unannounced on Wednesday night. She let us come in and sit down and we chatted for a little bit then shared a spiritual thought. I love how the spirit just come in and opens peoples hearts and they are able to talk to you from their heart. She shared with us why she doesn't come to church. She said she feels like because of what happened in her past she feels like she isn't worthy to be there. She talked about things that happened early on in her life before she was a member. We got to help her understand that she is worthy to be there. Satan wants to hold us from those opportunities to feel whole and new again. That is what the sacrament does for us. It fills in the gaps and wholes in our hearts and heals us with the Atoning sacrifice of our Lord and savior. We talked about how also because it was before her baptism as she repented before she was baptized, she was washed clean of those things. It was powerful to sit in that room with her that night. At the end, we were all just in tears. It was amazing. 

So here come for our adventure for the week, we had set up for Sis. Udell, a sister in the ward, to come and pick up Sis. Summa and take her to stake conference yesterday. Well we called Sis. Summa in the morning and woke her up and she was so excited to come to church and so happy. We thought great! This is going to be perfect. Sis. Pratt and I show up to the stake center about 45 mins before the meeting is suppose to start and we save seats. We are waiting and talking with the Elders and other members there then we see Sis. Udell. We run over to her and she tells us she forgot to pick up Sis. Summa. She says she is just going to call her after church and explain... Sis. Pratt and I just looked at her then looked at each other. That was not going to work. So that is when the Lord took over. We ran up to Lainey Prest ( the daughter of the people we live with) and ask her to take us to get Sis. Summa. This was about 20 mins from when the meeting is suppose to start. Sis. Summa lives like 25 mins away. Haha we rush out to the car and head out. We get there pick up Sis. Summa and head back over to the church. We got there about 35 mins into the meeting and sit down. 

It was the best feeling ever being there with Sis. Summa in church. I knew that if we didn't go and get her that the whole meeting I would be sick knowing that Sis. Summa should have been sitting next to me and I didn't go the extra mile to get her there. 

I'm so grateful for my Savior and the Love he offers me and the people that I love so much. I know that this church is true. With all my heart. I love you all! Have a great week!! 

Love Sis. Mecham 

A Letter from Naches: Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Subject: Miracles!

Hello there my dear family! So this week has been wonderful! We've had some really cool things happen in the area, beautiful weather and so on. What more could you ask for?! We've been able to get into some less-active that we haven't been able to get into and find some people that are ready to hear the gospel.

 

Last Thursday all of our appoitments fell through and we were in an area where tracting is really hard to do. The house are a mile or more apart from each other and between the houses are... cows... and fields. haha so we decided to go and try this member who hasn't been to church in a really long time. Her name is Sasha and her husband is not a member. She has 3 boys and a little baby girl who is about 2 months old. We stopped in and they had just gotten home. She thought we were Jehovah Witnesses at first and then realized who we were. haha She let us in and we got to chat with her for a little while. She usually works on Sundays and but she isn't right how because of the new baby. She told us that we could come back today actually and see her. We decided that with her we just need to take it really easy and simple and slow. Her parents are in the ward and so she has a lot of support. We love them already!

 

We had another really cool less-active lesson with a darling sister in the ward, Sis. Harris. She and her husband haven't been active for a long time and everyone in the ward just loves her and she is just the sweetest lady in the world. She is from North Korea. She was telling us about the things in her life that have been really difficult for her. She was telling us how her daughter had a really hard time and got pregnant while she was in high school. Sis. Harris talked to us about how she feels like she was too hard one her daughter and all of these other things. While we were sitting there, the Atonement was the one thing that just stood out to Sis. Pratt and I the very most. We told her about how through our Savior we can recieve forgiveness and also he healed from the things that we innocently endure. It was so powerful. I felt the incredible about of love that the Lord has for her. We promised her blessing after blessing and she said she will be coming to church this coming Sunday.

 

On Thursday night, our district leader and his companion came and did a blitz in our area. We tracted one street and they tracted another street. After 30 mins, we met back up with the Elders and talked about how it went. Sis. Pratt and I met some really cool people but we didn't find very many people who wanted us to come back and teach them. But the Elders did! They found one lady named Geovana and she said she would love for us to come back and teach her. The Elders told us that they felt like we really needed to tract the other side of the street. It was getting dark and so we decided that we would go back on Saturday. So Saturday comes and we go to the street, say a prayer and go to work. The first house we knock on, a teenage boy, about 16-17 come to the door. His name is Adrian and We start talking to him and he tells us to come and sit down at his patio table. So we sit down and he tells us how crazy it is that we knocked on his door just now. He tells us about how he was watching T.V. and he felt like he needed to go and pray and ask for forgiveness and so he did. He was asking God to help him know what religion was right for him. And then a couple of seconds later, we knocked on his door. It was THE COOLEST THING EVER! We told him about the Book of Mormon and we told him about how we can recieve forgiveness. He said he would come to church the next day and was so excited. He just kept saying " I feel like I'm in a dream!" haha  He ended up not being at church the next day. He ended up having to go to Pasco for something. BUT! There is always next sunday and we aren't giving up on him.

 

My testimony of being in the right place at the right time, following the spirt, was strengthen yet again this week. We may not have a whole lot of investigators but there are still miracles happening and seeds being planted.

 

I love you all. Have a wonderful week! My simple testimony is that I know that this church is true and know that God lives. I know that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. Again, I love you all!

 

Love, Sister Mecham

A Letter from Naches: Monday, August 26, 2013

Subject: Hello there!

Hi my dear family!! I hope you all are doing well and having a wonderful week so far.

 

This week has been wonderful! We found a new investigator. Her name is Lori. When Sis. Zink and I were on exchanges with some other sisters back in July, Sis. Clegg and I tracted into Lori. We talked to her about the Book of Morman and prophets. It was just really cool. She seemed really interested at the time and she told us that we could come back. So we've been going back and going back. We always would talk to her on her porch and never inside her house. Her fiance is a chain smoker and so her little tiny trailer just would smell of smoke when we would go over. We finally got her at home without the fiance there. We got into her house and told her we would love to share with her a short video about the Restorationa and we got it all set up. We hit play and it was amazing!! The spirit was so strong!!! We hadn't been able to teach the Restoration is ages it felt like! It felt so good to share the experience of Joseph Smith. We finished the video and started answering her questions. She told us that if it was true that Christ true church was on the earth than she would want to be a part of it. Sis. Pratt and I didn't feel right about asking her to be baptized yet but we will definitley be bringing it up at our appointment this Wednesday.

 

We were trying some more people in the area book this week. We were on exchanges again and I was here in Naches with Sis. LaRue. We found a wonderful potential investigator! We talked to Lesha for about 30 mins. on her porch. She and her boyfriend just had a baby and she is very much a dedicated Christian. She has all the right pieces to put all of it together. She just needs the fulness of the gospel. She told us that we could come back anytime. The spirit was so strong. I just had this really strong feeling that eternal families are going to be one of the key elements for her. She is amazing!

 

We also got to talk to another man this week names Ronald. He is in our area book and the Elders were teaching him about a year ago. We went over and met him and started chatting with him. The thing that stood out to me the very most in talking with him is that he needs to badly to know that there is more than just what he is settling for. I don't think he is quite ready yet to have the missionaries over to teach him again but one day he will realize why we are so different than any other religion.

 

We got a referral about a week ago from a lady in our ward. She and her husband are missionaries at Camp Zarahemla. People go up there all the time and they get to talk with people about the gospel. Sister Warnick is a fantastic missionary! She told us about this women that has been up there with her family for a while camping and that she has asked a lot of questions since she has been there. Sister Warnick told her a lot about the plan of salvation and then told her that when she was done at camp that she would send the sister missionaries over to teach her all about it. So we called up Stacey this week. We had an appoitnemt with her but something came up so we had to plan for this week. I'm so excited to teach her!

 

Well my dear family, that is just a few of the little miracles that we have seen this week. The Lord does love us and he does want us to be happy. He is always willing to show is hand to us, but he does tell us that is comes after the trial of our faith. I know that that is true. I know that we will continue to see trials but as we look to the Lord all things are possible to those that believe. I love you all! Have a wonderful week!!

 

Love Sis. Mecham :)

A Letter from Naches: Monday, August 19, 2013

Subject: Naches...it doesn't get much better than this!

Hello family! So this week has been a wonderful week! We have transfers on Wednesday and I got to welcome in Sis. Pratt to the Naches ward! Sis. Pratt is from Logan Utah and she is... ready for this... number 1 of 11... yup you got that right. 11. She is fantastic! I love her already. She has red hair and just the best personality. We have gotten really good and just laughing really hard and trying to find people to teach. She is really great and getting out and finding and she does so well at making people feel great as she is talking to them.  

Each week we teach gospel essentials class and we do our best. Yesterday was our first time teaching the class together and may I say that the spirit did a fantastic job. About a month ago our class consisted of Sis. Zink, me and Lisa. Now our class has grown and we had about 10 people attend yesterday. The spirit was really strong and we had so many ward members participate and it was fantastic! 

This last week we have done again a lot of less-active work. We went and saw some people on Friday night that I hadn't met before so it was a brand new experience for us both. It was really interesting as we asked them to attend church. I just felt like before we went in to one family, the Zazzaro's, that they needed to know that they needed the ward and the ward needed them in return. We invited them and they told us that they will see if they they can come. But as we were leaving the Mom just walked us out the door and all the way to our car. She said " I don't know why I'm doing this.." She didn't want us to leave. She just kept thanking us for coming over and for sharing our spiritual thought. They didn't come to church but we will be going back there again this week and seeing them. They are just such a loving family and they need the gospel in their lives so bad. 

The next family we saw was the Harris family. They are a couple whose children have grown and have left the house. Their children aren't active and neither are they. We went over and Sis. Harris let us right in the door. We sat down and talked for a little while and then asked if we could share a spiritual thought. We shared with her Omni 1:26 and talked about how the Lord wants us to continue to come to him and partake of his everlasting gifts that he has given us. We talked about how we needed to show our faith in him. We hadn't even invited them to church when Sis. Harris said, " I know I just need to show my faith by coming to church. I just need to do it." It gave us a perfect platform for us to extend the invitation.  

I know that the Lord works through his servants and I know that he works through the spirit. Neither one of these families came to church yesterday but I feel like the Lord has helped us to build upon these things and help them get back on the straight and narrow path. 

I've learned this week that what the Lord needs from us is a willing heart. He needs us to be open and ready for his council and his direction. It isn't always easy for us to change our will to his but it is always so much more worth our time. When we use our agency for good, we will be restored with good things in the life to come. That to me sounds so much more rewarding then anything else. 

I know that this church is true. I know that Jesus is our loving brother, savior and redeemer. I know that it is by him and through him that we obtain salvation. I love you all and hope that we have a fantastic week. 

Love Sister Mecham