Dream dreams...anticipate miracles.

Alex forwarded this email from her first companion, Sister Williams. It has some great quotes from Elder Holland to their mission:

Hello again from the Valley of the Sun! Oh goodness we have had such a crazy week and I don't know where to start. I'll try to keep it short.
We will see, haha!

Monday night we got an email saying here would be a last minute mission conference on Wednesday and to cancel our plans. So we did, and I had my suspicions of what was up... 


So Wednesday, we got to mission conference and they had it set up in
the gym for us to take a picture, so we went in and got ready, and waited. For an hour. Holy heck! All of a sudden we all got quiet. The
door opened slowly, and everyone stood up...in walked President and
Sister Griffin... And Elder Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He came back for us!

"It would've been a gap in my life if I didn't come and keep my commitment."

He was so exhausted. He shook each of our hands and looked into our eyes. He walked up to the stand and sat. I watched him as we sang the opening hymn, "Redeemer of Israel." That humble man closed his eyes and lifted his head toward heaven and sang not for us but for the
Savior. "Redeemer of Israel, our only delight, on whom for a blessing we call." You could see that he really was calling on the Savior for a blessing. As he stood at the pulpit, a new energy came over him, and I
know it could only have come from the Spirit.

He stood and set aside his notes, telling us that there was something else the Lord would have us learn today. He shared some of his own personal experiences, and used the analogy of a record breaking swimmer:

"The adversary would live, the adversary would love, the adversary would go to the bank and throw a party if he could discourage a missionary! So... You're not doing evil things, but maybe adversarial
things."

He talked about how in our missions, we are shooting up and improving greatly until about six months. We keep doing that, but to a lesser degree, until about a year, where, for a little bit we plateau, and
inevitably, decline. Then he said,

"But it doesn't have to be that way in Phoenix!" *Pounds pulpit. Hard.* 'I looked into your souls and you're one of the best missions I've ever seen! It doesn't have to be this way in Phoenix. We can change this. Please don't let it be that way here."

"Kick when you don't want to kick, and stroke when you don't want to stroke. Pull to the end of the tank."

"Swim until the pool turns pink and you throw up in the water!"

He talked about how we need to be finishers of the work, because Christ is the finisher of our faith and He finished His Fathers work.

"Be converted yourself, deep into your soul."

Then he talked about how to be really powerful missionaries. He said we have to have the Spirit, but in order to really get it, we have to desire it above everything else.

"YOU be the one who GETS it!"

'I've been to a lot of missions and it's rare to see missionaries who give it literally all they've got to the very end. But I see several here. I wish it wasn't that way, but those are the statistics. It's rare.

"BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE RARE IN PHOENIX! IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE RARE FOR YOU."

Then he ended. He testified so powerfully of the Savior, sharing parts of the talk I shared a few weeks ago. He taught the importance of repenting every day. It was the most powerful day of my life. He talked about staying in this work until the end of our lives, and I know I'm rambling, so I'll share one more thought and wrap up.

He said that we have to be in this work all the way to Gethsemane and all the way to Calvary. We have to be in it to the garden tomb.

"I'm talking about miracles! I'm talking about salvation! I'm talking about change! Forget the numbers!" 'We are saving souls! This is the most important work you can ever do!'

Then he pleads, "I just need you to believe in miracles. I need you to believe in angels. Believe in the remission of sins and the Holy Ghost... Only one man ever had enough to pay for salvation and it wasn't cheap.... Elders and Sisters.... I wish the Lord would give me another fifty years to spend with you. And I would dream dreams with you. And I would see visions with you. And I would anticipate miracles with you."

I've never seen a person so kind, so loving, so completely and totally exhausted. But I've never seen a man so humble, so strong, so changed by the Savior in my life. I know I sat with an apostle of the Lord,
Jesus Christ. I know his talk sounds jumbled and like it has no theme, but it was everything to me. In my moment of exhaustion and defeat, in my wanting to give up, but choosing to push forward anyways, my Heavenly Father sent me His servant. I know he didn't come just for
me, but it felt like it. At the end, he looked into my eyes and said, "The Lord has a work for YOU to do."

It was a long and hard week. But I know that my Heavenly Father knows who I am. He knows where I am and what I need, and He has a work for me to do. I will kick when I don't want to kick and stroke when I
don't want to stroke. I will stay in it to the edge of Gethsemane and the summit of Calvary so that I can be a witness of Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful for Him. I love Him. So I will do His work, and I will try to do it His way. This is the best thing I've ever been blessed to be a part of.

I hope you all have the best week. Thanks for listening to me while I
ramble. I love you!

Sister Williams

Ummm I ran out of funny subjects

Sister Alex Solomon:

Hello from satan's armpit!

So to get into the meat of things, ELDER HOLLAND came to our mission as a surprise on Wednesday! I just about died and it was the most spectacular thing that has happened probably ever. About two nights before, the whole mission got an email saying we were having a surprise mission conference and we all thought we were going to get totally chewed out. Anyway, we were all lining up for our mission conference picture and President Griffin walked in with Elder Holland...there was an audible gasp. Sis Gonzales and I were perfectly placed for the picture and then we got in the front spankin' row while he was speaking. We were in the splash zone! It was awesome and I needed the kick that he gave us. He was pounding on the podium and yelling and crying and the whole thing was just glorious. It also happened to be Sis Gonzales' birthday and I think it was the best birthday I've ever had.

Where's Waldo?
Can you find Alex? Can you find Elder Jeffrey R Holland?

Other than that, I led a couple of exchanges with other sisters and that was pretty chill. I went with Sister Moss and I forgot how much I love her and miss her all the time! We had a blast and discovered that our Australian accents have come a long way since we were companions. Man, I can't believe she has been out for almost half of her mission! It seems like yesterday that she was just my little baby trainee. I'm an old lady in the mission!

I got to go on another exchange in Daisy Mountain with one of our roommates and it was awesome! It reminded me a little of home just because of how spread out everyone was and all the animals and everything. Man, Black Canyon City, AZ has some VERY interesting people.

Anyway, I feel like I had a bunch of other things I wanted to say but I forgot them all. It's probably because we played zone volleyball today and I got nailed right in the face. It has been a good week and I'm looking forward to the next although I'll be sad to see Sis Gonzales go.

Hope you all have a good week!

LOVES

Hung out at the local nudist colony for a bit...

MRLL All-Stars

Rylan made the all-star team for Mountain Ridge Little League.

The district tournament starts July 5 at Desert Breeze Park,

if anyone is interested in seeing some awesome little league baseball.

The team should be pretty good this year.

Memorial Day Baseball Bash

Rylan played in the LVBA Memorial Day Baseball Bash with the Road Dawgs

There were teams from Nevada, California, Hawaii, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado

They ended up winning 1st place!

Little League 2016

Meg played on the Nationals in the rookies division

Rylan and Chandler both played on the Dodgers

in the majors division

They finished the season as the 2nd seed, 

but ended up winning the tournament!

This one's kind of lame

Sister Alex Solomon:

Okay let's just start right in with the heat. So yesterday we had record highs and four people died while hiking and biking in the valley. We didn't get all of our finding hours in for the week because our Ward mission leader's family held us and our bikes hostage and wouldn't let us go outside. That was kind of nice but also kind of not because we got nothing done. They fell asleep at one point so we thought we could sneak out but we forgot that they have alarms on their doors. Long story short, they were mad and made us stay and their kids are never going to sneak out. Oh yeah, and we baked cookies in the car during church yesterday! They were a little doughy in the middle but they were kind of perfect.

Other things that happened this week: I went on exchange in downtown-ish Phoenix again (pretty much my favorite area since it's so ghetto) with an awesome new missionary! We had a lot in common and I've never seen anyone with so much motivation. She made me want to be better. While I was there, we found a box filled with 5 jigsaw puzzles! YES! They are now mine and I am so addicted to them. We've basically just been looking for new investigators and having no luck. That's okay though! We still have Batrice and Laine who are getting baptized in July! Oh yeah! I got an awesome envelope in the mail from Grandma Evans that as filled with cards from cousins who had written them at Tropic. That was so much fun to open and read! They're all weirdos and I love them!

Um, that's honestly pretty much it. Not much is going on and we are just trying to stay alive! Pray for us and I hope you're all doing well!

LOVES

P.S. I recently realized that I overuse exclamation points. I am aware of the problem and am working on fixing it but it may take some time. Please be patient with me.

1 1 M O N T H S

Sister Alex Solomon:

Hello hello! I can't believe it has been yet another week. It has been so ridiculously hot here and I don't even know what else to say about that right now. You're going to hear it a lot over the summer anyway, so I'll try not to go too far into detail yet.

As for the work, most of our investigators have petered out. But, Batrice is still going strong! She has a baptism date in July and we are so excited for her. We actually just found out that she got engaged this week too! I don't know if I told you that whole story, but she got pregnant with a returned missionary and it has been a whole big mess. Anyway, good things are happening for her! Now we just have to find more investigators.

I know this sounds weird but as a way to help train other missionaries who are afraid of tracting, this sister training leaders and zone leaders in our zone have started taking videos of us tracting without the people at the door knowing it. I know that sounds like it could get messy, but we are being smart with it and it's actually really hilarious and fun to do! It makes me look forward to tracting! So I'm going to get some good videos and probably send one or two home so you can see what we do and how awkward it is. Yeah, we've done a lot of tracting lately and it's getting tiring. This week, we made a Jew, Pentecostal, some Catholics, and a bunch of other people on the same street. We also got super confused about the Trinity and the Godhead after talking to the Catholics so we had to sit down on the street for about 15 minutes and do some searching on Gospel Library.

I do have a favor to ask, mom! So Sister Gonzales' birthday is coming up on the 22nd and she has never received a package from home since she's so far away; even for Christmas. Do you think you could put together some cute little thing for her with Montana stuff in it or something? I'm trying to think of what she likes...lately all she's been talking about is cheesecake! Haha, but she loves root beer and she loves drawing. She's going back to finish her degree in civil engineering so she has perfect handwriting and is extremely organized. That's about all I got right now....

I got to see Nanette A couple of times this week! It was super awesome and I forgot how much I missed her! Sister Moss also came to stay on an exchange for one day. I completely forgot how much I loved her and missed her all the time! It's so quiet in my apartment all the time and I really miss her loud voice and craziness. Luckily, I get to go on an exchange with her this Saturday! I'm so excited!

Anyway, overall it has been pretty good. Nothing too crazy is happening but nothing too bad is happening either. I hit my 11 month mark this week and that feels so weird! It has been good and I'm looking forward to this week!

LOVES ️

Vick's Oriental Coleslaw

Here is the recipe to the Oriental Coleslaw that Vicki made camping at Tropic Reservoir (with the meatball subs).  It was a HUGE hit!

1 head cabbage chopped (or 1 bag coleslaw)
2 T. sesame seeds
1 bunch green onions chopped
1 pkg top ramen (I did extra noodles at camping)
3/4 - 1 c. sliced almonds

Dressing
3 T. sugar
3 T. vinegar
1/3 c. oil (I used vegetable)
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 package season packet from ramen

🔥 Welcome to June. My face melted off. 🔥

Hello again! For this email, I really wish I had magical powers when you read it like in Harry Potter. Ya know when he's in the restricted section of the library and that book screams at him? Yeah, I wish that when you opened this email a burst of flames shot out at you so you would know what it felt like to be biking on Saturday. We had record high temperatures for this week of June and it was awful! On Saturday, it reached 116 degrees as we were outside knocking on doors. I couldn't even look at the road in front of me straight on. I seriously had to keep turning my face different ways while I was riding in order to keep all of my skin on. We finally just went to a member's house at like 3 and just chilled on her couch for an hour and a half while she fed us peanut m&ms and sonic ice. THAT part of the day was fantastic! We also learned that day that you can't just expect to show up at members' houses during the hottest day of the year because, most likely, EVERYONE and their mother has probably already left the state in order to preserve their own lives and souls.

I could go on.

In other news of the week, we had this crazy meteor thing come fly over us during the night! I didn't see it but I felt it and then we saw videos that people took and it was crazy! People had stuff falling off their walls and everything.

Also, we had a lesson with Batrice this week (the only black investigator I've ever taught, and she's probably my favorite too) and she was talking about how much her life has changed since she started going to church and how she doesn't want the good feelings to stop. Anyway, long story short, she has a baptism date set for July 9th! WOO-HOO! Things are happening in our Ward! We haven't made a lot of progress with our other investigators except one who has a date for July 23rd. So basically, July is going to be a good month. If I survive.

Oh yeah, and we've been teaching this 8 year old girl, Darby, in preparation for her baptism this Tuesday and they've been bringing friends to the lessons every week which is awesome! They invited all their friends and neighbors to the baptism and Darby asked me to speak so I will pretty much be teaching the first lesson in front of everyone and showing a video on baptism (the cute new bible videos that are narrated by kids). So I'm looking forward to that too!

I'm getting better with my STL responsibilities, I think. Not too sure but things are starting to seem a little easier. Overall, the work is going great, we've been finding lots of rides places, and I still can't stand our Ward mission leader. He's downright disrespectful and rude to us but I'm conflicted because I love his wife and kids a lot. Ugh. Weird. How can I come back and visit them someday without seeing him? Let me know if you have any ideas.

Love you all and hope you have a good week! ️

Playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey for one of the sisters' birthday.