My dearest family,

I am so excited for conference. It truly is the best time of the year!

This week has been a great week. We have been able to meet a lot of people. Sister Taggart and I set two people for baptism this week. We are super blessed. We have been able to include some members in our teaching as well. I think the most important thing we can do right now in this area is earn the trust of member by working hard and being powerful teachers.

So Amy my investigator back in Papillion got baptized this last Saturday. I was praying about whether we should go or stay in Grand Island for the women's conference. I had the opportunity to talk to President Weston in interviews and he said I should go. I just needed to find and investigator and a member to take us. I was pretty excited. We found an investigator and a member and we were all ready to go on Saturday. A couple hours before we were suppose to leave the member who was taking us called and told us her daughter was in the hospital so she couldn't go. Her daughter had an infection. She is going to be alright thank goodness but I was very sad. I was also super confused because as I had prayed about what to do I felt I needed to go. I remembered my women's conference and how sad I was not to have gotten an investigator there. The broadcast is just too amazing not to share it with the world. AI am like completely convinced any girl who saw it would want to be baptized haha so I was pretty determined. I prayed and felt like we had things to do in Grand Island and everything was going to work out.  We were walking back from the Hospital(cause we don't have a car haha) and we met this Girl named Skyeleah. She had just moved here. We invited her to go and she totally came. SHE LOVED IT. I told you anyone who saw it would want to be baptized :) Miracles are truly happening here. We will probably have to turn her over to the YSA sisters but I don't even care. I am just happy we got to bring someone. I got permission to call Amy and she had the most amazing experience at her baptism. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to teach her. So just always remember God has a plan for you even when you think everything is falling apart. Sorry my email was so short. I will send some pictures next week and write more. Grand Island is amazing and I am grateful to be here. My mission president told me to just be myself and stop stressing hahaha sounds like something mom and dad tell me every dad of my life. Maybe I will do it this time. hahaha I love you all. Heavenly Father is aware of all of you and has a plan for you. Sometimes we just have to be patient and remember to ask him. Keep Him involved in the details :) Have a wonderful week.

Love, Sister Page

"My Calling: I am called of God. My Authority is above that of kings of the earth. By revelation I have been selected as a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my Master. He has chosen me to represent Him, to stand in His place, to say and do what He himself would say and do if He personally were ministering to the very people to whom He has sent me. My voice is His voice, my acts are His acts, my words are His words, and my doctrine is His doctrine. My commission is to do what He wants done. To say what He wants said. To be a living, modern witness in word and deed of the divinity of His great and marvelous latter-day work. HOW GREAT IS MY CALLING." (Elder Bruce R. McConkie)

I wanted to start off with that quote. I am so grateful to be a missionary right now and I am realizing how special it truly is.

So I guess I never get to inform you about my exciting news because by the time Monday hits you already know hahaha anyway I am in Grand Island! President Weston got sick of me and sent me away again hahah totally kidding. I will talk more about my adventures so far in Grand Island in a minute. Right now I want to start off with the beginning of my week...

So I prayed so stinkin hard that I would be able to teach everyone one last time before I left. Heavenly Father answered my prayers big time. I was able to teach Amy the day before I left. She should be getting baptized this Saturday or next. It was an incredible lesson. I am going to miss her so much. She has let the Gospel of Jesus Christ truly change her. I know I will be friends with her forever. I don't know if I will be able to go to her baptism but I am just grateful for her decision! I also got to teach Chip. We taught him in the Stephens home. The spirit is so strong in their home and Brother and Sister Stephen really helped Chip out. Chip agreed to be baptized. It was really neat. Not only was I able to teach all the people we were working with this week, I was also able to teach families that we have been trying so hard to teach for SO LONG! We taught the Haycock family, they are a part member family that I have mentioned a couple of times. The mom and son agreed to be baptized! :)  We also got to teach the Whipples who we have been trying to meet with for so long. It was just amazing. It was really hard to say goodbye to everyone, but I know I made so forever friends in Papillion with members and nonmembers. I am super blessed.

So Thursday morning I got a call from President Weston. He told me my time being Sister Training Leader was over and I had a new assignment. I am training Sister Taggart and we are pink washing the Grand Island 2nd ward. Pink washing means they took out both elders and are replacing them with sisters. They rarely ever take elders completely out of an area like that. I am not exactly sure why, but i know unfortunately there was a reason for it. The ward has only had elders for years so they were all pretty excited to see sisters. They day I got the call from president i had a lot to do. We ended up going and taking out the new missionaries like we have done a couple of times. I didn't really want to go because i had to pack and say goodbye to everyone but i knew Heavenly Father would really bless us if we did. Sacrifice means "To give up something we value for the sake of something of greater value. If we were not required to make sacrifices, we would never be able to develop the faith necessary for eternal salvation." Anyway it was really neat in those couple hours we spent with the new sisters we got three new investigators and saw some awesome miracles with them. My last day in Papillion was great.

So, on to my new adventure. I picked up Sister Taggart. She is from Tooele, Utah. She is a super fun, hard working sister. I am excited to be with her. We got to Grand Island and the Elders took us to our new apartment. Long story short they just said sorry we didn't clean and a bunch of the lights are burnt out. It was the dirtiest apartment i have ever seen. I am grateful the lights were out because we couldn't see how gross it really was. I felt so bad for Sister Taggart. She was super overwhelmed. We spent a couple hours cleaning up. I finally just looked at her and started laughing. I just said think of how hard our dads would be laughing at us right now. She is also really close to her dad. She finally cracked a smile and laughed it off with me. Laughing is way better than crying! So here I am in Grand Island with a new missionary, we knew no one and we have no car. hahaha super pathetic right?  We ended up getting a ride to the store and getting light bulbs we came back to the apartment and put them in... and still no light. I finally walked over to the breaker and turned the lights back on... silly elders haha they have been in the dark for days apparently.

The best part about being in Grand Island is the members are so excited we are here!!! I have had people come up to me and say, "Sister Page, it is good to see you!" apparently i met them a while ago while on exchanges in grand island. The ward is SUPER supportive and the bishop has helped us out so much. There is so much work to be done here! I am so excited to be here and so grateful Heavenly Father has trusted me enough to send me here. I have no idea how to train or pink wash but He does :) i read about revelation this morning.. Elder Oaks said, " We will get promptings of the spirit when we have done everything we can, when we are out in the sun working rather than sitting back in the shade praying for direction on the irst step to take. Revelation comes when the children of God are on the move!" So that is what I am going to do is work hard and pray harder. I am super excited to be here!

I love you family! Have a wonderful week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEEMA! THE BIG 18... SO WEIRD! I SURE LOVE YOU LIL BRO :)

Love, Sister Page

Dear Family,

Well hi :) to answer your questions.. yes, this week is transfers. Sister Fuller and I had to opportunity to talk to president this week. He said I had been an STL long and I was done. I was really sad. He also said I will be leaving Papillion. It is really hard, but I have been praying really hard that I will be able to accomplish everything I need to this week. Yesterday we were able to set us appointments with two families who have been hesitant to learn, but have SO much potential. I have felt very strongly about these families and we will be teaching them this week before I leave! God is so good! Pray those lessons go well.

This week was a very strange week. We trained at two different zone trainings and went on a couple exchanges. I felt like we weren't in our area at all. We still saw many miracles though. There is this recent convert who had a bad experience but Sister Fuller and I found him! He had left for the military and came home. We felt like we should go stop by. Long story short he came back to church this week and his mom is a new investigator. What a blessing! We were on exchanges when she became a new investigator. The Sister I was with was having a really hard time. It was her idea to go see this family so I was grateful it was such a spiritual visit with her. It really built this sisters faith.

Amy has been out of town this week but she texts us about her Book of Mormon reading. She is in Alma and is doing so well! Aly, my recent convert, went to the temple this week for the first time. She did family names and had such a wonderful experience. I am so proud of her. Their are so many little miracles happening!

Edd and Nancy invited us to go to a pow wow since they are native American. It was so fun hahaha I will send pictures next week! Please pray for Edd though. He is really struggling.

I will let you know how transfers go. Please pray for me haha I will need it.

I had the opportunity to bear testimony of eternal families in many different settings this week. I know with all my heart that families are forever. I am so grateful Deema came into our family. His story has touched so many people out in the mission. I am grateful for the temple and the sealing power. This gospel is the only was to true happiness.

Keep being amazing. I love you all.

Love, Sister Page

Dear Family,

I think the best part about this week was being able to do so much with members. Sister Fuller and I got to teach nine lessons to investigators with members. That isn't counting lessons to recent converts and less actives with members at the lesson. This is how missionary work should be. It was so neat. There is so much going on in Papillion and so much that could potentially happen. I just don't want to leave. Transfers are a week from Friday. Amy figured that out and she was very sad to hear I probably won't be there for her baptism. I know that everything is happening the way the Lord would have it happen. That is the ultimate lesson we need to learn in this life. It is hard sometimes though. Amy is doing so well. This week we had a lesson with her and Marian in the Stephens home. You all know how incredible the Stephens are. Sister Fuller and I planned a lesson, but last minute we felt we needed to teach her about keeping the Sabbath day holy and the Priesthood. It was such a powerful lesson. I love teaching in members homes. I was able to testify about the importance of keeping the Sabbath day holy. I love this lesson because out of all the principles of the gospel I feel most converted to this commandment. It is so neat when the investigators heart is opened and the spirit is there, then they accept the commandments we extend to them. She is just so amazing. I am so grateful to have to opportunity to teach her. She even fasted with us this week so that she could quit smoking. Some other members in the ward also fasted. It was really neat. We also fasted for Kris. We aren't exactly sure what is holding her back but she has some major concern. She actually went to her old church yesterday. We fasted that she would have an experience that will help her recognize truth and have the courage to act on it. I just need to have more faith. I know she felt the spirit in our lessons and at church. We hope that Chip(her brother) will be a good example to her. We are now teaching Chip a lot. He is doing so well. He has already read like everything there is on LDS.org. It is actually pretty funny. He came to church yesterday for the first time. At that point, we had only taught him the Restoration. I turned to Sister Fuller and said, "nose goes on who tells him that it is fast and testimony meeting" haha sometimes testimony meetings are hard for missionaries, if you know what I mean. Sister Fuller was sitting next to him so she informed him about the meeting and about what fasting was. He turned to her and said, "I know, I am so hungry right now." yeah... he totally fasted yesterday. He is so cool. We had a church tore with him yesterday and it went really well. The spirit is so strong in the chapel and we were able to teach the lesson in there. He is still searching for his answer but I he is getting really close. I pray his example will soften Kris's heart and they will be unified in the gospel as a family. Keep praying for all of them though, please. It is a lot of help.

We had leadership council this week. I hope that it wasn't my last. It was very powerful and Sister Fuller and I get the opportunity to train in two zone trainings this week about what we learned at zone training. Of course, it won't be as good as hearing it from President himself, but we are pretty excited.

Life is so good in Papillion! Please pray that I will be able to accomplish everything Heavenly Father as for me to do here. I love you all. Sorry I just rambled on in that email. haha I struggle sometimes.

Have a wonderful week. You are all in my prayers.

With love, Sister Page

 

My Dearest Family,

What is up? Sounds like things are going well in the Gentile world... hahaha

Things here are good! We had a very eventful week. I will start off with the bad news first... it is not really bad news but you get what I mean. So, Kris (our investigator) was doing so well. she was progressing and getting really excited to be baptized. Anyway, her parents found out and freaked out. Apparently they don't agree with Mormons and they gave her a lot of anti. It was really hard to see, but we knew Satan had to throw something at her because she was doing so well. She truly will be a kingdom builder one day. We haven't gotten to see her for two weeks :( we were really sad, but we finally got her to meet with us tonight. Please pray for her. It is really neat to see the ward getting involved too. They really liked her and could see her divine potential. This could be a huge step for our ward and build a lot of peoples faith in missionary work. I will keep you updated on her :)

Amy is doing so well. We had the most amazing experience with her this week. She took work off early on Friday and came to the temple with us. We walked around the temple and then went into this special waiting room that the missionaries can take their investigators into. We talked about the importance of the temple and making covenants with our loving Heavenly Father. Amy has truly changes so much. She knows she needs the Gospel and what is even more cool than that, she knows it because God told her, not just us. She is really working on quitting smoking, so pray for her too! She is getting baptized on September 27. I probably won't be here then, but that is okay. I am just so happy she has the Gospel.

It is also so neat to see the ward stepping up and doing missionary work. Before I came to Papillion my mission president said to me, "Is it better to convert a couple people to the gospel or convert the ward to missionary work?" I am not saying that I am the reason they are sharing the gospel but I am so grateful I have been apart of their missionary experiences. I know they will continue to share the gospel in the future. We had dinner with some members this week and they invited their friends over. We had an awesome lesson with them and the spirit was so strong. Their family is definitely looking for something in their life. We are really excited to have the opportunity to continue to teach them! Also, we ahd a ward party yesterday and a member came to us and said hey this guy has some questions. He was just some random guy who was at the park. We answered some of his questions it was so neat. He almost starting crying and asked us if we had anything to offer us for his salvation that no other church could offer. I have never had anyone say that to me before. the spirit was really strong. It made me think a lot... we truly do have everything someone needs in this life. We will be teaching him this week! They member who started talking to him at the park just recently returned to the church and he is on fire. It reminds me of what Elder Dallin H. Oaks once said,

"The intensity of our desire to share the gospel is a great indicator of the extent of our personal conversion."

Well I love you family! I hope you have a wonderful week! Be good :) like mom always says, "remember who you are and what you stand for."

Love, Sister Page

Dear Family,

I can't believe today was the first day of school. Deema a senior and Tori a sophomore... so weird. I hope and pray it was a good day for them. It is P day so I can think about them and not feel guilty hahah ;)

So much has happened since we last chatted. haha Last Monday we had dinner at a family members home with Amy and Marian. After, we watched 17 miracles. The both really enjoyed it. The faith of the pioneers is so inspiring. It is kind of neat we get to watch it will investigators. Our mission president said the only reason we are allowed to is because it is the history of our mission.  Amy is doing so well. It was a hard week, but she loved church yesterday. Marian(her mom) told us she was struggling and that she said the other day, "religion doesn't even work or help." That really made me concerned. Sister Fuller and I decided to fast for her. I remembered this talk by sister Jean Stevens that talked about "The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a check list of things to do; rather, it lives in our hearts. The gospel is not weight; it is wings. It carries us." That is exactly what she needed. What is amazing is even though she was having doubts she continued to read the Book of Mormon and pray. Then, when she was a church one of the songs talked about something she was reading about. She took that as an answer to her prayers. She is for sure set on being baptized Sept 27. I probably won't be here then but I am still so happy she is making that step.

We had Zone Conference this week. It was all about the Book of Mormon. It was so amazing. President Weston encouraged us to buy a Book of Mormon so it is more meaningful and we are all going to read the Book of Mormon by December. Since Sister Fuller leaves in October we are going to read it in 10 weeks. President wants us to highlight references to God, Jesus Christ, The Atonement and the word heart. I am really starting to understand the importance of the Book of Mormon is to change our hearts. Elder Holland said in a general conference talk, "think of the heart as the figurative center of our faith, the poetic location of our loyalties and our values; then consider Jesus's declaration that in the last days 'men's hearts shall fail them.' The encouraging thing, of course, is that our Father in Heaven knows all of these latter-day dangers, these troubles of the heart and soul, and has given counsel and protections regarding The Book of Mormon." So I wanted to invite all of you to read it by the end of my mission! :)

After zone conference we had exchanges. I brought one of the sisters into our area. It was really neat to see how Heavenly Father used her strengths that day. We got this referral from a ward member to visit this family who their daughter committed suicide recently. It has been a couple months and I have been praying really hard to know when the right time was. The sister i went on exchanges with had a friend commit suicide in high school. We went over there and had a really nice chat with them. I was trying to be as sincere and heartfelt as possible. It we really well and they invited us back over. It was such a miracle.

Last night we had the opportunity to have dinner with this new family in the ward. They are a part member family who we have been trying to meet with for so long. They are currently living outside of our area so we couldn't go to their home. We got some member so invite them over for a bbq. It ended up being a bbq with many families in the ward. During the night  had 4 people come up to me and tell me to hang around one of their family members because they are either less active or not a member and they want a good influence on them. It was a little overwhelming but the Lord helped us out a lot. Sister Fuller and I were able to divide and concur. We shared a Mormon message at the end call "the hope of God's light" The spirit was really strong. You should watch it for family night tonight. We were able to talk to the part member family and their son wants to be baptized. The mom who is also not a member is willing to sit in on the lessons. We all know that doctrine taught with the spirit and understood changes behavior so we were super excited about that! This is truly the Lords work.

I love you all have a wonderful week. Be good :)

Love, Sister Page 

My dearest family,

So usually I like jot down things I want to email home but I didn't this morning so sorry if I am a little scatter brained. It is so crazy school starts so soon. School started this last week for the students here in Papillion. So weird.

We have had another great week. Sister Fuller and I had the opportunity to go to 2 zone trainings this week. I feel super lucky because it is a spiritually boost every time you go to those meetings and we always get to go to multiple. Sister Fuller and I got to give a training. I learned that we learn line upon line and by repetition. That's probably why we go to church every week... duh sister page.

So we have been teaching Edd the new member lessons. He has been struggling a lot this week actually. It was really heartbreaking to see. I know Satan is working on him really hard. This will be a good experience to learn to apply the Atonement. Please pray for him. We did have a really amazing lesson with him this week though. We have a member come with us and he bore a really powerful testimony. Edd arranged his ride to church this week and even commented in class. It was so neat to see him really wanting it. he knows the gospel is what is best for him.

So this week we got to go the trail center and around the temple with Kris. I just love her. Seriously, she is the most prepared person I have ever taught. She has many challenges ahead of her, but nothing she can't handle through her amazing faith. I love taking people to the trail center. The spirit is so strong there. I can't wait to take you all there after my mission. Kris said even though change is hard, she really wants this for her family. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to teach her. We also got to teach Amy again this week. She said she knows she needs to be baptized. She has some addictions to overcome, but she has a desire and knows how to rely on the Lord. That is all it takes! :)

This morning we had a testimony meeting with our zone. It was a really neat experience. It is so cool to be in a room full of missionaries and to hear their personally testimony of the Gospel. I am so grateful to in the Lords army. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ is how we apply the Atonement and when we apply the Atonement we will become who He wants us to become and that is how we experience true joy. oh man, we are so blessed to know these things.

I love my family! Have a wonderful week! As mom would say, "remember who you are and what you stand for!"

Love, Sister Page

Sorry my email is so short, but a picture is worth a thousand words right? :)

Dear Family,

Transfers were this last week, I am SO HAPPY I GET TO STAY IN PAPILLION! I was really nervous, because everyone thought I was going to be booted! President even said my time as an STL was coming to an end, but some how I snuck one more transfer in.. I am so lucky.There is so many great things happening here and I am grateful Heavenly Father gave me another transfer here.

A lot of things happened this week so I will try and hit the high lights!

Wednesday might have been one of the best days of my mission. We has a lesson with our investigator Kris, it was an amazing lesson. She lives next door to a member and they are really good friends. She was there for the lesson and we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ(which is my favorite lesson to teach)! We set her for baptism! She seriously is so prepared it is crazy. I don't even feel like I have to say anything in the lesson, because the spirit teaches her everything.  She is so close to the spirit and wants to learn more and change her life. After we left the lesson, we had the opportunity to go to the temple. Sister Fuller taught this amazing lady at the beginning of her mission and she received her endowments. I was able to do the family name mom sent me. How cool is that? We set someone for baptism, got to see someone receive their own endowments and I got to go through for someone who had passed on. It was amazing. As I was sitting in the temple, I realized that this is why we do missionary work. I wish so badly that everyone could understand what we understand and have the opportunity to experience the temple. We take if for granted way too much!!! I know that we go to church, read our scriptures, pray and so that we experience the blessings of making covenants in the temple. You all better go to the temple more often!

This week we got to take out the new missionaries again on their first day. Miracles always happen when we take sisters out. I took this sweet sister out and we were struggling finding people to talk to. Sister Fuller took this really shy sister out and they saw some really neat experiences.. long story short I got the copes called on me and the new sister hahah I felt bad for the new sister. Heavenly Father always come through though and at the last minute we met someone she was able to give a Book of Mormon to. Heavenly Father knows what each of us need and what lessons that we need to learn haha not that I think she needed to get the copes called on her but that she learned a great lesson of patience on her very first day. It will help her so much throughout her mission!

Yesterday, I spoke in sacrament meeting and other than that it was a wonderful day! Amy and Kris came to church. They both loved it. I was so grateful. Kris text us after and said she can't wait to learn more. We are going to the trail center this week with her! Speaking of the trail center, we got to go with Amy last night. I love with trail center. The spirit is so strong there! I am learned so much from taking investigators there. The pioneers faith is so inspiring. It is such a wonderful conversion tool. Amy loved it. She is still praying to know is she should be baptized. I know she will, she just needs time. She has such a special spirit.

Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful week. I love my family and I am so grateful for all you do. Be good and remember what is most important! :)

Love, Sister Page

My Dearest Family (and second family that are living in my room),

What is up? It sounds like you have had a good week. Well I haven't read all your emails yet, but I am sure you are doing well. I promise I will read them. :)

Another great week in Nebraska. This place is so special. A lady in our ward(Sister Micheala) introduced us to her neighbor. We had a lesson with her this week. Her name is Kris. She is a single mom and she is very close to the spirit. Everything just sort of fell into place with her. We went over and were getting to know her a little and then her brother, Chip, walked in. He said he had been thinking about Mormons the night before and had some questions. It was so cool. We taught them the restoration. Honestly the best restoration lesson I have ever had. Sister Fuller and I were so unified and the spirit was really strong. In the lesson Chip even said as we were teaching him, " I feel like it is transparent in here. Everything is making sense." I love when people feel the spirit and start to recognize how it edifies. We invited them to be baptized. They both said they would if when they prayed God told them to. The coolest part is they would have never listened to us if it weren't for the Michaela family. Kris just kept talking about how the Micheala's just seem so happy and know their purpose in life. Member missionary work is so important!!! They couldn't come to church this week, but hopefully next week they will. :) Please pray for them!

We taught Amy again this week. She had kept her commitment to read and she totally came to church! Sister Fuller and I were worried because Amy had said she isn't sure about three hours of church every week.... but she came and loved it! We asked her if she had been praying to know if she needs to be baptized. She says she knows this is a commitment and she wants to make sure she knows it is the right thing to do. I love that she realizes how big of a deal it is. We know that when she does receive her answer that she will be committed. Making promised with God is a big deal and I think sometimes we all forget that.

The best news of all though is EDD GOT BAPTIZED! It was really hard because we had to go on three exchanges this week. some sisters were really struggling. I ended up not in our area every time. I was sad because I didn't get to teach Edd the week of his baptism at all. I know Sister Fuller would do a good job, but I was just sad. It was neat though because I knew that is what god needed us to do and he totally blessed us for it. Sacrifice truly brings for the blessings of Heaven. So Edd woke up Saturday morning really sick. We were super worried but he said, "unless I am in the hospital I will be there." He came and it was amazing. He wasn't feeling well though and he has a bad knee. His friend that he asked to baptize him has a bad back. So they had to do the ordinance three times... it was really rough and we all thought it wasn't going to happen. I don't want to dwell to much about it but it was a huge act of faith on Edds part. One day maybe it will be funny. hahaha maybe. Anyway it was a really special day and Edd didn't want to leave. He lingered there until everyone was gone. It was neat how you could feel his ancestors there. I know Edd will play a part in building the Kingdom of God. I will be forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for giving me the opportunity to teach him.

I learned a lot this week. Most importantly I learned to try to see others as God sees them. Do all you can to see where others are coming from. Christ loves everyone perfectly, because he understands them perfectly. I realized that disobedience to God's commandments is because of deep and unmet needs on the part of the sinner. I invite all of you to do all you can to try and see others as God see's them. Get to know them until their behavior makes sense to you. Lift, inspire, encourage and bless all those around you. Then you will develop pure love for them. I love you all. Have a wonderful week and remember what is most important.... me. hahha just kidding.

Love, Sister Page