Week 15

So wow, guess what I just found out? You're never gonna guess so I'm just gonna tell you all haha. MY MISSION IS GETTING SPLIT AND I'M PROBABLY GOING TO THE NAMPA MISSION! So whoever is in the Meridian, Eagle and Star zones when we get transfer calls next transfer will be going to the Nampa mission and all the Twin falls missionaries will be coming to the Boise Idaho mission. The missions will change on July 1st when we get our new mission president. But yeah, kinda freaking out about that haha

Well, about my week here in the Idaho Boise mission. My new companion is Sister Hirales. She's from Riverside, California and she is so awesome! She's been out about 11 months. She is so good with connecting with the people we teach and she loves music! We have so much in common and there is so much crazy personality over here. 

So our recent convert Jen and her husband Randy moved down the street but they were talking about needing their house cleaned so we went and broke into their house and cleaned it. They stopped by to pick some stuff up and we were in there scrubbing the floors and toilets and they were like "SISTERS! What are you doing here?" I'm basically a pro cleaner now and it looked fantastic as we walked out. haha Mom, aren't you proud?

We went and saw Winnie and Dominique last Wednesday and the spirit was so strong my heart was about to beat out of my chest and I know he felt it too. We were talking to him about how our Savior is always there and he wants us to repent and come back to him. He told us he was feeling really guilty for all the things he's done and that he wants to change. We invited him to pray and repent and he said he would. Winnie texted us after and she said, "Thank you Sister's for coming by and sharing your message with Dominique today. He really felt the spirit. He went in and prayed in the other room as soon as you left." We haven't been able to meet with them since and Winnie said they broke up so he's not living with her anymore but even if we don't teach Dominique, he was able to have an amazingly spiritual experience and hopefully he will remember it when the missionaries come to meet with him where ever he lives now. 

Love you all so much. The gospel is true and Jesus Christ is our Savior. 

Keep the Faith,

Sister Summer Stone

Week 14

It was a blast talking to you all yesterday. This week has been a lot slower because I got sick on Monday and Tuesday so we stayed home and watched Meet the Mormons, Legacy and some other awesome 80's movies that have the church stamp on the back. 

Before I got sick though we went to pday activity at the park and played games with our district. We lost 3 of our missionaries during transfers (including Sister Thomas) so we're super sad because I love my district. We got some awesome new missionaries though! 

So because Sister Thomas said goodbye to a ton of people this week and I don't think we have ever had so many desserts. Saturday we had a baby shower (cupcakes and chocolate) then we went to someones house to teach a lesson (brownies and icecream) then we went to dinner (more brownies). On Sunday we went to say goodbye to some other investigators and members and we got cookies, brownies and icecream, pie and I'm pretty sure I'm gaining weight just telling you about this haha. Sister Thomas really will be missed though. She has changed this ward and the help with missionary work here. 

We had a lesson with Darren and a member family. He was really excited to meet them and ask them about their conversion stories. He's continuing to progress and he's reading the Book of Mormon and so we're gonna invite him to be baptized this week! Can't wait to see his progress.

We had a less active family all come to church yesterday and the son got ordained a deacon and we are sooooo excited!! 

Well I'm sorry this week was so crazy and short haha we've been working hard and loving the people.

Keep the faith people. Love you all!

Week 13

Well hello Fam! This week has been insanely busy but I LOVE it! We got 4 new investigators this week!!! 

On Tuesday we had dinner with Timmy and Jesse, the people we tracted into and they had SO many questions so we said that we could teach them the lessons and it would answer most of them. PLUS they already started reading the BOM and can't wait to learn more. 

On Wednesday we met with Kim (a potential investigator) and she has been meeting with missionaries for like ever but none of them have ever taught her so we asked if she had ever  read the BOM and she said a few verses. Come to find out she didn't even know what the Book of Mormon was and she had a ton of questions so we told her about the lessons and asked her if she wanted to listen to them. She said YES! 

On Saturday we went to visit Winnie and her boyfriend wants to learn more about the church because his grandma is a member. He wants to take the lessons and we're meeting with him tonight! He said he would start reading the Book of Mormon last week.

We also had a Special Sisters Training at the mission office on Friday! It was an awesome training and I felt the spirit so strong! President Winder and Sister Winder really do love us a lot! I'm going to miss them. 

On Saturday we went and did service at an old folks home and we got to talk with a lot of the elderly ladies. One of the ladies I talked with was 95, a member of the church and she had some of the funnest stories! Her name is Velma I think haha she is awesome though and we get to see them every Tuesday and paint their nails. I'm pumped about that!

We also went to the family history center and found family names because we get to go to the temple and do all the work except the sealing for them! I found someone, didn't think I would but I did! Well, sorry this weeks email was kinda spastic but I love you all!!! 

Keep the faith!

Sister Summer Stone

Week 12

Hello everyone! Sorry my whole subject or starting line didn't all start with F, I tried. How has your week been?? Mine has been great! Congrats to Chan and Kendall graduating this week. Love you both! I'm gonna miss not having you guys in Provo. It sounds like everyone had a super exciting week in Provo though. Sad I missed it but don't worry, 15 months is going to fly by!!!! haha 

Last Monday we had P-day activity with our district and we had a Nerf war. I had a few welts on my legs because the Elders had a way better shot than I did haha but it was really fun! 

On Tuesday we had district meeting and I made French Toast and buttermilk syrup. President Winder and Sister Winder came so that was so fun. The Elders were dying when they had it. They asked me what was in it and I told them basically butter and sugar as they ran to go get more. haha (Elder Knudsen wants to say hi to you mom and thank you for the recipe, he doesn't know you but he loved it haha) 

So last week Sister Thomas and I went to the gas station in our area (remember its only a square mile so we only have that 1) haha anyways, I wanted some ice cream and they had F'reals!!!!!!!!! YES THEY HAD THEM AND YES I DIED!!!! (Carli, Bryce, Chan, Brooke and Trav will appreciate that!) haha I hadn't had one in so long and Sister Thomas had never had one, EVER! Sooo as you could imagine it was a really happy time for us! 

We went on exchanges this week and I went with Sister Ray (shout out to the Huber's again). She is seriously the cutest, funnest, most amazing missionary ever! Ah I love her. We went and did service at a thrift store and on our way home we saw this pizza place called Slice and we stopped for lunch because they had seating on the roof. Ah it was so fun to just go up on the roof, eat Thai chicken Pizza (Carli will appreciate that too) and relax and look over downtown Meridian. I love this place so much! I'm so glad to be here. 

While we were on exchanges we visited Monique Murphy (Jackson) haha. We read the intro to the Book of Mormon and she started to get emotional. Sister Ray asked her if she would want to learn for herself if the Book of Mormon was true and Monique said, "Ya know, I have been wondering." So we invited her read the testimonies and pray to know if what she has read is true. She said she would and I couldn't be more stoked for her!!! Keep her in your prayers PLEASE!

We had a ward activity this last week with Baldwin Park ward. It was a fundraiser for all the youth camps this year cause they're going on trek, girls camp and scout camp. It was SUCH a great turn out. There were a lot of less active families there that were able to all make connections and meet people in the ward!! Plus a part member family came and the husband (who's not a member) LOVED it! Ah The work here is picking up and I'm so excited about it. We are praying and looking for a new investigator in this ward so please pray for us with that too. 

Welp, hope you all had a good week! Love you all and Keep the faith

Sister Summer Stone

Pic #1: Fundraiser with the Bird kids. They have a twin boy and girl who are 4 (John and Catie) and a girl who's 18 months (Melissa or Missy). I love them so much! 

Pic #2: Sister Ray and I at Slice

Pic #3: F'REALS

Pic #4: Regular potty break on a regular Sunday afternoon (because we're closer to church buildings than we are to our house cuz Idaho)

Week 11

Hello everyone! How has your week been? I love getting everyone's emails and hearing about what's going on. This week has been slow and kind of sad to be completely honest. We weren't able to see Darren, or the new contact we made last week. Hoping to see them sometime this upcoming week. Keep them in your prayers!

Also, remember Kristen and Tim? The part member family we LOVE and have been teaching for a while? They just told us they're moving to Nampa like 10 minutes away but it's out of our mission...SO SAD! They are starting to move stuff over to the house this next Monday but they are still going to be paying rent and coming to our ward so that's good! We really will miss them. But they said when we go home from our missions and come back to visit, they'll have more space for us to stay! Ah we love them! Tim restarted the Book of Mormon and he is seriously progressing. We are having dinner at their house on Wednesday and we are going to invite him to be baptized and set a date! Keep him in your prayers!! 

This week has been pretty dang slow and nothing too exciting happened... sorry. haha 

A few weeks ago when I was studying I found some scriptures and I LOVED them so I thought I'd share it with y'all! So a lot of people ask why we don't wear crosses on necklaces or post them around our home and there are multiple reasons for it. I always thought it was just because we want to remember the joyful happy time in Christs life and not the saddest part when he died on the cross. Although we respect that time of his life, we don't want to think of him in that way. BUT I found when I was studying that that's not the only reason. In Jacob 1:8 it says, "but that all men would believe in Christ, and view his death and suffer his cross and bear the shame of the world." and then in Matthew 16: 24 it says, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." We need to remember that in life, our "crosses" are our hard and sad times we have in life. Maybe it's loosing a child, mental illness, struggling in school, anything! Those are our crosses! In the scriptures we are told to "CARRY" our crosses. But something so incredible about the atonement, is that Christ has already carried that cross. He has already felt everything you have felt. You don't have to carry that cross alone. He is there right behind ya picking up the slack. Remember that when times get tough. Christ is always there no matter what. Just reach out to him and let him help you. That is why we don't wear crosses as jewlery or post them as decoration because we always have those crosses with us. We are ALWAYS carrying them. Remember to reach out your hand to Christ as he'll be there to lift you back up and help you to keep going.

I know this gospel is true and I know that this mission is exactly where I need to be! I love you all!

Keep the Faith

Sister Summer Stone

Pics:

#1 Kenna Worley, (Tim and Kristen's daughter)

#2 The Malms (a less active family we visit! All the kids came to church last week on their own and stayed all 3 hours!) 

#3 Sister Thomas and I earlier  today!

Week 10

Hola Familia!

This week has been pretty busy! We've been working hard and we have LOVED talking about conference with all of our less actives and investigators. We had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators Darren. He told us, "If the BOM is true and if Joseph Smith is a true prophet then sign me up for the LDS church". WOOHOO! haha We are hoping to get him into a members home for our next lesson and the wife is a convert so that should be really good for him. Darren is a guy in his mid 40's and he used to be atheist until like 2 1/2 years ago. He is really interested in finding the true church for him and loves studying the scriptures. He loved conference this past week and he is really progressing. We are hoping to get him on a baptismal date to work towards later this week. 

Also, remember when I said that Winnie dropped us last week? Yeah..she texted us on Monday night and told us she felt bad about it and she wanted us to come back to talk about Christ. We will see how it goes with her. We met with her last week and she wasn't as excited as she has been in the past about it but she wants to keep reading the BOM and praying. We will keep her in our prayers and see how it goes. 

We've been trying to meet a #HALLELUJAH contact from a few weeks ago and they haven't been home or they haven't been answering their door. Like we went a few days after we met the husband and they asked behind the door, "Who is it?" and we said "The missionaries" and he said "We're busy". Anyways, we decided to try to go see them last night and they finally answered the door. The wife let us in and we shared #HALLELUJAH with her. She loved the video and told us they just moved from Florida and haven't been able to find a church to go to here in Meridian yet. We gave her the Book of Mormon and she said she can't wait to read it. We asked if we could come back later this week to teach her more about our beliefs and she said she would love it. I'm so stoked to see her grow closer to our Heavenly Father!

So remember Monique Jackson/McCoy. Yeah it's not McCoy either...... hahaha We went and visited with them last week and we started to teach her the first lesson but then the daughter interupted. Long story short, before I was going to say the prayer I asked her if their last name was Jackson and she said, "Well, my maiden name is Jackson and my oldest son is a Jackson but my husband is Tony Murphey so my other kids are Murphey and I'm Murphey now. But you can say Jackson if you want just not in front of Tony... haha" So yep, we have gone through 3 last names for them. I'm hoping we stick with Murphey now haha!

On Friday we had Zone Meeting and after we went to a Pizza buffet and the Elders thought it would be funny if we had a pizza eating contest. Some of the elders got to 9 pieces but Elder Stringham ate 16 whole pieces. THATS 2 LITTLE CAESAR'S PIZZAS!! Holy crap! haha but yeah, that's my zone for ya! I love my district and zone. We have Pday activities each week with them and we've gotten super close! :) 

Alrighty folks, I think that's it for this week! Keep the faith and remember God loves you all!

Oh PS, our mission has a goal this month to always have a BOM in our hands and it has been so great so far! It makes me feel like a real missionary haha

Sister Summer Stone

Pic 1: BOM pics

Pic 2: Sister Ray (Shout out to the Hubers)

Pic 3: The Cunningham Girls earlier this week (a less active family we visit)

Week 9

Everyone who LOVED conference say "Me". MEEEEE!!!

Wasn't conference this weekend so amazing?? I loved Elder Oaks and Elder Hollands talk. They always just kill it. haha And I loved President Monson's simple but amazing message about choices and choosing the easy wrong or the hard right. I am so excited to share it with all of our investigators.

I am loving the area and the people in the wards that we work with. We got a new ward mission leader in one of our wards and he is super excited to help us! The members in the wards are always really excited to help and really excited to meet the people we are teaching too.

On Saturday we watched conference then we went to a park in the neighborhood to help out with an Easter egg hunt. We did face painting and it was so fun! I felt like I was at home just like helping out at some ward party. And the Easter egg hunt basically felt like a ward party because it was all members and then a few other non-members. haha We mloved it! We got to see Monique and McKia Jackson (the black people lol) but oh yeah, so we found out their last name isn't Jackson... It's McCoy. We thought it was Jackson because the oldest son plays for Boise State so we asked him what  his name was and what position be plays. Anyways, he's from a different father I guess and his dads last name was Jackson but the rest are McCoys. Oops haha.

We had basically 3 breakfasts yesterday. We watched the Sunday morning session at Jen and Randy's (Jen is the one who just got baptized) and we had biscuits and gravy, and Swedish pancakes YUM!! Then we had oatmeal chocolate cookies at the people's house we went to the afternoon session for and that's basically breakfast because it has oatmeal in it. Right? Then we had breakfast for dinner at a members house. It was this delicious French toast casserole with buttermilk syrup. Yeah, my mouth watered too, don't worry! haha They are super friendly. They have a son on a mission in Mexico right now and he gets home around the same time as me so maybe we'll party it up in Provo after our missions haha! I got to play the piano at their house as well and I loved it! They had a lot of the same music I played before my mission. 

We had our investigator Winnie drop us last night because she watched an hour and a half anti video. It was really sad for me when she told me that because I know this gospel is true with all my heart and I could never deny it. I seriously cried for like 30 minutes haha. There are definitely things in the church and its history that are disturbing and concerning at times but there is no possible way Joseph Smith just made this gospel up just because he wanted to... I know that I am here for a reason and I know that I gave up a year and a half of my life to serve the Lord and preach His true gospel. I love the people here and I still love Winnie but it just breaks my heart that she isn't able to partake of the same happiness we know and feel from this gospel. I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's original gospel restored on the earth today.

LOVE YOU ALL!!!

Sister Summer Stone

Pic #1: Sister Thomas and I have a new hit single dropping soon called "FALLing for you"

Pic #2: It's finally getting warm! So yeah, I'm stoked

Pic #3: oh yeah, and our other album featuring Paramore coming soon.