Monday, August 24, 2015

Week 11

Miracles happened this week! Woohooo!!!!

1st miracle- Sister Kenworthy FINALLY got to see the Doctor on Friday. Good news! She has bronchitis! Bad news. Ain't nobody got time fo' dat! But all is well. She is on some antibiotics and will hopefully start feeling better within the next couple of days. :)

2nd miracle- While I was on a day exchange with another sister from Grand Junction, Sister Collins, here in Fruita, we were having THE WORST time! It was 100 degrees and we spent 2 hours knocking and completely striking out. No one was home, and our GPS wasn't working. We were struggling! So, I decided to drive out to a part of our area I had NEVER been to before and we found an investigator, D, we hadn't been able to get into contact with since the beginning of the transfer. Fun fact: she's a former Jehovah's Witness. Anyway, we had an AMAZING lesson about the Plan of Salvation and about the pre-mortal existence. It was so uplifting.

3rd miracle- at the end of the day that miracle #2 happened we went back to the one neighborhood we were striking out at. For a little illustration, I will explain this neighborhood (Comstock) as Sunland in Sequim basically. Really hard to find different streets, and some streets you can only get to by using other specific streets. I also remind you that our GPS is still not working! Anyway, we FINALLY find Hemlock where Sister Kenworthy and I had knocked into this kid from Washington a few weeks previously. He works for the oil fields up in Wyoming so it's REALLY hard to get into contact with him. So, this sister that I'm on exchanges with, and I get out of the car and this random friendly yellow lab comes running up to us. She's in front of the house we are parked in front of. Of course, the concerned dog lover that I am is thinking, "Hrrrmmm.... I wonder if your owner knows you're not inside." So we go knock on the door and this woman, M, answers and I told her I wanted to make sure her dog was safe. Long story short, all is well and we are able to strike up a conversation with M and how she is really looking for God, but her son has a spinal injury that has left him with special needs and he is very vocal to his surroundings so she avoided church because people usually stare at them. WELL, we talked about how loving Christ is and how we really try to be examples of Him and that her and her son are always welcome to come to our church any time. She really liked that idea so we asked her if she'd like to go on a church tour so that she could get familiar with the building. We have a return appointment and a church tour set up for this Wednesday! Woohoo!

4th miracle- After we finished with M, we went to A's house (the kid from Washington) and knocked. A woman answered and said she really wasn't interested. I asked if A still lived there and she said yes but that he was out of town. So Sister Collins and I were walking back to the car. As we are about to get in this pick up truck with WASHINGTON license plates pulls in! It's A! He get's out of the car and I yell "Hey, A! How are you?!". He's on the phone and was like "hold on---- (whoever he was talking to)" he puts his phone on mute and was like "How are you guys!?" I asked if he had had time to read the pamphlet we left him and he said he had read the whole thing and then added "Oh hey! Do you guys have one of those books? (The Book of Mormon)". I had already put my bag in the car but Sister Collins whips one out and says "heck yeah we do!" He took it and was really excited to start reading it!

Miracles 2-4 all happened on Wednesday! Sometimes Heavenly Father wants us to prove just how bad we want something and I'm so glad we kept going when it would have been SO easy for us to say, "that's it, we've been knocking for 2 hours. It's hot as Hades, we're sweating, sunburned, running low on water and we don't know where to go because our GPS isn't working, and we've been insanely unproductive this entire time!" But, we were diligent and kept pushing through.

Friday rolls around (the day we find out Sister Kenworthy has da bronchitis). We had a pretty full day but nothing too bad as she is still pretty fatigued. We are about to head into our apartment, its about 830, and this boy, J, who we had OYM-ed (Open Your Mouth) a few weeks previously comes up and was asking us questions. We taught him, his cousin, and his buddy the Plan of Salvation. We talked about the importance of prayer, church attendance and scripture study and both J, and his buddy asked if they could have a Book of Mormon before we could even offer it to them. We invited all three young men to be baptized on the 26th of September and they said yes!

After all of the problems we have been having here these last 4 weeks, we saw miracles that made the struggles all worth it. I love it here in Fruita and I hope I get to stay with Sister Kenworthy for another transfer or two. We have really grown to love one another and we are both really excited to start seeing great things happen here in our area.

I love the Lord and I love missionary work. I know that if we are diligent, the Lord will give us miracles and that there are miracles in our lives EVERY day. We just have to look for them. Heavenly Father loves us each so much, and he knows who each and every one of us are. He knows our struggles and our triumphs and He sent his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth so that He would know how to succor us.

I love you all dearly and I hope you all look for the daily miracles that happen in your life!

Love, Sister Voss

Sister Kenworthy has re-purposed our treadmill that doesn't work.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Week 10

Hello All!

I don't have much time this week so I apologize in advance for not answering all of your emails! We had interviews with our mission president yesterday which means that P-day is today but we only get half the day. Sister Kenworthy and I have been running around in a frenzy since we finished studying and training this morning!

This week was REALLY STINKING HOT! It's been between 100-104 every day this week. A couple days ago I was on exchanges with our Sister Training Leader and we tracted for 2 hours in 104 degrees. It was really hard, but so worth it. I got to use my Spanish again which is always fun!  With Sister Kenworthy still sick I've been thankful to be spending a lot of time indoors. She finally gets to go to the doctor this week! YAY! Hopefully she will officially be on the mend!

That's about it for this week. Thank you all for your emails, letters, packages, and endless amount of love and prayers. I love you all dearly and love hearing from you!

Love,

Sister Voss


PS! I forgot to mention. If you do end up including anything in my packages specifically for Sister Kenworthy, she is allergic to corn (high fructose corn syrup seems to be the most common), but so far we haven't run in to any problems. Corn starch is okay though. There is something about that process that makes it so that she can have it. Thank you so much for your love and sending care packages!

Monday, August 10, 2015

Week 9

The work in Fruita is definitely picking up! My companion is still pretty sick, but we are working as much and as diligently as we can without hindering her recovery. There was a nasty virus that went around a week before the transfer and unfortunately she caught it. :( no fun. I absolutely adore Sister Kenworthy though. She is an amazing artist and she loves this work. We have really gotten into a groove with each other and we love this area :)

I wanted to share some of the miracles we have seen this week while working here in the Fruita 2nd Ward

Tuesday: While out tracting Sister Kenworthy and I ran into this kid from Vancouver Washington! Crazy, right? I told him that I was from Sequim and he was like "NO WAY! My buddy is from Sequim!" Anyway, we got his address, it's not in our area, but we sent the elders to him.

Thursday: I got to meet one of our investigators for the first time a couple days ago. He works out of state very frequently but he is ready to be baptized. Get this! He grew up as a FUNDAMENTALIST (FLDS)!!! And a few months ago he just showed up to church and said he wanted to meet with the missionaries and be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! We are waiting for him to come into town again to finish teaching him, get some interviews out of the way and then he is ready to get in the water! The weeks that he's not in Fruita, he goes to whatever ward is nearest him in whatever state he is in! Last week it was Texas.

Sunday: After having an INSANELY hard Saturday, Sister Kenworthy and I were feeling so useless. We had an AWFUL day basically ended up in the chapel pouring our hearts out to Heavenly Father as individuals and as a companionship. It was really emotional but so needed. We got to experience and deepen our love for one another as daughters of God and as companions. So Sunday, we were hoping to have a better day but Sister Kenworthy was just really not feeling well. But while we were at church, two former investigators showed up out of the blue and stayed for all three hours. The woman pulled me aside and asked if she could have a priesthood blessing and that her significant other would like one too, but she wasn't sure if he knew what a priesthood blessing was and what all was entailed. So after church we had an impromptu lesson with this man and woman and our ward mission leaders and another priesthood holder. We talked about how the priesthood was the authority to act in God's name, that Christ gave this power, this authority, to His apostles and that that power was in fact here on earth today. We talked about blessing and what they all entail, and that it's not just a man speaking, but it is the words that Heavenly Father has for the individual to here. We also emphasized that is is a blessing according to our faith and that we have to be willing to act in accordance with Heavenly Father's guidance, we can't just expect all of our problems to "poof" be fixed. So, they both received priesthood blessings right then and there! And they were amazingly powerful blessings! Sister Kenworthy and I are praying earnestly that this couple will decide to make the necessary changes needed to enter the waters of baptism. 

The power of the priesthood is real and it can greatly bless our lives if we are willing to act in faith and believe that Heavenly Father knows exactly how to help us!

I hope you all are well and thank you all for your letters! I have absolutely loved receiving them! I will be sending replies soon. :)

Love,
Sister Voss


Sister Kenworthy and I on our way out to preach the gospel! She is from Longmont Colorado :)

Monday, August 3, 2015

New area! Week 8

Drum roll please............ Here I am in Fruita CO.
For those of you itching for my new address here it is

Sister Voss
559 W. Pabor Way
APT#2
Fruita Co 81521

We had transfers on Tuesday and I was transferred from Delta to Fruita and am now serving in the Fruita 2nd ward. My new companion, is Sister Kenworthy and she is just AMAZING! We are both "follow-up training" each other. Basically it means this is both our second transfer. AND we "white washed" the area. Missionary slang for: The missionaries that were serving here before were all transferred to another area and we get to figure the area out all by ourselves! It's exciting!

Fruita is a quirky little town. A lot like Port Townsend, but in the mid-desert. This place has about two things going for it. Dinosaurs and biking... You read that right.... Dinosaurs. There is a dinosaur museum that is as campy animatronic as you can get, it's hilariously gruesome. There is a giant T-rex statue in the middle of town square, a T-rex painted onto the side of an old grain building, and a stegosaurus painted on a restaurant's bilboard sign.

 And then there is biking. Lots and lots of biking. Did I mention biking? There are 3 bike stores in "downtown" Fruita. They take it very seriously here. OH! And there is this fantastic restaurant called the Hot Tomato. It is definitely as good as it sounds! Very "hipster" friendly. I felt like I was in Seattle again. Sister Kenworthy and I went there for our dinner on Thursday, its apparently tradition for the new missionaries in the area to go there for a meal during their first week. The food is delicious. If I'm here next transfer I'm sure we will go again!

Another weird fact about Fruita. The roads here are RIDICULOUS! We have roads like 15 1/2 rd and 14 1/8 road. I'm not kidding. Basically, they mark how far you are from the Utah border. Pretty genius, but also unimaginative hahahaha! The Fruita 2nd ward territory covers part of Fruita, all of Loma and Mack and then all the way out to the Utah border. Not sure what it is with me being sent to territories that are practically endless, but it makes for interesting adventures and we definitely make sure we are diligent! There aren't many houses out there, but on a P-day we have contemplated going all the way out to 0 road. Standing at the edge of the world! Okay, not the edge of the world, but the edge of the Colorado Denver South Mission world!

All in all, I love this area! Very quaint and quirky. Those are the best words I can use to describe this little town! :) There is a LOT of work to be done that I'm excited for! The sisters before us left us a LONG letter about the area and they thoroughly worked this area in searching, now we have an entire white board and a half to follow up on. We have got our work cut out for us and we are so excited to see what fruita we can reap! Ha! Fruit. Fruita! I crack myself up. Remember what I said about mission brain a few emails back? It makes you resort to corny jokes.

I apologize for not having pictures this week. I left my camera at home unfortunately! :( But I will have some next week :)

I love you all and I enjoy reading your replies! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know how you're doing! Until next time.

Love,
Sister Voss



PS- If you get a chance, could ya'll send me your birthdays. I might not be able to send a card but I will probably be able to write you a little email :)