Month 16 Finished! #missionnotes

Month #16 is done... Bring on month 17! #missionnotes

Kimber mail 12-5-2016: "ITS DECEMBER! SAY WHATTTT?!"

   Okay seriously. Where has this year gone?! I legit feel like it was just last Christmas.  My oh my is time flying or what?!  I hope you all were able to check out the #LightTheWorld  video - if not, lucky for you There's still time! Mormon.org has got some great ideas for service every day. So keep looking at it and share it up! :)  I've loved hearing what yinz are doing so far- keep up the great work!! I'll fill you in on what Sister Roper and I have done too but hang tight while I fill you in on our awesome Zone Conference!! 

   Okay, so Christmas Zone Conferences are my favorite! Here's a few of my favorite things from the meeting:

- I loved listening to all the Christmas music. Music just has a great way of bringing in the Spirit. The whole time I just felt so happy and so much peace. What a great way to kick off December with such a strong spirit! 

- President Johnson gave a great training about setting goals and always pushing ourselves to improve and keep working toward success. It was great! Sister Roper and I made our life lists and we are super pumped to accomplish life goals  :P 

- Most of all I was super happy to be able to hear my "mom", Sister Hansen's departing testimony. Before missionaries go home they get to share their testimonies with the zone. It is always so powerful and it was especially cool being able to hear my amazing trainer's testimony. I love her powerful testimony and love for the Savior and the Restored Gospel. She related the story of her leaving me on the bus when she was training me and how if she hadn't come out here she would feel that same feeling of 'lost' that we felt then.  I'm so grateful she came out because I know for a fact my mission experience and life wouldn't be the same. The other testimonies were so good too it was awesome to hear from some of my greatest mission homies - they were all so powerful and it's something I will never forget. 

   Okay now to our Light the World daily events

   Day 1: Service- we had some epic plans but Sis Roper had some food poisoning from the night before so we had to rearrange plans BUT we did get to serve some members by washing their dishes and serving them with cupcakes :) 

   Day 2: Honor your parents- we wrote little letters to our parents *surprise!* ha, ha, ha, I am so grateful for wonderful parents! I also got to call Sister Hansen and tell her how much I appreciate her 'cuz she's my mission "momma". Sis Roper also wrote me a little letter that cutie! 

   Day 3: Help the blind to see- we visited this older member who has cataracts pretty bad and we showed her the Christmas video and read her scriptures to her. It was an amazing experience!  We also visited some members and told them how grateful we were for them and all they do and they were in tears when we pointed out Attributes they don't normally see in themselves. We visited with a family we've been working with and the husband has been pretty hard hearted and I guess "blind" to the gospel you might say so we did some service and helped put up their Christmas tree and by the end the whole family was laughing and smiling. It was awesome! 

   Day 4: Worship the Father- we were able to get 10 of our less-active members, recent converts and investigators (all together) to come out to church with us. It was awesome! The Spirit was strong and I was reminded once again how grateful I am to be on a mission and help my fellow brothers and sisters to come home. To top it off-Sis Roper even happened to match clothes with one of our awesome members!

   Day 5: Help the sick- I spent a good portion of studies this morning looking at the churches mental health website and praying to know how I could help some of the friends and people I've met with these struggles and wrote some letter and emails to them. It was one of the most powerful studies I've had. I love the Spirit!! 

   So I think that's about it for this week- stay tuned for more :) 

💕Sister McDonald 

Ponderize: "Jesus Wept." John 11:35 

Comittment: "fearless declare my witness of Christ"~ Christensen 

Charity Attribute: rejoice in truth!

Kimber mail 11-28-2016: "Let's #LIGHTtheWORLD!!🕯🎉"

Hey everyone! How are yinz doing?! Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and got real chubs ha, ha, ha, ha. ‘Cuz SAME! 😂🙌 

   This week was awesome!  Sister Roper and I are back up to par and had a pretty happy week!  We decided to be more thankful we were going to take an "Ammon" approach with our missionary work and it was great. Just a recapper for those who have no clue who Ammon is or what I mean by that: So, Ammon is this legit guy in the Book of Mormon. He is out on his mission, just servin' the Lord and he gets to this land full of Lamanites, who definitely were not his people. Ammon is taken before the Lamanite king, King Lamoni, and he tells him that he wants to just be his servant. So he serves and (spoiler alert) he helps the Spirit soften hearts and helps many become converted to the gospel. If you want to read the story it's real great and I highly recommend it!  A good chunk of it is in Alma chapters 17-19 in the Book of Mormon.  So anywho… that's what we decided to do more of this week was SERVICE!  Let me share what miracles we saw because of it:

- We helped one of our investigators shovel their coal and move their wood for their fire and rake leaves. #MusclesAndBlackSnotForDayssss ha, ha, but it was awesome because we were able to really bond with the kids and she was able to open up to us a lot more.  I love when people are able to trust us to open up and tell us what they feel!! 

- Wednesday we went on exchanges and I was here in New Bloom with my STL, Sister Allen, and man do I love exchanges.  We did some awesome heart attacks for some sassy people we've tried to visit but haven't had any success.  So that was fun! Then we went to this super sweet interfaith night in Harrisburg!  It was really cool to meet so many great people and feel the love of God so strong and I was just reminded that God loves us all no matter who we are!  It was legit!

- Thanksgiving day we got to help out along with some other sisters, at this 5 and 10k race in Harrisburg! It was really fun and even though it was cold so many people thanked us for cheering them on. It was great!  You never know what a simple word of encouragement could do for someone. 

- We raked more leaves and some more leaves and some more leaves until our arms pretty much fell off.  You have no idea how many leaves there are out here!  TOO MANY! Ha, ha, but it was great and we were able to see a lot of hearts soften. 

- We helped some members that we didn't know very well put their Christmas decorations up.  It was really good to hear their conversion stories and to get to know them better. More trust building- yippee!! 

- We felt like we should go help this one member, Sister York, who does so much for us. So we went and it was good because she was so stressed from helping clean her daughter’s house and taking care of the grandkids that she was about to burst. Her house needed some TLC so we got to work and hard core cleaned.  It was really cool because we had some awesome discussions about Patriarchal Blessings and we actually found hers while we were cleaning. She started crying and saying how she had another copy sent to her years ago (the one we found) but her eyes are so bad she can't read it. She said "Now I know we aren't supposed to share these with people but could you read this out loud for me?!"  Sis. Roper read it to her and the Spirit filled that tiny room and by the end, with tears in her eyes, Sister York said "I needed that reminder that I'm loved." I was really reminded that even these valiant members need uplifting.  I am so blessed to walk in the Savior's footprints and do as he would for my brothers and sisters. 

   So, these were just some big examples but I just love serving. I am so grateful that we were fed so much and taken care of on Thanksgiving and also even on a day to day basis. I'm so blessed to be able to be serving the gems in PA and serving alongside my Savior.  I know that this is the Lord's restored true Gospel on the earth and that the Book of Mormon and Bible bring us closer to Him than any other book.  I am oh so grateful for prayer.  I know that our Father in Heaven listens.  He loves us.  He wants us to come to him and vent, pour out our hearts and get up and work.  I love my life and I love my Savior and My Heavenly Father.  I want to end with this awesome quote I read this week.  It's from the Oct. 2008 talk by Elder Cornbridge, "The Way,” he said, "The Lord's way is not hard. Life is hard, not the gospel. We have only 2 choices in life. We can either follow the Lord and be endowed with his power...or we can go some other way and go it alone without his support, power and guidance. Which is easier?"  I am so grateful that we have a merciful, loving, older brother and friend to guide us in this crazy world.  He truly is the light.  

   This Christmas the church has put out this AMAZING initiative "Light the World"!  If you haven't seen the video, WATCH IT!  If you have, watch it again and share it with friends, family, anyone and everyone.  Starting December 1^st  through Christmas, there are these awesome short videos to watch to give us ideas of service we can do each day to better spread the light and Christmas Spirit.  Pleaseeee check it out on Mormon.org!  YOU WILL LOVE IT!   And let me know of any cool experiences you have and I'll do the same. Can't wait for us all to #LightTheWorld this Christmas!   HERE WE GOOOOO!🎄🕯🎉

💕Sis. McD

Ponderize: "...Believe, and were converted unto the Lord." 3 Nephi 1:22

Commitment: "Make prayer holy time with the father"- Sis McConkie 

Charity Attribute: think no evil 

Kimber mail 11-21-2016: "Go home! What happened to you?! You look like death"

  

   First to explain my title for the week- these were all exclamations I heard near the end of this week from various people:  my ward mission leader, the 2nd councilor in the Bishopric and various people in the ward and a random child at the food bank we volunteer at.  Thank you all!  I'm well aware that I'm sick.  Obviously my efforts to hide my sickness failed ha, ha, but we still had an eventful week regardless. Sorry if this email is all over the place.  My brain isn't working too great... Hopefully it makes sense!  But oh man, were there some awesome quotes from this week.  Let me share a few of those gems with you:

"Yes child you can stay home from school on Tuesday but that means you get to butcher the chickens!" ~ Sis Clouse at dinner last night 

"Oh yes, I know all about the Mormons!  Let me tell you- the greatest Mormon I knew was Rumple Stiltskin." ~ This lovely daughter of God who was a little on the crazy side we met while tracting. 

"NO WAY! Mom! It's the Mormons on our porch!" ~ Yet another tracting adventure. This girl was so excited to see us...it was awesome but weird.

"Let's just eat this salmon fast. Our mom's will be proud of us!" ~ Sis Roper as we were given salmon for dinner this week.

"IS THAT MCDONALDS?! ICECREAMMMM! Miracles have not ceased!" ~ Sis Roper 

"I came home to see that He (the Lord) sent a couple of his angels to visit!" ~ Bro Himes after he saw our heart attack. 

"I have no idea what a 'hashtag' is..." ~ Elder Thompson 

"I know this church is where I'm supposed to be" ~ one of our investigators

   Amidst all the craziness, sickness and struggles of this week, I was reminded of a quote from our beloved Prophet, Thomas S. Monson: "We can’t direct the wind, but we can adjust the sails. For maximum happiness, peace, and contentment, may we choose a positive attitude." (Jan 2012). Attitude really does make all the difference.  We were sent to earth to have joy and it's up to us if we will find that joy in every day or if we will let it slip by.  With thanksgiving coming up I've really tried to be more focused on being positive and noticing those little 'good' things in every day.  I made it a personal goal at the beginning of my mission to notice everyday things that I was grateful for, and surprisingly I've stuck to it - it's been a huge blessing!  Looking back over those entries each night, it really has changed my perspective and helped me push through the good and bad and find more joy in the last many months than I've ever felt before.  I really truly believe that that is because when we focus on the good and all that we are blessed with, it in a sense humbles us.  We are able to pull back the selfish curtains from our eyes and see the bigger picture.  We see gems instead of muddy pebbles.  We see the Lord's merciful hand.  He is oh so loving and patient with us.  I want to invite each of you to more fully be grateful by having a positive attitude and taking time to, as one of my favorite scriptures says: "be still" (D&C and recognize the blessings that are all around.  It's nice to stop and smell the roses every now and then!  It really is the little things, from a member feeding you yummy pie, to raking leaves in 50 mph winds and being protected from flying branches, from your district leader trying to get you blueberry bagels when really they are just plain with real blueberries shoved in them, to the little primary kids singing with the spirit, to members and investigators bearing powerful testimony, to receiving healing priesthood blessings, to finding ice-cream in the middle of nowhere, to a comp that is patient and positive, and to all of you gems for the good you're doing each and every day.  I hope you all have a wonderful week and a happy Thanksgiving J 

Love, Sister McDonald 

Ponderize: 1 Thes 5:18 “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

Commitment: "love and serve one another" ~ Elder Hales 

Charity Attribute: not easily provoked #patience 

Kimber mail 11-14-16: "Oh Hey Elder Stevenson!! :D"

   So yeah....Elder Stevenson, Elder Kunz and Elder Hallstrom all came to the mission this weekend. It was pretty much the greatest day ever! Saturday was a day I will never forget! 
   Let me give you a little sneak peak into what the conference was like: 
We walked into the chapel and immediately I saw so many of the amazing friends I've made on my mission. I am overwhelmed with so much gratitude that the PPM really is a huge family, I have no clue what I'd do without all my mission homies. Poor sister Roper, haha I'm like having her meet everyone "hey this is Elder so and so or Sister so and so" - but it was fun! 
   Then we got all seated and PJ got special permission to show us all the Christmas initiative and it is SO GOOD. I think its my favorite one and you all better get pumped and use it up this year because it's going to work miracles! So keep an eye out for it at the end of the month:) Oh man I could just ramble for days about the whole day but so as not to bore you (more than I already have haha) I'll just share some highlights:
- Standing and reciting D&C 4 and our Purpose as a whole mission (180+) was POWERFUL. It really hit me how lucky and blessed I am to be serving right now alongside so many amazing servants of the Lord 
- Laughing and yet being still and learning from these amazing men that I had witnessed to me over and over again, that they really are called of God. 
- Feeling much needed overwhelming peace and love. In everything each of them said there was so much love it was...ahh I just don't even know how to describe it. It was as if they were talking just to me. I didn't want it to end. I know this is where I'm supposed to be right now. 
- I loved the personal stories they shared it was awesome to see that they really do respect their calling but that they are hilarious at the same time. It was cool because Elder Stevenson grew up with President Johnson and shared some great stories!! 
- It was so cool being able to shake Elder Stevenson's hand. As soon as he grabbed my hand I was filled with peace and love. All the stress and worries and struggles seemed to melt away for a moment and it was amazing!
- Something I loved most, that I learned from the conference came from both Elder Hallstrom and Elder Stevenson. I was reminded of the power and blessing it is to witness of Christ's name and that we need to be promising blessings just as Christ would if he were teaching the very people that we teach. I had a pretty cool experience with that this week- we were visiting a less active, Brother Himes, and he was telling us about his financial struggles and how he wanted to come to church but didn't have the gas or money to do so. I promised him, in the name of Jesus Christ, that if he would make the effort to come he would have the means provided for him until his next paycheck comes. Well Saturday night he texted us saying someone just came and bought his van, he had the money needed and he would be at church! And he came. Sitting in church on Sunday I looked around as we were singing the sacrament hymn. In front of us were a couple recent converts, next to us sat Bro. Himes, behind us sat a less active and her recent convert granddaughter. I started to tear up as I realized how selfish I've been the last couple of weeks thinking how rough this is and how I'm not doing anything. I realized once again- this isn't about me. This work is about bringing all of our family together and making it home. I am grateful for all the wonderful things I learned on Saturday and for the inspiration all 3 of them- Elder Kunz, Hallstrom, and Stevenson had when they spoke. 
   So as you can see it was a once in a life time amazing experience and really was just what I needed. I love serving and being able to be on the Lord's errand. I know I'm far from a great missionary but I know that I'm doing all I can do and doing what the Lord needs and that is enough. :)
   Okay and here's some other sick highlights of the week:
- We taught the restoration to this awesome guy, Brother Miller, who referred himself on mormon.org. So you're probs like: "okay Sister Mcdonald you probably teach lots of restoration lessons why is this one special?" Well this one was a gem because 1) We brought a member that is trying to come back into being active in the church and the whole time she was grinning ear to ear and said afterwards 'wow! I felt so good the whole time!! I haven't felt the spirit that strong in a long time' and 2) Brother Miller is such a gem he had such great questions and really has that sincere desire to learn. It's not every day you see that so it was legit! 
- We had an awesome lesson with our investigator Melissa and set her with a baptismal date in December. She loves the gospel and it's been cool to see the gospel change her and her families lives just in the few weeks we've been teaching them. This family needs all the prayers they can get so pray for the Hurleys!!
- Alsoooo I hit my 15 month mark. It's CRAZY! This is legit every person's like "wow...you're almost done!" Nope nope haha still in denial....now I've just resorted to saying "I've just been out a little over a year..." haha;) time is a flyin! 
   Welp! I think that's all for today folks! Thanks for the love and support. It means more than you know. Sorry I'm not the best at emailing or writing letters to you all individually but just know that I love you TONS and couldn't do this without all the love and support. Love you:)
💕Sister McDonald 
Ponderize: "For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven" ~ 3 Nephi 12:12 
Commitment: "Seek, study and ponder restored truths and ask 'can ye feel so now?'" And "let today be a day of gratitude " ~ Pres Uchtdorf 
Charity Attribute: "seek not her own"

Month 15 done! #missionnotes

All done with month 15!

Kimber mail 11-07-2016: "New Bloom or Bust... #We'reStillInOnePiece"

   I just love fresh starts and new weeks. This week was definitely a lot better than the last and slowly but surely New Bloom is startin’ to bloom! See what I did there ;) ha, ha, Okay, okay, let me just fill you in on what gems we were able to see this week:

   Monday night: We taught this awesome member, Sister B's, son-in-law Nobu! He's from Japan and is legit the funniest and greatest person. He's reading through the Book of Mormon like a champ. He showed us these encouraging flash cards he made to encourage people (in his broken English) and had us laughing so hard. He reminded me of the awesome people from the good ol’ State College days! Then we just went home and cleaned our apartment like champs. We even found some legit spiders and if you know my love for spiders you can imagine how happy I was 😆🕷🕸🎃 #HappyHalloween.

   Tuesday: We did some awesome service at a food bank (I'll have you know I am now a certified professional box- ripper- upper💁🏾) and we helped a member clean out her attic. I love doing service, it's nice to help other people and lift whatever burdens we can of theirs.  We also went and visited this lady, Shelly, who used to take the missionary lessons and we had a powerhouse lesson reading out of the Book of Mormon with her.  I love that every time I've opened the Book of Mormon and read with people hearts have been softened, answers have been received and the Spirit has certainly been felt.  It's sad that sometimes we take this amazing book for granted.  We tried to do some tracting in that town, New Port. No real luck there but it was legit as we were driving back out of town to see that every house had either pass along cards or pamphlets- every house was hit with Jesus #You'reWelcomeNewPort #You'llThankUsOneDay

   Wednesday: District Meeting was all about being a "successful missionary" and it was a much needed reminder that as long as we are doing our best to fulfill our purpose we are successful in the Lord's eyes.  Much needed.  Then we had some great lessons: 

- Trinity is a recent convert and the new member fire is real. I love this girl, she has such a love for the Savior and the gospel, it's contagious!

- We taught this lady who wasn't too open at first about God's love for her and the Plan of Salvation and by the end, her heart had softened and the spirit was so strong as we left her with a prayer. 

- We stopped in to visit this less active member, Sister Mcminn.  She let us in and conveniently they were just about to eat and had made 2 extra burgers. So we talked about the Atonement and the power of joyful repentance in our lives.  It's going to take some work but I love when I am able to see people just a fraction of the way Christ sees them.

- We felt like we should run out back to the church and meet some of the young women that were at mutual (legit the church is in our backyard) before we headed in. So, we did and a cute girl runs up to us and says "hi! I'm Emma! I just got baptized! Can we do a lesson?!" Ha, ha, ha like what?! Sure...) so we talked about family history and temples with her and she was practically jumping on the couch she is so excited to go to the temple. It was so cute!! 

   Thursday: We taught our golden investigator, Melissa. Boy oh boy do I love member referrals!!  While we were teaching her she testified that she felt like this church was the true church and that she loved coming to church and wants to be baptized but just needs to pray about it. These are the things that make all the hard-days worth it. Now let’s just all pray she will stick with it!  J  Afterward we did lots of tracting and were able to contact an awesome referral and teach him about the Book of Mormon. We decided to try his neighbors as well, and his next door neighbor was Hispanic but was super interested. We taught her a bit and promised to bring a Book of Mormon in Spanish back next week. Ca-ching!  It's amazing what some faith, prayers and listening will do.

   Friday: After weekly planning we went and visited this less active member, Brother Himes. Oh man I just love this man! We taught him about his divine potential and talked about how much his Heavenly Father loved him. We were all in tears by the end of the lesson and he told us he knew we were heaven sent just when he needed us we showed up.  I love listening to the Spirit!!!  We also had dinner with Sister York who invited her ex-husband to come join us who apparently was “anti,” but after talking with us his heart was softened and he's going to be back next week to listen! 

   Saturday: We both woke up and felt awful. We were sick all day but it was nice to just let our bodies rest-up.

   Sunday: Church was pretty good- our investigator Melissa came so that was pretty awesome!  After church we were able to go visit this sweet lady that's recently started coming back to church and wants to be active again.  I love the atonement- it's the greatest thing to see it literally change lives! Our bishop and his wife fed us dinner too afterward. 

   I'm grateful for all the support and love we've been getting.  Slowly but surely we are doin’ it!  Thank you all for your prayers and encouraging thoughts. They help more than I think you realize.  Keep your head up and if you're struggling, just remember you are loved and that I'm praying for you! J

💗Sister McDonald 

Ponderize: D&C 19:23 "Learn of me, and listen to my words; walk in the meekness of my spirit and you shall have peace in me." 

Commitment: Pres. Uchtdorf~ "Don’t give up. Seek God with all your heart. Exercise faith. Walk in righteousness." 

Charity Attribute: Does not behave itself unseemly (1 Cor. 13)