"And they straightway left their nets, and followed him" (May 21, 2018)

Dear Friends and Family, 

Greetings from Minneapolis!! It has been a crazy week, but full of some really great adventures. Last Monday was crazy, I already knew I was leaving, so I was mostly packed, then Hna Davis and I left for the mission home on Monday night. It was pretty bittersweet leaving Rochester and saying goodbye to Hna Davis and everyone at church. Because we had been there for 4 months together, and it's weird to see it all end so quickly. Then transfers weren't until Thursday, so I got to be in a trio with the Richfield Hermanas, Hna Hanson and Hudman for a couple of days, and we had a blast . 

Then finally on Thursday I got to my new area, North Minneapolis with my new companion, Hna Nissinen. She is amazing! She just got out of training, and is so excited about missionary work. She is from Portland, Oregon, and she was studying Piano Performance in college , so we've already got a lot of fun duets planned, and it is so fun to be back in a Spanish ward. Yesterday, an hour before church started, we got a call from the first councilor in the bishopric that someone had cancelled and they needed me to speak in Sacrament Meeting. So I got a baptism by fire welcome back into the ward, but it went really well. I had a talk prewritten about the Plan of Salvation that I was planning on just using. We had coordination right before church with our ward mission leader, Hno Matus. And he is always so excited about missionary work, and he went off on a tangent about how the ward needs to ask us to give talks in sacrament meeting about how to do missionary work. So quickly rewrote the last half of my talk to be an inspirational message about doing missionary work, so it was a pretty crazy Sunday!!

Yesterday one of our investigators, Yeimy, had her baptismal interview and she passed, so she will be getting baptized next Sunday! She is 9, and is very excited. And it has been fun to be back in the area, and have people I didn't talk to that much remember me and be excited that I'm back. There are also quite a few people who the hermanas have fallen out of contact that we've been able to see agian, so we are getting ready for a transfer full of miracles. 

And MILAGROS! I found out last night, that one of our investigators who we were teaching in Rochester, Maria, who we found through the miracle of the broken windshield wipers. accepted the invitation to be baptized last week! 

This week I started my last 12 weeks of my mission, so I set a few goals, one being I decided to start reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and finish before I go home, and I have been studying it for ways that the prophets receive and act on promptings of the spirit. I have truly gained a testimony the last few months that of what President Nelson taught in conference "nothing opens the heavens quite like the combination of increased purity, exat obedience, earnest seeking, daily feasting on teh words of Christ in the Book of Mormon, and regular time committed to the temple and family history work" When we can live with purity, and be open to the promptings of the Spirit, that is when we can become instruments in the hands of God to work miracles. Last night we got to attend an event where recent converts share their conversion stories, and it has got me more motivated than ever to give it all I have. In Matthew 4:19-20 we read "And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him" Now we're not all fishermen, but likening the scriptures, our nets are those things that are holding us back our wants, our desires, our distractions, our fears, and leave it all behind. When the Savior calls, immediately dropping our nets, and following him with the faith that he will make up the difference. I hope all of you can think of something you can give up this week, one of the nets you can drop that will allow you to more fully follow the example of the Savior. 

Have a wonderful week!! 

Hermana Meredith 

1. Wheeler family! It was Alexis' birthday on Tuesday and her wish was that we came over for dinner before we got transferred. 

2. Farewell to the Rochester Trio

3. Hna Lopez

4. Sister Fletcher!!

5. North Minneapolis once again

"Behold Thy Mother" (May 14, 2018)

Feliz dia de las madres!! Happy mothers day everyone! It was such a joy to get to talk to my family yesterday, and I hope you all got to get give your mothers a great big hug. 

We got to go to the temple on Thursday! It was such a treat, our whole zone got rides and were able to do a session together. It was peaceful and unifying, and it really helped all of us to be refreshed by the spirit we felt there. 

It has been a week of endings. Friday and Saturday we were trying to visit everyone we could so that Hermana Hopkins could meet them before we both leave, as well as giving her a crash course of the Area Book and taking notes on all the random knowledge we have in our heads about our time in this area. 

Hna Davis is getting ready to go home in the next couple of days, and I'm getting transferred back to North Minneapolis! I'm excited,  I spent 6 weeks there around Christmas time and I'm excited to go back and get to know the people there better and give it all I've got. It has been sad to say goodbye, I have really come to love the people here and have learned a lot, but I am looking forward to new adventures for the last 3 months.  

We've been doing this awesome dinner message with families with little kids the past couple of weeks. We talk about Alma and Amulek and how missionaries work together. Then we give them our area book map and tell have them pick one of our potential investigators they think we should go give a Book of Mormon to that week. They remember the name they picked then at church they get to follow up with us and see what happened. It has been INCREDIBLE! Almost everyone we have visited to do that has become a new investigator, and it has been the exact right time we needed to stop by, right when they got home from work or are able to talk to us, and the kids are always so excited to hear about it, and it has really been helping the primary get motivated about helping us do missionary work. 

I LOVE being a missionary. It is truly the greatest work I have ever been a part of, and I learn so many things each and every single day. Thank you for all the love and support! Sorry this one has been kind of short, but I'll get some more good ones for next week. 

1. Mothers day dinner with the Widman family and their cute dog, Bingley

2. Temple trip! (Above)

3. Mothers day

4. Our friend, Hno Armando, from Lakeville was in town and we got to visit him!!!

5. Lunch with President and Sister Ferrara from the mission presidency

6. feat. the young women of the Rochester 3rd Ward, love them with all my heart

"For such a time as this" (May 10, 2018)

Hola amigos!

This week has been "so good!" We get to go to the temple today so that's why I'm writing a little late, lo siento. 

First update, we're in a trio now with my old comp, Hermana Hopkins! Last week we had Mission leadership Council up in Bloomington. There's been a lot of switches recently in the mission, and Hna Hopkins' companion went home, so we are training her into the Rochester life and it's been a party, we are seeing a lot of miracles in the trio life. 

For the meeting, we all sat in the gym in a big semi-circle and discussed the needs of the mission and the culture and the things we could do to improve. We all knelt in prayer and felt inspired to set a new mission focus on virtue, especially through exact obedience and increased purity. And we have seen a renewed sense of dedication among ourselves and the other missionaries as we are seeking to make more sacrifices to change ourselves and be more dedicated to the Savior. 

Then this past week was cinco de mayo so we had a PACHANGA! We had stake Conference, so we couldn't do on Saturday night, so we actually did it on Monday, el siete de mayo, as a Hispanic family home evening. It was a huge hit! We had a bunch of Hispanic members and English members come, and delicious Hispanic food, and games, and music. We were a little panicked because it started at 6:30 and at 6:35 we were still the only people there, but everyone showed up and brought amazing food.  It was a great opportunity for increased fellowship, and everyone had a great time and we are excited for the ward to keep growing and improving. 

We had an incredible Stake Conference this past weekend. Our stake president decided to have everyone gather at the stake center instead of broadcasting. And I learned so much, the whole weekend was about ministering and how we can reach out and love others. On Saturday afternoon we went to the leadership training session and we had a break off session and we got to meet with all the ward mission leaders in the stake and talk about how ministering impacts missionary work. We were talking with the branch mission leader from a little town on the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin that's in our stake. The missionaries were recently pulled out because of various obedience problems, and have not been replaced, and the mission office is getting ready to close and sell the missionary apartment there. The branch mission leader was talking about how his unit didn't have full time missionaries, then asked us if we had any idea if they would be replaced soon. We told him we had no idea, but that the mission is closing the apartment. He was vsibily disappointed then told us "We've all been fasting and praying for missionaries to come, so I guess we'll just have to keep on doing that" And it really struck my heart. There are many members in the world, who are praying for missionaries, who want good missionaries who will do the work in their ward and teach their friends and bring others unto Christ. And it made me ponder if I'm one of those missionaries, if I'm doing what's needed, if I'm giving it my all, if I'm living worthy of the fasting and prayers of the members who are pleading for full-time missionaries to come. Am I living worthy of the faith and sacrifice of the members with whom I serve? I have seen so many sacrifices from the many members with whom I am served. People who have nothing but are willing to give everything because they want people to hear the gospel. 

At the end of another session one of the members of the stake presidency shared a story that ended with the line "Why did we come here?" And not letting ourselves get distracted by obstacles but remembering why we came here. Remembering why we came here, why we chose this plan. And for me, remembering why I gave these 18 months to serve the Lord. It reminded me of the scripture in Ester 4:14 "and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" This week I have spent a lot of time asking my self "why did you come here?" And it has helped me find joy in the journey, for such a time as this, to participate in the work of salvation and help invite souls to come unto Christ. 

Love you all and have a great week! 

Hermana Meredith

2. #Eternalcomps

3. Ice cream with the Mission President Barney after Stake Conference.

4. Los Hermosillo ❤❤

5. Breakfast with Hna Lopez!

6. Mona, this really sweet old woman we visit. We brought her ice cream and she was so excited. 

"That I should be a minister of Jesus Christ" (April 30, 2018)

1. I call this "Girl holding a chicken looking directly into the sun"

2. Exchanges!

3,4. Bike day!

5. Minnesota country 

Hey there friends! It's been a great week!

To start off, crazy animals encounters!

We were doing a blitz in Kasson, just outside of Rochester, and we were trying to stop by to see a part member family, and they live way out in the middle of nowhere and had two horses we got to pet.

Another member we had dinner with just got 15 pet chickens, one of them is named 'salad' so they can say, "this is my chicken, salad"

There is this awesome lady we met a few weeks back, but the problem is we can never get back to her door to knock because there is a giant German shepherd always guarding and growling and barking and we're afraid he'll eat us if we get too close to the fence. On Saturday when we went though, the dog was sleeping on the porch. So we knew we could knock on the door at least one time before the dog woke up, so Hermana Davis creeped up and knocked, and the dog jumped up and reached for her hand but she was able to get away fast enough, then the dog started barking like usual. Sadly she didn't come to the door, but we survived. 

We were trying to visit this member in the middle of nowhere and went down a long dirt road then a long windy driveway and were afraid we would get kidnapped. Haha, we were ok and the lady was super nice, but told us to be careful on the way because there are tons of deer in the woods around the house and they jump out in front of the cars then try to outrun them. And that's how we met the suicidal deer. 

Oh also there was a giant centipede on our wall when we woke up and it nearly scared us half to death. 

This week I got to give a training in district meeting on daily planning and it was a really good refresher that has helped me be organized and on top of our schedule which had made our daily planning sessions more meaningful and helped us work more effectively. 

With the beautiful weather we also got to bike! On Wednesday we biked 10 miles and found a new investigator and went to a bunch of appointments so it was a great day. 

We also got to do exchanges and I went with Sister White! She just got to the mission 3 weeks ago, but she is already a professional and it was so fun to be her companion for the day and see many miracles in our area. 

This week I have LOVED getting to study about ministry. One of my favorite scriptures about it so far is in Romans 15:16 "That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost." And when you click on minister it defines it as "servant at one's own expense" and that's really what ministering and missionary work is all about. It's never convenient. If we wait for it to work with our schedule we will never have time, but as we put the Lord first there will be enough time for everything. 

Have a fantastic week! 

Hermana Meredith

"The Lord will give us all the courage we need" (April 23, 2018)

Buenos días amigos!

So this week officially marks the end of Minnesota winter! We got our last snowstorm on Wednesday, and it's all basically melted, and spring has sprung!

That day we had an amazing lesson with our investigator, we'll call her Maria, the one who we miraculously found because our windshield wipers broke. She lives on the other side of our area and we didn't feel comfortable trying to get there so we had a video lesson with her instead. She is AMAZING and progressing so well! She is reading in the Book of Mormon, and read the pamphlet we left her, and watched a video about the restoration we sent her and she is so excited to be learning and keeping commitments. She had been kind of struggling to understand the content and the old fashioned wording in the Book of Mormon. So we read with her in the lesson and stopped and explained what was happening after every few verses and it really helped her understand and open it and she started loving it. We are so excited for her! 

We had zone conference this week, President Barney trained on using the Book of Mormon and we got to give a training on the importance of being 'astonishing' when we teach the restoration, and how it's a bold doctrine we share, and we need to astonish as we share it with love and boldness. 

We also got to take a fun road trip to Lacrosse, Wisconsin this week to go on exchanges with the sisters there. The sister I was with just finished her training, but she is wise beyond her years and taught me a lot about setting goals and relying on the Lord as we humbly seek to grow. 

This has not been the easiest week, but I have been truly inspired as I've studied the words of living prophets and apostles from recent general conferences. A couple of highlights:

"You may feel that there are others who are more capable or more experienced who could fulfill your callings and assignments better than you can, but the Lord gave you your responsibilities for a reason. There may be people and hearts only you can reach out and touch. Perhaps no one else could do it in quite the same way." - Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf 

" It is not surprising that we feel from time to time nearly overwhelmed. The fact is that you can't do it by yourself...When those feeling of inadequacy strike us, it is the time to remember the Savior. He assures us that we don't do this work alone...I bear you my witness that when we give our all in [our] service, the Lord will give us all the courage we need and the assurance that He goes with us and that angels will bear us up" - President Henry B. Eyring

I feel like the Lord is teaching me a lot right now, because there are a lot of struggles. I think it's because there is a lot I still have to learn and with my time for full-time missionary service running shorter by the day, He must just need to give me a crash course. But how wonderful that we never run out of room to learn and grow. And it's been amazing to see how despite hardships Lord is guiding us to those who are ready to learn, and as we walk forward in faith, and open our mouths even when it is scary, the Lord will bear us up and give us the capacity to see miracles. 

I hope you all have an amazing week! Enjoy the sunshine, and never forget to say your prayers!

Hermana Meredith

"Scatter Sunshine!" (April 16, 2018)

Well this has been quite the week!

Last week we moved our p-day to Wednesday because the mission got to go to a Twins Game in Minneapolis! It was so fun and so great to see everyone! And the Twins won with a home run in the bottom of the ninth, so the day of miracles has not ceased!!

On Thursday and Friday I had a really bad cold, so I spent a lot of time sleeping, but we went to the few appointments that we had set up. On Saturday, I woke up ready to go, only to discover that Christmas had come early/late and Rochester had been greeted by a huge blizzard. Our cars were grounded all day Saturday and most of Sunday. So we spent a lot of time writing reports and making calls and cleaning our apartment and visiting people who lived within walking distance. They even cancelled church yesterday because it was so snowy and icy. Needless to say, we are very grateful to be getting out and about today. And now Hna Davis is sick too, and basically the rest of the zone, so wish us luck this week haha. 

I'm usually not a person who loves the sunshine, and I have been loving the overcast weather the past few weeks. But this week my heart was touched by one of the members and one of the investigator we visit. They had both had really tough weeks, things not going well in jobs and with  health problems, and all they wanted for the sun to come out. Just a little bit a of light would make everything just a little bit easier. So for the first time I have been praying that the sun will come out. 

That reminded me a lot of how Christ is the light of our lives. Having  him there doesn't mean our problems go away, but it makes it a little easier for us to get by. So let's all remember to scatter sunshine wherever we may be, even if the sun is hiding behind the clouds for a few days, we can share the light of the gospel with others. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Appreciate the sun wherever you may be!!

Hermana Meredith

Twins game and snowstorm!

"The privilege to serve the Master" (April 11, 2018)

What a week friends.

Snowstorms, road trips, car calamities, sleepovers, and miracles

It turns out in Minnesota, when you refer to "April showers" that means "snow showers" because we've had out fair share of those this week. It feels like Christmas time again!

On Tuesday, it snowed all day long. We were driving to go stop by someone, when we suddenly realized we were going the wrong way, so I suddenly applied the brakes a but too hard, and all the snow on our roof slid on to the front windshield. We were now goinng 40 mph, the wrong direction, and couldn't see anything. Our windshield wipers did their best, and we were able to safely pull over in a parking lot, only to discover that amidst all the commotion one of our windshield wipers had broken off. We were able to go to the nearest auto shop up the road and replace it, then head on our merry way. We were a half hour late getting to the place we had planned to go, but right as we pulled up, the woman who lived there also pulled up getting home from work. She recognized the missionaries from when we contacted her a few months ago, and invited us right in. We had an amazing lesson about prayer, and the Holy ghost, and she really opened up to is about how she has seen God's hand in her life and in raising her kids, and we are so excited to start teaching her. If we had gotten there any earlier, she wouldnt have beem home uet and we would have moved on to a different house. So we are very grateful for snow storms and God's perfect timing. When we went back for our appointment this week, she told is that she has been reading, read the introductory pages and the first chapter of the Book of Mormon and she loved it and is excited to learn more. We are so excited to teach her! 

This week the mission had transfers! Hna Davis and I are staying together, this will be our third transfer together, and her last one before going home 😓 but we are excited to keep working and growing here together in Rochester. The day after transfers we had MLC in Bloomington, and since Rochester is an hour and half away, we stayed up in the cities the night before. We got to have dinner with President and Sister Barney, and we got to sleep over with the other hermanas covering that area, so I got to spend some time with mi hija Hna Hanson! Que bendicion!

There is this really sweet old woman, Mona, whom we visit every week. She enjoys our visits, but she is really lonely and sad and doesn't always open up, and we would just love to help her smile. On the way up this week we noticed a piano down the hall by her room, so when we were talking to her we offered "hey, if you want, Sister Meredith can play the piano for you." She said "Are you good at the piano? Beause the last time someone played if wasn't good." So we told her we could try and she could tell me if it wasn't good. So I played a couple of hymns, and then tried some classical music, and she immediately said "Is that Clair de lune?" "Yes, Mona do you like that song?" And she just nodded and smiled and sat back in her chair, and I played Clair de Lune and she was so happy, haha she wanted me to play it again and she when so sad when we had to leave, and made us promise that I would play the piano again next week. I had never seen her smile that much, and it was so cool to see her heart opened by music. 

This week I have been seeking a lot of guidance and answers and was feeling frustrated by the lack of answers I felt I was receiving. I see my time on the mission slowly clicking down, and I feel like there are a lot of blessings I have been promised that I have yet to see come to pass, and it left me feeling pretty hopeless.This past fast Sunday I prayerfully approached it seeking understanding and hope. When the member of the bishopric conducting sacrament meeting bore his testimony, he shared how he had been talking to one of his children about blessings, and how he felt there were blessings he had been promised he had not yet received, then proceeded to share how in his life he has seen that the blessings are always realized, but that are realized on the Lord's timeline, not ours, and we have to faithful, and patiently carry on, knowing that the Lord will bring that thing to pass in his own time. I could hardly believe it, I felt as though he was speaking right to me and it was an incredibly direct and specific answer right to my prayers. It reminded me of a quote I found a while back by President Monson 

"You will never know the full influence of your testimony and your [missionary] service, but you will return with gladness for having had the privilege of responding to a sacred call to serve the Master." 

I have been permitted to see countless miracles, but there are many people who have not yet accepted the gospel, people whom I love dearly, for whom I pray every day that they will someday be ready to accept the gospel and make those changes in their lives. And I'm beginning to accept that there is a lot I will never know, a lot of goodness I will never see, but I can be glad that I am dedicating my mission to my Savior and be grateful for the opportunity I have, and trust that as I am serving Him with all my heart, everything will work out for good.

I love being a missionary. It is truly the hardest thing I have ever done, the struggles and trials never cease, but neither do the miracles.

Till next week!

Hermana Meredith