26 March 2018

As usual  I have no time, but President Leota asked all the leavers to send him spiritual experiences and changing experiences from our missions so here it is:

Dear President Leota,

Thank you so much for your advice and counsel in our closing interview. I really feel, now, that I will still have a purpose when  I return home, and that the best is yet to come when I keep setting and working towards worthy goals. This week has been great and I really enjoyed learning from Sister Simon and Sister Mata'u on trade-offs. Getting to serve with amazing people and become their friend has been one of my favorite parts of my missionary experience.

Reflecting back on my mission, I feel so grateful for the changes in myself I have seen. I am a much more confident person now, because  I understand that to have hope and confidence, my faith should not be in myself , but in my Heavenly Father and my Savior Jesus Christ. They are the ones that have blessed me with success and joy throughout my mission. They are the ones who will continue to bless me with these things the rest of my life when I continue to lose my life for His sake and His gospel. Then I will continue finding myself.

I am eternally grateful for the difficult experiences I have had on my mission:

When some of my beloved companions and I have had to work hard to be unified with one another because it did not just come naturally form the get-go.  These experiences have taught me how to be more humble and patient.

When I have had to overcome pride and awkwardness and just open my mouth to invite someone to hear my message, even when I don't think they will be willing to accept or even be kind to me.

When I have had to exert all my energy to pray WITH FAITH for someone who is struggling on their journey.

One of these experiences stands out, when an investigator was struggling a lot in the week before her baptism to have the faith to follow through with her commitment. Sister Haretuku and I prayed with more energy and faith than we ever had before that she would be able to overcome the discouragement she felt and be able to receive the great blessing of baptism. Heavenly Father then used us and others as instruments in His hands to bring about a miracle. I now know that Heavenly Father really does answer our righteous prayers because our desires will not be anything against His will.

Other experiences that stand out are the times when I have witnessed the suffering of some of my brothers and sisters. From an unexpected accident, an unfair situation, an on-going sickness, or a plethora of other trials. Being able to put myself in their place the best I could and testify to them that Jesus Christ lives and He has already paid the price, has deepened my understanding of His Atonement and incomprehensible love for each of us. I have witnessed these trails either harden people, or humble them to more fully rely on His grace. I now know that our trials are always opportunities for us to grow closer to Him so He can help us become better than we were before.

All these experiences and many more, have helped me personally to get to know Him better. I am so grateful for that. I now have a stronger testimony that He is there and that the fullness of His gospel has been restored to Earth again today so that we can all enjoy and benefit from the goodness that it brings to everyday life and to our families.

Thank you for serving with me and leading me and the mission to bring about a marvelous work! I know it is true! In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Sister Pace

pics:

1- (above)  finally remembered to take a picture with one of our investigators. This is Tara! She is 17 and Persian. She is so cool.

2-last p-day. Board games with the district. My district is so competitive!

 3- Sister Simon (Melbourne, Australia)  made me breakfast on trade-offs!

 4- trade-off with Sister Mata'u (Samoa) <3

19 March 2018 Letter

Well, this week has been another busy one with a combined mission conference with the Sydney North and South Missions with President and Sister Clayton (President of the quorum of the seventy) and Elder and Sister Ardern (of the Pacific Area Presidency). They announced that as the two missions become one on July 1st, there will be a new mission president called.  I think the name is Runio? I also learned of a lot of things I need to work on, which is great. The main thing I liked is that we are always associated with Jesus Christ because He is the other biggest name on my badge, so I always need to be acting in a way that He would be pleased, and always striving to emulate Him. I started reading the book of Mark this past week, and  I am paying extra attention to what Jesus did so  I can keep learning of Him and emulating Him.

I also had a good trade-off with Sister Matagasau, from Fiji, just like Sister Namalo. She is Sister Ockey's companion and this is only her second transfer. She is so cute. Should have taken a picture.

Besides that, Matthew received the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday, so hopefully will be attending the temple in the next couple weeks.

Pamella is doing well. One of our fellowshippers, Sister Wood, got her more excited and determined to read the Book of Mormon this past week in our lesson with them, which is good because she was mostly still just sticking to the Bible and she really needs to receive a testimony of the Book of Mormon too.

Everyone else is progressing slowly but surely. We found out that a former investigator, Jayden still lives here, after we thought he had moved to Sydney. He is still really keen! The only reason we found out is because we were randomly following up with old potential investigator sheets. That was a miracle!

Just trying to do everything I possibly can with the little time I have left. Love you all and you are constantly in my prayers!

Love,

Sister Pace

12 March 2018 Letter

Well, no time, but it was a hectic week with two trade-offs and a zone conference. All were great. I am sending pictures and a picture is worth 1000 words right? Pamella is now on date for baptism for April 14th, a little later that we were expecting, but still exciting! It will probably change a little so her son can baptize her and he is not available on that day. We will see. She is progressing great though!

A miracle this week is our investigator Micheal came to church yesterday even though he was really apprehensive about it. I think he had a good experience:)

We have a few new investigators so we will let you know how they go.

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Sister Pace

Photos:

1 (above)-I am now in the same zone with Sisters Howard and Ockey from my MTC district. Sister Ockey and I get to be companions again in a way because we are STL companions:)

2-the drive to zone conference in Ulladulla

3- the night before zone conference at the Wollongong sister's flat.

4 & 5-The sisters at zone conference:) that is the back of President Leota in the back.

6- Trade-offs with Sister Hampton in Ulladulla, the most beautiful area! She is from Utah and  I ran 2 and a half miles while she ran 4. She is the best:)

5 March 2018 Letter

It has been a great week! Long but great!

Some of the highlights include:

Missionary Leadership Correlation Meeting on Tuesday.  I got to meet President Leota for the first time. He is our temporary mission president until we receive a new one in July. He and Sister Leota are amazing and have so much faith! He set some high goals for our mission to achieve by July (in the next two and a half transfers), but he has complete faith that we can achieve them and now so do we! I am excited for Zone conference this week so that the rest of the missionaries in our zone can get on board. At MLC we received a training mostly about how working with less active and part member families, as well as new members, will help us reach this goal. It was pretty inspiring and Sister Namalo and  I have already seen miracles as we have applied what he said! At MLC they made me give a “dying testimony”

I am not sure if I have mentioned Steven before, but he is a 40 year old man with a burly beard that we met on park and embark day a couple weeks ago. When we first talked to him, he was sitting on his porch, drinking a beer, while waving goodbye to his young daughter who was going back to her mother for the week. We weren’t sure if he was drunk or not, but decided to talk to him anyway. Turns out he, in just the past couple years, has turned his life around and is searching for truth. He had been reading the Koran and looking into different religions. He was interested in hearing what we have to say and apologized, saying he knows it looks like he drinks all the time, but it’s really only a once a month thing. We have taught him twice since then, once with one of our members, Brother Quinton. Steven has so many questions and they are all really good ones. His question yesterday, while teaching the Plan of Salvation, was did Jesus Christ have a body like Heavenly Father when He created the Earth before He was born. They are just questions that a lot of people don’t even think of but they are great! He really feels that the things we are teaching him are possible and that they could be his answer. He has been reading and praying and hopefully will come to church soon.

Pamella, came to church again yesterday, her 3rd week in a row! She even asked one of the members for a lift home so she could attend the second two hour again, because her son had to leave early to go to work. She is building good relationships with ward members and we found out that her granddaughter is being baptized on the 30 of March. She has been thinking about doing it with her, and we hope she decides to! There is no set date for her yet, but hopefully this week

Those are just some of the miracles this week. Love you all and you are always in my prayers! Have a miraculous week!

Love,

Sister Pace

A Rainy P-Day at the Lake:

Reuniting with loved ones at Mission Leader Conference: