Miracles Galore for the Go-Go-Gladiators

Hello hello! 

How has everyone's week been?? Our week has been quite eventful (as it always is) so I am excited to tell y'all about it. Glasgow is such a blessed land and we are so lucky to be serving here in the Great Kentucky Louisville Mission. We had to say goodbye to our wonderful mission president and his wife this week but are excited to welcome in President and Sister Hughes to the best mission ever ;) we are doing mini Zone conferences with them this week so more details to follow about them but so far, things have been pretty much the same! 

This week, I really gained a testimony of prayer and following the Spirit in this work of salvation and in our own daily personal lives. We have been really striving to make this the Lords work instead of our work so anytime we are stuck about which way to go, we have started praying about it and following where the Spirit leads us. Even if where we went didn't show many signs of success, we knew we were being lead by the Spirit and where doing Heavenly Fathers will. It reminds me of a quote from the Ricciardi Letter, where Elder Humphrey receives a revelation saying "'Elder Humphrey, I am here. I know who you are. I sent you to those neighborhoods, the very ones where you experienced nothing but rejection. I prompted your changes in direction to even more difficult neighborhoods. I know where each of the elect in your area resides. I know their names. I could send you to those addresses only, and save you the time and sacrifice looking for them. BUT ELDER HUMPHREY, WHAT GOOD WOULD THAT SERVE YOU? The mission experience is to do what you are told, when you are told, to go where you are asked, and know that the blessing comes from enduring what I ask of you. This is not about you; it is about opening your mouth at all times in all places. Doing my will without thought to the end result or consequence… this is what serving a mission is.'" I know that this is so true. There were a few times this week where we felt very good about going somewhere and ended up with a bunch of closed doors. But, we followed the Spirit to the best of our ability and gave Heavenly Father's children a chance to hear this glorious message. And because we were able to show Heavenly Father that we were willing to be obedient instruments in His hands, He blessed us with miracles. Much of this life is learning how to follow the Spirit. Once we master that skill (which will take a lifetime I am sure), we will become as Nephi in the Book of Mormon who said, "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he hath commanded" 1 Nephi 3:7 I know that this church is true and that Heavenly Father qualifies the called. What a merciful Father He is for allowing us this opportunity to learn and grow in this way. It is truly amazing!

Now for the week. We started out the week doing a whole bunch of service. We have an investigator who we call Brother Buford and he is pretty awesome! We have been helping him paint the outside of his house so we have developed a really strong bond with him and his mother who is living with him right now. He has grown up his whole life in another church but is open minded to the message that we share. He was pretty nervous about a baptismal date when we taught him but we had two amazing young women there who gave powerful testimonies of the Book of Mormon and its power in conversion, so it was a great lesson. We are actually going golfing with him this afternoon because he LOVES GOLF. I am super excited to golf again, even though it will be in a skirt and missionary shoes ;) we also cleaned snake cages out again that day, which was super fun haha

On Wednesday, we had an amazing lesson with one of the less actives that we have been working with for a while. There are a few members in the Ward that have been really interested in getting him back to church so we took them to a lesson with us and it was so powerful. The Spirit was strong and he was moved by there testimonies. Things seemed to click just a little more and we are so proud of his progress. Members have been so helpful in the lessons that we bring them to and their testimony is such a strong component to any lesson. It is also such a wonderful feeling to see someone that you have been working with progress and understand more about Heavenly Father and His love for us. It was great!

We have had a difficult time lately with this couple we have been teaching (not Brian and Trish...I will update you on them in a sec). This couple has been encountering lots of anti from other sources so as we have met with them, they have had lots of questions and have been just waiting for a chance to prove us wrong since so many people were telling them that we were. During on of our lessons this week, I guess she misunderstood what we had taught about the Holy Ghost and things went pretty downhill from there. We have faith that we are going to get her back on track but as of now, her boyfriend is more interested in investigating than she is. Her boyfriend has been reading off and on and has lots of questions, so we are going to continue working with him. 

Brian and Trish are doing ok, but we have had some crazy experiences with them this week. Brian hasn't sat in on our lessons for a few weeks because he has been sick or preoccupied but we had this wonderful lesson with Trish. We taught her the word of Wisdom and even though she said it was going to be hard, she said she is going to do it! She then opened up a lot about the struggles she has gone through in her life and began to accept fault for a lot of the trials she is going through, which was a big step for her! She began to cry and express her desire for peace of mind and heart since she has been searching for it through every venue presented to her with no lasting success. We testified to her of baptism and the Holy Ghost and the chance she has to be free of guilt and to find that lasting peace and were literally about to set a baptismal date and then her phone rang. It was Brian, very angry and distressed and needing her to come pick him up since some friends had taken him somewhere that he didn't want to be. Now she is leaving for 30 days on Wednesday so we are hopefully going to see her and extend it before she leaves. She is so close to fully accepting this gospel but is going to need Brian's support in order to fully commit. I truly believe that she stayed in town for this time to gain a stronger testimony of this gospel and now that she is leaving, it gives us a chance to strengthen Brian and help him as well. We are going to continue working with them and would appreciate any prayers for them :) 

We had a bunch of miles left for this months so we did a bunch of driving on Friday looking for less actives. We also found a new investigator who just happened to be in a town that we felt we needed to be in, even though we couldn't find the apartment complex that we were supposed to tract. We had a birthday party for a sweet member in our ward as well which was super fun! 

On Saturday, we were able to find two new investigators. Then, yesterday, we had such a miracle happen to us. We had a goal to find two more new investigators to help reach our goal for the week. We prayed about it and strived to find those two people that Heavenly Father has prepared for this message, but to no avail. We were on our way to our last appt with Trish, sad about not being able to hit our goal, when Trish called and cancelled on us. All of a sudden, we had a whole hour left to proselyte. So, we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to put us in the path of those two people and began trying potentials. Before we even knocked on the first door, we saw some people on a porch across the street so we decided to talk to them. We had a great discussion with them and they decided to meet with us again! We were so excited!! We got in the car, so grateful to Heavenly Father for helping us reach our goal. Then, we felt like we should visit one more potential. We stopped in and she told us that she had already read some of the Book of Mormon, prayed about it, and felt good about it. We extended a baptismal date to her right there and while she was a little nervous at first, she accepted! So, not only did we hit our goal, we also set up a baptismal date. Heavenly Father truly does bless us in our lives as we pray as if everything depends on Him and then work as if everything depends on us. 

I know that is church is the capture church of God on the Earth today. I know that Heavenly Father leads and guides his missionaries and members to those who he has prepared for this message. The Spirit is real and grows stronger as we follow Him and strive to live faithful to Him. What a glorious blessing it is to have this true and the chance to share it with others. Our Savior lives. He loves us and wants to help us home. What a miracle that is :) 

Have a great week everyone! I love y'all :) keep smiling and eat lots of otter pops! 

Love,

Sister Dorian

"Oh no, I dont think we want Girl Scout Cookies"

Hey y'all! 

Sorry this is coming out so late. There is just so much to write about and not enough time to write it! I will try not to be long winded in my stories of what happened this week but there are a few awesome things that I am excited to share. First things first, how is everyone doing?? We have continued to see so many blessings here in the "Go" and are finding so many prepared people! Heavenly Father hastens His work through His children as we follow His promptings and strive for exact obedience. 

One thing I have been thinking about a lot lately is love. Now, don't get the wrong idea because I promise I am not trunks or anything ;) but seriously, love is so important in this work and in our everyday lives. Love, when founded in Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ, is the most powerful motivator for change. We must let love be the driving force behind us being better, more effective disciples of Christ or it will never have any lasting impact on our natures. We will never truly become what Heavenly Father wants us to become until we remove fear or a sense of duty and replace those things with the pure love of Christ. Through the past few weeks, I have had many instances where I have seen people exercise this pure love of Christ in their missionary work and in their life and oh what a difference it makes! So many times I have found myself focused on the wrong things because I wasn't focused on cultivating love. When we allow the love that we have for our Heavenly Father and Savior motivate us to love our fellow men, that is when the power of the Atonement can flow into our hearts and lives and allow us to be a force for good on this Earth. Elder Utchdorf, in his address this last conference, said, "Christ’s love will replace fear with faith! His love will enable us to recognize, trust, and have faith in our Heavenly Father’s goodness, His divine plan, His gospel, and His commandments. Loving God and our fellowmen will turn our obedience to God’s commandments into a blessing rather than a burden. Christ’s love will help us become a little kinder, more forgiving, more caring, and more dedicated to His work." How very grateful I am for a Savior who loves me infinitely and perfectly and who's example I can emulate as I strive to exercise charity in my day to day life. Moroni 7 states it perfectly as well when Moroni says, "But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him." (Vs. 47)

Now for the week. Man, it was quite the eventful one! We started it out with transfers on Tuesday where we picked up sister Stanley and introduced her to the "go", instituting her as the newest Go-Go Gladiator . On Wednesday, we did some service and then were all set to teach 9 lessons but then a bunch of them fell through. Luckily, it gave us a chance to go see a less active family who's daughter is being taught. She told us that she wanted to postpone her baptismal date (WE WERE SO SAD) but that she still wants to set it as a goal. So we have a few ideas that we feel really good about to help her to be more excited about her date, one of which includes actually sitting down with her and having her prayerfully select the day herself. We also got to eat with another less active family in our ward and we found out that they love to golf so that was super fun to talk about with them! 

This week, we were also able to teach a couple who truly is prepared. We originally found the girlfriend a few months ago (remember the miracle that happened when sister Hoyt and I turned around and there was a lady sitting at the motel crying and needed a hug?) but she wasn't progressing and ended up dropping us. Around the time that she dropped us, we contacted her boyfriend and set up a return appt (they were split up at the time). When we came back for our appt on Wednesday night, this former and new investigator were back together and the girlfriend wanted to start meeting with us again! She said that it was very interesting to her that while she was away, we found her boyfriend and he was actually interested!! We have met with them a few times and have seen such a desire spark in them to really find out if this is the truth. They have been asking lots of questions and as we have helped them turn to the Book of Mormon for their answers, their hesitancy has melted away. She even said to us last night, "I know y'all are sent from God because every question I have, you have an answer to. I know they say the devil can do that too but I don't think it would be as fast as y'all". They were all set to come to church yesterday but she ended up letting someone borrow her car at the last min. But, we have high hopes for them because they are really seeking for truth. We are working on helping them depend more on the Book of Mormon and hope to see them at church this week!

The latest on Brian and Trish is that they are struggling to come to church because it is a lot slower than they are used to. More trials have come into their life lately as well so we have been working hard to keep them afloat. We had a lesson with Trish this week and sister Stanley shared the perfect scripture to lift her spirits (Mosiah 24:14-15). After that, she wanted more so we came back with a list full of comforting scriptures. Brian has been pretty closed off because of all that has been going on but we know that as Trish continues to read him the Book of Mormon, his heart will continue to soften. They asked to know what all the Mormon rules are last week so we are planning on focusing on all the commandments this week. Wish us luck! We got to meet their sweet little kids last night at her sons birthday party and they are just the sweetest! Such a fun time :) 

We have also been doing the 15 Step stop smoking lesson with a bunch of people! We are praying that those we have shared it with will really apply it to their lives to help them to overcome addictions and have the Spirit more abundantly. We have also seen miracle potentials come out of the blue when we have prayed for them to be out in our path and then worked hard to find them. This one potential had been hard to contact because we lost his address and his number didn't work so we couldn't teach him and then randomly we bumped into him yesterday and taught him on the street. SO COOL.

We had dinner with a super fun member family and then one of the kids who recently got married came out with us with her husband and they were able to help us teach a lesson in Spanish. It was awesome!! The gospel is so cool and it is amazing when you can sit in a lesson taught in a different lesson and feel the Spirit just the same as if it were in English. 

We also got to spend 2 hours this week searching for a lost dog haha. We have been watching over some dogs for service to this lady in the area and apparently her dogs electric fence goes off in the rain. That was a good old time searching for him ;) we did get a potential out of it because a lady ended up finding him for us and bringing him back so she gave us her info so we could stop by. Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways :)

I love you all! Thank you so much for all the love, support, and prayers. The explanation for the subject line is that while we were tracking this week, this sweet man behind a door looked in the peep hole of his door and said "Oh no, I don't think we want any Girl Scout cookies...". That was a hoot and a half for sure ;) have an amazing week! This gospel is true and really is the source of lasting, joy, happiness, and understanding. Hurrah for Israel! 

Love,

Sister Dorian ️

Bug Bites, Birthdays, And Blessings

Hey y'all :)

This week was a pretty exciting week! We have had some cool things happen to us and have continued to see miracles in the work that we are doing as we strive to do the will of the Lord and follow the Spirit. Such an amazing thing to serve a mission. Our district leader goes home this transfer so it has been a topic of conversation for a while which has caused me to do some serious reflection of my mission so far. This choice to serve is the best choice I have ever made and I know that it will continue to be as I strive to be an effective instrument in the Lords hands. Yes, there have been many days that weren't so easy or so fun, but all I can remember from them is that they helped me grow and appreciate the better days. I love this gospel and I love my mission. God is so good!

I have also been thinking a lot about the Atonement of our Savior and how we can find access to it in our lives. I was able to finish the Book of Mormon again yesterday and a verse in the very last chapter really hit me. Moroni says in ch. 10, "Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot." As we come unto Christ and do our part to to allow His power into our lives, and love God, His grace will change our hearts and we may become perfect with His help. I know that this is true. His grace is sufficient but we must do our part, and we must allow the love we have for God be our motivation. I am so grateful for the Savior and His gospel and the chance we have to change and become holy :)

This week has been a good week. We went out with a cute member in our ward, sister Scott on Tuesday and got in touch with some less actives and investigators. On Wednesday, we had lesson with an investigator that we just recently met. She is very involved in her church so we don't know how much intent she has. We met some other investigators that night as well so we are continuing to increase our teaching pool. Thursday was a service filled day. We have been watching over a lady's dogs/cats (there are 4 dogs and 10 cats...) as service so that has been quite interesting as well. 

We had a very eventful Friday. We had district lunch that day where we skipped rocks and sang for all three of our birthdays and made custard floats. That afternoon, we were trying to find a few investigator so we felt like we should try a potential that we talked to a few weeks ago. When we got there, he wasn't there, but his girlfriend and her daughter answered and were interested in the gospel. They have been searching through other churches and are interested in learning about ours! We are so excited to teach them. 

That night, we had a hard night with Brian and Trish. We felt inspired to teach the Atonement so we started off with the Refiners Fire and they both were very touched by it. However, it promoted them to vent to us for a while about all the things they are going through, and it's a lot. We have been praying that they will allow the gospel to get them out of the rut they are in, because the Savior is the one that will give them the strength to endure and overcome. We are going to continue to teach them and hopefully things progress for them. 

On Saturday, we spent 6 hours with our ward mission leader and his wife tracking down less actives. It was quite the experience and we got in contact with a lot of them! It was a real help to us since we are trying to save miles on our car :) 

Sunday, we got special permission to visit a less active outside of our mission. We went over and had dinner with her and her mother and taught them a message about faith in Christ and how important it is to focus on Him in all things. She is such a sweet lady!! Weird to be outside the mission boundaries, but great to help and support her. 

I love you all so much!! Thank you so much for all of the love, support, and prayers. Keep being amazing and have a super solid week. I love y'all!! 

Love, 

Sister Dorian 🏼‍♀️

Sad News and Lots of Sunshine

Hey y'all! 

How was everyone's week this week?? This week was AWESOME. We did have some sad news come to us this week though: Sister Hoyt is getting transferred! We have gotten really close in the last six weeks so it is going to be a super tough transition but we already have a Harry Potter marathon planned for when she gets back so life is good. She is going to Salem, IN and switching places with her MTC comp, Sister Stanley who is coming here. She seems really fun and sweet so I am excited to hit the ground running with her here in the blessed "Go" :) 

This week, I have learned a lot about Christlike service and how to be a more effective disciple of Christ. One thing that really sticks out was what we were trained on at Zone Conference. We must remember that these people that we find and teach are children of God with lives and concerns, fears and mistakes. They need what we have but don't know where to find it. So many times on my mission, I have found myself so focused on a goal or number that I lose sight of the true purpose of this work, which is to bring Heavenly Father's children back to Him, complete in an eternal family forever. We become effective finders and teachers when we do our work out of love and help others feel Heavenly Fathers love in our interactions. The best source of that Spirit is the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon should be the main source of conversion for both us and our investigators. When we use it and share it, those we share it with can feel Heavenly Fathers love and His knowledge of them. We have seen such success as we have strived to really love and strengthen those that we serve, and we are happier too! Life is just good :) 

As for the week, we have a very eventful week (again!). On Monday, we went to practice my song for Zone conference again and then headed over to Abraham Lincolns Birthplace. It was so cool! On Tuesday, we did weekly planning (since we had a bunch of things come up last week which made it near impossible to do) and then went to lunch with Sister Ireland. Then we did service at the Adult Day Care Center. 

On Tuesday and Friday, we had amazing lessons with some new investigators that we found while tracking. They have been to lots of churches but haven't really been able to find one that they can call home. The boyfriend has studied the Bible a lot and is striving to find Christ's true church on the Earth today. As we read the introduction of the Book of Mormon together in our first meeting, they were very interested and intrigued. He thought is very interesting that Heavenly Father provided for 12 witnesses to the BOM, just like how he had done in the biblical era (12 apostles). When we came back on Friday, it was only him and he had already read 6 chapters! He even said to us, "This Book must be true because as soon as I sat down to read it, a bunch of distractions got in my way. That is the same thing that happens when I read the Bible!" We taught him about the doctrine of baptism and how it is so important to have the proper authority and he seemed to really understand. He is still shaky on a baptismal date because he wants to do this as a family effort and others in the family aren't really on board just yet, but he is really seeking for truth. He has been praying specifically to know if the Book of Mormon is true so we are praying that he finds his answers soon! He also has a daughter in foster care who actually has been raised Mormon in a ward in our stake, so he sees this as maybe a way to connect with his daughter again. There are no coincidences in this life, people. Everything happens for a reason! 

On Wednesday, we did some service in the morning and then a woman in the community who we were helping with some dog watching took us out to eat at such a good Mexican restaurant. I am tellin you, I will be coming home much heavy then I came out. This food baby is really a struggle hahaha. We were also able to get in contact with a less active that has been going through a rough time lately and find a pretty cool new investigator :) 

On Thursday, we had Zone conference and man, it was straight fire. We went home and exchanged with the STL's so we and sister Andrus decided to exercise our faith and apply our training and guess what happened. Not only did we find 2 new investigators, a potential, and set up a solid time with a less active, we were able to do it with the help of the Book of Mormon and guidance of the Holy Ghost. Heavenly Father was using us as instruments in His hands to bring these people closer to Christ. It is such a joyful feeling! The work is booming here in Glasgow and it is just awesome!

On Friday, we had that awesome lesson with that awesome prepared investigator. Then that night we went and scrubbed the walls of a recent convert who has fallen back into some old habits so we are helping him get back on track. He is seriously SO AWESOME. Sweetest guy ever and we are so excited to see him progress toward the temple. 

Saturday was weekly Planning again and then work over in Cave City. We found the sweetest potential ever when we first went out there. He is this older gentleman who has gone through many hard things in his life that have pulled him away from Heavenly Father. When we brought him the Book of Mormon and testified that Christ truly can strengthen us in any trial, he seemed so grateful and excited. When we prayed with him, he began to cry and explained that he has really gotten off track and needs to get his relationship back with God again, so we promised him that this gospel is the way to find that relationship and receive that strength. We shared the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was able to testify of Heavenly Fathers love. It works! We also taught a Spanish lesson on Saturday (more like the Elders in Louisville taught it and we said a few words every once in a while hahaha) and taught Brian and Trish. 

Brian and Trish are moving along slowly but they are trying. They even came to sacrament meeting! They haven't been reading like they should so we went and read with them this week. They enjoyed church even though it was a lot quieter than they are used to. They are really struggling right now with the aspect of change, both the fact that sister Hoyt has to leave since we all got really close and the fact that they are going to have to change a lot about their life style in order to experience the full blessings of this gospel. We hope to have a strong lesson on the Atonement of Jesus Christ soon. Nephi said it best in 2 Nephi 25:26 when he said, "And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children [or investigators] may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." The Savior is the source from where we find a remission of our sins and true happiness in this life. I absolutely love the last line in The Living Christ which says "God be thanked for the matchless gift of His Divine Son." The Savior and His sacrifice is a gift and I see it change hearts every day, both those that I teach and my own. I am very imperfect, but with the Savior I can one day become all that He wants us to become with His help. What a glorious thing it is to share this marvelous message with the world! Hurrah for Israel. 

Yesterday was a great day as well. We had a wonderful church service, we found lots of people and set up some return appointments for next week, taught Brian and Trish again, and ate super yummy Italian beef sandwiches and caramel cheesecake. Thank you for all of the birthday wishes! It meant so much to hear from you all in one way or another. Turning 20 is a surreal feeling but it was pretty awesome to serve the Lord and do His work on a day when I normally would be WAY too focused on myself. This gospel is so amazing and I love the chance that Heavenly Father gives us to share it with His children. 

I also wanted to give a shoutout to my awesome daddy. I super duper lucked out with my dad. He is the most amazing example to me of one who exercises their priesthood righteously for the benefit of Heavenly Fathers children in his callings, in his everyday life, and especially in our home. He has helped and supported me in so many ways and taught me all about how to live a Christ-centered life and I am so very grateful. Heavenly Father sure has blessed me with a solid crew for eternity, of which I will be forever grateful. Have an amazing day y'all! 

Love,

Sister Dorian ️

Humbled but Happy!

Hi everyone!

Oh man. Another week has come and gone and pday is here again. It is freaking me out how fast time goes...it really just needs to stop. I still have so much to learn and so many things to overcome but one amazing thing is that the mission is not meant to make us perfect. It is meant to help us develop those habits necessary for us to ultimately reach perfection after a long life of trial and learning. As we lean on the Savior and trust in His power to cleanse and heal each and everyone one of us, missionary or not, we will see miracles and life will always be a joy. 

This week has been a great week, but it has also been a humbling one. We had to drop a lot of our investigators and we didn't find very many new ones. However, we learned a lot about our purpose as missionaries and how important it is to trust in the Lord and His will. One thing I have noticed about myself is that sometimes, I struggle to trust in the Lord and try to lean into mine own understanding. I try to do things the way I want and  expect things to turn out how I plan. I do what I want at times even though it might not be the best way. As I have noticed this weakness, I have been truly humble and aware of how much I truly need my Savior in this life. This life is hard, with twists and turns along the way, but with the Savior it can still be a joy. We may not have had a very successful week, but it wasn't for lack of trying! It was the Lords will that we spend more of our time in other areas than finding, even though that wasn't what we had originally planned. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who watches over and blesses me. I know that He guides this work. I may not know everything, but I know that He loves us and things always turn out when we trust in Him. That will be a lesson I think I will spend my entire life learning, but I am grateful for the chance to be aware of it so that I can trust and have faith in the Lord and His ability to make weak things strong unto us. (Ether 12:27)

On Monday, we went to the Churchill Downs museum and toured the track for the Kentucky Derby. SO COOL!! Our mission Leaders wife took us and it was a blast. We also did lots of service this week for one of our members having a yard Sale. We got some pretty shnazy things so we were super excited. 

We had some amazing lessons and miracles happen to us this week as well. We taught Brian and trish (the couple we met late at night while he was cleaning his truck) twice and they have been doing amazing! Trish has been reading the Book of Mormon to Brian and they been loving it!! They were talking to us the other day about how they really feel the Spirit when they read it, to the point where Brian almost started crying (and he is a pretty tough guy) and how it is so much easier to relate to and understand. When we taught them the plan of salvation, they just ate it up! Trish said that this answers questions that not even her preacher could answer when she was growing up. They loved it! Brian kept saying over and over, "God knows me so well. He just knows me." We have such a strong bond with these people and really feel like they are going to make it. We were super excited too because for the last few lessons, they have told us over and over how they won't come to church because they are afraid of being judged. After teaching to doctrine behind that concern, they both agreed to come next week. We are so excited. They are the best!

We also had a miracle with our other sweet baptismal date. She is the daughter of the less active family who is the only one not baptized in her family. We met with her this week and taught her the restoration and cleared up a few misconceptions that other churches had tried to teach her. When we went back to teach her on Saturday, she had finished 1 Nephi (complete with sticky notes and everything!) and prayed about the Book of Mormon. We moved into the plan of salvation and she had some amazing questions, along with her other siblings. Her mom was able to help us teach her which was amazing because it included her more in the process. After the lesson, we set her baptismal date for July 1st and she told everyone at church about it. She is so prepared!! And, to put the icing on the cake, her little brother received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday. This family is really taking a turn for the best in their lives and we are so happy for them :) 

That same day, we had another miracle. We were walking around, trying Potentials and formers in a neighborhood since our two lessons there had fallen through and happened upon a potential  that had been tried a few times by sister Hoyt and sister Hafen. We knocked and she let us in. We taught her the restoration and she absolutely loved it. She had some struggles with other church she had gone to so when we taught her the apostasy, it all made sense. When we shared the first vision, she was like "Wow! I have never heard that before." We extended a baptismal date for July and she accepted! She is so sweet. We are excited to teach her and help answer more of her questions. We met another guy later that day who expressed that he had a lot of questions that no one could answer (kinda like Trish) so we promised him that this gospel will answer his questions and he was pretty excited as well. 

This gospel is true!! I have never been more convinced of this in my entire life. I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and guided him in the unfolding of this precious truth. I am so grateful for the chance this gospel gives us to fully access the Atonement. I have been ever aware of my weaknesses lately and am so eternally grateful for a Savior to forgive, cleanse, and change my heart. This is where true happiness lies and I hope to continue striving to become more Christlike in all that I say and do. 

I love y'all! Have an amazing week. Always choose cheesecake over ice cream and never forget to smile to everyone you meet. You never know who could use the Spirit that you bring. Love your lives ️

Love,

Sister Dorian 

Glasgow is a Blessed Land

Hey y'all.

Man. The weeks just keep getting better and better. Miracles are happening and the work is progressing here in the blessed land of Glasgow. We have had such an amazing week. I will apologize in advance if this email is long. They always are but I will just apologize anyways ;) 

This week, I learned the importance of having pure motives centered on Christ. We have been having this big push to find in our mission so that we can be more effective at teaching and baptizing those who are truly prepared for the gospel. With this push, sister Hoyt and I have been working our bums off finding, and we have seen many miracles as we have exercised faith and put the work in. However, I have noticed my self at times losing sight of why we are finding. We have tried to change the motives behind finding and have found people who are truly prepared for this gospel. When we are focused on finding those who are searching for the truth and acting as instruments in Gods hands, we are led to wonderful prepared children of God. So awesome! 

Now to the miracles! The first one happened on Wednesday. We went to a part of our area where we have found a few of our investigators to see if there was anyone there interested. After knocking a few doors, we walked up to a lady on her porch and asked if she would like to hear our message. She said sure and accepted the commitment to read. We are seeing her again this week and see some great potential there. We found another lady who also has potential with sweet little boys who we met while tracting another part of town during the week. We were on a street and both of us just stopped. I looked to Sister Hoyt and said, "where does He need us to be right now?". She looks to this house a few houses up and then back at me and said, "we should try that one". We walked up and a few guys outside told us to knock and ask if she was interested. We did and she was!! We are meeting with her this week as well so fingers crossed. 

The most exciting miracles actually all happened yesterday. We have been working with a less active family where one of the daughters isn't baptized for a few different reasons so we have been trying hard to work with them more closely. As we were over this week, not only did they tell us they were coming to church, but they told us they are bringing their non member family member (sister in law)! She came yesterday and the mom told us that she is interested in investigating after she gets settled into her own place! Yay!!!! She has already been to church a few times and loves it. So cool. 

Later on that day, we were driving to an appointment and drove past an inn in town where we saw a couple sitting in the parking lot. After driving for about 30 sec, I knew we needed to turn around. Sister Hoyt felt the same way, even though she had already spoken to the couple before. When we got there, they were gone! We were bummed and thought, why did we need to turn around?? We saw a lady sitting outside so we decided to talk to her. As we said hello, she got all emotional and said, "it is actually funny that you stopped. I was just sitting here crying because I have been going through some things." We got out and gave her a hug and she told us about how she was just going to comment to something on Facebook that she needed a hug right as we drove up. She feels very distant from God and needs something to bring her back to Him. You could probably guess how excited we were to testify of the Book of Mormon and how it could bless her life. A few people from the Inn came out and expressed interest as well so we are meeting with them this week! 

Then, we found the greatest miracle of all that night. We had plans to go teach a Spanish potential and had g set up to have the Spanish elders skype in (she even confirmed it!) however, when we got here, she wasn't home :( we decided to knock another door just in case we were mistaken on our Hispanic investigators address and a lady came and answered. We asked if she had ever talked to Mormons and she told us that she doesn't even know what that means! So she let us in and we began teaching her about the restoration of the gospel. When we taught about Joseph Smith and his search for truth, she said "that is how I feel too!" Sister Hoyt and I were so excited. She said that she thinks it is a sign that we showed up because she has been praying and asking God to help her know the truth and then we showed up at her door. She was baptized into another church about 2 years ago to show her faith in Christ but she is still searching. When we told her about the Book of Mormon she said, "oh, I'll read it!" She is so sweet and we are so excited to teach her! Neither of us felt good about setting a baptismal date with her though, so that will come with time. It is so amazing to see the Lord putting people in our path and using us as instruments in His hands when we strive to follow the Spirit and be exactly obedient.

I love you all. I love this gospel. I know this is the true church on the Earth today, complete with the full priesthood authority of God. I know that because of this, we can be with our families forever, we can find peace and joy in any circumstance, and we can know about the true nature of our Heavenly Father and His Son. I know that this is His work and that He is hastening it through His righteous missionary force, both those set apart and those who are member missionaries. A marvelous work is going forth among the children of men (D&C 4:1) and I absolutely love being able to see His work first hand. 

Have a great week! We have an active week ahead of us because our car is in the shop so we are on bikes. So excited :) Remember to pray always and be believing and all things will work together for good. Love y'all!

Love,

Sister Dorian ️

Bless the Deep South

Hello everyone! 

This week has been quite the week. It is safe to say that I already love Glasgow :) it is the greenest, most beautiful country town that I ever did see. We have a very large area here so we drive a lot and the rolling hills/cow pastures/country homes are absolutely beautiful. I am in my element here with old trucks and cute country accents. I am fixin' to stay here for a while, that is for darn sure :)

My companion is so cute and sweet and the ward is wonderful! They are very active in helping with the missionary work, especially since the missionaries have been finding so many people to teach and baptize. They are catching the fire of missionary work in their hearts so we are excited to have them out to help us! 

I have learned so much this week, but there is one lesson that I am learning that sticks out. It has to do with our motivation and how it affects all aspects of our lives. Lately, I have noticed that my drive and motivation for doing missionary work is lacking. I find myself succumbing to fear and justification at times and have been very self critical and down on myself about my ability to serve the Lord. As I have studied and prayed about this, I have learned through the Spirit why I have been feeling this way. I have been so focused on exact obedience that I sometimes lose the sight of why I am being obedient. Instead of focusing on the Savior, I have been allowing my fear and duty run the show. I felt impressed to study joy the other day because I was looking for ways to find more joy in the work and something that I read in a talk by President Nelson really stuck out. He said, "When the focus of our lives is on God’s plan of salvation, which President Thomas S. Monson just taught us, and Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening--or not happening--in our lives. Joy comes from and because of Him. He is the source of all joy. We feel it at Christmastime when we sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.” And we can feel it all year round. For Latter-day Saints, Jesus Christ is joy!" I realized that I haven't been focusing on the Savior as much. When I think of Him throughout the day and how He has blessed my life, my desire to share and my ability to overcome fear is greatly increased. I feel overwhelming joy and peace. I am so grateful for my Savior and His sacrifice for each of us. His gospel is the only way to make it back home to our Heavenly Father, and what a glorious gospel to be able to share with everyone around us. I am so happy when I have that as my main focus, so that is my goal for this next week. 

In the end, this is not about me at all. As I forget myself and go to work, I see His hand work in my life and miracles come to pass. I know that He has many people here in Glasgow ready to hear the gospel. We just need to follow the Spirit and talk to everyone that we can. The people hear are so prepared!!! I can't wait to see what Heavenly Father has in store for us here :) 

We had lots of miracles this week and some amazing experiences. We transferred on Tuesday and had Ward coordination that night so I was able to meet the Ward mission leader and his wife (love them!) On Wednesday, we did service at a store in town and then went to a member's home for lunch and some service over there. That night, I was able to meet Denise! She is the sweetest human alive and I love her to death. She is so dedicated and faithful and she has amazed me from the moment that I met her. She has such a strong desire to follow God and the Savior and is an amazing example to her family. He husband isn't interested in being baptized at this time but he comes to church with her and even made an amazing comment about the Savior in gospel principles, so we are very impressed with him and have very high hopes for him accepting the gospel in the future. 

One of the amazing experiences from this week is that Denise got baptized! Sister Hafen and sister O'Keeffe got special permission to make the trip down so sister Hafen was able to be there for her and it was so sweet. She was just beaming with joy! Afterwards, she said she felt calm and it was so joyful to see her take that major step in faith to follow the example of our Savior. This is the best part about being a missionary. You are able to be a first hand witness to the Spirit changing the hearts of those that you come to love and you get to experience Heavenly Father using you and your companion as instruments to strengthen and help them. She is already a strong, faithful member of this church and will one day live with our Heavenly Father for eternity. I am so grateful for the chance I have to work with this sweet woman and her sweet family (along with her two ferrets, two snakes, skink, iguana, and two dogs). ️ her husband actually even let us help clean out the animal cages this week as well which was super cool!! 

We also got to go to a Pentecostal bible study this week as a church swap since our investigator came to church with us last Sunday. It was quite the experience! There was a lot of yelling and "Amen!"s exclaimed throughout the room, along with some interesting music. It was very interesting to feel the difference in Spirit there. These people are doing all they can to follow the Savior but it was so apparent to us how much they were missing. My companion and I were discussing after about how grateful we are for the Book of Mormon because it clears up so much of the confusion and misconceptions that so many churches have about God, our Savior, and His gospel. We are glad that we don't really ever have to go back to that place but it was quite an interesting experience and ended up strengthening my testimony of how important these restored truths, along with the priesthood authority, is to our understanding in this life and eternal life in the world to come. 

We have been working hard to try and find some solid new investigators this week but haven't had much luck this week. At Zone conference, however, we had amazing trainings on being more effective finders and teachers so that we can be more effective at baptizing those who are truly converted to the gospel. I recognized a lot of things that I need to change and am excited to apply them this week. We have set out goals high this week and are going to work on exercising faith in our Savior and His power so that we may reach these goals with His help. I know that with Christ and Heavenly Father on our side, all things are possible. We intend to find 8 new investigators this week and have 3 on date so we will keep you posted on our progress! We already have much with potential and are excited to act as instruments in Gods hands to see His work go forth. 

Yesterday was an amazing day. I love fast Sunday so much because it gives me a chance to sacrifice my worldly desire for food in order to receive spiritual nourishment. I gained an increase in love for my Savior and His Atoning sacrifice. We were able to help our recent convert, Brother Roman, get excited for the temple trip next week and were able to bring some peace and solace to another recent convert who is going through a really hard time. We have our ward mission leader and his wife out with us in the afternoon and their testimonies really enhanced the lessons we taught. 

Overall, this week was a great week. We had a miracle happen where we ended up contacting a lady who is actually a member whos records aren't in the Ward. We have been trying to visit her but with no luck so we will keep you posted on her progress. We know that Heavenly Father is at the head of this work with His Beloved Son and as we follow all of our promptings, we will be able to serve with all of our heart, might, mind and strength and bring God's children the truth and joy that this gospel brings.

Hurrah for Israel. I love you all!! Thank you for all of the love, support, and prayers. I know that this church is true and that this work is continuing to be hastened by the Lord. I am so grateful for this opportunity to serve Him. Have an amazing week! 

Love,

Sister Dorian