Sorry ...we had skipped putting this one on the blog so we are adding it late.
email from November 25th
Hello Family!
Its actually feeling chilly here, isnt it amazing?! The sisters are all rushing out to buy coats! The visitor's center was decorated this past week, and the nativity scenes are up! There are 104 nativities from all over the world this year. Its a beautiful set up, and it feels so Christmasy with all the Christmas trees everywhere. I LOVE CHRISTMAS! Here are a few Mesa Temple lights facts:
-This is the 34th year of Christmas lights here!
-The first year there were 5000 blue and white lights
-all work is done by volunteers
-10,000 lights in the star!
-100,000 lights in the palm trees!
-started putting up lights october 1st
-over a million visitors each year!
-the lights represent Jesus Christ as the light of the World
-we continuously have luke 2 playing, along with the nativity room, Christus Presentation, and the walk thru video "God's Plan for His Family"
-A concert each night in front of the VC from Dec 1st-Dec 25th!
-The VC choir is singing as the finale concert on Christmas Day!
Apart from that, we have been told that we will have a meeting before lights start each day and need to be at the VC at 5. We then will have Christmas lights end each night at 10, and a debriefing meeting from 10-10:30 each night.
Let me know if yall have any questions! I would be happy to find out for ya :)
Apart from Prepping for Christmas lights, we had a fantastic first week back in the VC which ended with Jordan's Baptism! Unfortunately our Ward mission leader had to leave for a few months, so we were left to plan the baptism last minute. Somehow it all worked out, and there were just a few little hiccups in the Program. We ended up singing for Jordan before his baptism, and the program was filled with the Spirit! He truly understood the convenant he was making, and the ward enjoyed hearing his powerful testimony after the ordinance was complete. Following the baptism, there was a fiesta! The food was amazing, and it was 100% authentic and made by a Mexican couple in the ward. (they have a hacienda style house even! John and Dani should know what im talking about. Amazing!!!)
The next day in Sacrament meeting, Jordan was confirmed. They blessed him that he would be able to serve a full0-time mission. Funny enough when it was time to bless him "to find a worthy daughter of God to marry in the temple" some radio frequencies cut in on a motab hallelujah chorus! Nothing. NOTHING could have been more perfect :). The rest of the meeting there were cut ins of Motab singing, but its intro was simply perfection! Jordan will be a great missionary, and an amazing member of God's kingdom here on Earth! All of the families involved have been so blessed and stregthened by this experience.
As I bore my testimony at the baptism I asked him to make sure he keeps that Book ofMormon he received with the testimony in the cover safe. His very first day in Church was the day I spoke in Sacrament meeting and told the story of Daddy and his first Book of Mormon. I bore testimony of the impact on Dad's life and our family's life forever, and I know Jordan feels strengthened by that assurance. He too will be able to see his daughter someday expressing immense gratitude for the decision he made, and for the future faithful decisions he will make.
I know that the Book of Mormon is from God. Anyone can find that out for themselves as they open it and read its pages. They speak to your heart directly of its undeniable truth. I hope we never take the Book of Mormon for granted. We are SO blessed to have it and its guidance in our lives. What are some of your testimonies of the Book of Mormon? How did you come to know it is true?
If you dont have that testimony right now though, its okay! I invite you to examine this evidence of God's love for us... the Book of Mormon! Read it and follow Moroni's promise in Moroni 10:3-5. God will never lead you astray! If you ever have questions or just want to talk to me about anything, please do! I am always just an email or a facebook message away.
I love you all so much and I pray for you each night!
Mwah!
Sister Younce
Sister Younce
ps. Our Zone leader is an Elvis Impersonator!!! what?!!! Before his mission he would perform for thousands of people at a time in New York! I dont know if I will ever be able to look at our Zone leaders the same way again.... I keep noticing his elvis moves..... I dont think I should have told him I love Elvis Christmas after all!!! What are your thoughts on this?! Should I try to get him to perform for us when I get home from my mission?!! Grandma Dooley would love it!!!!!
pps. Way to go Uncle Mike and Aunt Carol!!! That story is amazing! I have shared it already with all the VC sisters. Simply amazing! If you all dont know what I am talking about -- ask Uncle Mike to tell you about his missionary experience! It made me so happy to hear about it :)
Love you all!
Email from Monday November 16th
Well, family, it's close to the end
of my p-day now! There hasn't
been a ton going on here to write
home about... But it sounds like
there has been a lot going on with
the family! I heard about John and
Dani -- I am sooooo glad to hear
they are alright! Was it icy on the roads and is that what caused
the accident? I love you John and dani! So glad you're safe! Also, make
sure you keep me updated on the interview process and your decisions:).
Oh, and Rachel and Hannah announced
the pregnancies! So exciting!
Now I can talk about it freely!
That picture was so cute, and I have
been showing it to everyone ;). I
wonder if Rachel's baby is gonna be
born early on my birthday!
Yay spring babies! I'm guessing baby boys
this time. :). If they are both
girls again, it's basically guaranteed
I won't have any girls! Don't
hog them all! Plus I wanna make mud
pies and play dinosaurs with little
nephews :).
So I heard it snowed a tiny bit
this last week? That day I believe it
reached 92 degrees here in Mesa. Somehow I'm not
finding this funny! This is how Sister Beaudette and I trick ourselves into thinking it is winter inside our apartment. We keep the ac on and play Christmas music!
Then we have a reality check when we open our front door and have to
shed our sweaters.
We heard this from a lady the other
day -- "Arizona is the heavenly
place that gets you prepared for
the celestial kingdom heat! The
celestial kingdom will be just like
Arizona!? ". I never knew heaven
would be Hot :( I guess if that
statement was factual, I would have
to start rethinking if I really
wanted to end up there forever! JUST
KIDDING! Sis Beaudette and I
are working on our charity towards the
Arizona weather, we promise :) but
at least they have diverse rocks!
Orange rocks! Brown rocks! Gray
rocks! And then there are the pinkish
brown rocks! So diverse! :).
Okay, okay, I've gotten my fill, and I'm
done with that now :).
Whatever Arizona lacks in natural
greenery or seasons, it makes up for
in wonderful people! I am so
blessed to have been able to serve in my
wonderful areas of Mesa!
Being a missionary is just a way of life
here, and I have seen that the
influence here is truly preparing so
many people to accept the Gospel. I am so
excited for Jordan's baptism, this next Saturday! It should be amazing...
And it's followed by a Mexican
family in the ward throwing a big
fiesta! Exciting stuff!
It's amazing the perspective you as
a missionary get to attain as you
are suddenly involved with the
bishop and leaders in the ward almost
daily! The organization really is
inspired, and it builds my testimony
as I see each auxiliary work
together so beautifully! Everyone is
prayed for, cared for, and thought
about individually in this church
:). Daddy knows all about that by
now! I don't envy the Bishops their
callings, that is for sure :).
I've gotten to see how we are all
humans. This church is truly headed
by God, and his doctrines are
untarnished. But the church is run by
imperfect humans. We all are
working towards our own salvations and
remain personally accountable to God. We are all working hard, and as
we sustain people in their callings
and roles, not only they are able
to learn and grow, but so are you
as you learn humility. Mortal life
is hard and we all are subject to
certain human frailties, but I know
they one true way to overcome the
natural man is to look to Christ in
faith and in turn become more like
him.
I am so grateful to have this
opportunity to serve a mission. I get to
focus on loving people here just as
Christ would if he was here, every
single day! It's such a
blessing, and I feel closer to my savior
daily because of it. I am grateful
also to be able to be with sister
beaudette again this transfer!
Christmas lights start the day after
thanksgiving, and all the horror
stories are making me nervous. But I
know that no matter how sick,
exhausted or claustrophobic I get during
that time, I will get to testify of
Christ for a full 33 days -- and
that is an opportunity I wouldn't
trade for anything in the world. ;).
I'm anxious to get started! I start
back in the VC this next Wednesday!
I love you all! Goodbye
Maties!
Past Three
emails from November 11th back to October 28th
Email from 11/11/13
Hey family!
Well, I am writing some of this as
I wait at the bottom of a mountain
for the rest of our group. We woke
up at 4:15 this morning (wooh! You know how much I hate sleep!) and traveled 30
minutes to go to the windcave trail! It was fun at first... Chilly, dark,
and we were stumbling a lot on the rocky trail in the dark. Personally, I
feared
stumbling then landing my fall on a
cactus! Eek! Or getting eaten by cayotes. Thankfully that didn't happen,
but I did start feeling extremely nauseous halfway up, as I usually I do in the
morning. Sister beaudette enjoyed the view for a while and we watched the
sun rise, then we went back down the mountain to wait by our car. It's
been over an hour since we last saw the other missionaries, but we should be
expecting them down any minute.
Anyways, I am very sleepily writing
this while sitting in the car with
Sister Beaudette.
Oh how I love my companion sister Beaudette!
We love our area so very much, and we have a great time together.
Of course there are challenges, but we feel blessed right now. So you
might remember that I wrote about having gotten a call last Monday about lice.
Yes, we thought we had it for a few hours. Once we bought all the
brushes and combs necessary and got back to the apartment to check, we found
that we were both lice free! (The rest of this email is continued later
in the day) It took a few hours out of our pday, and added some expenses, but
we were so grateful we were spared! What is interesting is that there
really would have been no way to avoid the lice. The 2 kids had been
climbing all over us for a full hour, and even in the pictures we took with
them on our ipads, it shows full hair on hair contact in nearly every one of
them! But for some odd reason, Sister B and I happened to take our very
first night time shower of this transfer 30 minutes later when we got
home. The lice didn’t even have time to give up our hair follicles before
we showered them out. Then if that hadn’t killed them, we both slept in
hair masks the entire night (a thick conditioner covering all of our
hair). We had no idea that we were washing away and killing lice, but we
were so grateful for that little blessing!!! Having a lice free head
meant we could see our investigators that night, and we were able to get much
needed haircuts and not have to buy that expensive lice-killing shampoo!
It was a little scare, but it was amazing to look back in humor and see God's
hand in that seemingly insignificant happenstance as he prompted us to each
shower at night for the first time in over 9 weeks.
I agree with Elder Bednar when he
talked about how the Lord's blessings are "subtle but significant" in
October's General Conference! I know that if we truly all try to look
back on our daily events, we will always be able to see the Lord's hands in our
lives and in our decisions. He is in every facet of our lives, don't ever
doubt it :) He is truly there and he loves each one of us.
This past week we witnessed
ourselves hit a bit of a brick wall in our area. Yes we have baptisms coming
up, but there is so much more to do with this area and the other 50 hours we
have there! As we acknowledged that we had hit it, we were sad, but we
decided to say a fervent prayer for direction. The inkling we had right
before the prayer was magnified and sister beaudette felt very
strongly that we should go to the
"nice family's house". The "nice family" was a family
we had seen from across the street and that had been friendly and waved to us 3
days before. It was a simple act of "southern kindness," but it
was significant enough to catch our attention and hold it the entire rest of
the day. A day later we had left a nice note on their door when they weren't home,
and then the next day we came by. We decided to follow sister beaudette's
prompting and we eagerly approached their door. The friendly big Polynesian
father came out to greet us and closed the door behind him. He then
introduced himself and thanked us for the note and said " I would LOVE to
have you come in and talk with us. How about Wednesday evening and I can
introduce you to my beautiful family!" Also, when we asked him about
his kids he simple states, "They are the most important thing in the world
to me, they have changed my life." Simply. Amazing.
We had just dropped so many long
time investigators and taking a step into the darkness when we were led to this
loving, prepared, family!! I have never taught a whole family before, and
both sister Beaudette and I are over the moon with excitement! God
is good -- that is all I can say!
I know from experience, as I was
once someone that read and skimmed through missionary emails when I was back
home, that these things don’t seem very impressive, significant, or awe
inspiring at times. But Oh was I wrong! It is hard to even convey
half of the story when I email home, but I know that we each can feel this same
amazement and gratitude for the Lord that I feel in my life. It comes as
we pray for guidance, and direction, and as we keep our promises to act on that
guidance. We will then be in the proper mindset to recognize God's hand
and we will become even more keenly aware of our utter dependence on our
eternally giving loving heavenly father. We are nothing without
him.
Remember this: In comparison to
God, we are nothing -- but to God, we are EVERYTHING!
Be grateful, be charitable, be
prayerful.
I love you all so much!
Sister Younce
PS we have found this family of 6
kids we adore here! The parents are such partners in everything and the
kids all just adore taking care of each other. I want to emulate so much
of what I see in their parenting and the Christ centered home they have! Its
awesome to get to observe so many families each and every day :) It does
make me miss my amazing family terribly though!
Email from 11/4/13
Okay, Okay, that 95 degree
generalization for all of November might have been a lie! But this is for
sure the hottest November I have ever been through! While we helped set
up for the ward halloween parties this past week, we were sweating through our
clothes still! It gets chilly at times, but I am really still waiting for
the "heavenly weather" the members keep promising! I wont hold
my breath :)
Well, this past week was...
Halloween! Kind of boring for us missionaries actually. We were
lucky enough to get to stay out to go to our ward parties at least! At one of
the ward parties we had fry bread (yummm!) and chili and home made root beer,
and while the other didn’t have quite as creative of food, the entire
neighborhood turned up at each party! It was amazing! Now all
Sister Beaudette and I have to do is work on not being the socially awkward
missionaries at the party. As a mission, the rule was that if we were not
in a set lesson or at a ward party on Halloween, we had to return to our
residence and study the entire night. I guess even Mesa is too dangerous
on Halloween :)
I got to spend that time catching
up on reading Preach My Gospel so that I could be right along where the entire
mission is at. Oh, and also we are not allowed to dress up at all as
missionaries on Halloween... but Sister B and I were SUPER "creative"
and switched nametags. Wooh!
This week was pretty eventful for
the Mesa, Arizona Mission as a whole! The ENTIRE mission got Ipads this
week! We had to go to a 3 hour meeting when they got their ipads, and
sadly us VC sisters still have the old ipads with IOS 6 and we just sat there
as they set theirs up. While that was a little drab, and while we still
have a little wait before we get our new ipads that will be with us through our
whole missions, we were really excited for the elders that finally got to be as
cool as us!!! hehe :) Us VC sisters are now getting to tutor the
elders with the Ipads, and finally our struggles we had the first 5 months are
paying off! It was really apparent to us that this is simply another sign
and step in the Lord's hastening of his work! Its amazing! Dinner messages
with members just got SO much more powerful, and the organization of everything
on the ipad systems is really 20 steps above what it use to be. The Lord
is preparing people right now, and now we will be able to find them, and do his
work so efficiently!
Along with the new ipad developments
in the mission, we received word today that we are now able to write emails on
p-day on the ipad! I am pretty excited about this. I can relax a
bit more with the emails, and I can check your emails throughout the day,
though I prefer to get them earlier in the day when I am not running around and
I have wifi to look at the emails.
:
Also... this is unexpected..
Remember a couple emails ago, I mentioned that Sister B and I love speaking in
English accents? Well, what started out very innocently and fun, has become a
bit of a problem... Since we are together 24/7, unbeknownst to us, it became
kind of a language immersion experience. Seriously. At times we've kind of
forgotten how to speak normal.... we were correlating with the Bishop. And
sister B was talking to him, and completely unconciously, she slipped into a
British accent. She didn't even notice. And I just laugh and laugh. Bishop said
that it just makes us sound extra sophisticated. Haha. Great. Well, once we
were in the car, we decided we needed to do some intervention. And even though
we love accents, we really have to monitor it. What an unexpected problem
to have!!! We have gotten far too good at our British accents, at times we
forget what we really sound like. Time to go back to the boring American
accent! Pooh :(
So, I feel that it is about time
that I tell you about some of the work going on here!!! So, we have
2 investigators with November baptismal dates now! Lexy, the 9 year old girl,
is getting baptized November 30! Jordan is our newest investigator, and
he is getting baptized on November 23! Jordan turned up at church 3 weeks ago
with a member of the ward that he works with at the Nike store. The
sister had given him a book of Mormon 3 days before, and he had already read
through 1 Nephi and received a witness through prayer that it was true!
The woman was in shock, because she had never done anything like that before,
and she never knew that he, of all people, was so prepared to accept the gospel!
He lives in Phoenix so we didnt think we could continue to teach him, but since
he is planning on moving to mesa in the next 2 months, and he has a rough home
life, we have gotten permission to baptize him into Ridge ward! Jordan runs 20
miles 3-4 times a week, and already graduated from ASU with a degree in
business -- next step is getting this 22 year old on a mission! The ward has
just taken him in and it has been amazing to see! We were wary of his
enthusiasm at first, so we began to pray for discernment to see if he was
really sincere, and it has become very apparent to us by now that HE IS! Jordan
has been in the process of being prepared by the Lord for months now. He
has been living the Word of Wisdom and many other commandments since the beginning
of the summer when he made certain resolutions to live a cleaner life. He is
now preparing not only for baptism, but for going through the temple next year,
and he is looking forward to having an eternal family someday! It has been
amazing to see how there truly ARE those people out there that, once given the
opportunity to receive the gospel, will welcome it in with open arms!
Might there be people in our lives that are like Jordan? Hasn’t it been
promised by the Lord that there are people being prepared all around us at this
time? The success lies in the invitation. You can NEVER judge for
yourself if they will accept the gospel, until you give them the option and
opportunity!
I am so glad that that woman,
Brooke, opened her mouth and shared the Gospel with Jordan. I am even
more eternally grateful for the people that opened their mouths to share the
gospel with Mom and Dad! We have been eternally influenced by such a
small act of faith! I know that we too can be an instrument in the Lord's
hands in the Work of Salvation!
I feel the spirit in my life on a
daily basis as I strive to do the Lords work. It is a constant reminder
that this IS the work of salvation. The Lords Purpose is for his children
to obtain eternal life, and we are here to help that to happen :) God has
our backs and he will help us, if we will just show him a willing heart!
I’m so proud of my family and how so many of you are opening up and acting in
faith to share the Gospel! Sure, you might face awkwardness or rejection,
but face it with a smile and say, "maybe next time!" This is
the greatest work any one of us can be doing -- we all have our own small
parts, but put together, just imagine what we can do!! :)
When do the christmas lights
start going up at the house? What is the temperature like there? I hear
it’s beautiful! I need to go now, but I love you all so much! Thank you
for your constant support and I love getting emails and letters from you!
Cheerio maties!!!
Sister Younce
Email from 10/28/13
Wow! It has been exactly 1
year and 1 day since I decided to serve a mission! It has been the best
decision that I have ever made.
I have learned so much as I
prepared to serve a mission, and the lessons I have learned while on the
mission are priceless! I can’t imagine how my life would have gone
without this experience!
While there are so many spiritual
experiences that I get to have here, there are also an abundance of hilarious
ones that serve as comic relief on the roughest of days! I am so grateful
for them and the opportunity we have to laugh daily. Life is too short to
not find joy everyday!
Sis B and I also got to attend our
first, and probably ONLY stake priesthood leadership meeting! It was so
great to hear our stake president speak about the Savior. He has such a
strong testimony.
I love the leadership in this
stake, and I was excited to find out that the whole stake presidency comes from
our 2 wards! They are all so warm, loving, and they have amazing
testimonies that they share with us.
We also got to start teaching this
young man, Jordon, this week! He doesn’t live in the area, but we are
hoping to get an exception to teach him. He is so ready and SO
amazing! I will update you on the status of that next week :)
Sis B and I both have realized that
we are sometimes feeling less than diligent and fulfilled. We struggled
with that feeling for a few days, then we came to the realization that WE ARE
TO ACT AND TO NOT BE ACTED UPON! We are free agents. The only way to get
out of our rut was to take one step forward. Each and every action we
took would put us closer to who we want to become, and we have that ability to
become better each and every day.
Since it is at the end of the
month, SIster B and I are out of miles! We walked EVERYHWERE yesterday
and it was FANTASTIC! I have lost some weight since going full-field, and
walking everywhere just makes us feel so great!
I hope you all can make time to go
out and enjoy the fall weather outside. Its good for our souls!!!
I love you all! How is your
Book of Mormon reading going? What is the weather like?
Mwah!
Sister Younce
