Birthdays/Easter/Zone Conference

Hey Mom,

                We get snow but it doesn’t stick, it’s usually gone by the time we leave the house. But it is super windy and really cold, so that kind of makes up for the lack of snow.

                Umm let’s see…fun things that we do? Well we get to do service for some of the members and that’s pretty fun. And dinners are always an exciting affair. Other than that I can’t really think of anything. We are always pretty busy and we just don’t have the time. And we have 2 Elders in Craig and a total of 6 Elders and 6 Sisters in our District. And yes, I’m almost positive I will be staying in Craig after Sister Davis leaves.

                HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!!!!! LOVE YOU!!!!!

                And Happy Easter!!! So I should probably tell you that Sister Davis and I spoke in both wards yesterday on the subject of Easter, specifically on the subject of Faith and the Atonement. It was super nerve racking and we barely had time to throw talks together before driving up to Baggs, WY that morning and then back down to Craig, CO. I’ll try and get the talk typed up and sent to you probably next week so that you can see my first talk given as a missionary.

                Also yesterday was Sister Davis’s BIRTHDAY!!!!!!! It was so cool we went over to the Dalton’s house and they had decorated the whole house and made this huge dinner, of ham and mashed potatoes, etc. It was so sweet and they gave us both Easter baskets and we had a little Easter egg hunt throughout the house. IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!!
                Also this week we had Zone Meeting which wouldn’t have warranted too much stress but the Zone Leaders call a couple days before and asked Sister Davis and I to give a training on Getting Member Presence when we teach investigators. Now after the initial shock wore off it was fine. But it turns out that because President was in the area he came to Zone Meeting also!!! Sister Davis has assured me that it's highly unusual and that leaders are the only ones who give trainings at Zone Meeting. So yeah. I’m not a leader of any kind, just a missionary!! Let’s just say it was stressful and I’m glad I made it through alive.  That's all I have time for today, sorry it's so short, gotta go to dinner with the Cutler's. Talk to you soon. 

Lots of Love, 

Sister Sanofsky 

Weekend in Baggs, WY and Busy in the Field

Hey Mom!!!

Good to hear that everyone is doing well and that Tyler is so excited and sure that he is playing Baseball J Give Cole a BIG HUG from me!!! And Miranda too! ;) And I can’t wait to be able to take and send you pictures!!! It’s starting to get warmer here but there are still the occasional snow flurries, that bring a couple of inches to Craig, but thankfully they are all gone by the afternoon or the next day.

We went to Baggs, WY and stayed Friday night, all of Saturday, Saturday night and Sunday morning. On Saturday we tracted ALL DAY! I got sunburn J and we also talked to over 40 people, and had full lessons with six people and had a member present, because some of the young men and young women came out with us a few hours each. When we tract, because it is so close to Easter, we carry around a portable DVD player and show people the Easter Initiative. #Hallelujah for family home evening tomorrow night you should definitely check it out. My favorite part of the video is that it says “He Lives” not “He Lived” but that “HE LIVES” that he is just as alive as you or me and knows exactly what I’m going through and that I can go to Him for comfort, just like I can go to you (mom) for comfort when I need it. I have gained a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and there is no doubt in my mind of that, my testimony will continue to grow over the next 17 months. So yeah you should really check it out.

We were also able to meet Corli while tracting in Craig. She is from South Africa and speaks Afrikaans, so it was really awesome we were able to get her an Afrikaans Book of Mormon!!! She has been really busy because she works for her sister’s cleaning company and her sister is in California until the 24^th so she has been doing extra work. Not getting home until, sometimes, eleven at night. Her kids are amazing too, they also speak Afrikaans, and their whole family just moved to Craig and year and a half ago.

We also killed it with our numbers this week!!!! But it’s not about the numbers! (but we did really good) In case you were wondering we had 10 member presents this week, which is where we have members present at lessons taught to investigators. It really helps when members are present and are able to share their testimonies. And investigators are able to see that there are normal people who belong to the Church and not just us crazy missionaries. We also, in total, were able to teach 26 lessons this week and I can’t remember any of them, Sister Davis says that the more lessons you teach the less you remember them, which is sad but true.

Yesterday was really awesome, we saw Jennifer (one of our investigators) at Church!!!! And we scheduled our first lesson with her afterwards. She is amazing. We taught the lesson in Relief Society, on Joseph Smith and the Restoration, and she loved hearing about him. She told us that one day she had this prompting to call Adam (her friend in the ward) and told him that she wanted to go to church. That was two months ago and she has gone every week since. She has an amazing testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and during our lesson yesterday, after hearing her speak and seeing that desire, I felt inspired to ask her if she wanted to be baptized…SHE SAID YES!! And is now on date for April 23^rd. We still have to teach her all the other lessons, but it was super awesome, we (Sister Davis and I) felt the spirit and so did she. Definitely journal worthy.

                Love you Lots,

                                Sister Sanofsky

P.S. Sister Davis loved your email. 

Things Are Going A Lot Better!

Hey MOM!!!

okay so Sister Davis, she's from Seattle, WA (more specifically Monroe) she did 5 years of school before her mission and has a degree in dental hygiene. so she is the person that cleans teeth and she goes home April 14th and has a job all set up in Monroe with a friend of hers who owns a practice there. She also said the after my mission I have to come and visit her and stay in her basement. :) She has also sent you a letter in the mail and she is wondering constantly if you have gotten it. 

Package should come directly to me. I'll probably be here for a while but if that changes I'll email you. Packages that go to the mission office take too long to get to people on the western slope (i.e. across the mountains) 

Tell Randi I miss her novel long emails. :(

Wow that's a lot of BABIES!!!!!!!!! ( I told her about all the women pregnant in our ward )

I really want to hear about anything and everything. Things that are going on in the outside world are interesting to know, what people in the ward are doing, what the kids are doing, in school, sports, church, social life. and if you could, send sometime physical pictures of everyone/family pictures. everyone asks what you guys look like and I don't have a phone to pull up Facebook and show them. ;)

other than that things are going a lot better. We have a zone meeting this coming Thursday and we get to drive to Rifle which is about 2 hours away! ROADTRIP!!! We also have an investigator who we put on date to be BAPTIZED!! It's super exciting, it's amazing how the Lord has prepared people to hear the Gospel. As it says in Doctrine and Covenants 4:4 "For behold the field is white already to harvest", there are already people who are ready to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and we just have to bring it to them. We don't have to plant those seeds, although we do and we can, but we have to remember that there are people out there waiting to hear the truth, we just have to find them. 

Love you Lots, 

Sister Sanofsky

Settling In

I'm settling in OK everything has been good.The members are really good about feeding us dinner and sometimes even lunch. My companion is amazing, Sister Davis is an awesome trainer. She's going home at the end of this transfer so she wants to go out with a BANG! We've been working really hard to make that a reality. 

Something I forgot to tell you while I was in the MTC is that we had a Tuesday night devotional and Elder Rasband came a talked to us about the importance of missionary work. And that we, as missionaries, are called by either the prophet or one of the 12 apostles and that they take the time to read our bios and letters of recommendation and then are lead by the Spirit on where to send each missionary. It's really amazing. It really helped me to know with a certainty that I'm supposed to be in Colorado at this time and with President Murdock as my Mission President. 

I love hearing from everyone, please keep sending emails and even letters if you want. 

We wake up every morning at 6:30 and we exercise, eat, and get ready before 8:00 then it's personal study for an hour. During that time I'm reading the Book of Mormon cover to cover. Our Mission President has asked all new missionaries to read the entire BoM in one transfer (6 weeks) and to underline in red all the references to Christ and to write out in the back of the BoM on the blank pages all the names of Christ. Then at 9:00 we have Companion Study were we create the lessons for our investigators that we have appointments for that day. That's followed by training at 10:00 for an hour and then lunch at 11:00 and then we leave the house at 12:00 and usually we have just been tracting and going to a few appointments that we have during the day or doing service. At 5:00 we usually have dinner at a members house and can only stay there until 6:00 and then proselyting until 8:00 and then we have a member lesson with a family in the ward. Home at 9:00 where we do planning for the next day for a half an hour and then an hour to get ready for bed write in our journals and be in bed and asleep by 10:30pm. The days are fun at times and exhausting at others. But I have definitely been able to feel the spirit at almost every lesson that we have taught even if it's only on the persons doorstep. My testimony has grown so much in the past few weeks and I can't wait to experience even more amazing things as my mission continues. 

I love and miss you lots. *HUG* 

Love, 

Sister Sanofsky

Welcome to Craig, CO

Hi Mom, I miss talking with you too. I was sad I couldn't talk to you but it's okay I didn't realize how much i would miss hearing Dad's voice until I heard him on the other end of the phone. So quick run down of Monday Feb 22nd We woke up at 2:00am finished packing and tidying up our room and were at the travel offices at the MTC at 3:35am we checked in and put all our luggage on a trailer and boarded a bus. by that time it was 4:30am. we then drove 10 minutes to get to a train station where we loaded our luggage onto the train and at 5:00am rode an hour to salt lake got everyone off with their luggage in under 3 minutes before the train left for the next station. from there we got on the trax and rode another 20 minutes to the Salt Lake City Airport. by the time our little group who were going to CO got all checked in and on our way to our gate it was 7:00am and our plane boarded at 8:00am. we took of, I had a little melt down on the plane after talking with dad and thinking about home. Then I fell asleep for the rest of the flight and woke up as we were landing. President and Sister Murdock met us there with the two APs (Assistant to the President) and we got our luggage and were on our way to the mission office where we had lunch and orientation until dinner time, where we went to the mission home and had dinner and a small devotional with President and Sister Murdock. then bed. 

The next day we weren't able to go to our areas because of a rock slide in the mountains so transfers were delayed a day and the new missionaries were put with other companionships in the area and we worked that day in Denver metro. in my little group we tracted most of the day. it was fun. definitely a learning experience. the next day after staying that night again at the mission home were able to go over the mountains, the car ride was about six hours long and we left at 7:00 am, around 1 pm we arrived in Craig, CO but I didn't get off because my companion was in Grand Junction so we continued on until Rifle were I got off and stayed with a couple Sisters while the 'transfer train' (of cars) went to Grand junction picked up my companion Sister Davis and brought her back to Rifle, that was around 5pm Wednesday, we hopped in our car a drove the two hours from Rifle back to Craig. 

So Craig...we are in charge of Craig 2nd ward and Baggs, WY. Craig is a coal mining town. So imagine Hortonville and then think smaller. Baggs is even smaller than that. the only paved road in Baggs is the main road and the church parking lot. Baggs has a total population of 440 people. So it's all really small but since being here we have found 4 new investigators so that's awesome. It's all definitely an adjustment and I have to sometimes keep reminding myself why I'm here. And that this isn't about me. I love hearing about everyone and the more emails you send me the better. It was hard having almost two weeks in between emails. It was rough. I felt a bit homesick yesterday and my companion let me have an hour to myself, in the car as we drove to Baggs to be sad and write in my journal. these past two weeks seem like forever. but like you said I will take it one day at a time. This past week has been overwhelming with all the things I need to learn and all the people's names I have to remember. but it will get better, I know that. Don't think that I'm not happy because I am, it was just a difficult day yesterday being in a family ward and not being with my family. That's all I got for right now talk to you next week :) 

Lots of Love, 

Sister Sanofsky

ALMOST TIME TO LEAVE THE MTC

Being at the MTC is really fun I've learned a ton and experienced so much in the short time that I've been here, even though it feels like a lifetime. We are able to teach investigators here at the MTC and we have had some amazing lessons with our investigators. I've really learned to rely on the Spirit and to think of it as not only me and my companion teaching our investigators but me, my companion, and the Spirit. 

Something that really hit me was that we need to as Missionaries teach to our investigators needs, we can't let our wants to teach every single principle and lesson override our investigator and their needs and what they need to hear at that moment. But that also with teaching by the Spirit we can't plan a lesson for our investigator, we need to put in the work and the time to know them and their needs and plan a lesson accordingly, but if during that lesson you have the Spirit and are listening to it's promptings the lesson you may think you where going to teach is not the lesson you will teach. And to act on those promptings whenever and wherever they come. 

It's definitely been a challenge learning everything and applying everything but even in this short week I've started to learn to rely on the Lord and that if I do my part and put in the time and effort that, if I ask, he will help me the rest of the way. 

I guess I'll end with something that my teacher, Sister Wyatt said, that through this journey we are not walking alone, that Christ is walking with us.  

Love Sister Sanofsky 

P.S. I should probably also tell you that I'm leaving for Colorado Feb 22 at 3:35 am so in like 3 days so that's weird to think about. So anything you are sending to me probably should be sent to the Mission home.

Hectic First Days in the MTC

Hi Mom, 

They wanted us to write to our families to let them know that we have safely arrived in the MTC. So yeah, I'm here. It's only been two days but it honestly feels like I've been her for weeks. The amount of information you get on the first day alone is a lot, and that's only half a day. A full day is stressful, hectic, overwhelming, but also spiritually uplifting, edifying, and kind of emotionally draining. 

So the first day i got out of the car and Sister Pierce (my Host) helped me with my luggage. I said goodbye to Cami and we quickly got on our way picking up my name tags and room key and MTC card, that gives me access to all the buildings and stuff. Next we got my books from the bookstore all the while Sister Pierce is rolling my suitcases and bags around showing me everything. Btw she is learning Japanese and had only been there for a week or so, and is staying for 9 weeks. Anyway then we went to my residence and I dropped my stuff off and she showed me to my classroom. where i met my district of 6 Sisters and 4 Elders. And our zone is two districts(classrooms) put together. There we met our Teachers, Sister Wyatt and Sister Steiglmeyer. And we where in our classroom until 9:30 at night and then we went to bed. 

Sorry this is all the time I have, I have to go eat Dinner. Sorry. I Love You and I'm learning and my testimony is growing daily, it's amazing. got to go. Email me Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love, 

Sister Sanofsky