Doctor Trip, Transfers and an Apostle

Happy Monday!

It has been one crazy week! I have been to the city (about an hour and a half away) three times this week. Once was to take a sister to the doctor, the second was for transfers and the third was to hear an apostle speak! Elder Neil L Andersen came and spoke to us. All of us missionaries got to go up and shake his hand. The day before President Taylor called and asked if I knew I was giving the opening prayer. I had no idea until he called. :) Elder Andersen is such a nice, happy, loving man. He is hilarious too!

Elder Andersen said a lot of things to us. He told us that if it were not for the missionaries in the United States we wouldn't be able to have missionaries in other countries. He also said that if he had a son or daughter serving a mission he would be very pleased to have them serve in this mission. Elder Andersen talked a lot about miracles and even brought "a miracle with him" to the meeting. He brought a lady that he had found and baptized while a mission president in France. It was really neat! Elder Andersen had made a goal with his missionaries to find and baptize 50 people in the mission in the month of February. The average was 20- 25 a month. He even told them that he would find one of those 50. Long story short, towards the end of the month he found this woman... or rather she found him. She called him at the mission office :) She was the 50th person to be baptized that month.

Elder Andersen told us to EXPECT miracles to happen in our lives. I really liked that. At the very end he told us (and I swear he was talking directly to the sister missionaries) "Don't be so hard on yourselves. It's hard to become a disciple of Jesus Christ." Then he said this, which really touched my heart. "The Lord loves you and accepts your sacrifice." I really needed to hear that.

I am going on my first exchange as a sister trainer tonight. (I've been on two other 24hr exchanges on my mission) I am going to go with the campus sisters and Sister Pfister is going to go with Sister Tudman. I am so thankful I get to do this new assignment with Sister Pfister. I can't imagine anybody better to do this with. She is amazing and I always learn so much from her.

This morning I was reading "Jesus: The Perfect Leader" today in preparation for my new assignment. I have often felt very inadequate but this talk really motivated me. I know I'm not perfect, but I just chose one of the Christlike qualities and will work on that until I feel I can take on another one. http://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/08/jesus-the-perfect-leader?lang=eng

I know I have changed and become more than I was in the last 13 months. I know it is because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the things I am learning and I look forward to seeing how thing things I have learned out here will apply when I'm home. I love you all!

Love, Sister Record

Monday? Again? :)

Hello everybody!

So the church has just created a new leadership position for sister missionaries. Here is the link that talks more about it (Missionary Leadership Council, Sister Trainer).

Anyway, President Taylor called me last Wednesday asking if I would be a Sister Trainer for the northern part of the mission. I will be working with Sister Pfister to take care of the needs of the 12 sisters in this part of the mission. We will go on weekly exchanges in other parts of the mission. I am excited for the new responsibility, but like always, a little nervous. I am grateful that Heavenly Father trusts me. Please keep me in your prayers as well as the 5 other sisters who have been given this assignment. Love you!

Thanks for the package mom! :D

I can't believe it is once again Monday! Where did the week go? Thanks for the package mom! I finally got it last week. :) It has been an amazing week! First off, we got transfer calls... I am staying in Stillwater! This will officially be my longest area. I am going into my 5th transfer here. By the end of that I will have been here for 6 months. I have a feeling I will be staying here the rest of my mission to be honest. This week has been a little crazy. On Tuesday I visited the OSU sisters. We had planned to visit on Wednesday, but because of severe weather we had to leave the night before. This is just a side note, but I love the storms here in Oklahoma! On Tuesday night I was woken up because the lightening was lighting up the room and thunder was shaking the walls! :D

Sister Andersen and Sister Record

Anyway, so I got to go back to my first area and work there on Tuesday night with the Sisters there. It was such a tender mercy! We stayed with one of the members that night as well. I was ecstatic to say the least. I love that place so much! I loved seeing and hearing about how much the work has hastened in the area over the last year.

I got to talk on the phone with one of the people Sister Bowles and I worked a lot with. She was trying to get back to the temple (which she did after I left the area). We have been writing each other back and forth ever since I left. When the sisters called her I was expecting her to answer the way she always did (kind of melancholy and not a lot of excitement in her voice). OH MY GOODNESS! When she answered the phone I was speechless for a second. She was energetic, full of happiness and light. I almost started crying. It was so good to talk to her for just a couple minutes. She is amazing!

Yesterday we were walking home from an appointment and got caught in the rain. It was quite fun :)
Sister Tudman and Sister Record

We taught our investigator the restoration on Friday. This is the same lady I told you about last week. We asked her if she believed the Book of Mormon was true. She said she did because she already sees it changing her life! :D We then asked her if she believed Joseph Smith saw what he said he saw. She said yes! Then on Sunday her and her fiancée came to church! It was amazing! I love them so much! Her fiancée got up and bore his testimony about prayer. It was simple but so powerful!

I read this scripture this week and I really enjoyed it. I love how straight forward our Heavenly Father is in this scripture. 2nd Nephi 8:12 says, "I am he; yea, I am he that comforteth you. Behold, who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of man, who shall die, and of the son of man, who shall be made like unto grass?" I LOVE the questions asked here." Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid?" I am really trying to have more faith and less fear in my life. I know that with faith miracles happen! I am grateful that Heavenly Father is so loving and so merciful towards me. I know God lives! I know Jesus Christ is His son and that it is only through Him that we can go back to live with our Heavenly Father again.

I love you all so much! Thanks for everything!

Love, Sister Record

Oh What a Beautiful Morning!

Hey all!

First off, I loved general conference yesterday and Saturday! Did you catch the Oklahoma reference in the last session of conference? That made me smile.

The week started off pretty great! We worked really hard to reach our goals we had set before Friday. I know the Lord is very aware of Sister Tudman and I. He knows our needs and is taking care of us.

I have a can of Axe cologne (don't ask why. I inherited it from
another companion) and was sneaky and sprayed it under the door
of the hermana's study.

We are teaching a young woman and her fiancée. They actually contacted us. He is a member and wants to start coming back. She wants to start building her home on a Christ centered home. She is AMAZING! Sister Tudman and I love her so much! She was an answer to our prayers. She is reading the Book of Mormon to her little girl as a bed time story. After she reads to her daughter she will read for a couple hours. She watched conference and loved Sister Dalton's talk. We are so excited for her and her fiancée. They are wonderful people! She watched conference and LOVED it! She loves the Book of Mormon and already feels it is true. (we met her on Friday!) We invited her to baptized on Saturday and she said yes! I have wanted to find a family to teach my whole mission, and now the Lord has provided.

Spraying Axe. I'm such a stinker.

My favorite talk at conference was Elder Holland. I also enjoyed President Monson's talk. My favorite line from all of conference was from Elder Holland. I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember the exact words. He said something like, "With the exception of His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father has only had imperfect people to work with... yet he is merciful with us. So be merciful with others and with yourselves."

I loved that because I feel like Elder Holland was speaking directly to me. Just that morning as I was getting ready the impression came to me, "the Lord is merciful with you, so be merciful with yourself." I would like to also add, my favorite song from conference was "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise." I feel the Spirit so strong as I listen to it. It talks about spreading the gospel! LOVE IT! I am listening to it right now as I write. :D

I know this church is true. It is Christ's church once again on the earth. I have no doubt. I know Christ lives. He is my Savior and Redeemer! I am grateful for His sacrifice for me. I am grateful for a loving, merciful Heavenly Father. I am grateful for a living prophet on the earth today. I love you all!

Love, Sister Record

Easter Testimony on Facebook

[NOTE: I thought it would be nice to share Sister Record's testimony that she posted on Facebook for Easter.]

Our mission President asked each us to share our testimonies of the Savior, Jesus Christ, on our facebook pages.

I know Christ is my Savior and Redeemer. I have come so much closer to him recently than I ever have in my entire life. I love Him and I know he loves me. I know that each of us is loved and known of Him.

I know that prayer is a powerful thing. Through prayer even the hardest of days and the heaviest of burdens can be lifted.

The Atonement of Christ is real and it is powerful. I know that He took upon Himself the sins of the world. He is the reason I can change and become better than I was yesterday. Christ is the reason death is not the end. I know there is life after death. I will be forever grateful for His sacrifice for me. Happy Easter!!
-With Love, Sister Record

"Christ got out of the grave for you, get out of bed for Him!"

http://mormon.org

Another Amazing Week... Yup

Sister Tudman dressed like a springtime Oreo

As a famous musical (based in the greatest state) says, "Oh What a Beautiful Morning!"

It is another beautiful Oklahoma day! Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I haven't gotten any of the packages that you (mom and Lydia) have mentioned, but I'm sure they'll be here soon.

We have had such an AMAZING week! We found some amazing new people to teach who are very interested in hearing the message of the Restoration, we set a baptismal date with an amazing person we've been teaching for a couple of months, I swallowed a live goldfish, we had investigators at church, and I am surrounded by amazing people! :D

Then we went and taught our investigator from China. She has a hard time recognizing the Spirit. We showed her the Mormon messages about light with Elder Bednar. She was really impressed with the Light of Christ. She didn't realize that the "natural" desire she had to help people and be kind was really the influence of Christ. She said that she was starting to recognize God more in her life! ahh! It was so exciting!

Sister Tudman and Sister Record

We went to see our new guy we are teaching. He is amazing! He is so prepared to hear the gospel. He told us that last week sometime he was praying that God would direct him in the direction he should go. He has a 3 year old daughter and wants to change his life for her. He hadn't prayed in years. Well.... a few days later we showed up at his door. He told us he took that as an answer from God to his prayer. We talked with him for about 30 minutes about the church. We gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, which he was so excited to read. We are going back this evening.

In my last email I said this, 'The second miracle happened yesterday. To preface this, we talked a lot about following and acting on the promptings of the spirit in relief society. It was very uplifting and I wanted to go out and act on every prompting I got from the Spirit. :) Well, we were out after dinner checking on a former investigator. He wasn't home. The thought kept coming to my mind "five doors." (We have this thing in my mission called 5 by faith. When you are in an area and your plans fall through or whatever, knock on 5 door in faith that the Lord has you here for a reason.) So we went to four doors with no answer...well, one person answered, but they didn't even let us say who we were before they shut the door. The thought kept coming to me though, "five doors, five doors."

When we got to the fifth door I distinctly remember thinking "if nothing happens at this door we are knocking on one more." Well, a young man answered with is adorable little girl! We were able to pray with him and we have a return appointment!' After he told us his side of the story, we told him ours.. Heavenly Father really does lead and guide us to those who are ready and willing to listen. All we need is the faith to listen and act on the promptings from the Spirit.

Sister Hortin and I about to eat live goldfish,
yes the fish are in the pot of water.

I guess I should tell you about the goldfish... yes. I swallowed a live goldfish and so did Sister Hortin. Don't ask what possessed me to do such a thing. It is just one of those things on my bucket list. The opportunity to do it was there, so I took it. It was actually really anti climatic. haha! I'll show you the video sometime. :)

Speaking of the Book of Mormon, I finished it again yesterday. Oh how I love that book. I will constantly be reading from that book. I know it is a book from God and is true, Just like our Heavenly Father spoke through prophets in the bible he speaks to His children today through a living prophet. We still receive answers to personal prayers, but God reveals things pertaining to the salvation of His children through a prophet. I know Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet just like Adam, Noah, or Moses. I know these things to be true.

Sister Tudman and Sister Record

I love you all! Have a wonderful week! Happy Easter yesterday! Have a great time watching conference this weekend! I can't believe it is already here again. I am so excited!

Love, Sister Record

Sister Tudman and I started this thing called the "Easter Dragon". The "Easter Dragon" (obviously us) kept on hiding twinkies and cupcakes around the Hermanas things. (I think I've told you all this already) We left this note on the white board in the kitchen.

One hiding spot

Another hiding spot on the fan

Another sign the Sisters enjoyed

On Easter the Hermanas really got us back for hiding all the twinkies and cupcakes. They hid 50 easter eggs around the house for us to find and got us a dragon piniata! love them!