He saw that it was possible, and that if he did his part, the Savior would take care of the rest. Suddenly living the gospel became joyous. I know that following Jesus Christ is the best way of life. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

Dear Family,

I'm so happy for ya'll. All starting school! Why has everyone grown up so much?? How can my baby brother be 10 years old?! Double digits and everything. 

We had a great time this week here in F.! M. continues to do so well spiritually! He had cancelled his appointment with us Saturday night, which had us a little worried, but Sunday morning 20 minutes before church he calls us telling us he would be there! And he came, and absolutely loved it! I have such a strong testimony of the power of sacrament meeting. It truly is a sacred meeting, and it is God's command that we go every week.  Not if we have time or if it's cold to go boating, camping, etc. It is what God gave us Sunday for, and the promised blessings are incredible.  

We had some opportunities to do some service this week, which was refreshing! We showed up for a lesson at a members house, and they had the largest pile of firewood I have ever seen was sitting in their yard. So we helped them stack it! It's amazing what you can do in a pencil skirt if you really put your mind to it!  

The S's. are continuing to do super well, too! They both came to church, and they even ordered themselves the quad version of the scriptures on Amazon! What a great couple! 

So as missionaries, our paramount purpose is to teach repentance and baptize converts. And this week I learned that knowing how to truly repent can make a huge difference. We've been teaching Brother B. for a while now, and he's been great about keeping some commitments but struggled with others. This week we'd made a lesson plan and gone over to teach him, but when we got there we felt impressed to talk about repentance instead. We taught him the steps of repentance and that when we repent, we are completely forgiven and that we don't have to re-earn our place in God's grace. Because of Jesus Christ, we are simply and completely forgiven. And the result was amazing! Instead of repentance seeming like an overwhelming hole he had to dig himself out of, he saw that it was possible, and that if he did his part, the Savior would take care of the rest. Suddenly living the gospel became joyous. I know that following Jesus Christ is the best way of life. “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10.)

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Ward

I was quietly reminded by the Spirit about what's what and who's who's. This work is truly the Lord's! Not mine.

Dear Family,

Hi!! How are you all doing??

I'm so happy! Yesterday we had four of our people come to church! Four of them!! And they are all well on the way to conversion. We also had several members who don't normally come show up! Sister Cand I were gliding through the church halls on cloud 9 yesterday. 

M's conversion process is coming along swimmingly. It's so fun hear your investigator tell you how glad they are you found them, and that everything they've learned is enlightening and just what they were looking for. It's a good feeling. :) 

So recently, I had a realization that has led me to fresh perspective and commitment. It came as I was saying my nightly personal prayer, and I asked the Lord for help in my work. I've uttered similar sentiments thousands of times as a missionary, but this time I was quietly reminded by the Spirit about what's what and who's who's. This work is truly the Lord's! Not mine (thank goodness). And so l decided to let Him drive, and I'll help as needed. And maybe I'm just more aware of the miracles now, but I feel His hand driving the work forward so much more! This is the hastening of the Kingdom of God, and we have to keep pace with the Lord. We keep pace with Him by not getting in His way, and we get in His way when we try to do the work our way, not His. I'm so grateful he lets me help, even though I'm sure I'm as useful as a 2 yr old is when they want to help mom make the cookies. We can put our trust in Him, without reservation, because He loves His children and this is His work, to bring to pass their immortality and eternal life.

I love you all dearly! Have a great week!

Sister Ward

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." 3 Nephi 5:13

Dear Family,

Sorry I forgot to tell you last week, but we had zone conference yesterday, which is why P-Day is today! (Next week it will be Wednesday due to transfers.) It was an amazing zone conference, and I feel like my spiritual batteries are recharged back to all 4 bars! 

We saw some amazing miracles this week! We went on exchanges with the M. Sisters this week, and I got to spend some time with Sister J. She's still in her first transfer, and it was so fun to remember what it's like to be a new missionary! She is amazing, and we're lucky to have her here in the mission. 

We had some of our investigators come to church this week, the S! It was a neat Sunday for them to come to, because it was the kick off of the F. Ward's Book of Mormon reading challenge. We were a little bit nervous because one of their main concerns has been them thinking we emphasize the Book of Mormon too much and neglect the Bible, but they were touched by the powerful testimonies that were born by the members. They both committed to the challenge, so they will have read the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the year! I decided to take part in the challenge as well, and I hurried up and finished the Book of Mormon so I could restart again. 

I really did have an amazing experience at our zone conference, and I want to share some of the things I learned! We talked a lot about the ripple effect of our missionary work, and it can easily be applied to our influence in life. Oftentimes, we only see the immediate results, but our influence extends far beyond what we know. The small and simple things we do effect so many people and situations, and then those people affect other people, and then they affect more people, and it just goes on and on.  Often, we never even know how much we accomplished. I love that!! There are so many people who I've worked with as a missionary who weren't baptized while I was there, but I know that someday, many of them will make that decision! And my work has helped them on that journey. I love being a missionary! 

3 Nephi 5:13 "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

Love you all!

Sister Ward

Dear Family & Friends, What a week!! It has absolutely flown by! Monday: An intense district water balloon fight. I was totally ganged up on, but I survived. We also had an amazing lesson with Brother Abel! He's a 17 yr old brother, who is so cool! He's starting to understand the magnitude of our message, and is hurtling opposition and anti like an Olympic champ. Tuesday: We traveled down to Mission Headquarters for the monthly meeting. It was great, and I learned lots. It takes all day to drive there, have the meeting and drive back. Plus we had to get up at like 4:30. It's a good thing the meeting is amazing, because it's so worth it! Wednesday: We taught 5 lessons. And had dinner with an amazing part member family, the Sollars. They dad and boys are on the tippity edge of the baptismal cliff. They're just dragging their feet committing. Pray for them! Thursday: We found the most amazing new investigators ever!!!! A cute young couple with 2 little girls. During the lesson they kept saying those things that ever missionary loves to hear. Like "I feel so good right now, talking about this!" and "Why does everyone not like you guys, this makes so much sense!" We're seeing them again tonight :) Also committed Sister McClosky to baptism! Friday: Zone Meeting. Where our teaching segment derailed when the video clip of Gordon B Hinckley we tried to show played at 16 times the normal speed and pitch. Exchanges!!! With the Cheat River Sisters. (Basically that's Morgantown) So I got to go up to the big college town! It was a fun day with Sister Fonua, she's an awesome missionary. They have some awesome stuff going on up there! Saturday: More Part member family work! The Thompsons are also on the verge of baptism. Their little boy, Devin, in particular! He used to have this "church is for mom's and grandma's" attitude, but last time his older cousin (a member) came to a lesson, and participated and was interested and brought him along to church, and now Devin thinks church is cool! It's was a Godsend! Sunday: Another amazing teaching day! We found two new families to teach, both single dads. They have the cutest, craziest kids ever. To all the mothers out there, your work totally makes a difference! All in all a great week! I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I know that He lives, and that he loves us. He is there-today, tomorrow, and always. This is His work, and it's so fun to be a part of it! Thank you for your love, support, prayers, and letters! Love Sister Ward

Dear Family & Friends,

What a week!! It has absolutely flown by! 

Monday: An intense district water balloon fight. I was totally ganged up on, but I survived. We also had an amazing lesson with Brother A! He's a 17 yr old brother, who is so cool! He's starting to understand the magnitude of our message, and is hurtling opposition and anti like an Olympic champ. 

Tuesday: We traveled down to Mission Headquarters for the monthly meeting. It was great, and I learned lots. It takes all day to drive there, have the meeting and drive back. Plus we had to get up at like 4:30. It's a good thing the meeting is amazing, because it's so worth it! 

Wednesday: We taught 5 lessons. And had dinner with an amazing part member family, the S's. They dad and boys are on the tippity edge of the baptismal cliff. They're just dragging their feet committing. Pray for them! 

Thursday: We found the most amazing new investigators ever!!!! A cute young couple with 2 little girls. During the lesson they kept saying those things that ever missionary loves to hear. Like "I feel so good right now, talking about this!" and "Why does everyone not like you guys, this makes so much sense!" We're seeing them again tonight :) Also committed Sister McC.to baptism! 

Friday: Zone Meeting. Where our teaching segment derailed when the video clip of Gordon B Hinckley we tried to show played at 16 times the normal speed and pitch.  Exchanges!!! With the Ch R. Sisters. (Basically that's M.) So I got to go up to the town! It was a fun day with Sister F, she's an awesome missionary. They have some awesome stuff going on up there!

Saturday: More Part member family work! The T. are also on the verge of baptism. Their little boy, D, in particular! He used to have this "church is for mom's and grandma's" attitude, but last time his older cousin (a member) came to a lesson, and participated and was interested and brought him along to church, and now Devin thinks church is cool! It's was a Godsend!

Sunday: Another amazing teaching day! We found two new families to teach, both single dads. They have the cutest, craziest kids ever. To all the mothers out there, your work totally makes a difference! All in all a great week!

I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ! I know that He lives, and that he loves us. He is there-today, tomorrow, and always.  This is His work, and it's so fun to be a part of it! Thank you for your love, support, prayers, and letters! 

Love

Sister Ward

I know that this happened because of the prayers of faith of his family, and he Spirit of God working on him! I also know that the converting power of the Book of Mormon is real! Anyone who reads it with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, will come to know by the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true.

Dear Family & Friends!

Thanks for all our love, letters, prayers, and support! I feel them everyday, and I am so grateful for it!

We have been so blessed this week! I love being a missionary. It's so neat to see the hand of the Lord guiding our steps. Earlier this week, we had all of our plans fall through, so we picked a "random" street on the GPS, and went there to find. When we got there we found a long lost less active, a cute little family, and little girl who told her dad he needed to listen to us! It was an amazing 30 minutes! 

Brother B is the perfect example of how you never know when a less active member will be drawn back to the fold. This week he went from not answering the door, to listening to the Book of Mormon during his car rides, to bringing himself and his nonmember girlfriend to church with him! It was amazing to see his progress, and how excited he was about it! I know that this happened because of the prayers of faith of his family, and he Spirit of God working on him! I also know that the converting power of the Book of Mormon is real! Anyone who reads it with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, will come to know by the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true.

We had extra miles yesterday, so we used them to go to the town in our area called H. It turned out to be more like a couple houses than a town, but it was really fun! And absolutely beautiful!! Have I told ya'll that WV is gorgeous? 

I love you all! Have a great one!

Sister Ward

Pictures

When we come to church, prepared for the sacrament, we have the opportunity to commune with God and draw clos

I officially love it here! It is such a cute little city. The work here is going so amazing too! It's fun to put names to all of the faces that Sister K talked about when we were together. I keep having these deja vu moments where I'm like, "Wait I think we've met before" and then I realize that I just know their life story from Sister K, but I don't actually know them yet.... So I love 'em already, even if they don't know me!

We have been so blessed to find new people to teach this week! It's been neat, because after we picked several of these new investigators up, we found out that they had already been taught by missionaries years ago. The Lord definitely keeps up with his children, and even if they aren't ready right away, he keeps working with them and preparing them to receive the gospel! 

I have also been re-amazed by the power and the spirit of Sacrament Meeting! Last week, our friend J came to church, but could only stay for the first 20 minutes-so the only thing he saw was the sacrament. Since he's a holy-rollin' Pentecostal preacher currently, we weren't sure how much he would like the reverent, quiet, not exactly entertaining atmosphere. During our lesson with him this week, though, he talked about how much he loved the feelings that he had in the church, and how excited he is to come for the whole 3 hours sometime! The sacrament truly is a holy ordinance, and the "power of godliness is manifest" therein. When we come to church, prepared for the sacrament, we have the opportunity to commune with God and draw close to Him.

I love you all! Thank you for your support and prayers!

Sister Ward

It's amazing to see how the Spirit of Christ within each person connects with the truth when they willingly listen to it.

Whelp. The transfer news is in. I'm a goner, and I'm goin' to a new area F.  It's way up north in the, and everyone who comes from there raves about it, so that's a good sign! Sister K. was there right before they sent her down here to R., and she talked about F. twice a day at least, so I feel like I already know all of the people up there. And I am going to have the lovely Sister C. as my companion! She and I went on exchanges all the time a few months ago, and I love her to death! And she makes really good food. Which is good.
It's been a really great last week here in R. I'm really sad to leave the area. Sister S. came to church this last week for the first time! And during her lesson this week, she said something like, "I am just drawn to your church for some reason, and I don't know why." It's amazing to see how the Spirit of Christ within each person connects with the truth when they willingly listen to it. 

We also had one more exchange with the B. C. sisters. It's been so fun to get to know all the sisters here in the R. zone, and I'll miss them. But I'm also excited to go meet all the sisters up in the new area. And I get to see Sister B. again!!!!!!!

I hope ya'll have a great week!

Sister Ward

I have been learning a lot about FAITH this week!

Hey Family!

WHOOT WHOOT!! I have officially hit my year mark this week! It was an exciting day, and a good time to reflect over the past year. I have come to the conclusion that I would not trade it for the world! I love being a missionary! And I look forward to the next 6 months! 

We have been working with Sister P. a lot this week! She was going to be interviewed for baptism yesterday, but the interviewer got sick! We're shooting for next Sunday, though, and we are so excited. Satan has been doing his best to get her down, but she is staying strong. We are so proud of her!

We also had an awesome time teaching Sister E. this week. She is a cute lady from Haiti, and she is absorbing the gospel like a sponge. We luckily have quite the collection of Book of Mormons in random languages in our apartment, so it was no problemo to get her a French one. I love her desire to do what is right, and her love of the Lord! 

I have been learning a lot about faith this week. It's amazing to me the complexity of this seemingly simple concept. You just believe, right?? But actually, its applying the belief in your life that's the tricky part. And it's an essential part of faith. If you talk the talk, but don't walk the talk, your faith is not real faith. It really isn't that hard to mentally and verbally believe that Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, died on the cross for you and paid the price for your sins. However, living the way he commands is the hard part that really counts. When you live what you internally believe, then you have faith. 

Thanks for tuning in, see ya next week!

Sister Ward

Top 3 Things This Week

Dear Family,

It's been a super great week! I've been so blessed. This is the top 3.

1. Sister F. She's so amazing, and I love her to pieces! It was her birthday last Monday, so we had a great time with that! But she is one of the nicest, most considerate persons I've ever met. She went to a year at BYU before her mission too! And we have pin pointed several pre-mission events that we know we were both at, at the same time, so we probably saw each other there! It's crazy to think about how you never know if the random girl a few tables over in the library is going to be your companion a year down the road!   

2. Less Actives are the GOLD MINE. And we found a lot of new ones! One lady was on the ward roster, but no address, and we tracted into her. Her 14 year old son hasn't been baptized yet, and he's going to read the Book of Mormon!  Another cool lady had street we street contacted, and lo and behold, she's a Mormon! Her records weren't in the ward, and she was hesitant to let us come back. But she finally agreed, and when we came this week, her daughter, a sweet 10 yr old girl, was so excited to see us! She had even been reading the Book of Mormon we left with her mom. And her mother's heart has been softened so much since the first meeting! She listened intently to the Plan of Salvation lesson we shared, and asked lots of questions. And she wants to come to church this next week! 

3. I am the owner of the umbrella. (But don't worry, I shared with Sister F.!) Good thing too, because the days it POURED were my days to be the co driver and car backer-upper. Sister F. hypothesized that it rains as much in one week as it does in a whole Utahan year. And it was probably true this week. No flooding, thankfully, in R. Our prayers go out to the families in the areas hit by flooding. If I get transferred here in a few weeks, I hope it's to a place where we get to be part of the Helping Hands program!

Love,

Sister Ward

I have learned that true leaders are those that seek not for power or authority, but to serve. I love life. I love being a missionary, and I love Jesus Christ!

Hello Dear Family!!

It's been a hot one this week..... I'm dreading summer. Of course they send me to the hottest part of the mission for the summer months (Assuming that I don't get transferred next week, and I sincerely hope not to be.) Whew. Thank goodness we drive a nice, air conditioned car.

We've had an awesome week. Last Saturday, everyone was home, and we only talked to 3 people who weren't interested in learning more about the restored gospel. And we talked to a lot of people. It was amazing!! There really are people out there, wanting to know more!

We also went on exchange with the B. C. Sisters. They are so fun, we love 'em! Sister R. and I had a sublime time in their area. It's hard to not have a grand time when you're with awesome red headed Canadians!

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting this week, and using the "Sister Ward is giving part of the sermon, will you come and support her?" guilt trip, we got so many people to church! 2 new investigators came for the first time, which was really cool. We also got several of the less active members out, one sweet older lady named J. for the first time in like 20 yrs! I almost fell off my seat on the stand when she walked in! I was so excited to see her.

Exciting stuff has been happening here in the R. Stake! They turned the B. area into it's own branch, promoted the M. branch into a ward, and completely realigned the boundaries! My testimony of the kingdom of God and organization of Jesus Christ's church grew. I know that this is Jesus Christ's church, and that he stands at the head of it. I know that it's leaders, both worldwide and local are called of God and qualified by him to serve in his kingdom. I have learned that true leaders are those that seek not for power or authority, but to serve. I love life. I love being a missionary, and I love Jesus Christ!

Sister Ward

And that is the beauty of the Iron Rod, aka the Word of God. It is here, and it is real, and if you hold on to it, you won't get lost. I love the scriptures and the answers to prayer I receive!

Wow. Is it already Monday again? Weird....

K. came to church again yesterday!! And our friend H., too! They are both doing so well, and are progressing so much! Please keep them both in your prayers, they really need it. 

One of our Member families got in a car accident this week, and they had to get a new hood on the car. So naturally when came for a visit, they took us out to the garage and let us take a sledge hammer to the hood. It was quite stress relieving. 

Last PDay Sister K. and I decided to go for a little impromptu hike. And we ended up in the middle of the woods, not on the right path. Or really a path. And to this day, we don't know where we went wrong! It reminded me of the story in the Book of Mormon of the Iron Rod. We started in the right place, we knew where we wanted to go, but we didn't have anything to guide us there. And so we got lost. (And when I mean 'lost', I don't actually mean lost, Mom. We could hear the distant rumble of the nearby freeway the whole time, so we were never too far from civilization) But we didn't end up where we wanted to! It's like that with life. Everyone here chose to come to Earth, so that was a good start. And most people have dreams, hopes, and vision for the future, usually returning to our heavenly home, and that's a good finish. But if you don't have a north star, guiding influence throughout life, it's SO EASY to get lost. There usually is no moment at the fork in the road where you decide, "Yup, I'm going to take this wrong path." It tends to happen little by little, and you think you're doing fine until you finally realize how hopelessly far you are from where you want to be. And that is the beauty of the Iron Rod, aka the Word of God. It is here, and it is real, and if you hold on to it, you won't get lost. I love the scriptures and the answers to prayer I receive!

Have a great week!

Love ya'll!

Sister Ward

I learned that as long as the people you teach know you love them, you don't have to worry about offending them. And if we don't teach them simply, clearly, and unapologetically, then we deny them access to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Hola,

Another transfer call come and gone. And I am staying in the 'R. Sister K., however, was not so lucky... But she isn't going too far, just a hop and a skip down to M. V., I'll still get to go on exchanges with her! I've had such a great 3 months with her, I've learned a lot, had lots of fun, and preached plenty. And now I get a new chapter with Sister F.! I don't know her much, but life is such.  And our names rhyme, so it should work out fine. 

Speaking of M., we spent all day Wednesday down there helping Sister Sorensen and Anderson out. Poor Sister Anderson has been out with a knee injury, so we went down to have one of us stay with her, and the other one go out with Sister Sorensen and get some work done. The Lord has definitely blessed us for being willing to give up time in our own area, because we saw so many miracles here this week! We taught a lot, and found some elect new investigators. One of whom was Ros__. She is a sweet sweet H. lady who requested a Bible on mormon.org. When we came to deliver the Bible, we offered to say a prayer with her. She immediately gathered her family together to pray with us . She said that people who pray are servants of the Lord, and she wanted her family to hear our message. It was such a sweet experience. 

We also had the amazing opportunity on Friday to travel up to C., for a missionary leadership council with Elder Anthon Perkins of the Quorum of the Seventy. We talked a lot about teaching repentance, boldly with love. I learned that as long as the people you teach know you love them, you don't have to worry about offending them. And if we don't teach them simply, clearly, and unapologetically, then we deny them access to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And that is the opposite of my goal, so I am going to be even more bold and loving in my teaching. We tested it out, later, with our investigator Brother M., who was once progressing, but has gotten busy, and stopped progressing. We lovingly told him that he needed to make the Lord a higher priority in his life, and continue to learn about the gospel more frequently. And he took it like a champ!! He was so humble and repentant, about it. And now he's progressing towards baptism again!

I love ya'll!

Have a great week!

Sister Ward

Pictures

I love how the Lord is so perfect at orchestrating everything!

Dear family and friends!

I think this week has been the loooooongest week of my mission. It's been a good week, so I don't know why it feels so long, but it feels like it's been a month since the last PDay. It's OK though, I'm all about lengthening out this time to serve the Lord!

The biggest miracle from this week was getting K.  to church! She came for all three hours, too, and everything that was taught was tailor made for her concerns and needs. I love how the Lord is so perfect at orchestrating everything! 

We also had a great missionary fireside last night in the R. Ward. Good music, awesome spiritual videos, and lots of cookies :) 

This week my testimony in the verse "Ask and ye shall receive, seek and ye shall find, knock, and it shall be opened unto you" grew A LOT. It was just in the little details, but it was so cool to see happen. For example, we have a member of the ward with a less active son who never in the 4 months I've been here has come downstairs to meet us. Right before we were about to go into the appointment, I had the thought to pray that we would have the opportunity to meet him. And lo and behold, we weren't there 5 minutes when he came waltzing down the stairs to grab something. And we were able to meet him and get to know him some. Just little stuff like that all week! It was amazing. 

I love you all, have an amazing week!

Sister Ward

Family truly is central to our Heavenly Father's plan for us, and the source of the greatest happiness available on earth.

Hola familia y amigos!

We went back to Spanish mode this week because of.... Cinco de Mayo!! The ward through a massive fiesta for it, and it was AHMAHzing. Most successful ward party I've ever been to, hands down. Traditional Mexican dancers and everything. And the best part was that K. came to it, and loved it! She is one of our most promising investigators, and we are so excited for her to get baptized here soon :) She knows the Book of Mormon is true, and she loves everything we've taught her. Her only hang ups are opposition from her children and social attachment to her previous church. And we had an awesome lesson with a member who went through that whole family opposition thing, and she got some social conversion at the fiesta, so it was great!

Another amazing thing of the week was getting to call home! Man, that hour was the fastest of my life! I sure do love ya'll! Most of the time, I try not to think about home and family, because it makes it hard to go out and give it your all doing missionary work. But I was grateful for the opportunity of Mother's Day yesterday to think about family. Family truly is central to our Heavenly Father's plan for us, and the source of the greatest happiness available on earth. I love my family, and I know that because of the priesthood authority restored to the Earth in these latter days, I will be with my family forever. Thank goodness!

Happy Mother's Day!

We saw miracles! There's no way it would've happened with that divine intervention. None.

Hey Dear Fam Bam,

It has been such a great week! It's amazing what you do when you set goals, do all you can, and leave the rest up to the Lord. We saw miracles! There's no way it would've happened with that divine intervention. None. 

One of the biggest miracles was getting S. to church! We met him and his dad, H., forever ago, but it's been hard to meet with them up until recently. And our lesson this week almost fell through, because H. got sick, but we decided to ask S. if we could teach just him anyway! And his text back was, "Sure. I could use some soul searching right now." And we were like, yes, you could. And so we had an awesome lesson, and he came to church. He's going to be baptized this month!

We also had such a great, Spirit led lesson with K. this week. We were going to teach her something (can't even remember what anymore) but we got in there, and in the moment, felt like we should teach baptisms for the dead, priesthood authority, and necessity of baptism. We got her back on date for May 28th too!

I'm excited to Skype ya'll next week! Have a good one!

Sister Ward

Pictures

We were able to share a lesson and read the Book of Mormon with him, and it really helped him find the peace he was hiding in his truck for! It was so perfect!

Dear Family, 

Another transfer come and gone! And I will be staying here with the fantastic Sister K. for at least five more weeks!  We will no longer get to go out to B. anymore, though, they split our area! Probably for the best, though. We did not have enough miles to fully work that section. 

Yesterday we had another one of those "perfect place, at the perfect time" moments. We were going to stop in and see our investigator Haskill, but we usually meet them outside because their landlady isn't a huge fan of us. Luckily, I think they basically live outside, because they are out every time we go over. Except this time. So we decided to come back later and walked away, but 30 ft later we heard a voice calling after us. We looked back and H. was leaning out of his work truck. He was trying to get away from the world and find some peace, so he was hiding in back of his truck.  And he had looked up at the perfect time to see us almost miss him. We were able to share a lesson and read the Book of Mormon with him, and it really helped him find the peace he was hiding in his truck for! It was so perfect! 

I also finally made it down to Martinsville for exchanges this week! Sister W. and I were down there, and she is so cool. She's going home tomorrow, so I got to learn lots of stuff from her. We met a super sweet lady named Anne, and I'm excited to hear how it goes with her. We were trying to find a member, and we accidentally knocked on #11 in the wrong apartment building, but it led us to find her! She immediately recognized that God had answered the prayer she'd prayed earlier that morning asking for guidance. :) 

Love ya'll!

Have a good one!

Sister Ward

"Well, I'm different from other Christians because I believe that there are different levels of heaven."

Dear family and friends,

Thank you for making my birthday and birthday week so wonderful! I treasured every letter, package, and email with birthday wishes! I had a wonderful day! I got two birthday dinners in 3 hours, so I will never need to eat again! The best part, though, was watching Z. complete her baptism by receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost! She is such a special girl, and both Heavenly Father and I are so proud of her!

The Lord definitely blesses you when it's your birthday, because it was such a miraculous week. I can't even tell ya'll how amazing it was. We had a family history class here at the public library, and it was a smashing success! Then our investigators were actually keeping their commitments, and are making some sweet progress! We went on exchanges with the B. C. and it was so fun.

So one night, we were out a looking for people to teach the gospel to, and we came across this sweet older man named M. He told us he wasn't interested at first, but as we kept talking to him, I felt like we needed to invite him to learn again. I so I pushed the matter a little bit, and we started talking about doctrinal differences, practices, etc. And then he said something to the effect of, "Well, I'm different from other Christians because I believe that there are different levels of heaven." And then he went on to explain with complete accuracy the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial kingdoms! We asked him how he knew that, and he said it had been shown to him in a dream. We told him that we believe that, too, and he agreed to learn more! Basically, the gospel is so true, and Joseph Smith was onto something incredible!

I love you all, thank you for your prayers and support!

Love, 

Sister Ward

You can't share the gospel with your friends unless you have friends who need the gospel.

Hello dear family!!

It has been a fantastic week here in the field!! Spring has sprung, kind of.

This week we have spent a lot of time serving the members in the area, and it has been such a great experience. My testimony of working with the members grows every transfer. It's pretty rare to hear a conversion story where the missionary's just showed up at the door and it worked out. Probably 8 out of 10 times there was a member friend involved in introducing people to the gospel. Which means, if you don't have any non-member friends, go make some!! "Nothing happens in missionary work until you find people to teach." The same is true of member missionary work. You can't share the gospel with your friends unless you have friends who need the gospel. 

With that said, we have been able to find some awesome people through our own efforts this week. Our plans for an hour had fallen through, and so we decided to go knock some doors. Classic, right? But we looked at the GPS and prayerfully decided which street to go to. And we only had to knock 3 doors before we found this elect lady named R.!! We are so excited to teach her.

So this week I have been truly humbled. Once you've been in an area for a few months, you get into this mindset that you know everything about it, all the members, less actives, cool neighborhoods, apartment complexes, etc.. And then you are led by the Spirit to find new people and places that ya had no idea about, and you realized you don't know so much after all. :) And that happened in the best possible way this week! We met like 4 awesome part member families I had no idea existed, and several of them are so cool!! Hopefully this means it's not time for me to be transferred. :) 

The most exciting thing of this week is that Z. is getting baptized!!! Whoot whoot whoot!! On Friday, one more child of God will have made the saving ordinance of baptism!! I'm so excited! She's such a cute little girl too. We helped her pay her tithing on her 79 pennies on Sunday, and it was just the cutest thing ever. Pray for her this week, though, that everything will go smoothly!

Love you all!

Sister Ward

Now that I'm better, my appreciation for this opportunity has grown so much. It is so amazing that on a given day, I get the chance to go out into the world and help them come to know Jesus Christ.

Dear Family! 

It's been a beautiful week here in R.! We have been fully enjoying the spring, flowers everywhere! So I'll tell ya upfront, there's not a whole lot of good stories from this week. I had the flu, so I slept pretty much all week. Sister Kirkby told me she didn't know human beings were capable of sleeping as much as I did. She took fantastic care of me, by the way. Hats of for Sister Kirkby!!! But the Lord definitely sanctified the time we were able to spend working. For only having spent 17 hours proselyting all week-and usually we spend 70 hours proselyting-we were still able to teach a fair amount! And we picked up several new investigators! Including the late night dog walker from last week! And a brain cancer survivor! 

Now that I'm better, my appreciation for this opportunity has grown so much. It is so amazing that on a given day, I get the chance to go out into the world and help them come to know Jesus Christ. Even when people don't accept the opportunity to learn more, our work as missionaries is never wasted. It is preparing the world for the Second Coming of the Savior! 

The obvious highlight of the week was conference this weekend! The living prophet and 12 apostles address the world, and help us know the will of the Lord for people today. Now that I'm a missionary, I absolutely love it! We teach people that they can have guidance straight from the Lord for their families and their day to day problems and General Conference is one of those ways! I know that Thomas S. Monson is truly a prophet of god, and that the things he taught are what our world needs to hear today. Our choices truly do matter, and they will determine our eternal happiness for eons to come!!

I love you all, have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Ward

All things in this world and life testify of Jesus Christ! Even dogs in the trunk!

Hey family!

It has been an amazing week again! It is so beautiful in the spring! I love that the world has been coming alive right as we've celebrated new life through our Savior Jesus Christ. All things in this world and life testify of Jesus Christ! 

We have done way more Bible bashing this week than we probably should have. :) I sure do love the Bible, but this week has made me so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the clear simple truths that are taught in it. From the Book of Mormon we can know what our Heavenly Father expects of us, how to qualify for salvation and exaltation, and what it means to truly repent. I appreciate the knowledge that my God has a plan for me, that I have the joy of repenting daily, and that Jesus Christ truly has felt every single thing that I have gone through and will go through. 

Lately our mission has been focusing on "knocking just one more door." Not that we're emphazing increasing our tracting hours, but that we are becoming more diligent and committed to the work of the Lord even when we are tired, hungry, cold, and have every excuse to give in for the night. When we show this kind of commitment to the Lord, he truly works miracles for us! And Sister Kirkby and I experienced that so much this last week! One night, we only had 10 minutes left before we were supposed to be in for the night, and we were tempted to go in and grab a bite to eat because we had missed dinner. Instead though, we decided to talk to some of our neighbors. We knocked on one man's door.

So on Wednesday night we needed to run out to the car to get Sister Kirkby's stuff from exchanges. As we were running out there, this dog comes trotting up to us. I had a miniature heart attack, because it was a big one and it was dark outside, but it turned out to not be a ferocious, hungry, human-eating stray. That was good. But when we opened the trunk to get the stuff, it jumped into our trunk... And wouldn't get out! We tried everything, petting it, calling it, bribing it with lunch meat, everything! And so finally we decide to ask our neighbor out walking her dog if she could help us. And she came over, and this other late-night dog walker came over, and we had half the neighborhood trying to get this dog out of our trunk. Eventually the owner, also down the street, discovered his dog was missing, and came and retrieved her. The coolest part was that we are now teaching one of the late night dog walkers! The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways! 

We also had more awesome Mexican food this week! The Crosse's threw a Carne Asada party, and it was so so so good. My stomach just started growling writing about it. They are doing amazing as well! Brother C. has begun living the Word of Wisdom once again, and is preparing to baptize Z. on April 15! We have been so excited about their family, and they are doing amazing! 

Love ya'll lots! Don't forget to write me! 

Sister Ward

The most important thing I've learned is the amazing love that Heavenly Father has for his children. He truly does care about each and every one of us.

Hello Dear Family!

I will try to make it a longer one this week, I know it's been pretty brief the last couple of weeks.  It has been a way awesome week too, so there's plenty to tell you about. 

The Lord has been blessing us so much by putting us in the path of those who are prepared to receive the restored gospel. On Thursday, we had planned to walk around and talk to people in a random apartment complex that we'd noticed but never worked in. Then when it came time to go, we almost decided to skip it because there were others we wanted to see that day BUT the awesome Sister Kirkby followed the Spirit and insisted we go. When we got there, we knocked on 1 door, and they let us right in. Actually when we knocked, they shouted "who is it?" and we shouted back "the missionaries" and responded "Oh sure." and then opened the door. And we taught them the Restoration, and they loved it!

We also had a great specialized training meeting with President on Tuesday! I love President Salisbury, I always feel so spiritually uplifted, motivated, we're gonna go get it after spending time with him.

Our investigator Ben has been making lots of great progress, too. He has such a believing heart, he already thinks the Book of Mormon is true. It's been hard to meet with him in the past because he's busy, but we were able to show up at the perfect time last week to help him find the spiritual upliftment he needed, and he has been on fire ever since. He's reading the Book of Mormon, and hopefully he'll come to church soon! We have this one investigator, Alex, came to church for the second week in a row, too! I am pleasantly surprised by it because we didn't expect him to progress much or this quickly because he has basically no faith in Christ... He's Jewish and he doesn't even know it. BUT he loves church, and wants to keep coming!

We've gotten out to visit a lot more of the members way out in B. county this week. They all live in these super cool ancient farm houses. I would live permanently here if I could have one.  Check out the sweet gothic hedge on this one! 

So I hit my hump day this week! I'm officially half way done. I can't believe how fast it's going, and every day is literally quicker than the one before. So naturally I've been in a super reflective mood all week, and it is amazing what can happen in 9 months! I feel like a completely different (hopefully better) person than the one that touched town here 9 months ago. The most important thing I've learned is the amazing love that Heavenly Father has for his children. He truly does care about each and every one of us.

Thank you all for writing me! I love reading your emails!

Sister Ward

VROOM! AND LANDON WINS!

Dear Family! 

It has been a crazy awesome week! We have seen so many miracles, and so much progress with the people that we teach! 

We have this awesome family named the Sta____ that we've been teaching! They are so cool, and they came to a ward party this week! It was a open-entry pinewood derby, and their 10 yr. old son raced his car in it! I have the biggest hopes for them, and the R. ward loves them too! I can tell that they know that it all is true, it's just getting them to commit and change. 

I promised our investigator Alex a really bold promise on Saturday night-that if he came to church this Sunday God would help him find a job this week.  And he came to church! I felt really good about the promise as I extended it, so I'm excited to see the miracles from this week!

Sorry it's a short one!  I love you all to pieces!

Sister Ward

Because of the Book of Mormon, we can know what the Bible really means. That baptism is essential, that God has a plan for us, and that there is a way provided for all people, despite their circumstances, to gain salvation.

Dear Family

Hey! Sorry I didn't send a group email out last week. We decided to go explore Downtown, so time was limited. BUT here are the pictures. And pictures are worth a thousand emails right? ;)

We had another fantastic week! I really do love R. There are so many people! All over! And we got out into the countryside quite a bit as well. One family in our ward had us over for dinner in their farmhouse that was built in the 1780s. No big deal. It felt like we walked into an American version of Pride and Prejudice! 

We've continued being fairly immersed in the Mexican immigrant culture around here. I've started reading the Spanish Book of Mormon-trying to pick some Spanish up-so we can actually teach them. One night we went with the Crosse's to the Mexican mini-market during dinner and we tried this fancy corn stuff. It was super good! We were the only white people in sight, and we got lots of strange looks. It was so fun though! We're planning on shopping there from now on. Plus, everything was way cheaper than it is at the normal stores.

I also got bit by a dog this week! Check that off the missionary bucket list! I had to get an arm amputated from the elbow down. JK I was slightly traumatized, but I survived. And we got to talk with the owner! In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul says he will be all things to all men to gain converts, and I guess that applies to dog bite victims as well :)

On a slightly more spiritual note, we had a really great discussion with our investigator Peter this week. Some of the things that he believes are a little out there, and I know that that confusion comes from the difficultly of correctly interpreting the Bible without a second source of information. It makes me so grateful for the Book of Mormon and the depth of understanding it gives us. It's like our eyes. With one eye seeing by itself, your brain gets a flat 2D image. It's still useful and good, but when your other eye works in tangent with it, we gain 3D vision and a better quality image. That is what the Book of Mormon does for us! It shows us the same picture, from a slightly different angle, and helps us understand the full depth of the doctrine of the gospel, and have a better understanding overall. Because of the Book of Mormon, we can know what the Bible really means. That baptism is essential, that God has a plan for us, and that there is a way provided for all people, despite their circumstances, to gain salvation. 

I love you all! 

Have a great one,

Sister Ward