Learning Spanish, Getting Sunburn and Temple Blessings

6/13/16

HEY MOM!!!!!!!!!

 

So I'm on my own with the Spanish but I was able to order a spanish dictionary and verb conjugation book and a big book for learning spanish that they use in the MTC. so yeah, and it's nice because a couple people in our ward have gone on Spanish speaking missions and they are helping me!! :) So I kind of came up with it on my own (well actually the Lord helped :) it was a prompting) and I kind of just told President Murdock that I was doing it, and he seems to be okay with it. :) and I'm not sure how many people are Spanish speaking but we have Hermanas up in Steamboat Springs (40 min away) who are also our Sister Training Leaders and when we go on exchanges they usually help me with my Spanish. So by the end of my mission Miranda and I could have an actual conversation. :)

 

It's been super hot here. I've currently got sunburn, and because it wasn't P-day Sister Spears went out and bought me Aloe Vera, she is so amazing :) For the past couple weeks it's been in the high 70s/low 80s :P

 

No, unfortunately I don't get to go on the temple trip, even if it is with new members that we helped to be baptized, Craig's temple is the Vernal, UT temple and that is out of our mission boundaries. But we have to stay in our area anyways, so...no temple for me :(

 

But it's super cool, our last lesson with Mike was about temples and the whole family was listening in! (big accomplishment) and then my companion had a prompting to talk about patriarchal blessings and now the entire family has interviews to receive their patriarchal blessings!! YAY!!! we were also talking with him and he said, "I don't know why I pushed this away for so long, why didn't I do this sooner?" It was super cool, with that statement I know he will be a strong member in the church, that he wasn't just doing this for his wife, that he truly believes that this is Jesus Christ's church once again established on the earth, and that he can be sealed together with his wife and kids forever!

 

Alright that's it for this week, talk to you later!

 

Lots of Love,

Sister Sanofsky

Work, Work and more Work - things are busy!!

6/6/16

HEY MOM!!!!!!!

Transfer III is good so far we currently have 4 people on date to be baptized and one of them is in Baggs...DALTON!!! one of the youth in our wards friend, he was kicked out of his house after he graduated and now he is staying with the Branch President's Family. So before he wasn't really sure whether or not God existed. So we talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and how we receive answers to prayers and we asked him to get on his knees right then and there and to ask God if He was there. AND HE RECEIVED AN ANSWER!!!! and now he's getting baptized on June 25th :) yay!!! 

Also Mike our last baptism, is doing really well and is continuing to read the book of Mormon everyday!! woot! He is also super focused on his goal of taking his family to the Temple, so he is working towards that and we are working on him receiving the priesthood and setting up a youth/new member Temple trip so that he can do baptisms for the dead and actually see a Temple and go inside :) 

There is also this couple in Baggs that the girlfriend is a member and the boyfriend is not and they approached us and he asked to take the discussions because he wants to marry this girl and she said she wants to be married in the Temple and so if he wants to marry her he has to be a member so that they can be married in the Temple, Super Cute!!!!! So we are teaching him and really Trying to help him to gain a testimony for himself so that the reason he is doing this isn't only because he wants to marry her but because he truly believes that the Church is true :) 

Also still learning Spanish in my free time (HA what free time!!! :P) and I think it's going really well :) and this week we also taught a total of 34 lessons!! WOOT!!!! (to compare we usually get between 18 and 21 total lessons per week) SO this week was great!!! Until next time!!! 

Lots of Love,
Sister Sanofsky 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Learning Spanish????

5/30/16

Hey Mom!! 

Thank you for the Birthday Song, and for everyone sending me Birthday wishes, I really appreciate it :) Oh my goodness you will never believe it, our District Leader came to our apartment this morning and sang Happy Birthday and gave me peanut m&ms :) flowers, and a birthday card :) it was so sweet, also our Sister Training Leaders called and sang, and so did our Zone Leaders :) So yeah, so far it's been a really good Birthday :) 

So things are good in Craig, same old same old, teaching lots of people. But we did have a baptism this last Friday, Mike was baptized and it was AWESOME!! Super Spiritual. All the talks were super good and everything went very smoothly. And then he received the gift of the Holy Ghost on the following Sunday :) again super spiritual.  

So yeah I'm doing well, Sister Johnson is having a rough time so I find that if I focus on her then I don't really have to worry about me and everything seems to work out.  

Oh! and I'm slowly but surely learning Spanish :) 

El Evangelio es verdadero! (the gospel is true!)

Anyways

Love you Lots, 

Sister Sanofsky

Sad news - Transfers - More Work to Be Done!

5/23/16

Note: Last email Maddie shared a tragic event that happened in her area. A young man took his own life. I didn't include that part last week but this week's reference to the event was too powerful for me to leave out. I took out the family name to preserve their privacy. I'm so proud of Maddie and very impressed with her faith and willingness to continue to do the work the Lord has asked her to do.

Hey MOM!!!!!! 

Okay so Transfer News.......drum roll please :)...............Craig 2nd/Baggs!!!!!!!! I'm staying for another transfer :) WITH Sister Johnson!!!!! So yeah this transfer should be fun :) we also now currently have 4 people on date to be baptized!!! and Mike is getting baptized THIS Friday. Also our mission is low on sisters especially spanish sisters and I've felt really strongly about asking president if he would move me to spanish speaking. Not sure it's actually going to happen, but whatever the Lord feels is best, I'll go where ever He needs me :) 

Okay so yes this week was super hard, but it was also super spiritual, we were thankfully able to attend the funeral which was on Saturday, and both his Mom and Dad spoke and they both just bore their testimonies and shared memories of their son. His mom also said something really amazing, She knew that this wasn't anyone's fault, she has received confirmation from our Heavenly Father that it was her son's time that he had fulfilled his purpose here on this earth and that it was his time to return home. She also said, "He had a bad moment, not a bad year, or a bad month or week, or even a bad day, it was a moment." When she talked you could feel that what she was saying was true, I know this because the spirit was there, it was in the chapel and gym the ENTIRE funeral service. It was an amazing experience and one that I will never forget. Trust me there was a lot of crying on my part but the entire time that she was talking I didn't shed a single tear, because her talk was a message of hope and forgiveness, truly truly amazing. The entire thing was super super spiritual and it was amazing to see almost the entire community, members and nonmembers alike, at the church to support the Family. At Ward Council we heard that there were over 500 people there, they used every chair available in the building and people were still STANDING in the back.

SO we saw a miracle this week, at least I think so, we were tracting, it was right after the funeral on Saturday. Sister Johnson and I were in a pretty somber mood as we started tracting and the SECOND house we try we are able to do the survey, transition to a lesson, and invited him (Mike,another Mike) to be Baptized in July....and he said YES!!!!!!!! It was super cool and it felt like the Lord was reminding us that there is still work to be done, that yes what happened is sad and we will continue to help the ward and the Family but that we also have an important work to do here.

Okay so that was kinda long-ish and now my fingers hurt :P but that's kinda it for this week. More next time. 

Lots of Love, 

Sister Sanofsky