Sister Sylvester's First Transfer and stuff...November 25, 2013

Well I got transferred. I miss White Oak a ton! I loved it there and it was so great and everyone there was amazing! But, I love being in a new ward and with a new companion. It is exciting and it is nice to move on. I'm serving in Oak Ridge in the Spring zone. I actually live in The Woodlands which is this rich place that has a huge mall with a waterway and boats. Our ward isn't super rich for the most part, but we do have one area that apparently has giant houses, that a couple of less-active members live in.

My new companions name is Sister Liljenquist. She is from Utah and is 19. She has been serving for 3 months. She is hilarious and we have a lot of fun together. We have already had lots of moments when we are laughing so hard that we are crying and our stomachs hurt, which is good. The ward is really great and I got to meet a lot of them at church yesterday. The youth speaker was sick so they asked me to bear my testimony during sacrament. It went really well. There is a ton of work to do in this ward and area and I'm really excited. I feel good and I know this is where I'm supposed to be.

So we have two main investigators right now. The first is Ashlee. We taught her the Plan of Salvation on Saturday and it went really well. She has a sincere desire to find out if the church is true, but is having a hard time with understanding how to figure that out. So we are working on helping her better recognize the Spirit and different things she needs to do to find out if it is true. We set a baptismal date with her for December 21. So we are praying that everything works out. She was supposed to come to church yesterday, but about 20 minutes before church started, right before she was going to leave, her parents randomly showed up at her house. So she ended up not coming to church, but she did come with us to dinner afterward at a member's house. She wasn't able to come until later but it worked out. We read the Book of Mormon with her and it all went really well. The ward is doing great at fellowshipping her.

The second is Kezza. She is from Uganda and came to the United States for school. She is 16 and I just met her yesterday at church. They have been having a hard time meeting with her because she has been so busy, and she hasn't been to church in a couple of weeks, despite the fact that she is living with members. But we texted her in the morning, and she came to church which was great. She is really sweet. She has school off all this week since it is Thanksgiving so we are meeting with her 2 or 3 times, which will be good. And she also got a personal progress book and is really excited to do it.

Anyway, there is that update. I'm really excited to be here and I know this transfer will be great! I love being a missionary! I love this church and gospel and I know that it is true. I love Jesus Christ and I know He is our Savior. I am so grateful for Him and His sacrifice and His love for each and every one of us. And I'm grateful for Heavenly Father and His love and all that He blesses us with. And I'm grateful for my amazing family, who I love so much and don't know what I would ever do without!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Count your many blessings!

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Group Email October 28, 2013 "Unless you want to be teaching marsupials in Madagascar you had better get over there!"

This week was a good week, but again, nothing interesting happened. We visited some less-actives and got in contact with them. We have been having a hard time getting in contact with a couple of our investigators, and we have been working really hard on finding new investigators and coming up with ideas and receiving revelation on how to find new investigators more efficiently in this area. We have gotten some ideas, but we are still working on it. Sister Stepp and I were driving to try and visit a less-active lady and passed a neighborhood that we hadn't seen before. So we have gone tracting there a couple of times now. We really like it. It has a different Spirit about it that we feel really good about. We haven't found a new investigator there yet, but I have no doubt that we will find multiple people who are prepared and ready to receive the gospel, there. 

We had zone conference this week and it was really great, as always. We talked about our mission standards and how to find more new investigators. For some reason I can't think of anything specific from zone conference right now, and I forgot my study journal at the apartment. So I would love to tell you some cool stuff that was said, but I can't remember anything. Oh well.

For zone conference we each were supposed to prepare a short talk on developing one of the Christlike Attributes found in Preach My Gospel. I chose knowledge, but after zone conference I continued thinking about it and I was thinking about how I could develop more charity and love for God's children. I decided that one way I could do that was by trying to better understand the divine nature that each of us had and the potential that we all have as children of God. So I studied a lot about the pre-earth life and life after we die. I read a talk by President Uchtdorf that I believe he gave at the Young Women's General Broadcast this year. The talk is called "Your Wonderful Journey Home". I highly recommend reading it for everyone -- male and female, young and older. It is such a great talk. There are a few things I really like about it. 

1. At the beginning he shares a story about when he was 11 his family was living in East Germany and his father was under suspicion as a political dissenter so they had to flee to West Germany and him and his mom climbed over a mountain and into another country. He literally pulled a "Sound of Music". How cool!

2. He depicts what it might have been like when we were living in the pre-earth life with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ before we came down to this earth. They way he describes it is amazing. It makes it really easy to imagine yourself there. (I kept picturing the movie "Saturday's Warrior" while I was reading this talk, and it was so hard to get out of my head. And whenever I think of that movie I think of when they two missionaries are coming down to earth and the lady says "Unless you want to be teaching marsupials in madagascar you had better get over there!" So that line ran through my head a lot this week. It was pretty terrible :) ).

3. My favorite part of the talk is when he talks about how every single person on this earth was valiant in the premortal life. We each made the difficult and best decision to come down to follow Jesus Christ and come down to this earth and live by faith. Each of us, at one point, had a desire to live with God again and to follow Christ. Sometimes we forget that while we are here on this earth. We need to help those people who have forgotten. Help them feel their Father's love for them. 

I know that each one of us did live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ before we came to live on this earth. No wonder Heavenly Father knows each one of us so well and better then we know ourselves. He walked and talked with us and we each had a relationship with Him. Every. single. person. was brave and valiant in the premortal life. As we remember this, we can each have more confidence in ourselves and our divine nature and individual worth, and better see others as Heavenly Father sees them and see how much potential they have inside of them. 

I know without a doubt that we are each a son or daughter of God. He loves us more than we can comprehend. He knows us and He can and wants to help and bless us. Pray to Him every single day. I'm sure He loves it. My dad emailed me this week and said that Elder Russell M. Nelson was at their stake conference this weekend, and he said that our morning and nightly prayers are like saying good morning and good night to Heavenly Father. We love hearing those words from our family and loved ones. How much more does Heavenly Father love hearing from us every morning and night. God is our Father in Heaven. He knows how much potential we all have to become like Him. We need to remember how much potential is in us, more often.When we do that, we have  stronger desire to follow Christ more fully and truly be one of His disciples.

I hope you all have a great week. I love all of you!

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Group E-mail November 4, 2013 Mo Tab Miracles at McDonald's

This last week was pretty normal. Not too much exciting happened. I don't know what Heavenly Father is trying to teach us, but all of our solid investigators keep moving. Yesterday, we found out that our last progressing investigator got back together with his ex-wife and moved out of state with her. I told Sister Stepp, "I don't know why this keeps happening, but the only thing I can think of to do is just laugh." But, we keep going along, day by day, trying to find new investigators. Despite, the lack of investigators, the Lord is still blessing us, just in different ways.

But we had one really cool miracle this week and it happened at McDonald's. We have been working with a elderly widow in the ward lately and reteaching her the missionary lessons. One of our favorite people, Tammy Sue, has started coming with us to our appointments with her. After our appointment this week, Tammy Sue was driving us back to her house where our car was, and decided that she was really craving a filet-o-fish from McDonald's and decided to stop there on the way home. So we went inside and while we were standing in line a guy named Sam, who works at McDonald's and had just started his break came up to us and said, "Are you Mormons?" We said yes, to which he excitedly responded, 

"My favorite choir is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! They are the best! I love Christmas time just so I can watch their Christmas Concert!" And told us all about how much he loved the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It was so great.

We ended up sitting down and eating lunch with him. He told us that he really loves Mormons and thinks that we are so disciplined, kind, and happy. "You guys are always smiling!" He also said that he has been wanting to come to our church services for a long time, but has never got up enough courage. Somebody mentioned the word "baptism" while we were talking and he got really excited and said "Can I get baptized int he tabernacle?" We realized that he was talking about the temple. He used to live close to it and loves it. Anyway, it was so great and he is hilarious! We set up a lesson with him and told him about church. It was a miracle that Sister Stepp and I really needed to give us a little boost, since things haven't exactly been working out like we have planned. We were telling our zone leader, who serves in our ward with us, about this miracle, and he told us "good job!" And I said, "Well, thanks, but we didn't really do anything. It was just perfect timing and he came up to us." He responded saying that we deserved a good job because we were being obedient and working hard enough to receive that miracle. That made us feel pretty good. So we learned a few things from this experience: 1. When we are doing what we are supposed to be doing, the Lord will always bless us, even if it isn't right when we want it to happen. 2. We love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir! and 3. Trust Tammy Sue's filet-o-fish cravings.

That was our big miracle of the week. This week we will be spending most of our time finding new investigators and we know that the Lord has prepared people to receive the gospel, and that in one way or another, He will provide, if we are working hard and being obedient.

Something I have thought a lot about this last week is how important it is to live the gospel. This is so important because it builds our faith, people notice something different about us and want to learn more, and it is how we follow Christ and prepare for the day when we will meet Him. There are a few quotes I like that go along with this:

"Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words." (St. Francis of Assisi)

"It is not enough to simply be known as a member of this Church....We must live as true followers of the Christ, with charity toward all, returning good for evil, teaching by example the ways of the Lord, and accomplishing the vast service He has outlined for us." (Gordon B. Hinckley)

"But this I do know: when Christ comes, the members of His Church must be looking and acting like members of His Church are supposed to look and act if we are to be acceptable to Him. We must be doing His work, and we must be living His teachings. He must recognize us quickly and easily as truly being His disciples." (Jeffrey R. Holland)

When we live the gospel and become Christlike by following Christ's example and keeping Hist commandments, we will be so blessed. We will be able to accomplish and achieve all that Heavenly Father has planned for us. Yes it is hard sometimes, but the best part, is that Christ is with us every step of the way. And the more we strive to live the gospel, the more we will feel His love for us and recognize the strength He is giving us. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and I know that He is our Savior. Only through Him can we live with God again. I know that as we follow Him and His teachings we will be blessed in this life and in the life to come.

I hope ya'll have a good week!

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Group E-mail November 11, 2013

Hello everybody! I hope you all had a great week this week!

Let me tell you about all of the tender mercies of the Lord this week: 

1. We started going to this park by the library a lot this week to go contacting in efforts to find some new investigators. We haven't found a new investigator at the park, yet, however every time we have gone there we have been able to teach at least one brief message to somebody willing to listen. They don't want to hear anymore after our brief message, but at least they listened to that. We talked to one lady about the eternal families and ended up discussing the spirit world a little. She said that the spirit world made a lot of sense and she really liked the idea, but she was good with her church and didn't want to change. It was just nice to be able to add to the knowledge that she already had. 
2. We haven't been able to meet with Samuel, our McDonald's guy, yet because he has been working a lot and his phone completely broke so the only way to get a hold of him is to go to McDonald's, which we did a couple of times this week. He should be buying a new phone this week. Every time he sees us he gets so excited and it makes us feel great. 
3. Tammy Sue, an awesome member in our ward, gave our elders a referral for one of her friends last week. She told them to knock her friend's street and not to mention her name, just to see what happens. Tammy Sue had told her friend about missionaries and how they don't have much money so lots of people feed them dinner. So when the elders knocked on her friend's door, she was excited to see them and gave them a bunch of shampoo, body wash, and shampoo and is having them for dinner tomorrow night. They haven't started teaching her, yet, but hope to this week. Well the day after the Elders knocked on her door, we were at Tammy Sue's during a slow time of our day, to practice teach the Restoration. Right when we were about to start the lesson, this friend knocked on the door. Tammy Sue invited her to sit in as we practice taught the restoration. We felt a little bad for teaching the Elder's potential investigator, but as long as she gets taught, is doesn't matter too much who teaches her. However she thought we were "practice teaching" her, so it won't be awkward for the Elder's to teach it to her again. Anyway, the Spirit was really strong, especially as we shared the First Vision with her and testified of Joseph Smith. It was a great experience and that powerful lesson gave us a little boost to keep going.
4. We got a referral last night from our Bishop for a guy in the singles ward. We called him today and set up an appointment to meet with him on Wednesday. Thank goodness! We are excited to finally have a new investigator!
5. Last week, Tammy Sue and Sister Stepp mentioned to me that I talk with the Spirit. Their comment made me feel really good. This week I prayed a lot to recognized the presence of the Holy Ghost more. I felt the Spirit so strongly this week! It was the best feeling. I also was really able to feel the Spirit speaking through me as we talked to investigators and members. There were multiple times when we were sharing a message and I said something and the Spirit was really strong. And afterwards I would just think "Where did that come from? I've never thought that thought in my life." and then I would remember that the Spirit was really strong as I spoke and that it was probably the Spirit speaking and not me. It has been such an amazing week being able to better recognize the Holy Ghost. The gift of the Holy Ghost truly is one the best gifts Heavenly Father gives us in this life.
6. We visit this elderly widow every week to reteach her the lessons. So we have been visiting her for a couple of months, and she is so cute and we love her so much. Anyway this week when we were leaving her house, she thought I was going to leave without giving her a hug and said "Hey! come her and hug me." I laughed and gave her a hug, during which she told me she loved me. It was so cute! And she had never told us that before so it made us feel really good and appreciated. It pretty much made my whole day.
7. We had specialized training this week with President Pingree. We didn't have ours until Thursday, but on Tuesday there was one being held at our church building. We had just finished contacting at the park and saw a voicemail from President Pingree asking if we could come open the library at the church building for him because he needed a dvd player for the training. We hurried over and opened the library for him. He was SO grateful! President Pingree is so kind and loving. He just kept telling us thank you, the whole day. We were just glad that we had the chance to help him out, even though it was only a small little thing. 
8. And one more tender mercy... Elder Brown and Elder Graham. They are the Elders that we have the wonderful chance to serve with in the White Oak Ward (aka the W.O.W!) Elder Brown is our zone leader and has been out 21 months. He is an amazing missionary! Such a great example of an obedient, hard working, humble missionary who just wants to serve the Lord with all of his heart, might, mind, and strength. He is training Elder Graham, who is also a great missionary and I have no doubt will do great things on his mission. They are so funny! Every time we talk to them, we are cracking up laughing. They are just so fun to be around. We had dinner with them at members homes a few times this week and they always made our whole day. They are so great and I'm so grateful for the chance that we have had to get to serve with them. I have learned so much from their example and laughed so hard talking to them.

Well that about sums up our week. I hope you all have a great week and remember that Heavenly Father loves you. You are children of God. and All is Well!

Love,

Sister Sylvester

Group E-mail November 18,2013

As of this Friday, I will have officially been out on my mission for 6 months! That is insane! There is no way that I have been out that long. And I have loved all of it!

And I've spent that whole time in the same area. But, tomorrow I am getting transferred. I don't know where yet. We don't find out until tomorrow. I'm really excited, but a bit nervous, too. However, I know that it will be great and that I will love that area just as much as I do this one. I have loved serving in the White Oak and Sam Houston 2nd wards. They are so great and full of amazing members who have been so kind and loving and are great examples of true disciples and followers of Jesus Christ who serve everyone. 

This last week was really great. Sister Stepp and I stayed very busy. We had one day where we had so many people we had to visit -- including 3 new investigators, that popped up out of nowhere -- that we couldn't visit all of them. Of course, that is the best dilemma that we could ever ask for. 

One of the new investigators that we started teaching this week is named Luis. His girlfriend is a member and lives in Kentucky, right now, going to school. He is so sweet and kind and we love him so much. He has such a sincere and genuine desire to find out for himself if the Book of Mormon and Church are true. At the end of our first lesson, he said the prayer, and it was the most sincere prayer I have heard an investigator offer. He loves Christ and wants to follow him and he is already reading the Book of Mormon. He came to church yesterday, and he is going to the YSA's family home evening tonight. 

A few weeks ago, we had zone conference and President Pingree mentioned how the Book of Mormon is a "catalyst of the Spirit." Just reading the Book of Mormon will help us feel the Holy Ghost better and quicker than most things. I have thought a lot about this since he said it and I have gained a strong testimony of the power that the Book of Mormon has. A few days ago, we were visiting one of our investigators, and her brother-in-law was there. His name is Michael and he is currently attending a school of Ministers. He joined us for our lesson. We were planning to talk about faith. When we saw Michael there, we instantly were trying to think of the best way to invite and help them feel the Holy Ghost as quickly as possible. And I thought about what President Pingree said. So we decided to read Alma 32. The Spirit was so strong. There was one point, when I was saying something, that I was so overwhelmed with the Spirit that I couldn't form any words. At the end of the lesson, we invited him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He eagerly accepted the invitation. Sister Stepp and I left and just looked at each other for a minute and then talked about how powerful that lesson had been. It was a big testimony builder of the power of the Book of Mormon. 

The other thing I have grown to love about the Book of Mormon over the last couple of weeks is how simple it is to understand. I think one of the reasons why it is so "plain and simple" is because it is full of stories -- stories of prophets of God and their experiences of living the Gospel of Jesus Christ and keeping His commandments. The prophets are wonderful examples of what we can do to LIVE the Gospel. They don't just spew out a list of things we need to do. They show us what to do, just like Christ did. I love it. I'm so grateful for all of the people that have filled my life that have been examples to me of how to not just preach and study the gospel, but to live it. Please study the Book of Mormon every day. If you do not yet have a testimony of its truthfulness, please read it and pray and ask God if it is true. I know you will receive an answer. All the Book of Mormon tells us to do is to love and follow Jesus Christ and keep His commandments. I know that when we do that, we are so blessed and we can have peace and happiness in this life and in the life to come. 

I love you all so much! Thanks for all that you do. I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Sister Sylvester