Transfers and how has it almost been a year?

OHMYGOSH transfers have happened and it's crazy here! First of all, I sent off Sister Gonzales yesterday and she will be flying out at 8 tonight to San Francisco, Hong Kong, and then Manila. From there, she has an 8 hour drive home so she will actually be arriving home on Friday in their time zone. Insane! I tried really hard not to cry when she left because she has been a great and chill companion and I have no idea when I will see her again. But she's really excited to go home and be with her family so I'm excited for her too.

What an odd companionship....

As far as transfers go, Sister Percival (the redhead I've lived with for four months) is getting transferred to the Glendale North Stake (my old stake!) so I will still see her around and might even be her sister training leader still. So they are taking my Ward, North Valley, and her Ward, Daisy Mountain, and combining them. I will be covering both wards with Sister Carroll. I'm excited because the Daisy Mountain Ward is so crazy and filled with old people who try to hide out in the desert. It also contains Black Canyon City, which is super weird, and Shangri-la Ranch. It's gonna be interesting! But I get to drive a truck now but I'm still supposed to bike as much as I can. So that's all good.

Now I'm also super nervous and stressed because of my new companion, to be honest. I've lived with her for a transfer and she struggles a lot. President told me that I'm pretty much training again. She has been out for 9 months and has never had a companion for more than a transfer. She's super nice and loving, she's just very difficult to live and teach with because she doesn't talk. Ever. President Griffin has asked me to "break her out of her shell". He said that all of her companions have "fizzled out" on him and that he needs me to break the pattern.  I think I can do that. I'm just nervous. He said that living alone with her will help both of us with our communication and will help me with my "bold but loving" leadership skills.  Anyway, I could go on but this will be interesting. Wish me luck!

Overall, it has been slow, not much has been going on in our area but now my area is way huge and I have tons of investigators to work with! I'm excited but please send your prayers my way! 

Sister Gonzales got her package and loved it! She especially loved the card, so thanks mom!

LOVES

Pics from Alex

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!