The Lord Provides a Way When We Exercise Faith

July 25, 2016

Hey friends and family,

It sounds like your week was awesome!!!!! I love that you and dad went to the gun range that's so awesome!

So this week has been hectic and crazy and just awesome all at the same time. We have been teaching our favorite Investigator,  Ibet.  She is 17 and from Mexico but she has lived here since she was 10. She is literally my favorite person and is so amazing. She understands the gospel like no one I have ever met! She just grasps it like she has known it all her life. The sisters before me taught her for a week before she left to visit her brother in Chicago and when I got there we called and asked if she would go to church while on vacation but she didn't want to. So we waited till she got back. When she got back, she texted us and hard core dropped us and didn't want us to teach her anymore and that she was fine the way she was. When we got that I was like, “ Ah Heck Naw !!!!!”  I haven't even met her yet!  So two days later I was really feeling like I needed to meet this girl so we drove up to her house. I walked up to knock on the door, but before we even got to the porch the door opened and Ibet just walked out. Before she could really say anything I walked up to her and was like "Hi.  I'm sister Magda.  I’m the new sister here in Abilene.” Then we just started talking! When we asked if we could come over and teach her she said yes! 

She came to church for the second time on the 17th and loved it! In Young Women's they were talking all about ordinances. Then she was preparing for baptism last Saturday and we had a super spiritual lesson on Friday and when we sat down the first thing she said to us was she didn't want to be baptized because she didn't feel ready and our lesson was all about baptism so I was like, “Well the Lord wants us to read from 3 Nephi vs 11. I then talked about how baptism is away we can come closer to Christ and how it's not us inviting her but Jesus Christ so we just went with it any way.  She wanted to have her interview right after and passed it! But she still didn't want to be baptized yet. Sister Nail and I had to pray so hard to know what the Lord wanted us to do and the only thing we could think of was talk to her after church. So she came to church again and in Young Women's the lesson was again on ordinances.  Afterwards I was talking to her about all the ordinances and asking her thoughts on them and she told me that she loves it because it helps us stay focused on the Savior and making promises with Him so that you can know his path for us and to help us love righteously... Holy crap she is so amazing!!!!! We talked to her more about being baptized this Sunday and she wasn't sure still. Then her brother picked her up. We then went over that Sunday night at 7pm to have another lesson with her and when we got there we had no idea what more we could do to help her feel better about this commitment. I just got the feeling that if it’s the Lord’s will He will make a way.

We were talking with her and I was flipping through some scriptures trying to think of what chapter to share with her. I was thinking about Alma and Amulek but then worried it might be too strong and kind of “in your face.” As I flipped through more scriptures I thought about one on faith and flipped right to Ether 12. It was the most spiritual lesson I have ever been in!  We just talked and talked about each verse and explained what certain verses and words meant. Them we asked her what her greatest desire was and she asked what a desire meant. We explained and she said, "Oh my greatest desire is to come closer to Jesus Christ.”" We then asked her if she had thought about being baptized this Sunday, and she said, "I have decided that I want to be baptized this Sunday.  I was talking to my brother on my way home from church and was telling him all the things I learned and he looked at me and told me I needed to be baptized!" So this Sunday Ibet is getting baptized!!!!!!! It's so exciting. The Lord truly provides a way if we exercise faith.  It is in the trials of our faith that we learn how strong we are.

Love,

Sister Magda

Exchanges, Challenges, and Greyhounds!

July 18, 2016

Hi Friends and Family!!!! 

Can't believe it’s already Monday!! Where does the time go! This is going to be a quick email because when on a mission you’re always going, going, going hahaha! But this week has been awesome!

Last Tuesday I went on exchanges with Sister Peterson (my mission Grandma) and it was the best exchange of my life!!!

I have learned so much from her and how to be a hardworking and courageous missionary! She is literally the coolest person ever we had so much fun and saw so many miracles in Salina.   

Funny story; My new companion, Sister Nail and I had a district challenge to hand out 5 Books of Mormon in one day and so we were so pumped a ready to take the challenge.  The first house we stopped at was this sweet old lady’s.  She came to the door and we asked her if she had talked to missionaries before and she "oh ya, I’ve talked to missionaries before they gave me a book. Hold on, let me go find it." We were thinking, “ man she's going to tell us all about how she's read the Book of Mormon and loved it... She came back with a Book of Mormon and handed it to us and said, “I don't want this. Give it to someone else who does.” And she closed the door... I couldn't help but laugh.  We started out the day with -1... but that’s ok because the Lord always provides a way if we are willing to keep going and keep talking to all those we meet. End of story; we were able to hand out 5 Books of Mormon by the end of the day.  It was Awesome!! 

We have an investigator named Ibet. She is 17 and from Mexico and has been meeting with us for three weeks. She came to church two weeks ago and this Sunday and loved it! She kept saying how much she loved it and wants to keep learning more and coming to church. She is my favorite person and is so smart and loves learning about the gospel. She is preparing to be baptized this Saturday! I freaking love her so much she is such an awesome Girl and we have a lot of fun together!

I love my mission so much and am so grateful to be here in the Heartland!

Well I love you all so much !

Love Sister Magda

P.S.  Sister Magda went to the Greyhound Hall of Fame which is located in Abilene, Ks.  There she saw actual Greyhounds and Greyhound buses.  She loved the sweet dogs. (She has a half greyhound/half afghan hound at home and loves him to bits.)  She was excited that they even had puppies!

My First Transfer!

July 11, 2016

Dear Family and Friends,

 

My farewell to my "Rock-Star" companion...Sister Mertens!

So I know everyone has been waiting to hear about my new area and companion so I will start with that.

My new companion is Sister Nail, she Is 19 and from Sunland, California which is 20min from LA... ew...jk :P  She came out with me from the MTC. UM.... I am her 7th companion in 4months! She has been in three trio's which is super cool because she knows a lot of the sisters. She is cool and sweet and we get a long awesomely!  (Alas, no pictures of her yet.)

I am serving in Abilene Kansas which is 30min away from Salina (pronounced “Sal-eye-na not Sal-ee-na.) But the church and our ward is in Salina which means we have to drive 30min to the church every Sunday and whenever we have a church tour or go up that way hahaha! That’s 60miles there and back ahhh all our miles!!!! Abilene is a really really, really cute old fashioned town of like 6,000 something people with cute doll house like homes. The people here are“eh” not super awesomely kind but not horribly mean either.  Haha its great!.

C.H. Lebold Mansion. Hey Mom, It's for sale!

I have to drive all the time because my companion can't which has been both fun/ugh hahahaha. In our ward there are 4 sets of missionaries; two sets of elders and sisters. The other sisters are our STL's which are Sister Peterson and sister Southwick (STL means Sister training leaders which is a leadership role for sisters. we go on exchanges with them and call them if we have a problem) But cool story—Sister Peterson is my Mission Grandma (she trained sister Tafua my mission mom) and Sister Southwick was sister Merten’s companion as well and she trained my MTC companion so it’s pretty cool! 

There aren't a lot of members in Abilene so we don't have dinner every night—just once or twice a week. But…the members that are here are freaking awesome and fun.  The 4th of July wasn't super, super fun but it was pretty fun. We hung out with the STL's all day shopping and talking and joking around then we had lunch with a member and then we went to the Brown’s house. They are this super cool family that makes the best food I have ever had...(other than my mom’s cooking cuz no one cooks better than her :D) but they barbecued hotdogs and GIANT hotdogs and then like these Giant BROTTS and homemade French fries and homemade mac and cheese. Sooooo good.  Then when we got home I attempted to watch fireworks from our deck/balcony. The stupid trees blocked them. The cool thing was that these were the kind of fireworks that go in the air!  They are not illegal here!   And these fireworks were going off for the whole week before the 4^th.  It sounded like a war zone every night. 

Now, for my reply to your email. I'm so proud of you momma! You are so amazing at conducting and this was your opportunity to show it and you KILLED IT !!! (Alisha’s mom had the privilege of conducting a concert for the Valley Choral Society)

Holy cow that Pokémon Go game sounds so fun/dangerous hahaha I want to play it now haha.

Man that’s scary/upsetting what’s happening in Russia with the missionaries, but I am glad that Nathan is staying positive and doing what the Lord needs him to do. He is a great missionary and will see many miracles in Russia.

We got a new mission president his name is president McCuistion.   He was born in California and is a convert. His family joined the church when he was a kid. He went on a mission to Scotland and came home and married his wife who was his brother's wife's sister!  (Take a minute and process that one.)  He and his future wife had been friends since they met (through his brother) but didn't date each other until she wrote him on his mission. She told him that she broke up with her boyfriend and that she always compared them to him and none of them measured up to him. Pretty cool! He builds homes and has a big family... thats all I really remember but he is also really kind and loving.

Love you guys and miss ya but I am so glad to be here in Kansas and sharing the gospel. This has changed and blessed my life and that has brought me closer to my Savior and Heavenly Father. 

Love,

Sister Magda

P.S.  I wish there was a 7-Eleven here haha :P drink lots of Slurpees for meeeeee!

A delicious smoothie in my "Bubba Gump" glass.  Sigh.  It's not a Slurpee.

Here I am saying goodbye to all of my Wichita "families."  I will miss them! 

ONCE UPON A TIME....in the land of OZ!

June 20, 2016

Dear Friends and Family,

First of all, thank you for the birthday wishes. I can't believe I am now 20 years old!  What the heck—I am so old... Just kidding. Thank you mom for your amazing box of all the good stuff

(especially the TACO BELL GIFT CARD yumyumyummy)

and thank you Ashleigh for the shirts and the Harry Potter stuff.

I just about died and went to heaven. And tell Sister Marshall thank you so much for the $50. She spoils me so much.  Tell her I love and miss her! 

I will start out with the craziest story of the week... you ready... ONCE UPON A TIME there were two Sisters who couldn’t for the life of them find someone to go on a team up with them on this hot, muggy, sticky, slimy, humid day.  So they got a ride down to the lovely Ghetto of Wichita, where all the wonderful investigators are. The Sisters then spent time with their favorite recent converts and their cute little kittens and then had to speedily get to an appointment.

As they walked outside, they soon discovered that it had started to sprinkle...

Thinking nothing of it they said their goodbyes and proceeded to head out to their appointment which was two miles away. When they were halfway there they saw flashes of lightning and heard big booming sounds and looked ahead and saw a wall of rain coming towards them.  Not knowing what to do, they proceeded into the wall of rain. Puddles and puddles of water they had to dodge but it was too late to save their feet.  The one Sister (me) had holes in the bottom of her shoes so it was pointless and she proceeded to walk through the puddles.

Soon the roads started to flood and cars started to go slower so as not to spray walls of water up into the air.  They lightly and carefully proceeded through the flooded roads.  That is all except for a monstrous white truck with large wheels. He decided to speed through the lake of a road and send a tsunami like wave over the Sister that happened to be closest to the road (me) and completely soak her to the bone with water... the bedraggled Sisters only yelled lovely things to the truck... sort of...

Upon reaching their appointment they finally got a break from the weather and hoped it would pass when they got out... that hope was shattered when they left and saw that it had gotten worse and their dinner appointment was another two and half miles away.  

There was lightning striking the ground and lakes instead of roads. But they said a little prayer and then continued to walk. The sidewalks had water to their thighs and the rain was pushing them sideways and after a mile they surely thought that the worst that could happen would be that they were going to be late to dinner.  The Lord heard their cries and a gift from heaven was presented to them in the form of a Spanish couple they had never met. These angels in human form stopped and asked if they needed a ride. The Sisters expressed their gratitude to God for this wonderful Spanish couple who could barely speak English and happily hopped in and was taken to the member’s home.

As these Sisters approached the door and the member opened it she saw the extent of their toils and travails and expressed her sorrow that they didn't call and ask for a ride—for she surly would have come and picked them up. Feeling dumb and a bit cold, they said, “sorry,” and the member went and brought out fresh pajamas and took their wet clothes to put them in a warm dryer. She ordered pizza and they ate pizza in Pj's on the couch as the rain came down harder and harder.

The sisters were happy because they were warm and dry and their bellies were full of lovely Pizza Hut pizza and root beer. It was a Happily Ever After. 

That was my week!  It was great hahaha !  I love everyone so much and hope your week is a great one !! 

Love,

Sister Magda

Bug+Humidity=DEATH

June 13, 2016

Bugs+Humidity=DEATH!

This week was super-hot!  Now that Kansas summer has finally arrived all the bugs have decided to come out... I have no idea why no one asked them too. I remember asking them nicely to stay hibernating but they didn't listen that’s for sure!  My legs have about 30 itchy bites each!

Other than the bugs this week was very uneventful.

We had district meeting and then scrambled to find a ride to our area where our investigators are and finally found one but all they could do was drop us off which is totally fine; that’s way better than walking 20miles haha. We were walking into the apartment complex when the woman we are teaching walks out and was like, “I'm going to the store walk with me!” So we did and we taught her the Restoration of the Gospel all through the store. When she got to the counter she realized she had forgotten her debate card . She put everything on hold and then we walked back with her to her apartment. After some searching, she found it then she had  a lot of questions for us, so we spent another 30min answering them. After that, she asked us to walk again with her back to the store picked up the groceries and back to the apartment and answered more questions...weirdest/coolest lesson ever!

We had Zone Conference on Friday from 9am-5pm. It was our Mission President’s last zone conference and it was awesome!!!

We have four AP's (Assistant to the “mission” Presidet) and each taught on different subjects. The main topics were on having a GIANT VISION and changing into the missionary you are meant to be and who you promised to be as well. Elder Marriefield and Elder Limb talked about changing your attitude. If you go into a lesson thinking only negative things and how it’s going to go wrong and nothing is going to happen then most likely that’s going to happen. But if you go into a lesson thinking I can do this; I got this; it’s going to go great and we can do this, then your outcome will be just that. It was really cool because they did a baseball demonstration where one was the pitcher and the other e was the batter.   

They did two scenarios one with a good attitude and the other with a bad attitude and then we had a discussion on it why certain things happened and what could have gone better. Our mission president went up and talked about a new mission word COEO (Capitalize On Every Opportunity) no matter what you are doing always look for a way to do more to make every moment the best moment.  

I Love being a KWM (Kansas Wichita Mission) missionary it is the most amazing mission ever and I am so privileged to be a part of this great mission family! 

This baby robin fell out of a 12 foot tree
and Sister Maxwell found him and nursed it back to health! 

Sorry this letter is so short I promise for better stories and a more eventful week this week :D

I hope California Is much cooler than Kansas and that everyone is having an AWESOME SUMMER !!! 

Love,

Sister Magda

Answering Questions Email

June 6, 2016

Answering Questions Email

So this email will be me answering all the questions everyone has asked me that I have been really lazy about answering so here it goes.

1.       Have you had more storms this week?  Any tornado scares?

We had five storms in a row! It was super fun! It rained so hard it hurt to walk outside and it flooded a lot! We didn't have any tornados in Wichita—just a few tornado watches but nothing happened. In Dodge they had three big tornado's touch down and President Bell got a video of one.

2.       Tell us about your new companion!  Sister Folkman wants the scoop…

Sister Mertens (my comp) is really cool honestly haha. She and I got along really fast and make jokes and tease each other a lot and have fun. We work really well with each other and see tons of miracles. We actually talked till 2 in the morning one Sunday night. Tell Sister Folkman that we get along Great and It was the funniest thing to find out she was related to them we literally were like NO FREAKING WAY !!!!

3.     Ahem.  Pictures Please?

I have really been slacking on the pictures sorry but I have some video's I will send you.

4.      What’s the funniest thing that happened to you this week? 

So there are multiple funny stories this week. The first one was on Thursday when we literally called everyone on the ward roster and no one wanted to go out with us or give us a ride or was busy. We finally got a ride to take us to Seneca which is the most Ghetto part of our area... it’s like Watt Ave in Sacramento.  We had to walk the whole time. We tried to visit some of our investigators but no one answered or they just ignored our knocks. We finally got in to a less active member's home. Just as we were sitting down she got a call that she needed to leave soon. Sister Mertens asked if we could show a short two minute video before we left and she looked at us and said with a VERY straight face ... “NO,” and then asked us to leave. Sister Mertens was so freaking mad and it was so funny to watch because all day long that was happening to us and I was just amused with how she was handling it. While we were trying some more people we sat down on the curb and I fell asleep so hard... Sister Mertens recorded it... that happened three separate times that day. Then our phone died and I gave our “team-up” companion (who was a recent convert of a week) the wrong address.   Next, we asked a random lady if we could barrow a charger for our super old brick phone. Luckily she had one that fit and we got that settled and our ride was on her way to the right place. We talked to the lady and she had met with missionaries before and was told stuff that wasn't true that made her stop meeting with them but she loves the Family proclamation to the world. Our ride showed up and came out to talk with us and then... THREE COP CARS showed up and the lady we were talking with said very calmly, "oh that’s for me I gotta go" and ran inside.... we were like what the freak?   We got into our car and a cop came up to us to ask if we knew her. CRAZY RIGHT!

5.       Any scary encounters?

We saw a Car accident that day we were walking Seneca and one of the people involved was an undercover cop. no one was hurt though which was good.

6.       Blake wants to know what was your favorite lesson.

My Favorite lesson would have to be the gospel of Jesus Christ because it talks about how we can be cleansed from sin through christ and how we can change and become better. It also really emphasize how it is never too late no matter what we've done.

7.       What did you do last P-day/Memorial Day?

P-day last week was really boring. We wanted to do something fun for Elder Shumway's last P-day but we ended up just hanging out at the church for 8 hours playing volleyball and emailing. Then we had hot dogs at a member’s home.

8.       How was Fast and Testimony meeting?

Fast and Testimony was ok it was a lot like a “Friendimony” Sunday and a lot of crying. There were still good testimonies though.

9.       Your birthday is coming up really soon.  What do you want?

So for my birthday I would really love music on a flash drive—any  music that is a Mormon artist and no music covers of other artists.  umm pictures from my Facebook and from you guys into an album. Letters, my sloth build-a-bear, Walmart gift card, music, Gentri Album!, Sheet music for a guitar, South African Flag to put in my room, SA hat or jersey and pretty much anything SA, that’s all I can think of right now. 

10.    What have YOU cooked this week?

I have cooked cereal this week hahahaha. I would love if you could send me the South African Pancake recipe next Monday the Grants want me to come over and make them with the family it will be so fun! could you also send me the Porkolt recipe?

11.     Are your shoes holding up?  (Remind me the name of the shoes (also the name type) and their size.  What color would you like if I had to send you more?

My shoes are doing ok, but a hole is starting to grow in the bottom so I need another pair soon. The Brand is LifeStride GAWK  black /or navy size 9WM. 

12.    Blake and Jordan want to know what you buy when you go shopping.  Do you usually stick to stuff I would buy, or do you find your own? (Alisha’s mom is cringing now to reveal the answer.  Sigh.)

I don't buy that much. I am kinda bad when I do. I buy cereal, junk cereal, and cookie's and creme pop tarts, I buy bottled water, and snack food because we have dinner with members each night. But when we do go shopping, we split the cost of everything because then it’s cheaper.  There are healthy things I buy like.... well…does the water count?

13.    Blake says that some missionaries in his mission would pool their food money allotment together and plan out their meals for the week to get the most out of their money.  Do you do that?

We pool our money but we don't plan meals out hahaha 

Well that’s all the questions asked hahah!  I love everyone and hope all is well. 

Love,

This is Sister Magda having a tough day.

Sister Magda 

The Coolest Miracle!

May 23, 2016

I have been in Kansas for 12 weeks now!!!! 

Holy moly can you believe how fast time flies when on a mission!  This Friday is my 12 week call with the mission president to finish my training and then after that I am no longer a Greenie... in theory you don't truly stop being a greenie until you're out for 6 months but I will be done with training which means no more "The District" video's :P. 

This week was super Awesome! I went from not knowing what the heck I was doing and not knowing who to go see or what to plan; I just kept doing my best, and this week we just went out with members and worked our butts of and got so many new people who are interested in the church that we are now teaching. A cool story that happened yesterday was when we went with R. (who is 16) to go visit some investigators.  We went to visit this one investigator that we had been trying to get a hold of for three days.  I knocked on her door and her husband answered.  He told us to go away and that she didn't live there anymore. We asked for her number and he just said, “no” and slammed the door on us... super awkward but funny as well. We then started to go back to the car and we saw this lady getting ready to mow her lawn. We debated if we should go talk to her because she looked a little young. We weren't sure if she was a teen or an adult.  So after a bit of debating, we went over to talk to her and she was super cool! She was interested and kind so I asked her if she had ever heard of the Book of Mormon. She said, “no” so I took one out of my bag and told her about it and why it’s important and how its helped me come closer to my Savior. I asked her if we could give her a chapter to read, and she said she would love to read it. We then proceeded to talk about baptism and if she had been baptized before and what that meant to her. We then asked her if we were to come back and teach her more and she came to the knowledge that this was true that she would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of god. She said she would and she is now working towards June 11th yaaay THE COOLEST MIRACLE!

We have met so many cool people here in just two weeks its proof that there is always a reason why Heavenly Father changes things I was so mad that my trainer was ET'ed (Emergency Transferred) away from me and put me with someone new and unfamiliar. But Heavenly Father only gives us what He knows we can handle and even though I felt like I couldn't handle it and that I was walking in foggy place I just kept moving forward and trusting that He will show me the way and He did. I have been doing so many things I have never done before and have changed so much. I know this isn't the end for challenges and right now I’m in the standby zone for another one but just like the rest.  I know that with the help from the Lord and my own willingness to change and take those steps I will be able to overcome them. I am so grateful for Sister Mertens and all that she has taught me she is also such an amazing missionary.
 

Love, 

Sister Magda