12/31/13

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

   Wow I can't believe how fast everything is flying by.  Christmas just came and went and then today is New Year's and its all just going way too fast.  Sometimes I wish I could slow it all down.  First off, Happy Birthday Clara!  The big 18 yipee!  I love you Clara and I can't believe you are already 18 and you're going to graduate and go to college soon....freaks me out!  

    So Christmas ended up very very nice.  I will admit that my favorite part was talking to you guys but it was still a good night!  We met in our pajamas (me and Sister Cardus got matching pajamas that I will send pictures of) and we watched Christmas for a Dollar.  It was really good and relaxing and while we watched it we were eating honey baked ham!  My favorite as you all know!  Then Sister Gillette got up to read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas...by the way I still have it memorized from Mrs. Hubbard...but in the middle of it she started messing up and she was like "Hold up, let me start all over;" so when she started over it was all changed to Temple Square themed and as she talked about Santa, Elder Creer, a senior couple who left our mission a couple months ago, came in dressed as Santa!  He was awesome!  He had every single sister come up and get presents from him.  We got these bags that have the temple on them that we have all been trying to figure out how we could get one, and there was a stocking inside and TONS of stuff inside! I will send pictures today of what was inside!  We were all shocked though when we saw giftcards to Walmart and then each of us having a 50$ bill inside....that is 10,000$ alone plus everything else that we got which I know was not cheap...We are so spoiled it is unreal!  Then we had pie for dessert as we watched Happy Feet!  Oh man I was dead tired the next day but it was such a fun celebration!  

    On a more spiritual end...Sheldon got baptized on Sunday!!!!! Sheldon has been one of my favorite people to teach my whole mission.  I met him on chat and he has been so prepared from day one. He has been so fired up and so excited to learn and be a part of the church since the day I talked to him on chat! Even though I have never met him in person I really feel like I have had to try so hard to get to know him and understand him spiritually, it has been a wonderful experience as I have got to know him.  I love him and I hope that I will be able to meet him in person some day.  

    Transfers are this next week!  Luckily I will get pday on Tuesday and then I am almost 99.9% sure I am going outbound and so my pdays will change to Monday and I will be able to email you 6 days later YAY! Also I will be able to call you for 5 minutes to tell you where I am going outbound... I find out tonight IF I am going outbound...not where but IF I will go.  So this little information should be legit unless I found out tonight that I am not going!  ha we will see!  

    Last thing I promise.  So last night we went to a little ice cream place during our dinner time and Elder and Sister Oaks were there!  Woah!  So cool.  We talked to them for about 10 minutes and it was so awesome. I love the 12 apostles so much.  I decided that a new goal for my mission is to meet all 12 apostles and the First Presidency!  Sounds like a lofty goal but I think in my mission it is quite reachable!  :)  

     Well I think that is it for this week!  We are having a party tonight at 9 but not sure what that will entail!  I love you all.  Thanks for everything and for all the support and love you give to me!  Have a wonderful week!  and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!   Cheers to 2014!

The church is true.

Sister Marsh

12/17/13

Family,

   Hello!  How is everyone doing?  Well this week has been very powerful and very good!  Wednesday Elder Don Clarke (70) came and did a mission tour with us and it was from 8 in the morning till 4!  You would think that you would get tired from hearing from the same person for that many hours, but he was INCREDIBLE.  He has completely changed my view as a missionary and has changed my approach to how I want to do missionary work.  There is way too many notes and quotes that I want to tell you so I will just attach the document to the email!  He was so powerful and I loved everything he talked about, I literally wrote 15 pages on notes!  I will share something that I loved though, he said " God lets US do His works so we become more like Him, he doesn't need us but he lets us."  What a GREAT opportunity it is to be a missionary.  He chastised us a lot as well and he told us, "How can you be a Preach My Gospel missionary if you are not reading it every day?" You can all guess what we have been doing every day without fail!  :)  He also had everyone in the mission stand up who had ever been inactive in the church... I was shocked how many stood up! But he told us we WILL all go inactive if we don't make the Book of Mormon the most important book in our life. He gave us so many tips and things to do after our missions with education and marriage and everything and it was awesome!  The attachment is the notes that got sent to the whole mission so not necessarily mine but you will enjoy them I think! 

   Also this Thursday we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Concert.  Holy cow!  I did NOT think that this was that intense but it was unreal.  For 4 nights in a row all 21,000 seats in the Conference Center were filled!  Deborah Voigt the opera singer performed...not always a huge fan of opera but wow she was incredible and really cool John Davies who plays Gimli in Lord of the Rings was a guest too!  He told the Christmas Carol story and recounted Luke 2 and it was just something like I have never seen before.  So awesome!!

   The last thing I wanted to tell you about is my investigator Sheldon.  He is from Canada he is 44 and he is single.  I met him on chat and he was very sincere and wanted to learn more, he gave me his number and email and I started teaching him over the phone.  I have been calling him a lot and he is amazing.  He went to church last Sunday and he called me and said,"Mindy how long do I have to wait to be baptized?"  I was like holy cow this guy is the best!  So anyway he is amazing and it has been amazing to see the Lord and the Spirit be able to work through me.  I am going to also attach and email I got from Sheldon this week.  It is people like this that you love so much because you see how much the gospel is changing and helping them be better.  The gospel has changed his life and I love having the chance to be a part of that change in people's lives.  

   I will talk to you in one week!  WOW I can't believe it I am so excited!  I love you all.  i love you Mom and Dad and appreciate all the love and support you show and give to me on my mission.  Thank you for everything!  

Merry Christmas!  

The church is true.  

Sister Mindy Marsh

12/10/13

Hello family,

     Well the days keep flying by and I can't believe how close Christmas is already....I will be calling home in 15 days!  WOW!  This week has been crazy as always and it snowed soo much this week.  Saturday all day it snowed. It was freezing and I was really thinking that we might get a snow day on Sunday because of how much snow it was but we had to endure it instead!  Lots of things happened this week so I want to just go day by day a little bit or else I will forget everything.

      Wednesday-Sister Peters and I got to be together because our companions had a Spanish concert for 3 days.  It was funny to tell people that we were both from Arizona and that we have both been here under a year and everything was just like repeating ourselves.  But I was with her and we saw Kathryn Orchard....crazy!  But it was fun to be with Sister Peters and to learn from her.  

     Friday-We were so busy, we were running around everywhere.  We were late to almost everything because we had something else right before and it was stressing me out, but we had a YW group that came to have a tour.  We took them around and we were trying to get them involved and ask them questions and they weren't saying ANYTHING!  Like nothing at all.  We took them the the Christus last and we were up there and I felt a little bit bad but I just knew I needed to drill them with questions about Christ.  What they were feeling.  What Christ meant to them.  What they would give back to Christ for Christmas this year and everything like that.  I got I think 3 people to answer total, but then I just bore my testimony of Christ and then we ended the tour.  After the tour some of the YW girls came to me and they were crying and said thank you so much for your testimonies.  About 10 minutes later the leader saw me again and she said thank you for the tour and for taking the women around, I have seen some girls cry that I have never seen cry before.  Not that I wanted them to cry, but I know they were able to feel the Spirit and they needed to be uplifted.  The feeling you get when you follow the Spirit and you can feel and see the Spirit touching others is amazing.  I love it!  Great day!

      Sunday-Let's just say I am so happy that I was early to church on Sunday.  We got there and we were just sitting down talking to the sisters next to us, when all the sudden everyone stood up.  So I followed what everyone else was doing but didn't know why and I looked on the stand and it was Elder Cook!  He wasn't supposed to be there and President had no idea, but we were all surprised and had a 12 apostle in sacrament meeting!!   Quick little funny story one of the sisters was speaking and she goes, " Of course I turn to Elder Holland because he is my favorite...and she reads a quote by him and then she is like Sorry Elder Cook....he is dying laughing and all the sisters are like omg no way she did not just say that! "  So funny!  Then Sunday night we were able to go to the Christmas Devotional.  I hate to admit but I don't think I have ever seen the Christmas Devotional one time so I didn't really know what to expect but it was amazing.  I loved it!  I enjoyed all the talks but I really loved Elder Nelson's talk.  Favorite 2 lines he said was ," Peace can come to us or me, if I put faith in the Prince of Peace....Amazing grace...who saved a wretch like me."  I love that.  All of us no matter how perfect we think we are..AREN'T and we need to be saved by Christ just like the song says.  I know how real the Atonement is.  Christ has truly saved me in my life and I know how the Atonement can truly heal us and heal what we have done.  

     Now to hopefully respond to your email more :) Even though all my friends are getting married and I am missing their weddings....I love my mission!  It is the best thing to be here right now.  Rachel does call me Mindy always.  If someone calls in to mormon.org <http://mormon.org>  or comes on chat or it is a referral then we always go by Mindy.  The only time we use Sister Marsh is if they are already a member OR they came to temple square and they referred themselves, because they would have met us and seen our tags!  WOW! i am good on pajamas and slippers!  Tights and socks yes please really warm ones if you can! Also Yes I would love some more sweaters too or some more collared shirts.  Also I like button sweaters but also like pullover sweaters that I can wear over collared shirts!  And I think I am good on scarves, but I did have some pretty nice winter clothes but I left them at home so maybe if I could get gloves I would enjoy that!  As for Sister Cardus she says she is good she just wants the blanket :)  Also if it is possible to buy some garments for me I think I might get rid of a couple pairs because i haven't gotten new ones.   By the way, Lizzie is the cutest baby ever!  And Clara you looked soo pretty at Winter Formal and I loved your dress and your bangs!  Thank you so much mom I love you!  Have a wonderful week!  I will talk to you next week and call you in 15 days!  

The church is true.

Sister Marsh

SNOW...EVERYWHERE!

At the devotional

12/3/13

FAMILY!!

     Well first off I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!  It seems like it has been forever since I have been able to email you.  A lot has happened since transfer conference! I will start with transfers first! So everything stayed the same with me and Sister Cardus.  We didn't move apartments and we are still member events, but we got moved to the Beehive House!!  My ZL though is Sister Lotoa my mommy on the mission!  It has been so fun to be with her again in the Beehive.  It feels like I am back to my 1st transfer because that is where I was trained. It does feel like it has been a really long time though since I served there though because my tours were real rusty the first day! So we are in the Beehive a couple days a week but only 2 times during the night shifts so we still get a lot of Square time that we can be around the Christmas lights and talk to the thousands of people. 

     Next Thanksgiving!  The Square closed at 2 so the whole mission left at 2 at went to this place called Noah's.  It is a huge building that is used for all events.  There was ice skating on the roof, ping pong, shuffleboard, pool, a walleyball court, karoke, dancing, and there was 3 theaters that were playing: Princess Bride, National Treasure, and Monsters Inc.  It was soo much fun!  It was kind of weird, I'll admit, to not be with family on Thanksgiving but honestly being at that place was the funnest thing!  Then for dinner Apple Spice catored everything.  We had good turkey dinner and rolls, and all the normal turkey dinner food!  Felt so full after!  

    The big exciting news for the week is that the Christmas lights turned on!  I would have never thought but it was way more people than conference AND it was for a straight 5 hours!  And every day it has been like that....it doesn't even get slower during the weekdays it is so crazy.  The Square is open till 10 during the month of December so twice a week everyone stays until 10 and then the day after you stay till 10 you can sleep in till 8.  Wow it has been so nice to sleep an extra 2 hours let me tell you! 

    I have been running into people left and right which is pretty fun too.  But my favorite part about this week is the new investigator we got.  Her name is Rachel.  She is 15 and from Ireland.  She came on chat and was asking about our beliefs and just how much she was impressed by Mormons.  She said that we are so genuine and sincere and she has never experienced that in the Protestant church.  We got her email because her phone charges us to call her :(  So we were sending her lots of emails this week.  We taught her the whole Restoration.  After I asked her if she would pray and ask God if this was true and if Joseph Smith was a prophet.  She chats back and forth with us through email so she says yes I will go right now.  She said she was waiting for her answer.  The next morning we checked our email and she says, Mindy I know that it is true!  I was like HOLY COW!!!  She says I think I might have to be a Mormon by next year!  :)  So we taught her about the Book of Mormon and she was SOOO excited!  We sent her a copy of it and she started reading it online until it gets to her!  She is seriously perfect!  I am so happy and it has been so good.  

     Well that is pretty much it for this week!  My new pday is Tuesday and pdays changed from 1-9 to 10-6!  So I will be emailing probably a little earlier than I usually do! Today was the first real snow day I would say!  Looks like a blizzard outside and I really do not like it!!!  But it is pretty I must say! 

    Yes mom, the green blanket will be the best it is her favorite color!  Sounds like you all had fun in St. George.  I did miss you all and wish I could have been with you!  Also that is so exciting for Brad and Emily I am praying that everything will work out!  Of course baby Lizzie is the cutest baby ever and I wanna meet her so bad!  Tell everyone Hi and that I love them!  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

The church is true.

Sister Marsh

11/15/13

Hello Family,

       Shout out to Hannah.......Happy Birthday!  It sounds like it was really fun to spend time with her for her special day and to of course, see baby Lizzie again! Sounds like everyone has been super busy lately........woah!  Maybe its because the holidays are coming up or something :)

      This week has been extremely busy for us too.  We had early morning practices and meetings every day this week........we were all so dead!  

     Our big concert was Tuesday evening and it turned out so well!  We filled the Assembly Hall and the entire General Relief Society Presidency was there and some of the board members as well.  The concert was so fun.  We started out singing “Called to Serve” and then while singing the 3rd verse everyone marched holding their country flags.......it was pretty cool actually!  We had a little celebration party afterwards and got home late, so President allowed us to sleep in till 8........best thing ever!

     And last night I went and saw “Savior of the World”.  I was expecting it to be pretty similar to the Easter Pageant, but it was actually a lot different.  

It was pretty interesting as they portrayed a lot of the story of Zacheriaus and Elizabeth and the angel coming to them prophesying that they would have a son.  The Easter Pageant goes through the entire life of Christ the main events, but this one really didnt.  It was awesome though.  Nephi and Samuel were part of it as well , so it was really interesting and cool to watch!  

     OK, a little sad news first, and the good news comes later.  I met this 16 year old boy on chat in June. I taught him all that I could and I asked if he would be baptized and he had a baptism date for the 30th of November.  He doesn't live with his parents, so he had to drive 4 hours to get his parents to give permission and sign the baptism papers.  Well, he wasn’t answering any of my calls or texts, and i was starting to worry a little bit.  So i called the mom of the house he stays with,  and she said that his mom didn't sign the papers for him to even keep staying at their house!  So, child custody services took him away.  Seriously, I am so bummed!  Please pray for him and pray that he can still get baptized.

     HEY, exciting news this week though;  So I have been teaching this guy named Steve from England since last transfer, (when I was with Sister Marquez).  He drives a train, so he literally has one day a week that he can talk and unfortunately it is my pday.  Luckily though he can email all he wants, so I have been teaching him through emails lately.  We hadn't talked about baptism lately though, and then I wasn't able to talk to him for a week.  But then this week I got a hold of him and he said  “Sister Marsh, I got baptized Saturday!!!  WOWW.......I was sooo happy!!!!! He was one of those people that we taught every week, but we didn't think that he was really grasping everything.  But apparently he was, and he is a member now! So awesome!  

     The church is true and God really does have a hand in His work and with preparing people for us. 

     Hey, I love you all!  Thank you for everything!!

The church is true.

Sister Marsh

       

My whole zone at savior of the world

11/8/13

HELLO!

    Well another week has passed and the first snow fall has happened! Wasn't too excited about the snow, but that does mean that winter is coming soon and that means Christmas! I am so excited for the month of December to have the lights on every day and to be in the Christmas spirit! Temple Square I decided is just super awesome!  Especially during Winter.  There is a play called Savior of the World and the staff has blessed us with tickets to give to people we meet that we feel like would benefit from the message or to our investigators that we have, but they want us to be able to talk about the play and know what it is about so we get to see it this week!! 

    I don't know if any of you remember but President challenged us to start the Book of Mormon and to finish it before December.  We started September 1st and I got so into it and I enjoyed it so much that I finished it this week!  The Book of Mormon is the best and reading it more like a story and not as scriptures really helped me and I learned so much. 

    This entire week we have had mission meetings every morning at 7:30!  It has been a struggle some days getting here on time but it is exciting as we are preparing for the Musical Fireside on Tuesday.  I wish you could be there it is going to be really cool!  We start the program with Called to Serve with the famous 3 verse that we have and we are all holding our country flags and it looks really cool!  It has been a lot of work but I cannot wait to see the finished product!

    One quick story of a good experience this week!  So my companion was on exchanges with the District Leader and so I was with her companion and we came across this guy and his wife, his 2 little kids, and his parents.  They asked us to do the pin drop in the Tabernacle and so we did and then we ended up talking with them and they wanted to go EVERYWHERE.  They were so energetic and such a fun family to be with.  We were at the Conference Center and the dad comes up to me and says well did my wife tell you our story?  I was like nope and he says well we just got baptized 2 weeks ago! Even though we had no influence on them joining the church it just made me think of the investigators that I have had the chance to teach that have accepted baptism.  The joy that they have and the joy that this family had just made me smile the rest of the day.  It made me think on how lucky we are to be members of this church.  This church is so hopeful and so full of joy and it is such a blessing to have it in our lives.  I think so many times we take it for granted to be raised in the church but it truly has made me think lately how grateful I am to have the gospel.  

    Thank you so much for all your words of encouragement and support.  I love all of you and am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary right now.  Have a wonderful week and mom...have so much fun with your little grand baby!!!

The church is true.

Love,

Sister Marsh

11/1/13

Hello hello!!!

    Well, this week has been really good. On Saturday President started reminding us about “Apostle Protocols” and what to do and not to do when we see one......then on Monday, Elder Oaks and his wife spoke to us!!!  Honestly, it was soo awesome.  I love seeing the apostles a little more relaxed and in a more secluded setting. The Oaks decided to do something a little bit different and they spoke to all of us at once.  They just built off of each other, and of course since we are missionaries, that is what they talked about........missionary work!  I left my notes at home, but one thing that they said that stuck out to me was, "All we need to know is the “fundamental principles” of the gospel.........the answers to the small details can come later.  I love this because I feel like so many of our investigators right now have testimonies about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ, but they won't get baptized because of one little question that doesn't even matter is getting in the way.  It’s frustrating, but I was able to share with them what Elder Oaks said, and it helped them see that they know enough and they will grow and learn in time.  A couple of them were really opening up to baptism this week.......yay!!

     This week has basically been insane!  There were lots of meetings and random things this whole week; about rules and dress and grooming; and that wouldn't interest you; BUT we did have an awesome Halloween last night!!  Our mission presidency spoils us.  The Square closed at 5 yesterday and so we all stayed there, but changed into p-day clothes and went downstairs in the visitors center.  When we got downstairs there was a huge potato bar and salad bar and TONS of treats for us!  Then the Zone Leaders had a donut eating contest and whoever finished first, their zone got to eat first!  Then they made it very dramatic and suspenseful as to what movie we were going to watch afterwards........and we got to watch “Chronicles of Narnia”!!!  Seriously, the mission was basically screaming, and some of the sisters almost cried.......haha, we were so happy!!  It was the best thing to just sit and watch a normal movie.  So, we were all dead by the end of the night, but it was very fun.  I hope Halloween was fun for every one else!  

I want to see want baby Lizzie wore on Halloween! :) 

     Bad news!  It is supposed to snow soon :(  I am not looking forward to it; but I am excited for the month of December when the lights are all up!  They have been putting christmas lights on every individual branch of every tree since June.......no joke!  It is going to be so pretty; that’s the only part of winter that I am looking forward too.  Also, this next week is “Music from Temple Square”.  It is a big fireside that we invite our investigators and recent converts to come listen to.  The elders and sisters from the neighboring missions come as well, and try to bring people too.  The concert is put on by us,  so there will be a huge mission choir and lots of individual performances.  I am really excited because I heard it was a huge highlight for the mission last year, so I am looking forward to it!  Well thats all for this week!  Hope everyone is doing good.........Love you all!

The church is true.

Sister Marsh

Me and Sis.  Cardus on Halloween!   

Sister Brock, me and Sister Gee!  The only true bright blondes in the mission!