​Dear family,

It is so weird school gets out this week. it literally seems like yesterday that school started it August... weird. I hope you have a wonderful week and enjoy the freedom haha

This week went really well. We had zone conferences this week. The focus was on eternal families. Our mission President said that he had a mission president conference with Elder Nelson and he said that the world first attacked Joseph Smith, then the Book of Mormon and now the attack is on the families. It was an amazing zone conference. In Preach My Gospel it talks about how " God has established families to bring happiness to His children, allow them to learn correct principles in a loving atmosphere, and prepare them for eternal life." I know the family is central to God's plan for us. We have had the opportunity to be teaching a part member family. Aly is ready to be baptized and this last week John, her dad, told us he was ready to be baptized with her. They will be baptized June 7. They all still have a lot to learn and understand, but I know with the Lord's help all things are possible. I am grateful to have the opportunity to teach their family. they all have a lot of different concerns. Johns fiancé, Leslie, is a less active. We were having a lesson with their whole family. Johns mom, Judy, was in town. She is a southern Baptist. Leslie was saying how she didn't want to go to church with a bunch of hypocrites and Judy just looked at her and said "I would rather go to church with a bunch of hypocrites than to hell with one." haha it was so funny but it really hit Leslie. Each member in that family is struggling with something different, but I know with all my heart that happiness in families is most likely achieved when founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ. So please pray for the Huie family. I know with His help hearts will be changed and they will begin to understand.

Yesterday we got to take Marian, a recent convert, to the trail center. We were really sad her none member daughter didn't come, but it was a wonderful experience. My companion is a direct descendant from Amy Sumner Porter, the lady who I talked about in my farewell talk. She told us the story while we were looking at the temple and the cemetery. Amy truly knew the importance of the gospel for her family. Because of her sacrifice now thousands of her descendants having the blessing of the gospel. It is so amazing. I wish we all could understand and have the faith that she did.

Sorry my email is so short. I hope you all know I love you and grateful for our family and the gospel. I want everyone in our family to think of one thing you can do to help our family be more in line with the family proclamation because it was truly inspired of God. I am going to ask you all  next week what you came up with. I love you!! :) Be happy for we all have so many reasons to be happy!

Love, Sister Page

​

Dear Family,

It sounds like you have all been doing really well. Lots of changes have happened here as well. I am still in Papillion but I have a new companion. She is great. Her name is Sister Fuller. She is from mesa Arizona. I still get to be a STL and I am very excited to serve with Sister Fuller. They sisters need her charity and strength. I know I will learn a lot from her.

Since this week was the last week of transfers we ran completely out of miles. haha so we had to walk everywhere. I loved it. We had been praying to find people to teach. It is cool to see how the spirit really does guide you even though in the moment you don't usually realize it. We were walking to an investigators house and decided to talk a different road. Then, we saw all these news papers all over the street so we picked them all up and then we were looking for a recycling bin. We then saw this lady who was taking her garbage can out to the street. So we ran up and asked her if we could pit it in there. It was perfect timing. We then talked to her about the book of Mormon. She had actually been to church with a member a couple years ago and wanted to know a little more about it. She currently attends a church but she said we could come back! My whole mission I have really struggled with learning to rely on the spirit. I know that if we are working hard and being obedient the Lord will guide us even if we don't realize it.

Since Sister Larson was leaving she got to go say goodbye to people and bear her testimony. It is weird how the work halts for a little when missionaries leave an area, but I am praying that our investigators will continue to progress. We saw George and unfortunately he was told a lot of anti Mormon stuff. It broke my heart. You could tell he knew everything we taught him was true but he is just afraid of change. We will continue to pray for him and to go stop by. Ali on the other hand is doing so great! She came to church with us this last week and we had a really awesome lesson with her. She knew like all the answers to my questions. It was so cute to see her reading personal progress and true to the faith doing sacrament meeting. She just is so prepared and naturally wants to do the right thing even though her family is making poor decisions. It is very inspiring. I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach her.

Another neat thing that happened this week was the day of transfers. I was just a little over whelmed taking on the area and the sisters by myself and making sure transfers went smoothly for all the sisters. The night before I was praying for help. Sister Larson was suppose to leave to Sioux City in the morning but she ended up having to wait till that evening to leave. So, she got to spend to day with Sister Fuller and I. We got to figure everything out together and so I didn't feel as stressed. It was such a tender mercy.

We also had some less actives attend church yesterday and one of them told us she wanted to work towards the temple. There is honestly nothing I would rather do than help someone receive the blessings of the temple. I know Papillion has so much potential. I am grateful for the miracles we have seen and excited to see more.

I love you all have a wonderful week. :)

With love, Sister Page

PS my companion is on a Mormon message called 195 dresses go look it up haha

pps look who I found at my church building... Jackie and Casey Smith haha

My dearest family,

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

It was so good to see you yesterday. I am glad I got that opportunity to Skype with you. I wasn't joking when I said there was a tornado. Many missionaries didn't get a chance to talk with there family because the power went out. It was actually really cool to see a tornado form though. They still scare me to death though hahah nothing has changed.

I feel like there is nothing to update you on because I told you about like everything big that happened on Skype yesterday.

We have been working a lot with this less active named Nancy. She works everyday and is really stressed about finances. We had a really neat lesson with her this week. She wasn't to have sundays off so bad. I have never felt so strongly as a missionary to promise blessings to someone as I did with her. I know if the Lord will provide for her if she makes that sacrifice. She had a hard time because she is very literal and she doesn't know how taking Sundays off with work but I know miracles don't always make sense. It is so neat to see her faith grow.

I told you a little about George and the Huie family we are working with. I want them to be baptized so bad. We have had some pretty powerful lessons with them. they know it is right. Satan just knows how to get to peoples weak spots though. The dad of the Huie family is not a member. He has been struggling a lot with some things. I am so grateful for the priesthood power though. He was able to receive a priesthood blessing. I know with all my heart he can receive the answers to his prayers.

I am also very grateful for conference. I loved Elder Utchdorfs talk. I think I already talked about it but I love when he said, " We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?" 

I know we can be happy and grateful in all circumstances.

I love you all. have a wonderful week.

With love, Sister Page

My dearest family,

I am surprised ya'll remembered my birthday haha crazy I only have 2 more days to be a teenager haha feel free to have a birthday party for me at home!

Another week gone by in the mission... I feel like just yesterday I emailed you haha so quick story. Sister Larson and I were street contacting and this guy was outside with his dogs. So, we asked if we could pet them (no I didn't really want to pet them but it is a good excuse to talk) I bent over to pet the dog and I smelled something awful. I then realized I had just stepped in the dogs poo naturally I tried to hide it but the owner totally noticed and was trying not to laugh. I was bearing my testimony about the book of Mormon and trying to awkwardly wipe it off in the grass. The guy could not even take me seriously haha it was a joke so finally I just got his information down and left. I took my pen and got it all out of my shoe. Then we got in the car and left. Me being an idiot I forgot and starting writing with the pen again and then I stuck it in my mouth and sister Larson was like, "um sister page..." and finally realized spit it out and just yelled my head off. It was quit funny. Sister Larson and I needed a good laugh. But seriously I am so dumb.

On Tuesday of this last week I woke up sorta in a lame mood. I just went through the morning motions and didn't think much of it. I was a little distracted during my studies and just figured it would only affect me. We received a call from one of the sisters who was struggling a lot. She was feeling really depressed so we decided to go spend the day with them. I went out with the sister who was having a hard time. I tried to know what Heavenly Father would have me say to help her, but I was having a really hard time feeling the spirit. I then realized it was because of my attitude and my poor studies that morning. I felt so bad that I wasn't of much help to her. I know realize why it is so important to always be worthy of the spirit and to be spiritually ready at al times so we can be an instrument in the Lords hands.

We had a really neat lesson with this old man named George on Wednesday. We taught him the plan of salvation. The spirit was really strong and you could tell he was starting to understand how God's plan for us is perfect and that people is the worked are very confused about the purpose of this life. He is very strong in his church but has an open heart. We haven been seeing him for the past couple weeks. It is so neat to see how his heart is being softened as he reads from the book of Mormon. I honestly think the only thing holding him back is his friends from his church. We are having a lesson with him on Wednesday (my birthday) nothing more would I want than to set him for baptism. That would be the best birthday ever :)

I love that it is warming up so that we can talk to more people outside! It is suppose to get up to 90 degrees this week! Warm weather just makes people feel happier!

So, my thought for the week. I have been thinking a lot about the Atonement. We all know the Atonement is infinite and His grace is sufficient to heal us, but when we talk about "applying the atonement", it is hard to know what our role is. The phrase "applying the Atonement" sorta frustrates me a little. In many ways I know it is something that we can learn, but not necessarily be taught. Yesterday in sunday school we watched this video of a talk given many years ago by Elder Bushe called "unleashing the dormant sprit" I know this is how we can apply the atonement. It is a video on youtube and I want you all to go look it up.

I love you all have a happy birthday week ;)

With love, Sister Page

ps mom I need those stories from our ancestors

 

 

 

 

Dear Family,

Well, it was another wonderful week in Nebraska. Thank you mom for the Easter package. This week I had the opportunity to go to the Elkhorn area on exchanges. We always see neat miracles on exchanges. President told me to read the gospels and see how Christ performed miracles and how He ministered to the people. I remember the advice Uncle Rob gave me when I was getting set apart. He said to study the life of Christ and become a Christ like missionary... I wish I would have done that earlier and I would have been pro by the time my mission president told me to do it too. That really is the key. Anyway, it is neat to be with these sisters because Heavenly Father magnifies my talents just to help them. Sister Kent who I was with felt inspired to leave a book of Mormon with her testimony on the door of this lady they did service for once. We usually don't just leave Book of Mormons on doors like that but she felt inspirited so I told her to act on the promptings of the spirit. She later informed me the lady thanked her for it and is now reading it. I definitely need to act on the promptings of the spirit better without doubts.

We helped this less active lady and her non member husband with their family history this last week. It was so cool because as i was reading some stories of his family history we found out he is a direct descendant of Big Elk. He is the Indian that made the agreement with Brigham Young to let the Mormons stay in Winter quarters. It talks about him a little in the visitor center so tomorrow he and his wife are going to go with us. We hope and pray he feels the spirit! Sister Larson and I have been praying that we get the opportunity to take people to the trail center. This last week 3 people agreed to go with us. We are so excited. It is a wonderful place of conversion.

We had a lesson with the Huie family this last week. They are the part member family and their daughter is Aly. We talked about prayer and the book of Mormon. We showed a couple Mormon messages. The spirited was so strong. The dad, John, who is not a member after asked us if he could receive a priesthood blessing. He wants to be baptized but has to figure some things out first.

On Saturday we helped out with a 5k for Autism awareness. It was so fun and so nice to be outside working all day! I wish i could have ran in it but it was fun to be out serving in the community.

This week we had our stake conference as well. Sister Weston talked about how we need to "live so that God can use us to bring His children home." We also sang the song "I'll  go where you want me to go" I love the part in it where it says, "It may not be at the battle's front My Lord will have need of me. But if, by a still, small voice he calls to paths that i do not know, I'll answer dear Lord, with my hand in thine: I'll go where you want me to go!" Sometimes in missionary work it is hard to feel like everything you are doing is really meaningful and making a difference but I know this is where the Lord sent me and many times it doesn't seem like the battles front but it is where he wants me to be. I know as we do what the Lord wants us to do then we will become what He wants us to become. I love Nephi's last testimony in 2 Nephi 33:15, " For thus hath the Lord spoken and I must obey. Amen." I know because of His obedience he became the person the Lord wanted him to be.

I love you all. Be good and remember who you are and whose you are.

With love, Sister Page

Ps i totally forgot to tell you my incident with a dog and his waste... i will tell you next week hahaha