Just keep building up!

Wow.  Just.... WOW.  O_O  This week has been AMAZING!  And super fun too. :)

So, on Monday, we had a surprise waiting for us at the church building for a Zone activity: a member let us borrow sumo wrestler suits and we got to wrestle each other!  haha  It was super fun, and it was funny to watch everyone.  :)

(Sister Longhurst and I faced off. :) )

Anyways, on Tuesday, we went and read with the Hoaglands again.  It was just Kyle that time, and it was good to just work one-on-one with him.  Sister Hoagland was there, but she was busy helping me braid her hair (that's what I do every time I go there.  I don't really read with them, but I just sit there and work on braiding extensions into Sister Hoagland's hair.  I can comment to whatever they're reading though.).  Later that day, we went to the Petzingers, and we continued to teach AJ the lessons.  We taught her the Plan of Salvation, and the spirit was so strong.  It was really neat--after we were finished teaching, Brother Petzinger summarized it up in a really personal way for AJ, and the spirit was really strong as he testified of the reality of the Plan of Salvation.  Sadly, she isn't willing to set a baptismal date yet, because her dad won't let her be baptized, but she agreed to try to just be her best and treat her dad kindly, and hopefully that will soften his heart.  The other thing that happened on Tuesday is that we had a Zone Gathering, where each companionship agreed to try to find a total of 40 investigators (aprox. 4 per companionship) by the end of the transfer (next Sunday).  It was a really spiritually uplifting meeting, and it was an incredible opportunity to watch the Spirit work through all of us to come to this decision.

Which made District Meeting the next day amazing.  Elder Hulet, our DL, took the opportunity to have us talk about what our fears are about finding new investigators, and what we can do to find them.  It was an awesome meeting, just as good as the Zone gathering.  We then had a lesson with Chandler Dickson and his friend Lucas, and the Elders came to help us since Lucas knows the Elders.  Well, Lucas had no interest in our lesson, but Chandler pretty much stayed interested.  We used sidewalk chalk to map out the Gospel of Jesus Christ, then had a little game to go with each point.  It went pretty well, actually, considering the chaos of trying to keep Chandler and Lucas focused.  Yup.  It takes 5 missionaries to keep two 8-year olds focused.  Such is life.  Anyways, later on, we went to visit Sarah Adams, and she is just the sweetest person.  We just went in and sat and listened to her, and that was just what she needed.

Thursday, we went back to the Hoaglands, and started reading with them again.  But going in, both Sister Ma'ukoloa and I knew that we needed to invite Keenan to take the lessons.  And since Sister Ma'ukoloa is the one actually reading with them, we knew that it would be on her to invite him.  (Like I said, I work more so with Sister Hoagland, braiding her hair and helping her keep up with where we're at in the reading.)  So, she asked the two older kids, Kyle and Korena, about their baptisms and what it means to them.  They both gave great testimonies, and Kyle talked about the blessings of having the Priesthood too (he's a deacon).  Then she asked Kyle what baptism means to him.  When he replied that he didn't know because he hadn't been baptized, she invited him to take the lessons and to prepare to be baptized, and he said YES!!!!!  WHOOHOO!!!!!  Talk about a MIRACLE!  And not only that, but he asked if we could come by that Saturday!  O_O  We were like "Um.... YEAH!" :)  It was great.

Then Friday, we had a great visit with Terri.  I don't know if you remember, but we thought that a member lived at her home, so we knocked on her door back when I first came to Nampa, and she answered instead.  Well, I had the feeling that we should go visit her, and we did.  She's so sweet!  We had a good visit with her and got to know her background better.  All she wants is for everyone to be nice to each other!  And she talked a lot about her family history too.  She has a unique blend of cultures in her-- she's German, Irish, and Japanese and grew up in Hawaii.  We're thinking of inviting her to the family history center so that she can start tracing back her genealogy.

Saturday was SUPER busy.

So, we went to the Hoaglands, with lunch for them, and taught Keenan the first lesson.  After eating and getting him to sit down, we actually had a good lesson with him and he agreed to pray about what we taught him. :)  Then we went and finished pulling the weed at the house we were at last Saturday (District service again!), went to dinner, then we went to the church to give AJ a tour.  Sister Loomis, the Young Womens leader, come on the tour with us.  It was such a great experience!  We went around the building, showing her different rooms, and finished it in the chapel.  There was such a strong spirit there when we talked about Sacrament meeting, and about the purpose of the Sacrament.  It was really touching.  She loved all of the paintings in the hallways too.  Then after the church tour, we headed out to the Fries home and taught about Temple work.  We were so glad that the whole family could be there.  And even though David was super hyper, he actually understood some of what we taught him.  And I think it helped Brother and Sister Fries remember their own goal of going to the temple to be sealed as a family.  It was a great lesson.

So, we had THREE investigators come to church on Sunday!  AJ came (with her boyfriend), Keenan, and Francesca!  Francesca is this sweet girl who has been attending church for a year and plans to be baptized as soon as she's 18.  It's been difficult to get a hold of her recently because of some family stuff, but we've finally been able to catch each other, and we started giving her the lessons yesterday during the second hour.  She's so excited to go through the lessons so that she could be baptized!  And seriously, she's been coming to church so long that you wouldn't think that she wasn't a member!

Well, I think that's it for this week. :)

Next week, I'll try to email, and I should be able to since I'm in Nampa.  But just in case I don't....

These past 18 months have been incredible.  I don't know how else to explain it.  Between all the tears, yelling, screaming, and awkward moments, I have found the most inexplicable joy serving Gods children and bringing them closer to Christ in the way they needed to come closer to them.  It has been hard work, but it has been worth it.  And now as I near the end of this beautiful, incredible, and crazy journey, I can look back with a sense of peace, and know that I have accomplished what the Lord needed me to accomplish.  I love this Gospel, and I know that it's true.  I may not always follow it perfectly, but I know that I can always strive to be better, and I will become better through Christs Atonement so that I can return home to my Father, with my family--past, current, and future.  And thank you to all of you, who have been such a great support to making my mission so amazing.  I love and appreciate all of you.

Keep calm, carry on, and so we go.

Love,

Sister Empey

Gators, Less Actives and Miracles!

Hello dear family and friends! :)  I hope that everyone enjoyed their Father's Day celebrations. :)

SO!  This past week!  Let's see.... it was crazy. :)  Crazy awesome, as always. :)

So, at dinner, we ate with the Braden’s, and the son is a recovering alcoholic.  He asked us how we thought faith correlated with addiction recovery.  So we talked about how faith is acting upon our beliefs rather than just stating what we think could happen or could be.  There was a really great spirit as we talked about faith with him.

And then we went to the Snively's home to do a FHE with them.  They're a family that is just getting active again and are wanting to start up FHE, so we're helping them start it.  We talked about the Holy Ghost, and had activities where we were having them draw something and listen to a story, and talked about if we're involved too much in other things, it's harder to focus on the Spirit, who is whispering promptings to us.  It was really neat.

Tuesday was good.  We went to read with the Hoagland’s, like we usually do.  It was funny.  When we were finished and getting ready to go, Kyle (the oldest) comes down and is like "Oh, hey Sisters!" And plops down and gets ready to read with us!  We were like "Uh.... actually.... we're just getting ready to leave..."  Kyle's eyes got HUGE and he turned to his mom and was all like "Mom!  Why didn't you tell me they were here?!"  It was pretty funny.  But it's nice to see that we do have an impact on their family.  Kyle is a good kid.

Later on that day, we had a lesson with a less-active family, the Thomas's.  We taught the Plan of Salvation, and it went really well.  The Spirit was strong in the room, and Guage understood it all!  It was good. :)

Wednesday, we had a lesson with Chandler.  He's not very interested in learning right now.  We're trying to figure out how to help him.  We'll figure it out.  Eventually.  After that, we went to Joy and Shawnies, and we told them about a house down the street from us that's for sale, and they were already looking at the same house!  It was sort of funny. :)  We didn't get to stay for long though, because they were getting ready for a party, and we had to leave for dinner.  Then that evening, we did a missionary youth activity for the Priests and Laurels, which was great.  We talked a lot about Christ-like attributes, and how important it is to develop them to have a successful mission and life.  It was really great, and Bishop Ashcraft added his incredible testimony to how we need to have the spirit in our life and not just "do the dance steps".  It went really well.

We saw the Hoagland’s again Thursday (Kyle was included this time).  Poor Keenan was sick though.  He was super polite to us while we were there, and even introduced us to his teddy bear. :)  The kid has a soft spot, and really is just a kid a heart. :)  It was pretty cute. :)

Friday was mega huge.  We got a new investigator!!!  Whoohoo!!!!!  So, we went to dinner with this family named the Petzinger’s, and their daughter Hannah has a friend named AJ who she's been working with.  So AJ agreed to meet with us and eat dinner with us!  So we had dinner, and then the four of us went out to the patio and had the first lesson.  And man, Hannah prepped her well!  She already knew a good chunk of the first lesson!  There was a sweet spirit as you could see the Spirit work inside AJ.  She just BEAMS with light!  And at the end, we asked her if she would be baptized, and she said YES!!!!!  EEEEEEE!!!!!!!  Isn't that exciting?!?!  We'll get to see her on Tuesday, and we're super stoked to be teaching her the lessons.  She is SO prepared to have the Gospel in her life.  Super sweet girl. :)  After that, we went and visited the Fries.  Brother Fries was at work, so we just had a short lesson about baptism and confirmation, and then spent the rest of the night getting to know Sister Fries.  She's so sweet!  I love Sister Fries!  It was a great opportunity to really connect with her on a personal level.  But even better than that is that David actually understood the lesson we have him!  Usually he seems to not really comprehend what we're saying (it took us two lessons to get him to realize that the Holy Ghost isn't scary and that he's our friend), but he got it this time!  It was really neat. :)

Saturday was a really good day as well.  We went and met a potential investigator, Linda LaBeaf, and it turns out that her daughter had just came home from a mission about a month ago!  It was really fun to talk with them, and they want us to stop by again. :)  And then we went and did a district service weeding out someone’s garden.  It was pretty fun. :)  And then they fed us BBQ.  They had pretty good chicken.  (or at least, I did.) 

(Sister Longhurst, myself, Elder Astle, Sister Fa'amama, and Sister Ma'ukoloa.  Missing is Elders Hulet and Larson, who were chopping down overgrown trees. Of course I'm the one cuddling with the dog/wolf hybrid.  You wouldn't expect anything less from me, would you?)

​(Leaving service after eating.  Sister Ma'ukoloa, me, Elders Hulet, Astle, Larson, Sisters Longhurst, Fa'amama.)

So, Sunday.  We're out going around, and I can't ignore this prompting that we needed to go check on a less-active lady, Sarah Adams, whom we haven't been able to get a hold of.  So, we pull into a parking lot, and I pray, and at the very end, I knew that I needed to pray for a miracle for her, so I did.  So, we went and knocked on her door, and she answered!  The first time in almost 11 weeks she opened the door!  She was feeling sick last night, so she didn't let us in, but she said that we could try to stop by later!  Complete and total miracle on our end!  And hopefully she gained something out of our brief visit as well. After that, we went and contacted Roxanne Lowe, another person we have felt the need to contact.  She was excommunicated, but has expressed interest in coming back to church.  She's so sweet, and her kids are adorable!  The oldest, Jamie, is 8, and also wants to be baptized!  So it's super exciting.

So, long story short, the work is picking up and we're seeing progression.  I really do love this area and everyone we work with.  And we really are seeing miracles before our eyes.  It's amazing.

Well, I love you, and I hope that y'all have a good day!

Love,
Sister Empey

June 15, 2015

Isn't that the truth?! :)

With Carol Anne being baptized last week, I've been trying to live the Gospel more fully and more joyfully, which included me to stop praying for work and to more actively seek it out.  It wasn't that we weren't working, I just found a stronger desire to do it.  And find it we did!

Tuesday started out with a visit to the Hoaglands, and to our surprise, Brother Hoagland was there!  So, we sat down and read the first two chapters of Nephi with Brother and Sister Hoagland, Kyle (13),and Karina (11). It was the calmest I have ever seen that household.  I didn't really do any reading with them-- I was braiding Sister Hoaglands hair and trying to keep her awake, but I was able to put in comments here and there, and there was a good spirit in the home, probably the first time I have felt it there.  It was really neat. :)  After that, we decided to stop by Joy Redding's home, and her daughter, Shawnie Hill, was there!  YAY!!!  So we finally got to sit down and meet her!  Shawnie is SO super sweet-- she's an in-home caretaker for people with mental disabilities, and works a graveyard shift Thursday to Monday, but she's just so bright and bubbly!  As we visited with them, they mentioned how they've been a little stressed, because they're trying to put the house together for their realtor to take pictures on Thursday, but that they were behind on their cleaning.  Needless to say, we jumped on that opportunity and begged them to let us come over the next day to help clean.  They finally relented and agreed to let us come over. :)  The rest of the day we spent trying to invite people to the Relief Society activity that night, which was super fun.  We did some speed friendshipping, which was good for us as missionaries to meet the Sisters in the ward, and then we had ice cream.  It was a great way to end our night.

Wednesday was quite exciting. :)  After District meeting, we rushed back to our area to meet up with Paul.  Sadly, he said that he prayed to know if what was in the pamphlet was true, and he said that his answer was "no", but we had a good talk about different religious topics, and he still wants us to visit him, so we will, because we can still have the Spirit testify while we're there.  He's a great person.  Afterwards, we went home, changed into our service clothes, and headed over the Joy and Shawnie's home to CLEAN!!  So Sister Ma'ukoloa cleaned the bathroom, hallway, and kitchen, while I pulled together the patio in the backyard (all the while keeping windows and screen doors open so that we could see and hear each other.  The things missionaries do to stay in sight and sound).  They were so grateful for the help!  And it really did help out a lot-we should have taken some before and after pictures.  haha  But seriously.  It was a great experience, and we plan to invite Shawnie to take the lessons tomorrow when we go to visit.  I'm so excited!  And both Sister Ma'ukoloa and I feel like she's prepared to accept the Gospel now.  

Then on Thursday, we were finally able to get in the visit the Dicksons again to teach Chandler!  But I think he's more interested in my Origami abilities then the actual lessons.  And it was super crazy because dogs and people were running in and out.  We're hoping that next time we can get everyone in the home to sit down and participate in the lesson, and that we can get Chandler more excited about learning about the Gospel and not have to use Origami as a bribe to get him to sit down.  And then we had dinner with the Johnsons, a part-member family, and they made Yorkshire pudding.  AND IT WAS SO GOOD!!!!  :D  haha Yup, I loved it. :)

Friday was pretty good too. :)  We went to visit the Hoaglands again, and Keenan sat in with us while we were reading!!!  YAY!!!!  He totally just did it on his own will!!!  It was super exciting guys!!!!  He even read some verses in between cooking chicken nuggets!!!  Even after he said that he was done reading, he ended up coming back and read some more with us!!! PROGRESS!!!!  Hopefully, we can encourage him to come to church soon.  Then for the rest of the day, we were on exchanges, so I was with Sister Wright in the neighboring ward.  We had lots of fun, and good success. :)

On Saturday, we helped a Sister named Nina unpack in her new home.  It was pretty fun. :)  And.... yeah.  That was basically Saturday.

And then yesterday, we had a good visit with the Fries about going to church, praying, and reading their scriptures, and they committed to have family scripture study and prayer!!!  It was super exciting.

And... yeah.  I think that's it for this week. :)  It was a good, busy week. :)

Well, I love you all, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

Love,

Sister Empey

June 8, 2015

WHEW!!  What a crazy week! :)  It was great though. :)

On Tuesday, we had Zone Conference, which was really good.  It was sad though, because it was also my last one!  :(  I was able to sing one last time though.  Elders Bjorling and Stanley, Sister Massi, and I sang "Precious Savior, Dear Redeemer" to the tune of "Oh My Father", and it was beautiful.  Most of our Zone Conference was on the Sabbath Day, and mostly on the Sacrament, and what it means.  And then at the end of it all, we were actually able to partake of the Sacrament!  President Cannon got permission from the church to have the Sacrament at our Zone Meeting!  It was a really neat experience, one that I'll never have again.  It was a very spiritually enriching meeting.  It was my favorite Zone Conference for sure.

Wednesday was a super good day. :D  We had a good visit with the Hoaglands.  Sort of.  We were reading the scriptures with Sister Hoagland, and the entire time Keenan and Kyle were fighting in the background.  So when we were done reading, we offered to take the two outside to toss a football around.  That ended up really softening Keenan up, and he agreed to think about why he wants to get baptized!  YAY!  ^_^  And then we went to contact a referral, Paul.  And Paul is pretty neat.  He used to be a Chaplin for the Prison, so he's had a lot of contact with members, but wants to understand our doctrine better.  The problem is that he's heard a lot of deep doctrine.  So we're doing a lot of clarifying.  But he was super sweet and nice!  And we get to go visit him next week, and he said that he's going to invite his son to sit in on our discussions!  Whoohoo!

So, we had an interesting experience on Friday.  We went to contact a former investigator, and she was all like "All of you in your church look so sad.  Your focus on having works is keeping you from discovering the true love of Christ" and so on and so forth.  We tried explaining things to her, but she sadly didn't listen, and only made the conversation more confusing.  We left her home, feeling a little frustrated that the only home in two days to let us in had no desire to listen, but we were even more sad that she sat there and was confusing herself on her own belief.

But that's okay, because Saturday was AWESOME!!!!! :D

I WENT BACK TO KUNA AND CAROL ANNE WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me, Sister Paxton, Carol Anne, Sister Hopper, and Sister Nelson

This was SUCH an exciting event!  I can't believe it really happened!!!  It was so exciting. :)  When she came up out of the water, this huge grin came upon her face, and I couldn't help it--I started crying I was so happy for her.  And talking with her afterwards, she was asking if I was going to be able to come up to see her go through the Temple and I was like "Um.... YES!!!"  Wow, she's come so far!  I am so happy for her.  And it was so good to see so many friends there too.  Really, the only thing missing was my family. :)  This is definitely the highlight of my mission.  So far.  It could change.  But for now, Carol Anne's baptism holds a very special place in my heart.  And it always will.  It always will.

Well, that's all for this week.  I love all of you, and I hope that you have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Empey <3

Crazy, as always

Oh my goodness.... I'll try to remember what happened, but I totally forgot my planner today, so there's no guarantee to the sanity of this letter.

Um.... we finished moving on Monday... yup.  The lady we live with, Sister Draney, is super nice. :)

Tuesday..... we dropped off Sister Osburn at the mission office, where her mom picked her up.

I'm so excited for her!  She'll be a great missionary in Wisconsin. :)  

Um.... I really don't remember what has happened!..... um....

OH!  We met this lady named Krystal Kota this week.  She's been less active since she was a teenager, but she recently has been getting help from the church.  We had a really good visit with her, and she wants to to stop by every once in a while. :)  So hopefully we can visit her every once in a while.

Thursday was good. :)  I like, almost forgot it was even my birthday.  It was fun!  We went to this little cafe place in our area called "Sky Blue Cafe", and they seriously have the BEST burgers there!  It was totally worth the $10. :)  And then Sisters Gibb and Wright, our Sister Training Leaders, decorated our room for my birthday!  It looked super cute. :)  Also, thank you to everyone for all of your birthday greetings!  I felt so loved by y'all. :)

Ooh!  I totally forgot-- on Tuesday, we went over to the Stokes home so that I could cut Maci's hair, Myah was totally excited.... until I actually started cutting.

​

Here's me cutting her hair.....

And here's Myah crying once I started cutting.
(Photos courtesy of Brother Stokes.)

It was pretty funny.  She kept asking in between sobs "Is Maci okay?  Does Maci hurt?"  It was so sad, but it was more cute and funny.  The Stokes would completely agree.  But by the time I finished Maci's hair, Myah popped into the chair and was like "My turn?"  Oh goodness, that girl cracks me up.

Um.... yeah.  We've mostly just have been busy....

Oh.  Sunday!  We were able to visit the Fries on Sunday, and it was a good lesson. :)

Um... yup.  I can't think of anything else.  Love y'all, and I hope that you've had an awesome week!

Love,

Sister Empey

Transfers, a baptism, and 6 more weeks.

GUESS WHERE SISTER OSBURN IS GOING ON HER MISSION?!?!?!?!?!

MILWAUKEE WISCONSIN!!!!!!!!!!! :D

Can you believe it?!?!?!  How awesome is that?!?! :D  It's so exciting!!!!!!  I'm so glad that she gets to finish up in Wisconsin. :)  I'm so excited for her. :)  She'll be great there. :)

Well, there's not too much to report.  It was a really slow week sadly. :(  But Saturday was an exciting day!  It started out with transfer calls Saturday morning, and my new companion is Sister Ma'ukoloa (Mah-oo-koh-low-ah), who is Samoan and is from Oregon.  And then Saturday night, I got to go back to Caldwell/Marsing and go to Nicole Hunsakers baptism!  And even cooler is that Doug, her husband, got to baptize her. :)  It was really neat to be able to go back to Caldwell and see her take this step in her life.  And then I got to see the Taylors from Kuna, because they were picking up Sister Hopper and Paxton from the baptism (Sister Hopper taught Nicole before I got there).  And it was totally awesome to see them again. :)

Me, Sister Longhurst, Sister Hopper, Nicole & Doug Hunsaker

On Sunday, after church, we went so that Sister Osburn could go say good-bye to a couple of families, and then we went to Mission Presidents home so that President Cannon could give Sister Osburn her exit interview, and I picked up Sister Ma'ukoloa there, because Sister Gray left for home yesterday.  Can you believe that she's going home?!  Man, I'm getting old!  (Mission wise, that is.)  Anyhows, after that, the three of us (Osburn, Ma'ukoloa, and myself) went over to Sue Pearce's home, a recent convert of just over a year, and we did some baking for her daycare.  It was pretty fun.

Well, that's it for this week. :)  Sorry this email is so short.  This week will be crazy though.  We're moving into a different home today (no more kitties and old dogs and bunnies :(  Darn!), and Sister Osburn leaves to return home tomorrow. GAH!  Makes me wanna cry!!  She can't go yet!!!!  But... I know that she has to... the people of Wisconsin need her.  And who knows?  Maybe she'll run into people that Barb knew. :)  Wouldn't that be pretty epic? :)

Oh!  And the piece of news I got this week is that Carol Ann, a lady I taught in Kuna, is going to be baptized June 6!!!!  I GET TO GO BACK TO KUNA!!!!  WHOOO!!!!! :D

And so now, I'm on my 6 final weeks.  Do me a favor and please don't ask me if I'm "Trunky".  I have come to find out that THAT is my biggest pet peeve.

Love y'all, be safe, and so we go.

Love,

Sister Empey

The Stokes family.  They're great.  I'm holding Myah (9, and autistic) because that was the only way she was going to do the picture at that point.  I actually met them last 4th of July because I knew their cousins, the Illums in Nampa South 37th ward.  They're good friends, to say the least. :)  It helps that they're nerds like me. :)

Contacting Successes and Fails

Um.... so.... last week.  quite exciting.

We got a church media referral on Tuesday.  So we decided to check it out.  Since we pretty much have no one to teach at this point.  So, we knock on the door, and this lady answers, probably in her early 50's or so, and we asked if she was Shawnie Hill.  And she was like "No, but I'm her mother, and I'm LDS!"

O_O  wait, what?

So she invited us in and told us the story (sort of):  she, with her 2 kids and grandkids, moved from California up to their current home from Idaho 3 years ago.  She's the only member in her family, and as soon as she got up here, she had some health issues, so she hasn't had a chance to even figure out what ward she's in and hasn't been able to transfer her records up here!  So we had a good experience with her, and Joy (the lady), invited us to come back!  So we didn't meet her daughter, but we found a new member for the ward!  haha

Wednesday and Thursday was full of unsuccessful contacting.  And then there was Friday.

Friday was..... eventful.

So, we're helping the Relief Society President in one of our wards to contact several sisters who have not received contact for several years, and one of them apparently lived in a retirement home.  So we go over and knock on the door, and before she even answers the door, a man who works there walks up to us and asks us why we were here.  We replied that we were looking for this lady because she was on our church records and wanted to know if she wanted visitors from members from our church.  Well, as he's telling us that they don't allow religious solicitation of any kind (excuse me, were we tracting out the building?!), this lady answers the door and curtly tells us that she wants nothing to do with the church and that she's asked for her records to be removed several times, thankyouverymuch!  So we bid her goodbye, and apologized to this man, trying to clarify that we weren't trying to solicit or anything, we were just trying to help the church clean up the membership records, and that we were leaving.  His reply was "I don't care.  I let one of you in, I have to let everyone in."  We apologized (again) for our inconvenience of us coming, and started to leave.  And he followed us off the property to make sure that we left!!!  We couldn't turn around, because that would be rude, but we could hear his keys jingling behind us until we left the property!  And as soon as we left, we turned around, to see him turning around back to the building!  Holy cow, talk about awkward!  haha It was great though. :)

And all was well after that, because we got a new investigator!  His name is Steve, and he's a JW, but he wants to know if the Book of Mormon is true!  Yay!

Well, I gotta go now.  That's really it for this week.  Oh, and the Fries.  We had a lesson with Sister Fries about faith, and it was an AMAZING lesson. :)

Gotta go!  Sister Osburn just got a call from the mission office about a special white envelope she might want!  YAY!!!  Sorry gotta jet.  You know how antsy I was with getting my call.  You can imagine Sister Osburn's excitement.  Please know that I love you all!

LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!! <3

Love,

Sister Empey

Apparently this rock is going to eat my brain one day.....?!

YUS PLEASE!  haha  It was perfect. :)

A Week of Events

Hello dear family and friends!  It's that wonderful day where I get to email y'all. :)

So!  On Tuesday, we were on exchanges, so I was on the other side of the road from our area with Sister Gibb, who's also from Springville, and was Sister Osburns other companion!  haha  Pretty awesome, yeah?  Well, it wasn't too eventful.  We just walked, trying to contact people.

So!  We got a new investigator this week!  Remember me talking about the Niles last week?  Well, talk about MIRACLES.  So, Sister Osburn and I have talked and prayed a lot on how we can help them, and we decided that we should open up our spiritual thought with a Hymn, "Dearest Children, God is Near You".  Well, when we did that, there was such a strong spirit that filled the room, and we ended up inviting her to take the lessons again, and she really opened up to us.  She talked about why she isn't baptized yet, which is basically that she has a ton of questions.  So we came to an agreement that each time we visited, we would answer one of her questions.  so, she gave us our first question to study up on: Why is it so bad to have a cup of coffee in the morning.  The catch?  We have to prove it to be scripture related.  Eek.  She's like "I want it from the mouth of the Lord!"  ... um... yeah.  Praying for guidance and patience.

So, on Thursday, we had weekly planning.  Because we're still in the process of de-junking (which means cleaning up our area book), it usually takes up a huge chunk of our day, and this is how it usually ends up:

Yup.  Dogs and all.  The only thing missing is the area book, because Sister Osburn is usually the one flipping through it trying to find stuff.

Despite it looking relaxing, it's not.

Which is why Thursday night was so WONDERFUL.  The Stake put on a Women's Conference, and it was AMAZING.  It was all about being grateful for what the Lord has given you, and to love yourself for who you are, and to not let Satan get to your confidence!  It was amazing.

And then on Friday, we went to a local park, and we had a showing of Meet the Mormons!  Holy cow, I have not stayed out that late in a LONG time.  Because the movie was starting at around 8:30, President Cannon gave permission to all the missionaries in the area to stay out until 10, since we were supposed to be inviting less-actives and non-members to the activity.  One thing is for sure: I am NOT the night-owl I used to be!  But it was a lot of fun. :)  Sadly, no one we invited came, but according to Brother Bledsoe, who is the High Councilman over missionary work for the stake, we had 20 people there that aren't of the LDS faith!  SUCCESS!!  

On Saturday, we went and talked to a potential investigator, Jim.  he's older, maybe late 50's, and he LOVES to show off his garden (which is awesome, by the ways).  So apparently, a lot of his wife's family is LDS, so they like to have us over, and they want to feed us!  Well, you won't hear us turn that down!  Hopefully, we can eat with them soon.  We only got to meet his wife briefly, so we decided it would be better if we didn't invite them to the lessons.

The rest of Saturday was just trying to contact people.  We ran into a lady who apparently has a daughter coming home Wednesday from a mission and has Elders visiting her already (what?!), BUT!!!  We ran into someone with potential!  Joella was on one of our Potential Investigator lists, so we went to go see if she would like to know more.  Well, when we introduced ourselves, she was like "oh, you replaced the boys?!  They've told me a little bit, but I really want to know more!"  We were all like: O_O "YEAH!  When can we come over!"  She wasn't really too sure, since this next week her schedule is busy and different, but she told us to call her next Monday!  YUS!  Super excited!!!  There was an awesome spirit about her. :)  I feel really good about her.

And of course, Sunday. :)  Sunday was awesome.  It was nice to see and talk to the family. :)

Well, that's all for now!  I love y'all!

Love,

Sister Empey

Sister Osburn and I get a kick out of
this sign every time we see it.

Crazy Lessons, Commence!

Um..... the beginning of this week started FOREVER ago!!!!  It's been an interesting week too.....

So!  To start off, Monday evening.  We had dinner with Bishop Ashcraft, WHO JUST HAPPENS TO HAVE LIVED IN SPRINGVILLE AND KNOWS GRANDPA EDGEL!!!!! O_O  (by the ways Grandma, Darren Ashcraft says hello to Grandpa.)  Anyways, it was great. :)  He also knows John Call, and we just had all sorts of fun Springville talk, I think to the dismay of the rest of his family.  haha

After dinner, we went to the Lees, some potential investigators.  We ended up having an amazing conversation with them.  They're both strong Christian people, and love their Asian heritage (Ron is Chinese and Heather is Korean).  Ron even kept bringing up points that I was all like "YEAH!  The church totally believes that!!!"  But the sad thing is that at the end, when we offered the lessons, they declined. :(  Oh well.  What happens happens.

On Tuesday, we worked in the Sunnyridge Apartments.... pretty much all day.  We went and contacted the Hoagland family.  Brother Hoagland is trying to become active again, and wants his son, who is turning 9, to be baptized.  So we went over to meet Keenan and asked him if he wanted to be baptized.  When he said yes, we nearly leaped for joy and asked why, and his response was "to get people off my back."

... well, leave it to an 8-year old to give you the truth, right?

Anyways, the Bishop has asked us to give the lessons to the Hoaglands, so we taught them the first discussion.  Kennan didn't soften up to us at all until we were towards the end of the lesson when we started to talk about Joseph Smith.  We were talking about Joseph Smith, and I felt prompted to have Kyle, who is 13, read James 1:5, and we talked about what that scripture meant.  I think that helped a little bit, because while he still didn't say a whole lot, he stopped making dissatisfied grunts to all of our questions.  Cute kid.  He just needs some softening.

On Wednesday, we went over to teach a young woman in our ward, Gillian.  She's autistic, and so her mom thought it might be good if she had the lessons to help strengthen her testimony.  The lesson was going along great--until she asked when the Holy Ghost was going to get his body.  Then it got a little crazy as her mom dived into some deep doctrine and we were like "uh...... we dunno....."  it was a good laugh for later.

On Thursday, we met a part member family, the Niles.  HOLY COW, SO AWKWARD!!!  They're this super sweet and friendly couple.  The only thing is that Sister Niles (the non-member) insists that she call us by our fist names!  ACK!!!  Doesn't she realize that having people outside of our family call us by our first names is like hearing a swear word and makes our ears bleed?!?!  Man, I think I was flinching the whole time I was there.  And then they only muted the television, and Doc Martin, a favorite show of mine, comes on the TV!  I was like "I'M DYING INSIDE!!!"  Thankfully, at that point, Sister Niles took us for a tour through the house, so I tried to ask as many questions as possible to keep our 2-room house tour as long as possible.  haha  Anyways, we asked Sister Niles if she would like to take the lessons, and she flat-out didn't give us an answer.  She was just like "Oh, silly missionaries are asking me again!"  And we were like "Um.... is that a no?..."  Again, sort of a humerous visit.  We'll visit again.  And we'll ask for the TV to be turned OFF this time, because I have a feeling that there will be no house tour next time.

Friday and Saturday were spent contacting, but there wasn't much success sadly. :(  Oh well.

On Sunday, we had a lesson with a less-active family named the Fries, with the Titus's.  On the way over, Brother Titus told us that The Elders had taught them the 10 commandments the first time, and The Plan of Salvation was taught by the Titus's the second time because the Elders couldn't make it.

O_O  Wai... what?!

I was in total shock!  I was like "Who does the 10 commandments as a first lesson?!"  So, instead of teaching Lesson 3 as planned, we switched and decided to teach Lesson 1 with a lot of prayer.

It went really well though.  It was a good discussion with both the parents and their kid, David.  The Spirit was really strong there, even though our conversation got de-railed a couple of times.  We were always able to pull it back on track and end the lesson after an hour fifteen!  It was great. :)

Well, that's it for now.  I love y'all, and I hope you've had as great as a week as we had. :)

Love,

Sister Empey

Yes, we have an ALMA ln. in our area!  Pretty awesome, yeah? :)

Saw this while walking around on..... Thursday.  I think.  Made my day.

MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU!!!!  

Love you. :)

The Miracle of Baptisms

Hello everyone!  I hope y'all had an awesome week this week. :)

The work is picking up!  Thank goodness!  :)  Still don't have a lot to talk about, but I think I have more than what I had last week. :)

So, on Wednesday, we were out member tracting, and we ran into this Catholic lady, Terri.  At first, she was a little brash and rude, quickly proclaiming that she was happily Catholic.  We were all like "That's awesome!  Are you active in the Catholic church?" and she responded yes, and then talked about her Irish heritage (SCORE!).  Obviously, we started talking.  She soon after apologized for sounding so rude, and she agreed to let us visit her later!  And she agreed to try to read a little bit of the Book of Mormon!  Whoohoo!  That was pretty exciting. :)  We also contacted a 12 year old girl, Taylor Babneau, who wants to be baptized!  How exciting is that?!  So we're hoping to get a hold of her parents and getting them involved too, because we know that Brother Babneau for sure is less-active, and we think his wife isn't a member.  So it would be awesome if we could get them involved in the discussions as well. :)  We also met a Recent Convert named Sue Pierce, and she's super sweet. :)  She's getting ready to go to the temple soon!

Thursday through Saturday was sort of a blur.  I finally got the music I needed for the Williams baptism Thursday evening, and when I looked over it, I think my eyes grew to the size of baseballs as I realized that the notes were going to be too high for me.  I was praying for a miracle (or, more like I was praying for my mother who just automatically plays songs in a key I can sing).

So, I was in panic mode, thinking "OH MY GOODNESS!!!  What am I going to do?!?!  I'm not going to be able to have this prepared by the day of the baptism!!!  I have no one to play, and I can't sing these notes!!" o_O

So the Holy Ghost prodded the back of my head to go see the Hansens, who we had eaten with a couple of days before.  I figured it was at least a decent start-- Faith, the oldest daughter, can play the piano, so off we went.

Thankfully, when we reached the house and asked Faith, she agreed to play for us, and we starting running through.  Turned out I could barely hit the notes, but it was definitely out of my range.  Well, her dad, Brother Hansen, heard me screeching out the notes, and was like "oh no!  We are NOT killing your voice!"  So he comes over to the piano, tests out my vocal range, and then instructs me on how to transpose my music to the key of C!  MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!  I was SO happy!!!  

So I spent a lot of time on Friday and Saturday practicing for the baptism. But we had some breaks-- we had Zone Meeting (where I received revelation and rebuking as to how to make the last three months the best yet on my mission), we had a High Priest social where a guy came to talk about the different instruments used for bluegrass music (which was super cool--it was really enjoyable), and we helped Sister Trumayne weed out her front yard.

But it all boiled down to Saturday, 4:30 PM, when Sister Longhurst and I left our companions behind to go to Caldwell. 

LOOK AT HOW BEAUTIFUL GARY, AMANDA, AND TIM LOOK!!!!!! :D

​(ignore my closed eyes)

Isn't it so exciting?! :D  I'm so proud of them all!!!  The baptism went great, and it was a beautiful service.  And even President and Sister Cannon came to see it! :D  And I was able to sing my song well, and they all loved it.  Thank goodness!  Since they were the ones that asked for that particular song.  On the way home, I almost cried--I could visualize them all going to the temple, dressed in white, to be sealed as a family.  They have come so far, and they will continue to progress and grow.  They are a little miracle family, and it will take them far in the gospel.

On a last note, we got one new investigator Sunday.  Her name is Courtny Hauge.  She has a friend how is on their mission right now, and he sends her little reading assignments.  But she doesn't always understand what he sends her, so she wants our help in teaching her!  We're going to go see her this Saturday. :)  We're really excited. :)

Anyways, that's it for this week.  It's been crazy, but it's been wonderful.  I am so grateful for the time I had to teach the Williams, and that I could serve them for their baptismal service.  And I'm grateful that they are on the path to return home to their Heavenly Father, and that Heavenly Father has allowed me to be a part of their return home.

I love you all, and keep building your faith!

Love,

Sister Empey

​(PS-- This is me and Sister Osburn, my companion. :)  Thought you might enjoy a picture. :) )

April 20, 2015

Ummm..... wow.  I really don't know what to say.

This week had been CRAZY.  We didn't get to work like we normally do, because we had to clean out EVERYTHING.  But it was good. It looks like we have a lot of work to do, because we're basically starting from scratch.

Um.... due to the fact that we had to start a burn pile and be reborn from the ashes, there wasn't a whole lot that happened this week.  A big part of what we're doing is earning member trust right now.  We've really been trying to work with the bishops and ward mission leaders especially.  We're starting to map out ward mission plans for both wards.

OH!  But we had a totally cool experience on Sunday. :)  So, it was after both wards were finished, we were by the bishops office, and someone (whose name I can't remember), said "how old do youth have to be to teach lessons to?"

Thinking he meant us missionaries teaching a youth class, I replied that we would have to have a third female in order to teach any youth class.

And he was like "Oh, well, Ezekiel here is 15 and wants to take the discussions...."

O_O  My thoughts: wait, WHAT?!?!

So I quickly corrected myself: "OH!  Anyone can take the discussions!"

Yup.  We got a new investigator.  :D  He's been coming to mutual and had come to church for a couple of weeks and wants to learn more!  WHOOHOO!!!!

Anyways, that's all.  The lady we live with, Sister Trumayne, is awesome.  She has 2 dogs (Scooby and Bella), 1 cat (whose name  I don't remember-- she hides from us), two baby ragdoll kitties (Sis Osburn and I have dubbed them Sushi and Geronomo), and a rabbitt (Hunter).  Love it! :D  But you know me--I love animals. :)

Love all of you!  Keep being awesome!

Love,

Sister Empey

Come and Gone

Um..... well...... TRANSFER DAY!!!!

Do you know what that means?!  It means that I have NO idea what happened because my planner is packed away randomly somewhere!

But we'll get to that in a moment.

Um..... yeah.  I seriously can't remember what has happened this week..... we saw Gary and Amanda like.... 4 times this week.  Seriously.  We did a LOT of teaching.  After all, we gotta get them prepared for baptism!  Goodness, I feel like they take up all of my spare time!  I love it though!  It's so great to work with such amazing people! :)

Um... yeah.  It's already been 6 weeks!  Can you believe it?!  I've spent a whole 6 weeks in Marsing, ID!  But, apparently, it's time for me to move on.  And guess where I'm moving to?  Nampa East!  I'm in 2 wards again-- 30th and 34th.  And it will be nice, because Sister Longhurst is in the same zone as me. :)  So my companion is Sister Osborn, and she's from Rigby, ID, serving a mini mission. :)  I get to finish training her before she heads home.  I'm super excited for this opportunity. :)  So.... yeah.  That's about it.

Um... yeah.  Gary and Amanda were super bummed that we were both moving out, but that's okay-- they want me to sing at their baptism!!!  How crazy is that?!  I'm so excited!  They want me to sing "I Can Only Imagine"-- I just hope my voice will be in good condition for it!  haha

Well.... yeah.  I'm sorry that this is all I have to say!  I'll write more next week!  Love all of you, and remember how much the Lord loves you!

Love,

Sister Empey

 Cool Road.  You just.... well... have to be cool.  End of story.

Lizard Butte.... it kinda looks like a lizard.  Thus the name of the butte. 
Sadly, never got to hike it.

Sis Longhurst and I, as always. :)

Easter Conference? Yes please!

Satan isn't happy with us.  He's trying with all his might to keep us from teaching.  Between Ssiter Longhurst getting sick with what I got (but worse), and cancelled appointments, there isn't a whole lot to report on, but we still found progress and found some work to do.

So, on Tuesday, Sister Longhurst woke up where I was a week ago: completely and totally miserable.  I know I did some cleaning and studying and watched some of the Life of Christ videos (the Bairs in our ward kindly bought each of us a "Life of Christ" DVD), but that's all I really remember.

However, Sister Longhurst was feeling a tad bit better, so we went out to help a less-active, Leslie Wright, brush down her horses.  That was a miracle in and of itself.  Sister Longhurst had been teaching Leslie's daughter and granddaughter, Heather and Alice, but they had stopped responding to the missionaries back towards the end of January.  Well, we heard that Alice's birthday was coming up, so we decided to give Alice a little goodie bag for her birthday.  On Sunday, we went to drop it off, and Leslie was outside!  So we stopped by, offered to help her brush down her horses, and she agreed!  So we set up the service project for Wednesday.  Thus the reason why Sister Longhurst had to be better for at least this appointment.  So, we brushed down the horses, and Leslie's daughter, Heather, made us some chicken noodle soup, which was very appreciated since it was cold and windy outside.  Well, to finish off our visit there, we showed them the "Because He Lives" video, and they both LOVED it!  I felt impressed then to ask them to read 3 Nephi 11 as a family, and they agreed, and they wrote it on the little sicky pad that we had given to Alice for her birthday!  YAY!!!  They like us!!! :D  haha Anyways, we'll get to see them this coming Wednesday, and I'll actually get to meet Alice. :)  But I love these people already.  They're awesome. :)

Thursday was another sick day.  More studying, more cleaning, more Church-approved DVDs.

Friday we had a district meeting on Charity, and how all of the Christ-like attributes are connected together through charity.  It was very neat.

Then Conference.  OH MY GOODNESS CONFERENCE!!!!!  It makes me so happy!!  :D  Wasn't it so good y'all?!  OH!  So good!!!  I think what stood out the most to me was President Uchtdorf during the sustaining of the Church Officers.  He didn't let that shake him.  He calmly accepted it, mentioned that their vote had been noted and left it at that.  What I loved about it was that he didn't make a big deal out of it.  He calmly accepted it, and moved on.  Sometimes, when people oppose your beliefs, it's so easy to get fired up and immediately defend yourself.  But more often than not, the best thing is to accept their opinion, and try to leave on the best note possible.  I have found this more and more often on my mission-- the more people argue with me about my beliefs, the more I simply just move on to someone willing to listen to the message of the gospel.  So yes, that was probably the most important part of conference to me.

After Conference on Sunday, we went and got to visit with Sarah for a little bit, which was awesome because we hadn't seen her at all last week (because she was sick too).  We taught a short lesson about obedience and following the prophet, and then showed her the "Because He Lives" video.  Little Sarah, who is super scatter-brained and all over the place, sat in awe for a few minutes after the video.  You could tell that she was very touched by the spirit, which we explained to her.  She really is prepared to receive the Gospel.  It was very nice.

And to round out the week, we had a beautiful Easter fireside, put on by all of the missionaries in the stake and the ward members.  We read "The Living Christ", and had a musical number for each paragraph.  It was very beautiful, and the Spirit was strong.  What a wonderful way to wrap up such a beautiful day!

Well, that's all for this week.  I love all of you, and I know that the Savior lives for each and every one of us.  What a blessed opportunity we had to celebrate His Resurrection yesterday, but let us always Remember Him and His sacrifice for us in our hearts, so that we may have everlasting joy.

Love,

Sister Empey

Happy Easter from the Caldwell Crew!!!

Five!!! FIVE!!!!! o_O

Holy Snot you guys!!!!!  FIVE BAPTISMAL DATES FOR NEXT TRANSFER!!!!!! O_O  FIVE!!!!  Can you believe that?!  *happy dancing*  TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

Um.... yeah.... anyways.....

So, I woke up TOTALLY sick on Tuesday.  I had a headache, an earache, and it took all of my energy just to go from the bedroom to the kitchen.  Turns out I had the flu. Blech.  Needless to say, I spent my day at home, trying to stay alive.  That night, our Ward Mission Leader and his Assistant, Brother Garner and Brother Anderson, came and gave me a Priesthood Blessing, where it was commanded that I should be healed.  I was kind of like "woah, commanded to be healed?!"  Needless to say, I had to have a little prayer in my heart as well to have the faith to be healed in such a way.

Wednesday was better.  I still was sick, but I was able to at least move around, and my fever was gone.  So there was some things that we still had to do, so I was member hopping homes while Sister Longhurst went with other members to appointments and meetings.  It was fun-- I hung out with Brother Andersons wife and helped her take care of her chickens.  And then later that night I went over to the Colletts and entertained their gaggle of girls with different stories from my life (who knew that my life was so entertaining?).  So, while I was having fun, Sister Longhurst was hard at work, and got Nicole Hunsaker to commit to a solid baptismal date of May 23!  YAY!!!!  I was sad that I couldn't be there, but I'm glad that we now have a firm baptismal date with her.

On Thursday, I was finally well enough to go out and work a little bit.  (haha finally?  I act like I had been out for a week rather than just a couple of days)  So we went and finished Lesson 2 with the Williams (Amanda and Gary).  Um.... I don't remember how it went, I just remember that it went really well.  Oh!  And that they bought CTR rings for themselves!  Seriously, how much cooler can they get?!  They saw CTR rings at Walmart and were like "Oh!  Let's buy some!"  Crazy, right?!  But totally awesome. :)

Friday.  Um.... Friday..... OH!  We went and helped this lady, Julie Eggleston, clean off her patio furniture.  Her husband is a less-active member, and she has expressed interest in learning more about the church.  We shared a message with her afterwards about the Living Christ, and she really loved that.  She said that she will be busy until the middle of May or so as she wraps up the school year (she works as a teacher in an alternative class for Elementary School), and then she wants us to come back and help her more!  Super exciting. :)

Then Saturday... the General Women's Conference.  Wasn't it amazing?! :)  I loved it. :)  I loved how everyone talked about the family, and how important the family unit is, and that it must be protected at all costs.  How true it is!  Well, after the Women's Conference, we went to have dinner at the Insleys, a less active couple.  They're super fun. :)  After dinner with them, even though we were cutting close to curfew at this point, we decided to show the "Because He Lives" Easter initiative to them.  It ended up being perfect-- you could tell that Sister Insley was really feeling the Spirit, and she started crying when we gave a prayer!  It was so sweet.  I think at least she will be coming back to church soon.

And then Sunday.  WOW.  Sunday.

So, we were really hoping that Gary and Amanda would make it to chruch, and they didn't.  But halfway through church, Amanda texted us and was like "I'm so sorry, I have been so sick this weekend."  We asked if there was anything we could do for them, and she mentioned that they wouldn't be able to get any food until Wednesday, so we gathered all of the misc. food that we could find at our home and went over to their house to give it to them.  They were so touched that we were so giving!  We ended up staying at their home for 2 hours, teaching them the first discussion, and about how their lives have changed since they've started coming to the LDS church.  And their son, Tim, who's 9, sat in, and was like "Yeah, last time when you came, I was in my bedroom listening, and when you prayed, I bowed my head and put my hands together like this!"  And then he said that he wanted to be baptized with his parents!  We were like, "Um, YEAH you can be baptized with your parents!"

Needless to say, we have 5 baptism dates now.  Gary, Amanda, Tim, Sarah, and Nicole.  This is so exciting.  The ward really needs a good pick-me-up like this.  It's so exciting to see how the Lord has prepared each of these individuals to receive the Gospel.  It makes me so happy. :)

So, on my last note, BECAUSE HE LIVES.

Have you seen it yet?  If not, GO SEE IT. helives.mormon.org

SO AMAZING!  I love this video, the Spirit is so strong in it.  Don't ever forget-- the Savior knows all of your pains and all of your trials, but as a result, he knows all of your triumphs and joy, and He is cheering you on and helping you out every step of the way because He wants to see you succeed.  I love it. :)

Well, I love all of you, and I hope you're having an amazing week thus far!

Love,

Sister Empey