Monday, September 4, 2017

My Last Epistle

September 4, 2017
My last Epistle,

Ok, so I am about to say what every dying missionary says, I can't believe this day has come... Who would've thought that 18 months would go by so fast! This has been the greatest 18 months of my entire life. Yes, there have been ups and downs and in betweens, but there have been super highs and unexplainable experiences that I will ever be grateful for. There are so many fond memories I have here in Kansas that I will never forget! How I will miss this place!
  1. The people! So many wonderful people that have been sent by God to me to help me or for me to teach the gospel to.
  2. Seeing the changes the gospel makes in a person’s life. Especially mine!
  3. My backyard being lit on fire at 11pm by a crazy psycho.
  4. Feeling the Spirit as you teach the gospel and seeing how it “clicks.”
  5. The sound of running water in the church, as someone I came to love gets dressed in white.
  6. Being a representative of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
  7. Bed bugs.... NOT!
  8. Sitting in church with an investigator and feeling the Spirit.
  9. Seeing investigators recognize confirmations from the Spirit.
  10. Change! 
There is so much I wish I could express through this email, but sadly I can't. I have loved every second of being the Lords missionary! Everything I have done in this year and half has been for my Savior. I have gone out in the heat, cold, stormy tornado weather, to teach what I love and know to be true. I was never forced. I have done this because I want to bring the light this gospel has brought to my life to others. I have had thousands of doors slammed in my face, but those that have opened their door and let us in has made those thousands worth it. I have met so many wonderful members with such a desire to share the gospel to their friends, and have been wonderful examples. I have seen them embrace complete strangers into the church, and love and take care of them. The sweetest moments of my mission, are the times when the Lord allowed me to see his children as He does, with love and all that they can become. Brothers and sisters this church is true and contains the fullness of the gospel. The Book of Mormon is holy scripture and another testament of our Savior Jesus Christ. I promise you that as you read it with a sincere heart and act upon its precepts, you will come closer to God than by any other book. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and called to restore His church upon the earth, so that we may no longer be in darkness but guided by God’s chosen leaders through revelation once again. 

When my mission is over I will be steadfast and immovable as a living epistle of Jesus Christ and love my Savior forever more. I belong to the Kansas Wichita Mission family, Hoorah for Israel!

Love,
Sister Magda 


I LOVE MY MISSION!

August 28, 2017
Dear Family and Friends,

Wow so this week just flew by like crazy fast! I can't believe it’s almost September. I think when I was praying for time to slow down its doing the exact opposite... dang! Well, this week was amazing! So many miracles happened I'll do my best to tell you all about them. 

We had our mission conference on Saturday. The whole mission came to Wichita to the 29th Street Building to hear Elder Dallin H. Oaks speak to us. First, when we got there at 11am we had lunch with the whole mission, and got to mingle and chat beforehand. I was so excited specially to see Sister Grover (my Topeka, Ks companion). We pretty much spent the whole time during lunch together talking and catching up. I have missed her so much! It felt so good to see her again before I go home. Of course, she made a few dying jokes... who wouldn't though haha. (That is a missionary slang term for “going home.”)


We all gathered together and sang before we headed into the church (we were in the pavilion outside) and the Spirit was so strong. It was hard not to tear up. We then headed inside and took a mission picture with Elder Oaks and then headed into the chapel. Elder Oaks and two members of the Quorum of the Seventy spoke to us. Before that, they made sure to shake every missionary’s hand!  Elder Oaks talked to us about teaching repentance and baptizing converts. How important it is to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ which is, Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end and how important it is that when we teach the gospel we don't skip a step if someone doesn't understand it. He told us our purpose is to convert people to the gospel of Jesus Christ not the church because when times get tough and we go through trials only our testimony of the gospel will get us through it. We as missionaries need to teach simply and help our investigators and converts get into the routine of reading our scriptures and pray every single day because just doing the basics is what is going to build our testimony and keep us strong and firm in our faith.


It's so true because I have seen how just doing simple and basic things are the most important ways to build and maintain your testimony. There have been times where I have lacked in my prayer and scripture reading and I can remember feeling lost or more confused than if I were doing those things. I promise you that if you continue to do those basic routines and habits, your life will be enriched and blessed eternally. I absolutely loved everything that was said in that conference and the sprit was so powerful in that room. We ended with the hymn "I Know my Redeemer Lives"... never in my life have I ever felt the Spirit stronger than during that song. I couldn't finish the song because of how strongly I felt the Spirit. My favorite verse of that hymn is " He lives all glory to his name! He lives, my Savior, still the same. Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: "I know that my Redeemer lives.!" He lives! All glory to his name! He lives, my Savior, still the same. Oh, the joy this sentence gives, "I know my Redeemer lives!" What a beautiful song. It will forever be one of my favorites hymns. It ended our conference with such spiritual power that I will never forget. 


Sister Lomu and I are teaching so many wonderful people! We are teaching a guy named Joshua and he is just amazing. Sister Lomu found him on exchanges with sister Setoki. They stopped him to give him a picture of Jesus and he told them that he has met with missionaries before. As they continued to talk to them he told them that he has read the Book of Mormon three times already but when he moved he lost his copy. He was very happy to receive a new copy. We taught him the restoration last week and he just absorbed everything and he told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is true. He then told us all about what he read before we came which was Nephi and the Liahona and how amazing it was that the lord provided them away to get to the promised land. He told us he wanted to come to church really badly but doesn't have car to get there which was no problem because there was a member just around the corner who was super willing to give him a ride! On Sunday, we left early to go see if he was ready... well when we got there he had just woken up because his alarm never went off.... he then told us that he wasn’t going to be able to make it this week. That’s when sister Lomu said "is it because you don't think you can get dressed on time?" He was like "ya" she then said, " don't worry we can wait for ya so go get dressed." He went to get dressed and then came out with a white shirt and jeans and his Book of Mormon in his hands and excited that he could come.


He absolutely loved Sacrament and all the members swarmed him to greet him and he just beamed at them. He loved Sunday school and participated in the discussion. After priesthood, he came out and told us that he feels like he's at home here and can't wait to come back! We were talking to him when a sister from our ward came up to me and said "did you know Elder Oaks is in the chapel right now?" I immediately got excited and told Joshua to follow me and on the way to the chapel explained who Dallin H. Oaks was and how he's an apostle of the Lord. When we got to the chapel Elder Oaks was shaking everyone's hands and came up to Joshua and shook his hand and looked at him and said that he was very happy that he came to church. A lady from our ward told him that that was a once in a life time opportunity to be able to shake hands with an apostle, and Joshua smiles and said, " I'm going to go tell everyone!" Hahah it was so funny and awesome. Joshua was beaming from ear to ear the whole day. He has been such an amazing guy to teach. He has such a desire to change and build his faith in the Savior. He is currently preparing to be baptized on September 16th and I am so sad that I won’t be able to be there but that’s how it is. We are just instruments in the Lord’s hands to help him move his work forward and I am so grateful to have been a part of Joshua's journey. 

We are also teaching Tara and Tabitha who are sisters. They both just moved from Chicago to live with their other sister and start their lives over. Both sister have such a desire to learn more of the gospel of Jesus Christ and come to church. Tara has already asked for Sunday's off to go to church and is coming next week with her daughters and Tabitha. We are so excited to teach them more. 

This week has truly been such a spiritual and wonderful week. One of the best of my mission! I love my mission so much! I love that I get a front row seat to the miracles our father in heaven has for his children and getting to be an instrument in his hands to help my brothers and sisters feel the joy that comes from living the gospel. I do this only because I have seen it in my own life and want so desperately for everyone to have it in their lives because without it would be sad and so very difficult.   I am forever and eternally grateful that I have the fullness of the gospel and all the blessings, peace, joy, comfort, strength, and confidence that comes from the knowledge I have. 

I love you all so much and hope you have a fantastic week! Remember to read and pray every day so as to have the strength and powers of heaven with you every day! 

Love,
Sister Magda 


I Know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is True

August 14, 2017

Dear family and friends,

Not a whole lot has happened in this week. Monday night we got a call from the STL's asking if we could change our exchange from Thursday to Tuesday... which was all good we didn't have any set appointments so we agreed to it. As we were driving up to the 13th Street Building they called us and told us that they had to change the exchange again to the next day... which was super funny to us because literally we were pulling in to the parking lot when they told us so we had to drive all the way back to our area. Luckily, all those miles were reimbursed. So, we had exchanges on Wednesday instead after district meeting. I went to Bel Air with Sister Thompson, and Sister Lomu stayed in Maize with Sister Setoki.

Back story, Sister Setoki in Topeka got into a fender bender and lost her driving privileges and then just two weeks ago Sister Thompson got into a fender bender and lost her driving privileges as well so they have no car and have to walk everywhere... which meant on my exchange in Bel Air I had to walk everywhere as well... ewwh. But it was still super awesome! Sister Thompson and I had a lot of fun talking to people and talking about all our mission stories. We walked up to this one guy’s porch and started talking to him. Well, he was super drunk and was acting all flirty to us he then said, "if I join your church can I have two wives... just kidding." After that, we asked if we could send other missionaries to talk to him later. We then passed him to the elders hahaha.

That night it stormed pretty hard but we were luckily in a member’s home eating dinner by that time and then had meetings at church so we didn't have to be in it. The Andover sisters picked us up from church (sister Gardner and sister Nail) it was really nice to see Sister Nail and spend a little time talking to her. We then went out to Cold Stone because Sister Thompson wanted to celebrate my last exchange with ice cream... ðŸ˜­ I loved every minute of that exchange! Sister Thompson is such an amazing missionary and taught me so much! She is such a wonderful example of diligence and obedience. She is also so much fun. We definitely became close friends and I am grateful. 

When Sister Lomu and I got back to Maize she had found 4 new investigators and two of them are super solid! The other two will get there. We weren't able to find any more people though which was rough. But we were able to progress a lot of people. 

Mark spoke in sacrament meeting for the first time! He gave his whole conversion story and testimony and it was absolutely amazing. He gave such a strong testimony on the restoration and how he was led by the Lord to know of its truthfulness. He said that he could not deny that this was God's true church restored upon the earth. I can't express how amazing it has been to be able to see the changes this gospel makes on everyone's lives. People that are lost and confused are able to find peace and clarity. Those who are lonely and hurt are able to feel Christ love in great abundance and are able to be fully healed through his atonement. There is an endless amount of blessings that come from the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I have seen so many in my life before and during my mission. 

 I love my mission with all my heart it has brought me so much joy that words cannot even express. I have felt my Savior walk beside the whole way through, helping me through hard times and rejoicing with me through good times. I have come to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is truly Jesus Christ's church restored here upon the earth with the fullness of the everlasting gospel, and that it brings families closer together. It’s brought mine closer together which I am forever grateful for. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and if we read it God can truly answer our prayers and questions. I know that it is another testament of Jesus Christ and all those who read will come closer to God than any other book. I know this because I've read it and studied, pondered, and prayed to know if it was true and by the power of the Holy Ghost I know that it is. I promise you that if you read and ask God if its true he will tell you as well and it will change your life and you will be able to know of the glory of God and the joy of the fullness of his gospel. I am so excited to see the miracles God has in store for his children here in the Maize 1st area and to be a part of it. ðŸ˜Š 

Love,

Sister Magda