September 26, 2017

This week was crazy!!! So much fun and so many miracles!!

So I'm only going to do one miracle that happened a day but know that there were A LOT more amazing things that happened than listed! :) 

(mom you probably shouldn't read this one) Monday: So we were going out to contact this referral named Marissa to deliver a Bible. Pretty late that night and it was a pretty sketchy area and Sister Wilson was making me kinda nervous so we texted our district leader where we were. Of course there wasn't any house numbers so we were just knocking to find out what their address was and we finally knocked into someone that helped us get to where we were going and then we got to the house and there was this gate around the house and these as Sister Wilson likes to say "snarling ravenous wolf dogs" in the gate and I will admit these dogs were pretty scary but we felt like we really needed to deliver the bible so we came up with a game plan and then took action!

So we said a prayer and then went through the gate to the door. Me being me I figured that it would be like a Daniel and the lions den scenario and the dogs would calm and we would walk to the door together all happy nope... we walked to the gate after saying that ....

More next week!

So we walked through the gate and the dog ate Sister Wilson!!! just kidding :) we walked through the gate and the dogs kept barking and jumping but never came too close it was like this bubble was around us protecting us! We then knocked on the door and Marissa let us in and we had a really good lesson guided by the Spirit and gave her the Bible and Book of Mormon and set a return appointment their family is very very prepared! We left them with a prayer and she came up to me in tears afterwards and told me that I " had said all the right words" Very touching moment. I love being a Missionary!! :) 

This week we had an incredible district meeting...well they're always good but this one was really really good and not just because we instructed ;) haha but really One of the Assistants to the President took a couple minutes at the end and gave a really good thought from Moses 5, if you'd like to get the details write me and I can send them... it was really good! Anyways we as a district made a goal that each companionship pass out 20 open Books of Mormons in one week! We are going to pass out 10 today and already have passed out 2 so 8 more to go :) but we saw a lot of miracles from it! Just a couple:

Nick: Sister Wilson thought it was funny and took a video of me actually talking to Nick. It's like my prime finding tool, service :) But anyways we were sitting in the car while Sister Wilson was trying to find members to some upcoming appointments when I was sitting in the Drivers seat and saw this person mowing his lawn and the thought came to me and I turned to Sister Wilson and said " I need to go mow that guys lawn" and she gave me this face and said " you need to mow that guys lawn?" and I was like yea you can finish texting the members while I mow! So I grabbed my bag and I took the lawn mower from him and when had a lesson with him handed out a open Book of Mormon and he's now a new investigator! It's so cool to see how service really does provide such an opportunity to share the gospel! 

So our return appointment we scheduled with Nick he wasn't home from school yet apparently and so we sat down and looked at our back up plans and had 2 options either weekly planning or passing out Books of Mormon. So we prayed and decided we needed to pass out Books of Mormon literally got up after the prayer and started walking and Nick's neighbors garage opened and Johnny came out and we started talking about families and shared 1 Nephi 1:1 how even Nephi talked of his goodly parents and while we were talking he kept reading!!!! and then applied more of the Book of Mormon to our conversation!! It was pretty awesome, we can't wait to get a hold of him this week! 

So turn of events we got transfer calls :( BUT I'M STAYING WITH SISTER WILSON!!!!!!!  We're super happy about that!! but the sad part is that they are opening up another area within our ward called Levelland it's basically all of the small towns outside of Lubbock...So it's great that they are bringing more missionaries in but in this area we had 15 of our most progressing investigators 3 of which had baptismal dates... So we get to go finding a lot :) So that makes me happy :) but sad because we won't be teaching Jackie Barry Mooney or Michelle anymore :( But they're in the Lord's hands so nothing can go wrong..permanently for that matter.. :) 

Not much time left but know that the Shadow Hills ward is one of the very best in the Texas Lubbock Mission. Really though if you come to Lubbock come to this ward they know whats going on :) 6 more weeks of pure gold here we come :) 

SISTER Allart

September 13, 2017

Well folks It's been quite a minute but just so y'all know I am still alive and breathing! 

First of all Happy Patriots day!!

Couple quick updates so you're all caught up:

After I was in Midland I went to Eastland,Tx for 2 transfers and met so many wonderful people there!! Me and my companion Sister Neilson also found and taught a man named Michael who was baptized last month :) 

After Eastland I was sent to Lovington with my companion Sister Baldwin. So wonderful!! I just found out yesterday that one of our investigators, Ramon, will be getting baptized this coming week! 

After Lovington I was assigned to be a Sister Training Leader in Lubbock, don't tell anyone else but this has been hands down my favorite area, companion, and transfer!!! There has been A LOT of stress but it has been SO INCREDIBLE!!! I am with Sister Wilson right now who will be one of my eternal friends! 

SO the past week :)

Monday: this past Monday was definitely not our usual preparation day! We went out and did service for a member while also talking to one of her friends Ty (he is literally getting baptized on Saturday!!!!) apparently the night before they had talked for 9 hours about the gospel, answering questions and talking about God's plan for all of His children. I had the privilege to meet Ty and to talk about the Book of Mormon with him and share some select scriptures from the Book of Mormon. Sister Diaz, the member, told us that out of all the missionaries he's met with (he's met with 8 since Monday!) That it was our testimonies and passion that has stuck with him the most :) We saw him on Friday at a baptism (I'll get to that in a minute) and he told me that I was still as passionate as ever. hahah Ty is great! Anyways also while we were at the members home we were breaking windows and tearing up carpet when one of the elders, Elder Thomas sliced his finger open like really bad to the point where he had to go the the emergency room and get 4 stitches.

Tuesday: District meeting and exchanges!! One of the best privileges I get to have as a Sister Training Leader is that I get to go out for the day and serve with different Sisters and learn so much from them!! 

Wednesday: Finished Exchanges and another set of Sisters and we are over came and one stayed the night with us while she was waiting for her new companion. We also received a text from one of our investigators (they had been taking the lessons for about a year) and said that they wanted to get baptized on Friday. Yes Friday as in 2 days. Yes I was really stressed. Yes it was the most incredible miracle! We also attended a nondenominational baptist church...don't know how that works but we saw 2 people get baptized. it was really interesting and I really have gained such a testimony about the Priesthood. I love how within the Church of Jesus Christ of latterday Saints it if first said " having been commissioned of Jesus Christ" This is His Church and He has given his authority! We can receive blessings that have been specifically promised to us from God!!! How  

Thursday: We dropped off Sister Palmer to meet her new companion, we planned a baptism, and then attended a funereal for one of the Sisters husbands in the ward. 

Friday: we had Sara baptismal interview at 2 and she then got baptized at 4 with her husband! SO MANY miracles!!! For example just one: we were getting everything else ready and trying to find people that we totally spaced telling Sara and Paul to bring towels. We went into the closet that has all the Jumpsuits and we were like oh no we forgot to tell them to bring towels! we were looking through the shelves and nothing then as the very top shelf there were exactly 2 towels!!! Miracle? I think yes :) we then had a lesson right after with one of our investigators Michele and then went to the ward BBQ...best BBQ in the world., thank you Texas!! :) 

Saturday: we met with 3 of our investigators Ruby, Patrick, and Michele. MICHELE!! Michele is amazing!! She has her only son out on a mission right now, he converted about 3ish years ago. anyways we are picking up Michele and she was skyping Dakota, her son out on a mission, and it changed everything for her!!!! They just had a short 5 minute lesson and she asked some questions. It was sooo good! later that night we had our lesson and Sister Wilson asked why she was going to read the Book of Mormon. She kept putting her hands down on the Book of Mormon and was like I just want to know if it's true!! yea she's great :) Love her to death :) 

Sunday: Church is incredible as usual :) I really enjoyed the relief society lesson, it was about continuing if education basically and the scripture kept coming to my my mind from Doctrine and Covenants 29:34 how all things are spiritual unto God. Just some really good stuff, I can't wait to further my education when I get home! 

Monday...today! I went to get a haircut and the lady literally chopped off like 3 or 4 inches so my hair is kinda short right now.... but it's all good! We had a good gospel conversation :) 

Here are some great pics so that y'all really know that I'm alive :)

July 2017

Christmas Card - Midland, December 2016

December 19th - Midland, TX

Howdy Y'all :) 

This week has been a complete roller coaster!! Sunday especially! So many miracles sooo many!! God is so good I hope you all know that! He definitely gives us hard blessings to recognize the good ones that much easier! 

So first off Wednesday! Wednesday was insane! Almost everything fell through all of our lessons and plans and I felt like a complete chump. It was a very difficult day BUT we had a dinner appointment that night that we were an hour late too because we were teaching a lesson ( the one that we had) and it went pretty well. I personally felt horrible because we were so late! Anyway, we went in and the ward youth were everywhere and the elders were already there. We walked in and they all were so happy and told us to sit down and open our Christmas presents that they had all got for us! BLESSINGS!! Everyone was so kind and loving. God knew we would need that that day and made sure we felt his love! So many AMAZING people here in Texas! 

So fast forward to Sunday. OH MY GOODNESS. CRAZY!! So we were fasting this Sunday for one of our investigators so I'm hungry and not always the happiest when I am hungry....sorry Sister Penner....and Church wow. I love the branch soooo much!! So we invited Mark to church this week and we was yea sure can I bring some friends and we were all like YEA!!! So crazy awesomeness there! And the best part is HE CAME WITH 4 FOUR FRIENDS!! ALL NONMEMBERS INTERESTED IN THE GOSPEL!! WHAT? WHAT! RIGHT! I'm going crazy too!! And then we stayed after and talked with them and got to know them better. 3 of them are deaf and sister Penner was going crazy cause she knows ASL and was super excited to talk to them and get to know them! 

Anyways so yea craziness. Awesome sauce! But wait it gets better!!! So after church we all went out and contacted this girl who never answers and we caught her literally right before she was going to work!! The Spirit is so real guys like oh my goodness! Okay so we finished talking to her and her mom and saw we had a missed call from our neighbor and we were all like hmm I wonder what that is. He left a voice mail and we listened to it and apparently our apartment flooded/was flooding. So we go back to our apartment and were freaking out and trying to think of what we left going and we couldn't think of anything. (background info the day before it was like 80 degrees in the morning and dropped down to 26 degrees! all I can say is Texas) so apparently our pipe froze and burst so that was slightly really unfortunate. 

Anyways we were apartment bound for a while and then finally broke our fast ( it was like 6 I was dying) and then when all was well we went to Family Home Evening and Tony was there. OH MY GOODNESS TONY. I cant even come up with the words to describe tony. HE IS SO PREPARED! Like oh my goodness. If a person could be awesome sauce it would be Tony! We had a great message about Christ and I got to bear my testimony which was gooood. (like good for me to feel the spirit...hopefully it was good to everyone else...) and then sister Thacker bless her soul saved us some warm soup and we sat down and were eating and Tony wasn't there for the dinner either so he sat down with us and ate some delicious soup and then this is where is gets good. 

Somehow I cant even remember now but Tony asked us what our 3 favorite scriptures were in the book of Mormon and we had like this crazy amazing lesson and there was this member there who brought the spirit and Brother Thacker was there like listening in form afar and then jumped and shared this incredible testimony with experience and then the spirit was going off like bombs is was insane. SOO GOOD!!! SO GOOD! And then we asked him if he found out the Book of Mormon was true what would he do and we were like well I'd do what it says ( we talked about real intent and all that good jazz) and then we invited him to be baptized and he was like yea absolutely and I think I died. Like oh my goodness I was having spiritual heart attacks! it was SUCH AN AMAZING LESSON like OH MY GOODNESS!! wow. just wow. So yea that's all I have time for today if you want to know more write me ;)

Love SISTER Allart :)

December 12th - Midland, TX

I apologize I haven't had much time to send stuff and I don't have much time to email today so sorry but ITS AMAZING OUT HERE SOOOO MANY AMAZING PEOPLE!!! 

God is soo good! I am in Midland Texas right now serving in the YSA branch and absolutely loving every minute of it!! Elder Rasband came and spoke to us which was amazing!! So many miracles so many!! Unfortunately i don't have time to write much more than that so if you want to know more write me ;) love you all so much!! i really do!! 

i hope i have more time next week! 

Love SISTER Anneke Allart

November 30th - MTC - Provo, UT

First off so so so so so sorry I didn't get the chance to write you all last week!! It's been crazy here!! Always so busy!! There has been so much to learn here!! Hahaha 

I thought I was at least slightly prepared for what I was jumping into but there is no way to be ready for what hits you here! It's CRAZY!!! I absolutely love it though!!! This is definitely were I am supposed to be. I know it! Coming here has made me realize how important it is to rely on the Atonement constantly!! The sacrifice that was required for all of us to come down to earth was beyond what any of us could possibly understand! I have never completely understood the power and love that is in the Book of Mormon. It truly is as Joseph Smith said The most correct book of any book on earth! Any verse can answer a question or lead to love and guidance! I am soooo sooo soo so GRATEFUL for such a opportunity a this!! I love God so much and am so grateful for his help in everything I do! I am so grateful for the Savior and everything he had and continually does for me!! This truly is the Church with the complete fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that can bring us the most joy here on earth and in the life to come! I love you all so much!! I would love to hear from any of you!! 

I am leaving Monday at 330 am for TEXAS crazy I know right!! I am so excited for this opportunity and hope to hear from you all!! 

With too much love for you all,

SISTER Anneke Allart

P.S. Please go to the lds.org website and look up the new Christmas challenge of lighting the world in 25 days with 25 ways!!! I promise you as a representative of Jesus Christ that this Challenge will bring you closer to God and help you find joy in your life!! I LOVE YOU GUYS!! 

P.S.S this challenge is for all it doesn't particularly pertain to people of the LDS faith simply to those who just want to be a better person!