A Letter from Naches: Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Subject: If the bitter cup doesn't pass, drink it and be strong"

Hi family!! Boy has today been fantastic!! We got to go to the temple today and I just want to say how much I love the temple. I love sitting in there listening to the words and knowing that what I'm doing there is what the Lord wants for all of his children. Beautiful!! I learned so much today and it just makes me so excited to go back again and again!

 

We have had a really good week this week! We were able to get into see some less-active that we haven't been able to get into see. One of them being this fantastic lady named Sis. McCoy. She is absolutely lovely! She has had some really unfortunate things happen in her life but goodness does she ever know that the Lord is there. She takes care of some of her children and some of her grandchildren and even a great nephew. All of those kids just adore her and respect her. It was such a humbling experience to be there and see them all interact and to feel of the love that they have for each other and the love that the Lord has for them. We shared with her an article out of the September ensign. It was the first presidency message by Pres. Uchtdorf. It's called, " Saints for all seasons." It was so great!! She really responded well and now we just have to keep going back and help her get back to church with her family.

 

This last Tuesday we went by and tried a former investigator that we had tried a million times before but she never answered. Her name is Bianey. She has a darling family! She has 3 kids. One is in college, one is in high school and then her youngest is 2. She let us in and we talked her about our purpose and what she thought about what the missionaries taught her before. She didn't remember a lot of it but said that she did like some of it and that she had some questions and that we could come back! We set up a return appointment for Friday to go back and teach her. We went on Friday and talked with her about the Plan of Salvation. Her mother wanted to sit in on the lesson but because she doesn't speak English Bianey needed to translate for her. Each time Bianey would tell her what we said she was smile and nod her head and say"Si!" She told Bianey that what we were teaching was the truth. We asked them if it would be better if some missionaries that spoke Spanish should come and teach them and they both agreed that would be better. Sis. Pratt and I were sad that we couldn't keep teaching them. I love them so much!! We will though being going back tomorrow to teach the first lesson with the Elders.

 

We've had a couple other little miracles happen this week. Sunday a women walks up to me as I am greeting people and tells me that she needs some help to find the restroom and that she hasn't been to church in 30 years and she this is her first time back. I took her to the restroom and then told her to meet me back at the door and I would take her to where Sis. Pratt and I were sitting. She was so kind and sweet! Her name is Sis. Adams and she is just the nicest women you will ever meet. That was a little miracle this week and we'll be going to see her this week and get to know her better.

 

Yesterday we were on exchanges with the Hermanas. It was so good!! I love being able to see how other areas work and to see how other missionaries do missionary. It helps you to grow. But miracles happen on exchanges! Sis. Pratt and Hna. Lambert were working here in Naches. They got into see a part-member family that we have been trying to get into see for the longest time! The Harris family. They have two little boys and they are just the cutest things! They were able to teach the Harris family all about the Plan of Salvation and answer some questions that they had. Sis. Harris had taken the lessons a while back but then moved here and hasn't met with missionaries since. Brother Harris hasn't been active since he graduated from high school. They loved the lesson and said that we could come back on Friday during the day. So the Lord blessed us to find another new investigator!! I was excited! This family is ready.

 

Well my dear family, that is all that I have for you today. It has been another great week here!! I can't believe how fast the time flies. WAY TOO FAST! I love this work! I'm so grateful to be here and be apart this. It is marvelous. I love you all!!

 

Love Sis. Mecham  

A Letter from Naches: Monday, October 07, 2013

Subject: "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith."

That was one of my favorite quotes from conference! My goodness!! I loved that General Conference!! Seriously everything that was said was "delicious to my soul"! I just could not get enough of it. I want a redue! haha This conference was so inspiring and so down right what the church members needed and what those investigating needed! There is no doubt in my mind that this church is led by the hand of God. Some of my favorite talks were President Uchtdorf's talk, Sister Stephens talk, Elder Bednar, Elder Christofferson,Elder Hollands,Elder Ballard, Pres. Eyring's, Elder Oaks, Elder Scott's, Pres. Monson's. Man I feel like I could go on! Hahah But there were some key subjects that I felt were talked about a lot. First one is the role that the creation plays in our lives and how vital it is that we realize that with that creation there were no mistakes made. Second point is the importance of sustaining our church leaders and developing Christlike attributes. And third, remembering our covenants and living up to those covenants and honoring them. How amazing!!! I loved all the talks on the role of women and the priesthood. I was so impressed with how the messages were delivered and how clear they were to point out the role of each of God's children. 

 

That topic was so vital for Sis Pratt and I this week. We got to go and see Stacey and Yesenia again on Thursday. We talked more about the Restoration and about the priesthood. Stacey asked us why she could hold the priesthood and be able to give her children blessings. She was so worried about it. Her husband isn't interested in the church and learning more right now and she didn't know what she would do without that priesthood in her home. We explained to her the role that husband and wife play together and the responsibility of the priesthood and how we each have different responsibilties but we are to help eachother with those responsibilities and that if she does not have a priesthood holder in the home than she can always call on the bishop and her home teachers. As we left that lesson I felt like good about what we had shared but I also felt like maybe there could have been more to her question and that we could answer it just a little bit better. And then conference happens!! We had invited her to watch it but I get the feeling that she didn't watch it. The good news is though we can answer her question better this time.

 

I love teaching them! They want to come to church but Stacey's husband doesn't want her taking the little boys to church.She said she is going to keep working on him though :) We are going back again this week.

 

We have been trying to find different ways to work with the ward members and help them in their missionary work. All the talks on members and missionaries coming together in conference were amazing! Something that changed for me in hearing that council again was that it was literally coming from the prophet. It was something he asked us to do. Like living the word of wisdom. It put it into a whole new prespective for me. We either follow the council from the prophet of we don't, it's as simple as that. It's a struggle and has required me to think outside of the box and change my way of thinking.

 

Something really cool that we found out about a week ago is that on the 26th of October, one of the 12 is coming to talk to the mission. We don't know who it is but we're really excited!!

 

Well my dear family, I love you all!! I hope you all have a marvelous week! I'm so grateful for a Prophet on the earth today. It truly does show the love that our Father in Heaven has for us that he would give us such a beautiful and remarkable gift. I have such a big testimony of modern day revelation and listening to the council from our Heavenly Father given to us by his prophet.

 

Love you all!!

 

Sis. Mecham

A Letter from Naches: Monday, September 30, 2013

Subject: Blessings!!

Hello my dear family!! This week have been great! The Lord has really blessed us this week.

We have been trying to get in to see a referral that we have received about a month ago from Sister Warnick a missionary that serves at Camp Zarahemla. I think I told you all about this but she gave us a referral for someone that she had met up there. Her name is Stacey. Stacey is in her 40's and she has 4 kids. Her oldest is 20 and her youngest is 3. She is the sweetest!! We had tried to go over there a couple of times to get in with her but every time something was a bad time and she was busy and had stuff going on. We had an appointment scheduled with Jennifer our new investigator at 3 on Wednesday but she ended up not showing up so we decided to go and stop by Stacey. When we knocked on her door and she opened it she looked like she was going to turn us away and not lets us in. She asked us how long this was going to take and we told her that it could be a short visit. She lets us in and we sat down. Well turns out that Stacey has a whole lot of questions! She asked if her daughter Yesenia could sit in and so she did. We were there for 2 hours. haha She asked us all sorts of stuff from our life her on earth to morals and standards. They were so receptive! It was a miracle!! We have a return appointment with them this Wednesday at 3:30.

We got a text message from Adrian this week on Tuesday asking us if he could get a ride to church on Sunday. We were so excited and got everything set up for someone to meet us at his house to pick up and take him to church. We got a text from him Sunday morning telling us that his Mom and Dad don't want him coming to church with us and that they have chosen to go to a different church. It made me sad to think that he had such an amazing experience knowing that God listens to him and hears his prayers but he wasn't able to receive the fulness of the gospel because of his parents. BUT! One day he will be able to make that choice for himself and listen to the missionaries. He will always remember that experience. It makes me think of that scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 101:16 where the Lord says for us to be comforted concerning Zion because all flesh is in his hands. He knows what need to happen for Adrian and his family. What we did was plant a seed.

We had a really crazy experience this last weekend. So Long story short is, Lainey was driving to work on Friday morning and this car at the end of our lane and this girl sleeping in this sleeping bag next to it. She called Sis. Prest and told her that she thinks that she should make her some toast or something and take it to her. So after I had gotten in the shower I walked downstairs and started making my breakfast, Sis. Prest was making this breakfast to take to this women and told me everything that was going on. She leaves and hops on her bike and heads down the lane. About 10 mins later she come back and there is this car that is following her. She comes inside and tells me that this girl didn't know whether to got Utah or back to Seattle.... haha So this girl somes in the house and sits down and we start chatting. We find out her name is Lynn and she is from Texas. She has been living in Seattle for a while now and she wants to go to Utah because there is a boy there that she thinks is the right one for her. She met this boy when she was in China about 5 years ago.. she tells us this big huge story about when she first went to Utah and it really is just the craziest thing that I don't even know where to start. She realized that we were all mormons and just couldn't believe it. She said she has wanted to learn more about what we believe. She has been to temple square and said she just felt so much peace there. This was probably the only time that I will ever teach the lessons in my pajamas at 7:30 in the morning with a towel on my head. It was so crazy!! She stayed with the Prests all of Friday and spent the night there on Friday night. We ended up teaching her again on Friday night all about prayer and about Heavenly Father. It was a really surial experience and just really interesting and really cool!! How she ended up on our lane, at the only house in the area that houses missionaries, is really only by God. While she was here she met 3 different sets of missionaries. If there is one thing that I have learned from this is that the Lord really is on the details of our lives.

 

Well my dear family, I love you all!! This week has been another really fantastic growing experience and being able to see that the Lord is willing to grant us our desires. We just have to push through our adversities to see the light.

 

I know this church is true. Have a great week!!

 

Love, Sis. Mecham 

A Letter from Naches: Monday, September 23, 2013

Subject: Hi there!

Hi there my dear family! I hope you all had a great week this week! We have had quite the week. Sis. Pratt was really sick this week with this nasty cold that is going around. Knocked her out for a few days. We were able to get in and see some people during the time of her being on her death bed. This week we actually found a NEW INVESTIGATOR! Her name is Jennifer. She is 17. The Spanish Elders actually tracted into her. They talked to her all about the Restoration and then realized that they would probably never make it back to see her seeing as she lives at the furthest part of their area which is an area that we cover as well. Her parents don't speak any English but they did tell us that it was okay that Jennifer took the lessons and learned more. We went and saw her on Wednesday and took a darling girl from the ward with us. Jennifer has a desire to learn more. Sis. Pratt and I were talking and we think we are going to have to teach her a little bit more about who our Heavenly Father is. I know that if she understands that just a little bit better than she will have even more of a desire. We have a return appointment for this Wednesday. :)

Yesterday was one of those roller coaster days. We got to church yesterday and everything was so good! Sacrament meeting was wonderful! One of our less-actives, Brother Harris, came to church yesterday! We walked up to him and told him how happy we were to see him. Haha I was so surprised to him there. He looked at us and said " Well... I told ya I'd be here didn't I?".. haha He and his wife are just so fantastic! We love going to see them! They are trying hard to make some changes.They know what they have to do. Now we just have to keep encouraging them and feeding them with the spirit so they don't give into Satan. 

The hardest part of yesterday was our lesson with Sis. Summa. I have felt sad for people on my mission, people that I see and try and teach and they reject it. People that we actually get in to teach and they decided that it just isn't the right time for them but I don't think that I have ever felt this sad for someone. We have spent so many hours sitting at her kitchen table trying to help her understand why the fullness of the Gospel is the very best and there is nothing that compares to it. We went over yesterday because we finally decided that we needed to sit down with her and have more of a heart to heart with her and really be up front and honest with her. She didn't really care for that all too much. After trying so hard to teach her by the spirit and bare testimony, we had to tell her that if she wasn't going to keep her commitments then we couldn't come over a teach her as often as we have been. We told her that we have to work harder at finding those that want to change and embrace the Gospel. 

The thing that stuck out to me the very most is this. If we don't wake up everyday and decided that we choose Christ than that is one more day that Satan has more control over us. I was reading in Mormon 3 today and he says "Behold, I had led them, notwithstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle, and had loved them, according to the love of God which was in me, with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them; nevertheless, it was without faith, because of the hardness of their hearts." I read this this morning and thought about Sis. Summa. In the footnotes it directs you to James 1:6 where it talks about Asking in faith "nothing wavering because he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." I thought about that and how powerful that is. When we waver and we let doubt enter our hearts, we immediately decide that faith in the Lord isn't enough for us. We decide that what he has to offer us just won't cut it. 

I know that as long has we have faith, doesn't matter how much faith we have, big or small, that faith is the answer to all of our problems. For ourselves, we need to hold to that faith like it is all we have because at the end of the day it really is what matters most.

My faith has been strengthened this week. Knowing that the Lord really does know our hearts and that his Atonement is real. I know that he does lead and guide us. He always will when we put our trust in him. 

I love you all!! Have a great week!! This church is true. 

Love, Sister Mecham :) 

A Letter from Naches: Monday, September 16, 2013

Subject: Line upon line

Hello my dear wonderful family!!

 

This week in Naches has been great! We've been able to see some more Less-active people in the last week. We haven't found any new investigators this week but we are trying and that is what the Lord sees and the desire that we have in our hearts.

 

Last week Sis. Summa came to church and she was doing so well. I was so proud of her and just saw such a change in her. We went back on Tuesday and she was still doing great and then we went back on Thursday... something happened between those visits and I'm not quite sure what happened. We went over on Thursday and right when we get there she is the bathroom and tells us to come and make ourselves comfortable and she'll be out in a minute. We walk into her kitchen and sitting on the kitchen counter was a coffe cup... Sis. Pratt and I just look at each other pick up the cup, smell it and gosh darn that sweet women and given in to satan and got a cup of coffee at the doctors that day! We put it back down and set our things down in on the couch. I was the watchman while Sis. Pratt looked through her cubbards to see if she was stashing anymore coffee. Sure enough there was this HUGE costco sized Starbucks coffee beans bag right there. We put it back in the cubbard and waited for her to come back. We didn't know what we were going to do about it but I know that the Lord knew what he was going to do. All we needed to do was listen. We sat there and talked with her and asked her how her week was going and what not. We started talking about her goal to get to the temple. We asked her what could be holding her back from making that convenant with God.. It was quite for a minute. I have never been so grateful for how the spirit works on a person than in that moment. She came clean and told us all about how she got coffee at the doctors office and then she went to her cubbard and pulled out the bag. I looked at her and told her to hand it over and we were going to get rid of it. The bag had never been opened. We could have taken it back to the store but instead we found a lovely trash can that needed to be filled and left it there. I am so amazed at how the Lord works on the lives of his children. Those that I am teaching and myself.

 

Something that I have learned this week in watchin our less-actives and those that we teach and looking into myself is that God is always here. He is always there beside us. We have to turn to him inorder for us to know him. There is no way that that relationship can happen unless we decided that his will is always better then our own. That is something that has really strengthened me this week and something that I needed to learn again. I studied this morning the talk by Jeffery R. Holland called " The Grandeur of God." It changed the way that I thought about my Father in heaven and my Savior and they relationship they have and how unified they are. It is amazing to see that we too can have a very close relationship with our Father in heaven and know him and his nature.

 

Well my dear family, those are just a couple highlights from my week this week. I wish I had unlimited time to tell you everything but I don't. I love you all!! Have a wonderful week!!

 

Love Sis. Mecham