29 May 2017 Letter

Hi President!

Thank you for your letters both personal and for the mission, that are always so inspiring and helpful. This week, we continued to see miracles. Our investigator, Patrice, accepted a baptismal date for June 24th! She wants to make sure she feels completely worthy and work through a few personal issues before she is baptized, but  I feel confident that as we finish up the lessons with her and continue to help her in any way we can, that she will be ready by then! She is so good, and even helping her mom, who has been a less active member for a long time, get back to doing family scripture study and prayer! It has been so rewarding to see both of their progress! We love them!

We will be working with our other investigators to try to help them get to the same point. Have a great week President! Thank you for all that you and Sister Back do!

Hello all!

Well, that is the biggest miracle of the week! We are so happy and excited for Patrice! Thank you for your prayers family! She is progressing so well. The song "miracles" from Prince of Egypt was definitely sung at full volume on the drive home after our lesson with her Wednesday night:)I just hope that we are both still here for it....:/ Either way, it has been so wonderful to be an instrument in helping Patrice learn about and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is going to bless the rest of her life and into the eternities! It already has, we have seen it!

Besides that, we are just trying to help all our other ones to keep commitments so they can start progressing as well.

This week, we have met a lot of people who want to debate and challenge our beliefs. That can be tough when you are just trying to spread the love, but  I am so grateful to have a strong testimony that has been slowly but surely built upon the blessings and growth  I have seen from the gospel in my life. As they say, the church is true and the book is blue!

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Sister Pace

Pics:

There are so many waterfalls here! We hiked to another one last P-day, Fitzroy Falls. The coolest part was getting to go under part of the water fall!

 

Finally remembered to get a picture with the Snells!  From left to right it's Sister Mollow (their fellowshipper), Patrice, then Sister Snell.  I love them all so much!

You can't really see it, but we wrote our name on a tree where many others had been carved.

Hello!

I hope everyone has had a good week:) Mine was fantastic! SO many miracles again. Lately, I have been sending more details to my mission president so I will attach the letter again:

Hi President!

It has been another miraculous week! Yesterday, we were so happy to see three of the less active members we have been working with at sacrament meeting! It was so rewarding to see them there and benefiting from being there. One of them, Sister Snell (whose daughter is our investigator, Patrice), will be getting her patriarchal blessing soon and wants to work towards the temple! Heavenly Father has really been in the work here and I am so thankful I have been able to take part in it!

Patrice, our investigator, is doing really well. She came to all three hours of church yesterday and enjoyed them. She has lots of questions about baptism and really wants to feel prepared to do so. She doesn't feel that she is worthy to set a baptismal date yet because of some personal things she is working on. Sister Sumaribos and I feel she is ready because she really keeps commitments and we are seeing her faith grow. Hopefully we can help her work through her personal problems and mental barriers so that she can start working towards a date. She is so good though!

It is really wonderful and fulfilling to be part of the work of salvation in Mittagong Branch. I really love the members, investigators, and all the people here!

I hope you and Sister Back are doing well, we love you!

Love,

Sister Pace

Yeah, so Patrice is doing really well. We started doing a weekly BOM study with her and Sister Snell on Saturdays, which is awesome. They are going to start doing family Scripture study together every night. They are so good! I keep forgetting to get a picture with them. Next week! After church on Sunday, President Sullivan gave Sister Snell some reading preparation for receiving her patriarchal blessing, and Patrice says "I wish they had something like this for baptism". She really has the desire! We gave her a gospel principles manual because she wants to read the chapter on baptism. J

Everybody in my branch is so funny! Most of them are old. Sister Orrock is 92 years old. We visit her twice a week just to give her company. All she does all day long is listen to conference talks on her CD player at full volume because she has really bad sight and vision. We love her so much! On Sunday, she said the closing prayer in Relief society and she says "Please bless our prophet, Spencer W. .... Monson."  I could barely keep it together, haha!

Another highlight of my week was getting a birthday package three months early from Mom and Dad! They are the best and sent me more warm clothing! Who would have thought I would have needed it in Australia. Thanks so much mom and dad! It really made my day!

1- When we visited the Seville's Saturday night. Barbara is from New Guinea. She is one of the ones who hasn't been to church in forever because she has a hectic job, but she came to sacrament on Sunday, which was a miracle. When we saw them both pull up at church together, we were so happy! I had to try to control Sister Sumaribos, who was jumping up and down:)

2- Finally 20!......in 3 months.

3- One of my cute new skirts!  Yay!!!!

Mom and Dad, Thank you so so so so much for the wonderful birthday package! I love all the clothes,  I am especially excited about the dress! So cute! And for the extra motab CD's and chocolate! WE are really loving a change of motab haha. You guys are so thoughtful and loving. I am so lucky to have such loving, supportive, and encouraging parents. You are truly THE BEST XOxoxoXOXOXOXOXO.

4- My cute companion and a pretty cat.

15 May 2017 Letter

Well, I just got off of google chat with the fam. I am so happy! I love seeing their faces and hearing their voices. Happy Mother's Day! And Happy Birthday to Danna, my niece!

I'll keep it short this week and just send the same letter I sent to President:

Dear President,

It was another great week here in Mittagong! We are working with the branch a little better now, and trying to get some more branch activities going for good fellowship opportunities, so that is good. Our new investigator seems really good. She is an older woman named, Phil. She knows a lot about lots of different religions and is really interested in reading the BOM. We had a good first visit with her so hopefully they will continue.

Our investigator, Marie, came to sacrament meeting with her husband Paul, which we were not expecting , which was a miracle. She is in a similar situation. We pray that they will know that the BOM is true as they read it and that they will be willing to act on the promptings of the spirit they receive.

We are doing our best to help our investigators progress and get some put on date for baptism. With some faith, I think we will get there soon!

Have a great week, President!

Love,

Sister Pace

Oh, and also, to update you on Patrice, we taught her about the gospel of Jesus Christ, including baptism. She doesn't feel like she is worthy to be baptized yet, but she really is. We committed her to pray about if she is. Hopefully she can get an answer and know for sure that it is what she needs to  do.

Overall, life is really good! I love my branch (there are so many characters!). I love my companion. I love our investigators. I love the kind people we meet in the Southern Highlands of Australia. I love my district and the things I learn from them every week. Basically there is so much to be grateful for and I am so happy and blessed to be here!

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Sister Pace

Pics:We hiked Millamura Falls as a district last P-day!

 District Training Meeting:

I made Spaghetti for us one night and Sister Sumaribos was really excited about it.

Google Chat with the family on Mother's Day:  AnneMarie, Tanner, Lyndsi, Jessica, Emerson, Matthew and Joanna in Utah; Mom, Dad, Garrett, Veronica, Vincent, Danna, Bruce, and Josy in Nevada.  On the computer at Samantha's home in Bowral, Australia.

 

8 May 2017 Letter

Hello!

What a happy week it has been! It went be really fast and we saw lots of miracles, as usual:)

One of the coolest experiences was meeting Ingrid. We were on our way to try to visit a less active member in one of our farther areas, then decided to try a potential we met the week before, a teenage girl named Claudia. When we knocked on their door, her mom, Ingrid, answered. She was having a horrible day. She had almost got put into a mental institution that very day because she gets suicidal. So sad:(  We were literally there in the perfect time of her need though, and we testified of that to her-- Letting her know that Heavenly Father is aware of her and wants to help her find joy and peace. She had let us in right away because she had lots of questions. We were able to teach her the whole plan of salvation, which she was especially glad to hear because her son was killed 4 years ago and she wasn't sure if they would ever be together again or not. It was such a happy thing to be able to testify that she would be with him again and her other son who she lost through a miscarriage. What a miracle! I'm so grateful that we were able to be the means through which she received help and hope.

We saw her again on Saturday and she has desires to be baptized. We are excited to set a date for baptism for her to work towards this week!

We were able to teach Patrice the Plan of Salvation this week as well. We tried to set a baptismal date for her but she does not feel ready to set one yet. No worries though, we know she will be in the right time! She wasn't feeling well on Sunday so she wasn't at church. Neither were the Ragg's which we were sad about, nevertheless, Heavenly Father blessed us with different miracles. Patrice's mom, Sister Snell, who has been inactive for a really long time, came to all three hours of church yesterday! It has been so good for both her and Patrice that we are teaching them the lessons. We are going to do some family history with them tomorrow night! They are so great!

Also, a less active member, Sister Recktenwald, from Germany, came to church! She met with the branch president and he told us that she wants to come fully back into activity! We love her and are so happy she has made that decision! Her husband, also from Germany, has always been active, and you could tell he was so happy to have her there:) SO many miracles!

I don't have much more time, but on Friday we had district meeting and Elder Paie, our district leader gave a training on the importance of time. He gave us each a check for $86,400 and had us write down what we would use the money for if we got that every day and we had to spend all of it and we didn't know when we would stop getting that much money every day. He then told us that that is how many seconds we have in a day. the same conditions apply, we can’t save it, and we don't know when that supply will be taken away. It’s a good way to think of it. Time is so precious! So go and do something TODAY!

Love You all! Can’t wait to Skype my fam next week!

Love,

Sister Pace

Photo above:  Beautiful tree at the Dapto chapel

Photo below:  Tracting in the beauty of the Earth!

Last P-Day we went to Carrington Falls, a waterfall about 40 minutes away from where we live.  It was soooo beautiful!  Put it on your bucket list!

The Elders' favorite pose:

Sister Sumaribos and Elder Lammi lol

This is a business card that the Elders made for us to give to people in the branch so they remember we exist.

 

Our District name in Dapttagong, which I came up with (The couple name of Dapto and Mittagong), and this is the weird symbol we came up with for it.

2 May 2017 Letter

Hello!

Sorry,  I forgot to let you know P-day would be on Tuesday this week because of transfers. It happens every 6 weeks. The good news is I'm staying in Mittagong with Sister Sumaribos! We are so excited for the possibilities this transfer!

This past week, President Back instructed all of us to spend 3 hours a day finding, which is a little more than we are used to. I will copy my letter to President this week, as it sums up a lot of things that happened:

Dear President,

This week has been miraculous as far as finding! As we have been doing it more, and been prayerful about it, Heavenly Father has always made it a great use of our time. He ALWAYS places someone in our path (or us in theirs) that is willing and needs to hear our message. And as long as we open our mouths to everyone we can, He blesses us to find them. It has been so cool to see! On one occasion, I knew I needed to talk to a man sitting a few rows away on the train, but I didn't want to because it was so quiet and I knew it would be awkward. Trusting the spirit, I walked over to introduce myself and it turns out he is going through a difficult time and is interested in hearing more of our message. Heavenly Father always makes it okay and blesses us if we just trust him!

On another occasion, we knocked on a woman's door who, we noticed through the window, was doing her family history on FamilySearch as we knocked. Because of that connection, she was willing to invite us back to hear our message. I know that these things are not just coincidences, but The Lord hastening His work through us as we strive to be worthy instruments. These are only a couple of the many miracles Sister Sumaribos and I experienced this week.

I am so happy to be staying in Mittagong with her again this transfer!

Good things are happening! Our investigator, Patrice, came to church on Sunday with her mom who is a less active member. She is doing so good. We are happy to have Elders Kentworthy and Lammi in the branch with us. They seem like great missionaries and we know that good changes will happen this transfer!

We love you and Sister Back so much! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Pace

Both Elders Crowten and Tovi got transferred out and we have two new ones in the branch who seem really solid, so that is exciting. Hopefully we can get the branch excited about member missionary work!  We had a member, Sister Molloy, come along to our lesson with Patrice and Sister Snell on Wednesday and it made so much of a good difference! Having a member there testifying with us and building a friendship was so powerful. The Ragg's are still good, just been busy lately. Hopefully we will see them tonight!

Overall, things are going really good and I am happy! We are about to go hike a waterfall I have been wanting to go to. WooHooo!

Love you all Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Pace

Snapping a quick photo with the beautiful Earth:

Last District Training Meeting of the Transfer:

 The Burgoyne's and Brother Magick, a recent convert, after the Recent Convert Fireside:

The Sisterssss.  We will miss Sister Samsen, who got transferred to Canberra:

Tracting:

The Dapto Sisters came over for lunch after the District Training Meeting.  Our flat is SO COLD!:

     

Final Mittagong Branch missionaries photo:

I got to see Sister Ockey, my MTC companion, at a Recent Convert Fireside:

We have the most beautiful area!!! :

In Nursery on Sunday: