I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be.

Well I just had the most miraculous week of my whole mission. Every day was full of miracles and lessons and SUNSHINE! It was wonderful. The work is picking up and we have so much potential here. I had never felt so happy to be here before.

And then transfer calls came. I'm sweeping in to train in Cheney YSA branch and Sister Sanchez is sweeping it to train in Wenatchee. Which means we are both being swept out. Like all of our hard work, everything we did from the ground up to find people and earn the trust of our members will be swept up by two new sisters. I have maybe cried twice before this on my mission but yesterday I shed real tears. I felt like Hugh B. Brown in his story of the currant bush.

I just kept looking up to heaven and thinking,

how could you do this to me? after all I've done to measure up? how could you do this to me?

And then in the same way the quiet voice came to Elder Brown a voice came to me,

“Look, little currant bush, I am the gardener here, and I know what I want you to be. I didn’t intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, and someday, little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say, ‘Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for loving me enough to cut me down.’”

It was a simple reminder to me that this is God's work. The miracles we have seen didn't come from me or my talents. They came from the Lord. I did work hard here and the Lord knows that and He's pleased with me. He didn't ask me to move this boulder (even though when I first got here I was certain I'd get it going fast), He asked me to push. And I did push. Got pretty strong here in the Valley from all the pushing we did. We didn't see miracles by way of baptisms but we did see miracles take place in the hearts of the members. We started from zero here and now the new sisters will come in and have fresh soil and newly laid seeds to reap a mighty harvest. I know it's not me. Yeah, I know that I am nothing. As to my strength I am weak. Therefore I will not boast of myself but I will boast of my God. 

And the Lord always does surprise me with things far better than I could imagine. I'm going to the English side for now and that's pretty hard for me to swallow. But I know I'll come back to the Spanish work and I'll love my time there. I'll look back and be grateful that God is cutting me down a little. 

I didn't want to leave Moses to come to the Valley. But the learning and growing I've done here means everything to me. Spokane Valley is so, so dear to my heart. And so it goes with missions. Lots of changes. Lots of learning. Lots of good, good experiences.

We don't have a lot of time today because we have a million things to do to get everything ready for the new sisters and for packing to leave tomorrow. It's been a crazy day. Fear busting this morning again. Always fun. To keep you updated on the work here: Dusty (garage sale guy) is so sincere. He read the restoration pamphlet and intro to the Book of Mormon like 6 times. He has a real desire to know the truth. We've prayed mightily for him and I hope the sisters have lots of success teaching him. We are still teaching Veronica S. We got really real with her last week and told her she has to keep commitments and show God she wants to know and then she will receive her answer.She's been reading in the Book of Mormon with her family each night and so we're thrilled for her. We found a less-active named Ivan R. that we've been looking everywhere for. He moved and changed phones so we couldn't find him and then one day we knocked on his door! God is amazing. Ivan's really ready to come back to church. We asked him when we could see him and he said, "any day, any time. I'm so willing to do this right now." We are working with some families that are referrals from members so that is awesome. 

I really was super bummed to leave my Spokane Valley after all these good things started to happen, but I know I did my part here. I truly worked as hard as I could and now the sisters will come in to see the wonderful blessings here. I'm excited for them to keep the work moving forward. 

I will miss Hermana Sanchez dearly but I'm super excited for the new adventures coming this next transfer. I hear YSA branches are a blast. Yay!

Love you all, love being a missionary, love, love, love this gospel!

Hermana Em

* Hermana Em sent this link for those of you who have not seen this Mormon Message.

http://youtu.be/Rr8xvw0cgw0

And now, my beloved brethren, for ye are my brethren, and ye ought to be beloved

To those I love with all my heart,

Sunshine and happy days! Springtime is the BEST. We went to the temple today. Which you know what that means: Miracle Monday! Once again, I have a testimony that miracles ALWAYS happen the day before the temple. Sister Sanchez and I are considering sharing this theory with President Mullen so we can go to the temple every transfer. Or every week...Shoot, I could use a miracle day like this once a week. 

But ok, ok. We do see miracles everyday. Even little things like people answering their door and letting us inside. But yesterday was topping the charts.

Melissa got baptized on Saturday which was so great and happy but that left our teaching pool pretty shallow. As in nobody. We didn't have any investigators in the Bowdish ward. So we've been praying pretty hard that we can just find SOMEBODY. In both English and Spanish truthfully cause we've been struggling. We went on exchanges last week. Did I tell you Sister Tippetts got transferred to an English ward here? SO happy to have her! And so she's the traveling sister up here and so we went on exchanges with them. I just love her so. Anyway, I'm giving a lot of back story just to tell you that on exchanges we walked a lot. The sisters only have a few miles to drive their car each day 'cause their area isn't very big so they walk a lot. The sun is shining so it feels great to be out talking to everyone. I walked more on my exchange than I have my whole mission. I was loving it! Of course, because we cover all Spanish speakers in the entire Valley, we are driving everywhere. We are constantly in the car. It can drive me crazy sometimes. So we decided yesterday that we'd park our car and walk more. Especially because we were trying potentials in our English area. Wouldn't you know that the day we decide to walk more it's ferociously windy and freeeezing!? But we walked anyway.

And we walked right past a garage sale that we would've zoomed past in our other circumstances. So we stopped to talk. The lady selling happened to be a less-active member and she wasn't too excited to talk but the guy buying came up to us. 

"Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons?"

"Mormons"

"Ok. I'll listen. What do you want to tell me?"

"Do you have time right now??"

"Yeah, let's go to the park."

Thankfully the park was about ten steps away. We sat down at a picnic table and the first thing Dusty told us was that he had a 3 year old daughter who means everything to him. He hadn't been able to focus at work that day so he took a half hour for lunch. Then he stopped at the garage sale and he'd been there for about an hour just mulling around until we showed up. He knew God sent us to him so he decided to listen. We taught him a powerful restoration lesson and promised him the peace and blessings that come from the Book of Mormon. He gladly took a copy and nodded his head in agreement. It was all making sense. Then we invited him to be baptized. For May 25th.

"If I know this is true by then, I will be baptized."

He'll know it's true. Because it is. There is a real peace in the Book of Mormon. He will feel the truth of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and he'll change his life. 

Just like that. 

And we met him at a garage sale that we only stopped at 'cause we were walking. 

God is amazing at orchestrating these things. I see His hand, and His love everyday. I'm so grateful to be here and to be His missionary. On top of that miracle, we had: some members invite us for dinner on Thursday to teach their friends, a less-active we've had the hardest time getting a hold of let us in for a lesson, and Gloria Cooper couldn't get enough during our Plan of Salvation lesson and prayed right there to know if it was true. It was a really great day.

Typically week 3 or 4 is the miracle week of the transfer but we're up to week 6 and I know it'll be full of good things. It may be because it's probably the last week Sister Sanchez and I will be together. I have no idea what'll happen. I have no idea what I want to happen either. I'm willing to go where God needs me. But also that means send all mail to the mission office until further notice!

Well, I love y'all! The work is good. It's tough but good. I love my mission more and more everyday. I love this place. I love President and Sister Mullen just so, so much. I know God is there. He loves us. He knows us. We matter to him.

Keep up the good work, y'all!

Love,

Hermana Em

virtue loveth virtue, light cleaveth unto light

Dear loves of my life,

It's a wonderful day to be a missionary in the Spokane Washington mission! :) That's what President Mullen tells us every week in our letter. And it's TRUE. I love being a missionary in Spokane Valley. It's been 60 all week and yesterday it was 70! What a dream. I think I will love, LOVE being a missionary in the summer the most of all. I could drink in the sunshine all day everyday. 

This week was so, SO great.

On Tuesday as we were driving, Sister Sanchez turned to me and said, "Promise me that we'll find a family to teach this week." I just laughed because hello?? I wish! And then a few minutes later a quiet but distinct voice came to my heart and my mind, "I promise you that you'll find a family to teach this week." And I knew it was true. We've been working so hard here. Sister Missionaries moved into the Ponderosa ward where Aridai has been going to church and so they started teaching her instead. I prayed a lot to have trust in them and feel good about having them teach her because WE LOVE Aridai. I know God loves her and I just want them to know how much she means to us. We fasted last Sunday to know how to help her progress more and then we got our transfer calls and found out Sisters were taking over the Ponderosa area so we knew that was the answer to our fast. Even though we didn't want that answer. Humility is accepting God's will as your own. Learning a lot of that on my mission.

We watched the YW General Broadcast with Katelyn on Saturday and it was so, so, SO great. You really are so much more in tune with the Spirit as a missionary. As soon as the first notes of the introductory hymn began, I started to tear up. My heart was so full the whole meeting. And they showed this beautiful video about this girl getting ready to go to the temple and she has little glimpses of her whole life like mission, temple marriage, children. It was so sweet. And I just remembered again how sweet it is to be a missionary. This is the honor of my life. They talked so much about virtue and being virtuous and that is my great desire. I want to be a virtuous daughter of God. 

So a couple weeks ago we had an open hour of finding and as we prayed right before we went out, Sister Sanchez said, "Please help us to find a miracle." And so the first door we knocked on was Veronica S. And she let us in and when Sister Sanchez said the opening prayer with her she began to tear up and say that she was having a hard day. She felt like God was answering her prayer. The lesson was not that great because she has a dog that NEVER stops barking and the few times we've been back have been kind of crazy, but nevertheless we knew that was our miracle! 

Finally, on Friday, we invited Veronica and her husband and her 4 cute boys to come on a church tour with us. We had a hard time finding a member to come and I was certain it would fall through anyway. Not because I don't have faith, but because that is our luck. And I do have faith! We were praying all day that we could think of which member to call and that things would work out. I felt like I should look at our branch directory one more time and I passed Juan A.'s name. Juan A. is the sweetest little guy. Probably in his late 40's. He's single but he is devoted to the gospel and he comes every Sunday. He wasn't the perfect fit for Veronica and her family because well, he's single, and a man, and I just didn't think we should call him. But my heart told me to anyway. And he answered and he could come! Another miracle. 

Then all day we kept trying to call Veronica to remind her about the tour and verify if she was coming but we could never get a hold of her. I was so sure they just wouldn't come. But then at 5:45 right before the church tour at 6, her husband, Luis called to ask us for directions to the church. Sister Sanchez and I cheered for at least five minutes. We were SO happy! The church tour wasn't miraculous. The spirit was there, but their 4 year old cutie boy was a little rambunctious and it was hard for them to all focus. Then at the end of our church tour and lesson we kneeled down and asked Luis to give the closing prayer. He had never prayed before so he was really nervous. We taught him how and then we waited, with bowed heads for what seemed like FOREVER. Just sitting there in silence. This happens a lot with new investigators and so I silently said my own prayer that he would say something. 

And then his 9-year-old son finally said, "ok, I'll say it." The moment his mouth opened and he said, "padre celestial" the spirit entered in stronger than it had the entire lesson. It was so incredible. And so precious. In his sweetest little Spanish voice he said, "Thank for you this day. Thank you for everything we have. Thank you for our clothes and our house and our family." And then he stopped because he couldn't remember what else to say. As soon as he did, his dad picked up where he left off and finished the prayer. 

It was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. And at the end we said, "what a great team you make!" and they smiled and you could tell they felt it. They felt the spirit and the love of the gospel. And just like that I kept my promise. The Lord kept his promise to me and to Hermana Sanchez.

We found our family.

And as they were leaving the church building, the little 9-year-old said, "we forgot something in our prayer." "Oh, you did, what did you forget?" "We forgot to ask for the things we want to know." Which was so sweet because we had told his dad to ask in his prayer if what we taught was true. So we told him that that night he could go home and pray with his family again. Oh, children are the best missionaries. 

Well, my friends, being a missionary is the privilege of my life. I love you! Find ways to strengthen your testimony each day. God loves you. Oh, he loves you.

I love you too!

Hermana Em

Bonus picture! Sister Percivel sent us this picture on Easter where Hermana Em and Sister Sanchez had a lovely Easter meal! 

but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

Dearest loves,

Last week Sister Sanchez and I read a little talk about purifying your heart. It was a story about an Elder who wanted to feel the Spirit more profoundly each day and he talked with a visiting general authority who told him he needed to purify his heart. So he fasted one day and then started a "40 day fast" where he gave up all the things that were distracting him from the work. He committed to live more obediently and to hold to the fast. It wasn't easy  but by the end of the 40 days something changed within him. He was seeing miracles in the work and he was feeling the spirit so closely that many things were bringing him to tears on a daily basis. He was able to discern people's needs and really testify with power. After we read the talk we both felt a surge to do the same. We are obedient missionaries and we strive earnestly to do our best but I know for myself that I let little things slip into my thoughts that distract me from the work. All I know is that I don't want to look back on this time and think that I probably could've given a little more. So we fasted and we've set our list and started our "40 day fast". More than anything, I'm just realizing how imperfect I am. I need my Father in Heaven. And I need my Savior. All I want is to lose myself in this work. 

I feel like haven't told you very much about Hermana Sanchez. She's the companion I've been with the longest and I love her so. We are different. Super different. She's very organized. She loves avocados and granola. She speaks English really well and the other day after I got off the phone with a member she said so genuinely, "hermana, you are fluent in english!" which I took as an honest compliment because she meant it. She thinks I say things really beautifully and eloquently which I love. She leaves me little sticky nice notes all around our house for me to find. It always touches and softens my heart. I love that she is Mexican. She has a humble heart and she loves the Book of Mormon. I always feel the spirit as she testifies of it's truth. Even though we're different, we have the same goals and we want to do our very, very best. I have loved working with her. I have learned SO much in this chapter in my life and I always think, "Wow, if i didn't serve a mission or a didn't get called here, I would've never known little Sister Sanchez." The Lord knows us so well.

On Saturday night I wrote in my journal, 

tomorrow there's more sunshine.

and I meant that because of Daylight savings and how we literally we're going to have more sunshine in our day but then after I wrote it I realized it's true in another sense. There's always something to look forward to. There's always more miracles and love and happy each day. I was telling Sister Sanchez that I felt like I was at my mission prime with Sister Tippetts. I was loving Moses Lake, my companion, our investigators, the work. Everything was jiving. And then I got transferred to the Valley. And I felt like I was in a slump. It was tough. But we worked hard and grew in ways I would've never imagined. It changed my life in so many good ways. And now I'm feeling great again. I'm at my mission prime. Which leads me to believe that over the next 13 months I will have many more valleys and hills and mountain peaks. I will dig low and soar high. There will always be challenges. We're still facing challenges. But God is there. He is besides us in every step of the work. I just feel really content and happy. Someone said that to me too! One less-active sister we met on Wednesday just looked into my eyes and said, "You are a happy, content person. I can tell. You are happy." I felt really at peace with that because everyday is difficult in one way or another, but I truly feel like one of my God-given gifts is hope.

esperanza.

I look forward to good things to come. Right now we don't have anyone to teach. We dropped nearly all of our investigators because they weren't progressing or they weren't really interested. We are only teaching Aridai and her daughter, Emily. And Katelyn Bedolla. We haven't had anyone new for a week. And that's been tough because we are doing all we can possibly think of. We've gone through all the finding ideas in Preach my Gospel and we've visited all the members in the ward. I'm at a loss. I really don't know where to go. But I am really excited for this week. I know that there are people prepared waiting for our message. Pretty soon we'll have more people to teach. Which just means more people to love. And miracles happen so often. Just now, like 20 minutes ago, Alejandro Pineda called us. We've never met him but the other day we stopped at his door and he wasn't there so we left a card with information for the English classes on his door. We don't usually do that. We just hand the cards out to people. But we've been stopping by his house a lot because a former investigator used to live there and we just really felt like we should try again. And then he called us. And we have a lesson with him on Saturday. I almost cried because it was a real answer to our prayers. I feel like we'll continue to see many more miracles like that all week.

And, yesterday Brother Fry stopped us at church and told us he invited a less-active family (with a non-member daughter) over for FHE. The Frys are the cutest and we had dinner with them last week and challenged them to be missionaries everyday and so they took our challenge! I felt so touched like we really are making a difference. And last week, the Poulsen family, who have a son on a mission right now, invited their friend Megan over for dinner with us. I loved Moses Lake and my heart still aches for my home, but gosh I love it here. I love these members. I feel so entwined with the work here. My heart is in it. I want so badly so do all the Lord asks. Which also means this week we'll be knocking more doors. Oh, it pains me. I'd rather do anything than knock doors. But we've exhausted all our other resources. It's come down to this. And not because I think we will find more people through knocking. But it's the effort of submitting my will to God's. I'll put aside my pride and try to be a little humble and show the Lord that I will do anything, anything he asks, to find his lost sheep and bring them back to his fold.

love you muchly,

Hermana Em