August 11, 2014

Horses and Stuff

Hola!

     On Monday Hermana Seigfried and I went to a horse rescue with one family form the ward. It was so much fun to see Hermana Seigfried in her own element. :) She's crazy for horses and she had three of her own at home!

     There wasn't anything too terribly special this last week. We had a great district meeting on Tuesday and a awesome Zone training on Friday. So lots of inspiration in a short period of time which was great! And it totally pushed all of us missionaries! And you could see the results on Sunday because every companionship in our district had an investigator at church! Woot woot!

     We Hit Standard this week!!! We haven't hit standard since it was changed. It's been so frustrating! Every week we've been so close to hitting it but this week we really exercised our faith even more and we were able to hit standard! I now know what I need to do so I can hit standard (and surpass it) every week. We got two of our investigators on date. The first one is named Ken and he's the father-in-law of Haley and he is so prepared! He's only had the Book of Mormon for a week and he's already at 2 Nephi 25! The other investigator that we put on date was actually a referral from headquarters that we contacted almost a month and a half ago named Vanessa. We just haven't been able to get in contact with her again. We finally saw her yesterday and she is so prepared too! She's been searching for the truth for so long and she is so excited to be baptized.

     Whelp, that's pretty much it for this week! :) Sorry my email isn't very long or exciting but don't worry, I'm having a great time, learning lots, and growing like crazy (spiritually, that is)! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

                                                                           Love,

Hermana Kammeyer

August 4, 2014

Weekends... :)

Hola!

     This week definitely had it's ups and downs! We started off the week with getting one of the investigators that had fallen off date (Haley) back on date and it was a absolute testimony builder for me. We stopped by Haley's house after District meeting on Tuesday and we were expecting her to be a little off put and like she didn't want to see us. But when we got there she was all smiles and super happy to see us. She then told us a story about what had happened the night before. She had found out that one of her really good friends had had a heart attack so she was super worried. She started to pray and then she told us that "For some reason I decided to pray about Joseph Smith. I never had before but I remembered you both telling me to do that so I did." She said that the first thought that came into her mind after that was to 'hold your daughter'. So once she was holding her daughter she started to feel better and then she had one word pop into her head. 'Yes'. Because of this experience she has a really strong testimony of Joseph Smith, which was something she didn't have before that! Now the next thing we have to get her to do is come to church and I know that if she does that she'll get baptized!

     For some reason when the weekend hits, it hits us hard! Friday and Saturday were both super rough! All of our appointments canceled on us and our back-ups fell through too! I fell off my bike and got a few cuts and bruises then Hermana Seigfried's tire popped and we had to walk the rest of the day. Then after we got her tire fixed the next day my tire popped! We had a lot of other disheartening things happen but that's not really important because we were able to push through and have a good outlook and keep our faith and spirits high. And I know that we were rewarded for that because we had an awesome Sunday! :)

     Oh, and on Saturday night we also volunteered at the rodeo here in Newton, which was so much fun! We helped out at the concession stand and we were able to teach two really good lessons while we were there. We you do things like service you don't always get to see the immediate results of your work. But you do put a good face for Mormons out there in the community! :)

    Well, that was pretty much my week. I hope you all are doing great and that you have a wonderful week! :)

Hermana Kammeyer

July 28, 2014

That Dang Beguiler!!

Hola!

     So this week started off really great we did a really good job of having members come out with us, which is something that we've been struggling with recently. We our two investigators (Majestik and Haley) that had baptismal dates were progressing really well and we were having a pretty good week.... until the weekend hit.

     Friday was really hard because it felt like my brain took a vacation! I couldn't teach at all! It was sooooooo rough! Then on Saturday I had a major headache the whole day and I still couldn't teach very well. Ugh! And Sunday is the kicker. We woke up to like 8 texts messages from our two investigators with a date and they dropped us! :( Majestik is 11 and her dad doesn't want her to talk to Mormons period! And that includes her cousin, Katie Schroeder, that has been teaching her with us. Then Haley told us that she was just more comfortable being were she is and she doesn't want to be baptized anymore. It was like Satan was trying to punch us in the stomach and then while we were bent over in pain he wanted to slam a chair on too our back! But Jesus was definitely taking those blows for the both of us because surprisingly there wasn't as much pain as I thought there would be with 'losing' two people that I love so much.

     So this whole week we've been spreading the word about a Devotional that President Bell was going to give to less-actives and recent converts. But just as we were leaving after church the Zone Leaders grabbed us and told us that President Bell had a family emergency and had to leave the mission! Just wait it gets even better... the Zone Leaders decided not to cancel the Devotional. So we spent the next few hours making some calls and helping them plan a devotional! Talk about stressful!! Man oh man I do not envy the Zone Leaders. But everything turned out great! And the Spirit was so strong!
When we got home yesterday I was sooo tired and was super happy that tomorrow would be P-Day! But it just reminded me of a scripture that I had found that morning during my BOMB personal study!

     "My people must be tired in all things, that they may be prepared to receive the glory that I have for them, even the glory of Zion; and he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my Kingdom" -D&C 136:31

      So I know that everything that we've been going through this week has only been for our good. That the tiredness that we are feeling is only going to strengthen and up lift us and prepare us for the celestial kingdom! I love you all and I hope you have a wonderful week!! :)

Hermana Kammeyer 

Pictures:
Newton District, last p-day before transfers!
Newton Spanish Missionaries

July 21, 2014

Specific Prayers work!!

Hola!

    Well, this week was really good. I learned so much and it was a great way to end a transfer. And good news.... I'm staying in Newton with Hermana Seigfried!!!! Woot woot! :) I'm super excited to still be here in Newton! There is so many investigators that have great potential and I really want to help build up the ward and and the "Spanish Branch" before I leave for a new area.

     So Monday we went out to Hutchinson for a Zone p-day and it took super long for us to get out there because they were repaving the roads so we only got to stay for about an hour, which was super disappointing, but I did get to learn how to play the Ukulele :) so that was a plus!

     Tuesday we had our final district meeting for this transfer and it's weird to think that now I'll be the missionary that's been in this area for longest. It's sad to see Elder Gomez (one of the Spanish Elders) and Elder Walton (District Leader) go because they have been here for these last three transfers. But all is well, that's why we have facebook! :) Well, when you're off your mission.

     Wednesday was pretty normal until we got home for the night and as we were finishing up our daily planning we got a text from the Sister Training Leaders. SURPRISE: Last minute exchanges!

    Thursday I went with Sister Heger to Maize, which is a city right outside Wichita. It was lots of fun and I learned a ton from her and I also learned that I do not envy the STL's (Sister Training Leaders). They spend so much time in meetings or making phone calls it's ridiculous! I already feel like we don't have enough time in the day as a regular missionary!
So the weekend was pretty average and nothing to crazy happen. Except that it got hot again, the beginning of the week was pretty chilly actually, and the bugs came a biting :( I have so many bug bites all over my legs, arms, and stomach! It's crazy! It's almost like they are breeding SUPER BUGS out here!!

     One of our investigators that we are working with is named Haley and I just love her to pieces! She's one of the sweetest people I've ever met! But you might not think that when you first see her because she's covered in tattoos and piercings. She has had a really rough past and she feels "unworthy" for baptism but she wants it so badly! I just love her to pieces and I know that once we can finally get her to go to church she'll be able to see where this path will take her and her baptism will happen! But that dang Satan is trying so hard to stop her but he will not win!!!

      Oh, yeah. One last cool story that I forgot about. So when Sister Seigfried and I were in the CCM Pres. Tenorio had given a talk on the power of specific prayer and he used Genesis 24 to show how to do it (So if your looking for something to study this week I would highly recommend it! ) and he gave a bunch of examples from his life and the lives of other missionaries who have done specific prayers. The topic of Specific Prayers came up again last week in Zone Training so Sister Seigfried and I tried to do one this week. So the gist of a specific prayer is that you prayerfully consult the Lord about something (like finding a new family to teach) and you come up with a bunch of specifics about this family like who, what, when, where... and so for. Then you pray in faith that it you will find this family.

      So Sister Seigfried and I prayed that we would find a Hispanic family of 4, the parents ages would be from 20-30's and they would have two young kids. The dad would be wearing tan cargo shorts and flip-flops and the wife would be wearing a white shirt and jean capris. And they would be looking for a new church to join. Then we prayed that we would go to the mexican market at3:00 exactly, and be there for exactly 20 minutes and during that time we would find them. So through out the day we kept praying for this to happen and we get to the market right and 3:00 do a quick pray and walk in. There's no one else there, totally ghost town. So we start wandering the isles and after about 10 minutes this car pulls up and out steps a younger guy and we started to get super excited and then we saw his feet. He was wearing tennis shoes! :( So we kinda awkwardly tried to talk to him but then we gave up pretty much after saying hi because he didn't have flip flops! :( He buys some soda and then leaves, we had like 5 minutes left at this point, and as he's pulling away we look into his car and see his wife and two young kids sitting in the car! We totally missed the answer to our prayers just because he wasn't wearing flip-flops!!!! We were so devastated!! We had prayed this family there and we totally ignored them! Ugh!!!

      So we learned a ton that day and I know that Heavenly Father wants to give us the answers to our prayers we just need to be obedient and vigilant! Well, I hope you all are having a wonderful week! And I'll talk to you again next week! Love ya!

Hermana Kammeyer

July 14, 2014

75!

Hola,

    This week went by super fast and a lot happen... but nothing terribly interesting so this email will probably be a little on the short side.

    So Monday we had a great P-day and we get to wash the car by hand now, which was actually not that big of a deal it just takes more time away from our p-day which is already jammed packed with things do to. Who would've thought that on our day off would have so many things to do.

    Tuesday we had Zone Training which was really good and I always learn so much from the leaders in our mission. Last month our goal for baptism was 50 and we got so close to accomplishing that with and total number of 41 baptism for the month of June! It was awesome even though we didn't get our goal of 50 we surpassed our old goal of 40, it was awesome! So for this months goal President Bell kicked it up a notch and set it at 75 baptisms for this month! When I first heard this I had a total mini heart attack! It's super big and I know that it's going to stretch us but it is also very possible if we have the faith necessary and we work hard!

     The rest of the week was pretty much the same ol' missionary thing. The only thing that was different from normals was that we had a lot of set appointments (so when we say "We're coming over at this time will you be there?" and they say "yeah") and just about all of them fell through.... and then all of our back plans would fall through.... and then all of the back ups to our back ups fell through..... :) So it was a little frustrating at times this week but it's all good! These things just build character! :)
We had Kelly back on baptismal date with her son Brooks and we were so excited but she went about and day and then started drinking again. It's getting really hard to keep going over there, it's hard to see herself throw her life away and everything else she has over a bottle of alochol! We're going to keep going over there because of her son and he has so much potential it's just hard to be in that kind of an environment, at times I feel like she's draining the life out of me! But my experiences with Kelly have definitely strengthened my testimony of the Word of Wisdom!

     Well, that's pretty much it for this week. Sorry this email is a little dry. But no worries I'll have a better letter for you next week! As the last week of this transfer I know that Sister Seigfried and I will be working hard and seeing miracles like crazy!! :)

Love,

Hermana Kammeyer

July 7, 2014

Who knew biking could be so tiring!

     Man, this week has been so tiring! Sister Seigfried and I got bikes last Monday and we have been biking everywhere this week! I would say that we've been biking about 10-12 miles everyday! I have to keep telling myself that I am gonna have legs of steal but it doesn't really help when i get off my bike and I can barely stand because my legs feel like jelly!

     On Tuesday we had Zone Conference! It was my second one and it's weird to think that I only have four more left! :( The AP's (Assistants to the Presidents) did a wonderful job and I learned so much and both of the AP's have served in Newton before so it was really cool to see them again. They talked a lot about growing our faith and then finding the elected and how to recognize the elect. And they used Rebekah and our experience with her as a perfect example of someone who had been prepared by the Lord for our message. The bad thing about Zone Conference was that it took ALL day!!! So we didn't get a chance to teach anyone! :(

     On Wednesday, I got to help and recent convert do some family history and it was a really cool opportunity. We got her parents information into Family Search and then we did some digging for her grandparents information and it was so cool! On her mother's side someone had already done all of the temple work and they had the family tree completed until 130BC!!!! Isn't that crazy!!!

     So the 4th of July was a really hard/weird day for me. The night before I was stressing out so much because all of the people we are teaching were going to be out of town so we had absolutely no one to talk to or visit! So the whole day was going to be spent in tracting and I was terrified because I didn't want to interrupt anyone's holiday. We started off the day over at the church building for a pancake breakfast & flag ceremony. It was a lot different from how we do our ward breakfast get together's at home. They only made pancakes, and they had the laurels/ priests make them (side note: Sister Seigfried is allergic to wheat so we had to make her some gluten free pancakes and eggs so she could actually eat something) none of the bishop brick was there, and it finished in less than an hour! It was so weird! I felt like no one liked each other because the second people were done eating their pancakes they packed up and left! After we had put away everything one of the High Priest's wife grabbed the uneaten pancakes and started throwing them around like Frisbees with the missionaries and it was actually a lot of fun! But there was no way anyone was going to eat that pancake when we were done with it. Then we had a district meeting and we went to lunch. At lunch we ran into some members and they bought us lunch and we were asking them what their plans were and they said that they were going to be painting their shed so we offered to go by and help. It was so much fun and I absolutely loved being with them and doing service. After that we went to a BBQ with another family in the ward. And it was really hard to leave there because it felt like I was back at home and I felt so comfortable and at peace there. But that's not what missions are about so we went out and started talking to people setting off there fireworks. We walked past a huge Mexican family and we felt like we needed to go and talk to them but for some reason I had sooooo much anxiety about it that I almost started to cry, weird I know! But we didn't it anyway and we talked to them and they gave us tacos and we found a less-active member that is brother of one the Spanish Members! It was really cool! So all in all it was a really good day, even though we didn't get to see any fireworks or set of any either. :(

     Even though we were working hard this week it didn't really show up in our numbers. So we have to be on an improvement plan again. :( But that's okay, I'm not too worried about it I know that will be able to do a lot better this week and that the improvement plans are only there to help us. Love you all and I hope you have a good week!

Hermana Kammeyer

P.S.- A few weeks ago I said that everything is bigger in Kansas... well apparently the mosquitoes are hungrier here too! I have like 25 mosquito bites!

Attachments area

June 30, 2014

Baptisms to come true! :)

Hola!

     So this week has been so busy! But it has also passed crazy fast! We've met with Rebekah everyday this last week to get her ready for Saturday! And man I could not sleep Friday night because I was so worried that something crazy would happen and she wouldn't get baptized! But no worries Rebekah is way to rock solid to let anything stop her! She was baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday! Can I get a woot woot for Jesus, please!

     Other than being at Rebekah's house this week we had two other kinda crazy experiences this week. The first happened on Tuesday. We went over to this lady named Beverly's house and she had two other friends there for a Bible Study. We went last week but instead of studying the bible they just asked us about our religion and that was a really good meeting. But this week was a totally different story! They had like a battle plan to try and destroy our beliefs and "save us". Man! Talk about annoying and frustrating. We were answering there questions with pure testimony but they were sooo stubborn that they couldn't wrap their heads around the possibility that what we were saying was true. It felt so good to get out of that appointment and go and see Rebekah because she doesn't have this crazy knowledge of the bible (These ladies were using a Hebrew and Greek dictionary to look up words like 'stick' or 'rod' it was crazy!) but she has the faith and the relationship with our Father in Heaven to recognize the truth when she hears and feels it!

     The second experience happened on Wednesday. The day before we followed up with this reference from the English Elders and she is super amazing and totally prepared too! She accepted a baptismal date and everything! So we invited her to go on a tour of the Church Wednesday. It was all set to be awesome, we had a stand up member who was the perfect match for Alexa (the name of the investigator). Then she called us to see if her cousin could come along and we were like "Sure thing!" Let me tell you that was a bad idea! Her cousin was just one of these people who wanted to argue about everything and she was contradicting everything that we were saying. She was just picking a fight with us the whole time! I'm happy to say that she didn't get what she wanted from me but she got pretty close to getting Sister Seigfried and our member to fight. So it really wasn't the type of environment that we wanted to have our brand new investigator in. But Alexa did come to church yesterday and she is determined to know for herself if this church is true, which it is by the way just in case you were wondering :)

     During both of these experiences we had to especially defend our belief in the prophet Joseph Smith and they were really good testimony building experiences. Actually Joseph Smith was the center of our studies this week. On Sunday we learned that Friday was the anniversary of his martyrdom. So it was really cool to realize that the Spirit it was leading us this week to focus on him and all that he has done for this church.

     That's pretty much it for this last week. Oh, Sister Seigfried and I got bike's so we will have fun riding around this week! :) I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Hermana Kammeyer