~Release Letter and Certificate~

 

 

~Homecoming Party~

The neatest part of Sister Armstrong's Homecoming party was the pleasant surprise of her Catholic family coming to include: Aunt Judy (her grandma Janet's sister) who we love, Mike's cousins: Rick Armstrong (who is engaged to be married and who works with Mike), Joe and Amber Armstrong (Joe works at WSP as a Trooper) and David Armstrong (who works as a Commercial Vehicle Operator with WSP) and his two adorable boys. My friend, Angela Havey also came with her husband who is Protestant. There were mormons that visited as well :-) But it was just too neat for Elizabeth to have her dad's side of the family come and welcome her home! What a wonderful blessing!!!

Sister Armstrong's Cake :)
Yes, she loves the name tag!

 

 



 

 





~Homecoming Talk on March 24, 2013~

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters! For those of you who don’t know my name is Sister Elizabeth Armstrong (I have to say Sister still because otherwise it feels weirdJ) and I just returned from serving my mission in the Utah SLC Temple Square Mission- surprisingly it is its own mission.

Before I continue I wanted to take just a few minutes to share with you how things work on Temple Square. The reason being that it is the most unique mission in the world and everyone always has questions… and this way I can tell you all at onceJ

So on Temple Square we do get the wonderful privilege of taking people on tours and teaching them the history and basic beliefs of the church. So, every tour taken on Temple Square is really what we call a walking lesson. When we are not on Temple Square giving walking lessons we have the wonderful opportunity to teach people all over the world over the phone. Yes you heard me right we teach people in Africa, Eruope, Russia,  anywhere that has missionaries and we teach them over the phone. So, how do we find them? Well, there are a few ways but the ones that come to Temple Square while taking them on their walking lesson we invite them to meet with local missionaries when they get home from their vacation and if the say yes we start teaching them, over the phone, until the local missionaries get there. Once the local missionaries get there we kind of pass them off and call them weekly to give them support and to see what the missionaries taught them and if they are going to church and we continue to do this all the way to baptism. The other ways we find people is through chatting with people who come to mormon.org and taking the calls of those who call into the church and our biggest way of finding people to teach is from Member Referrals. So, as you can see there are many that are done on Temple Square and that gives you a little background as to what Temple Square is like.
Since I have been home….which has not been very long…. I have been thinking a lot of my mission and what my purpose was there but I have also been thinking about what my purpose is now and I realized that they are very much the same. The only difference is that I will not be wearing a name tag and won’t be able to be a Full time missionary, but my job and commitment as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will never change. I would like to talk a bit on what it means to be a member of this church and what are some things that will help us in that calling.

First and foremost to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints means that we are a part of the only true church of Jesus Christ on the earth. That original Church that He established when He was on the earth, the Church that Christ gave His authority to to be able to act in God’s name for the salvation of His children. Think about that for a second; you are or are wanting to be a part of the true Church of Jesus Christ. How amazing is that? To me it means everything and I would not give it up for anything.

When Christ established His church He called twelve apostles and gave them His authority so that they could help Him spread the good news of the gospel. Now when you were baptized or when you are baptized you take upon yourself the name of Chris and promise with all your heart that you will follow His example to the best of your ability, doing all you can to help others find that same path.

Well, of course we know that Christ was eventually crucified. After He was gone I think there was a lot of confusion even for the apostles as to what they should do. I would like to read to you some of Elder Holland’s talk from this last Conference entitled The First Great Commandment: This starts right after Christ dies and the apostles are discussing what they should do, Elder Holland says:

Then, after such a short time to learn and even less time to prepare, the unthinkable happened, the unbelievable is true. Their Lord and Master, their Counselor and King, was crucified. His mortal ministry was over, and the struggling little Church He had established seemed doomed to scorn and destined for extinction. His Apostles did witness Him in His resurrected state, but that only added to their bewilderment. As they surely must have wondered, “What do we do now?” they turned for an answer to Peter, the senior Apostle.

Here I ask your indulgence as I take some nonscriptural liberty in my portrayal of this exchange. In effect, Peter said to his associates: “Brethren, it has been a glorious three years. None of us could have imagined such a few short months ago the miracles we have seen and the divinity we have enjoyed.

We have talked with, prayed with, and labored with the very Son of God Himself. We have walked with Him and wept with Him, and on the night of that horrible ending, no one wept more bitterly than I. But that is over. He has finished His work, and He has risen from the tomb. He has worked out His salvation and ours. So you ask, ‘What do we do now?’ I don’t know more to tell you than to return to your former life, rejoicing. I intend to ‘go a fishing.’” And at least six of the ten other remaining Apostles said in agreement, “We also go with thee.” John, who was one of them, writes, “They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately.”³

But as they fished that evening they caught nothing and early in the morning Christ appeared on the shore and again told them to cast their nets on the right hand of the boat. When they realized that it was Christ they went shore to meet Him. Peter being the first and Christ then asked him three times if Peter loved Him. Elder Holland gives a great explanation of what happened the third time Peter was asked:

To which Jesus responded (and here again I acknowledge my nonscriptural elaboration), perhaps saying something like: “Then Peter, why are you here? Why are we back on this same shore, by these same nets, having this same conversation? Wasn’t it obvious then and isn’t it obvious now that if I want fish, I can get fish? What I need, Peter, are disciples—and I need them forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith. I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do. Ours is not a feeble message. It is not a fleeting task. It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history. It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world. So, Peter, for the second and presumably the last time, I am asking you to leave all this and to go teach and testify, labor and serve loyally until the day in which they will do to you exactly what they did to me.”

Then, turning to all the Apostles, He might well have said something like: “Were you as foolhardy as the scribes and Pharisees? As Herod and Pilate? Did you, like they, think that this work could be killed simply by killing me? Did you, like they, think the cross and the nails and the tomb were the end of it all and each could blissfully go back to being whatever you were before? Children, did not my life and my love touch your hearts more deeply than this?”

Think about that for a minute.

I would like to share with you a story of a man I taught on my mission. During my mission as part of the Temple Square mission we get the opportunity to serve in another mission in the States for three to four months. I got the privilege of going to San Antonio Texas for three months. There I got to meet a wonderful man named Michael Evans. When I met him he was 69 years old, has tattoos all down his arms, a very long beard’ long hair and earrings in both ears. But, one day we got a call from the mission office telling us that a man had called them and would like to meet with missionaries. Of course I immediately called him and set up a time to meet with him the next day. When we got there the next day we had learned that he had met with missionaries before but was never really interested but felt like he should give it another try. Well, as time went on we learned that Michael was a part of another faith where their job is to study other faiths and figure out how they work and so forth. He told us that was his intentions but I felt that there was something more. So, we invited him to church and finally after some pushing he came. That night after church he told us that going to church had changed his life. That he had felt something that he was not expecting. So, our next lesson was at the Temple, he lost his wife 5 years ago and wanted to learn more about Temples. When he arrived his tattoos were covered, his earrings were gone and so was his beard and long hair and he also told us that he has flushed his coffee and cigarettes down the toilet.

Michael understood Christ’s question to Peter “Do you love me? If you do keep my commandments.” Michael knew that he had to make changes in his life because he had received a witness that this truly was Christ’s Church he was willing to do whatever it took to be a part of it and never look back, never go back to what he was before.

Well, to go on Michael committed to be baptized that day at the Temple. Later that week we had another lesson with him and found out some interesting news. We were talking to him about something…now mind you everyone in Texas LOVES to talk…so Michael was going on and said something, something when I was baptized something, something. Of course I had to stop him and ask him which church he was baptized in and he told me he thinks he was baptized in this one. At that moment I was a little devastated, I wanted nothing more than to see him enter the waters of baptism and take upon him Christ’s name. Well, we checked it out and sure enough he was baptized 32 years ago and amongst his stroke, motorcycle accident, and his wife dying he could not remember. When we told him that he had been baptized he said that when he met with missionaries before he was only in it to figure out the church and how it worked but this time something happened and he felt the Holy Spirit touch his heart.

At that moment I understood Christ’s answer to Peter “then feed my sheep” Christ did not call me to baptize anyone, He called me to invite others to come unto Him and help them use His atonement.

Well, needless to say Michael is still going to church today and preparing to go to the Temple and before I left Texas to go back to Temple Square I got the special privilege to see him partake of the Sacrament. I was able to see that he had used the atonement, he had faith in the Lord and new that if he repented of past mistakes that he could be made clean.

So, as members or soon to be members of Christ Church we must follow Elder Holland’s advice:

 “If ye love me, keep my commandments,”¹⁴ Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it. It was this truth, this reality, that allowed a handful of Galilean fishermen-turned-again-Apostles without “a single synagogue or sword”¹⁵ to leave those nets a second time and go on to shape the history of the world in which we now live.

We must follow Christ’s command to His apostles in Matthew 10:6-8. We have been called to a great work and the things that will help us in that great work is to first use the Atonement we have been given to make things right or to help us through the hurts of others. And then we must head the counsel of the Prophets and Apostles we have been given today. It is our privilege to have general conference every 6 months to receive guidance and directions for our lives to help us head the command of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to freely give and feed His sheep.

I know that this truly is His work and you don’t have to be wearing a name tag to be a part of it. I would invite you to truly look deep down and ask yourself why you are here, why you were baptized or why you want to be baptized and ask yourself if you are truly ready and willing to follow His counsel and example. I promise that if this is something you want it is not going to be easy, because it wasn’t easy for the Savior, but I can guarantee that it will be worth it.

As conference comes listen to the words and find the message that Heavenly Father has for you and I promise you it will be there. I can promise you that because I have seen the miracles come from conference as I have served there and seen the results of wonderful people letting us call their family and friends to share this amazing gospel with them. Share story of Karen Riggs if time permits.
I would like to share a story of a miracle that came from conference. It is about a lady named Karen Riggs. So, during conference the Sisters on Temple Square do a lot of preparing for the members that will be coming to the square. We have many district meetings and zone meetings to help us learn to uplift the members. Well, my companion and I at the time it was both of our fist conference on Temple Square and so we were not really sure what was going to happen we just knew that we were going to talk to as many people as we could. We ended up talking to the man named Ephraim. As we were talking to him and getting to know him better we of course asked him if there was anyone in his life that he would like to share the gospel with. Immediately, he thought of his aunt Karen. As he was telling us about her he told us that she has never really been to fond of the church in fact she was somewhat against the church but that maybe she has changed and he felt that we should call her. So, I got the special privilege to call her and of course as it happens many times she did not answer the phone.

Now I was going through a time in my mission that I was wondering if I was making a difference with all these people who never answer the phone, am I fulfilling my purpose? Well, a sister told me that I could use the How to Begin Teaching bullet points in Preach My Gospel to leave inspiring messages. Well, I decided to leave her one of those messages. I don't remember what I said but a few days later I got a all back from her which was very exciting because no one ever calls back and if they do they usually don't want us to call them again. Well, our voicemails were not working at the time so I had no idea if she wanted me to call her again or not but I felt so strongly that I should keep calling. Well, I never got a hold of her and since we only have so many times that we can call people so they don't think we are trying to stalk them I to leave my last message.

I then called her nephew Ephraim back to let him know that I was not able to get a hold of his aunt and that she had called back once but because our voicemails weren't working I wasn't sure what she said. I then asked if he had heard anything; he then said "Sister Armstrong I thought you knew?" I was very confused and asked him if I knew what and he said "my aunt got baptized two days ago!" I started crying because I could not believe my ears and then asked for the story! He told me that he thought I knew about it because she had been telling everyone that a Sister missionary from Temple Square had called her and left her a message and because of that she wanted to meet with missionaries.

Well, I finally got the opportunity to talk with Karen and hear her side of the story. She told me that at that time she had heard of conference and decided to watch it. She knew a little about the church because most of her family are members. While she was watching conference she realized that they were all talking of Jesus Christ and that she really didn't know anything about Him and she wanted to learn about Him. So, while she was watching conference her nephew, Ephraim, was prompted to ask us to call her. Then as I called her and left that message I told her that I would teach her of Jesus Christ and that it would be the most important message she would hear in her life. That made her want to call me and see what i had to say but something happened with her phone and we could never connect. So, she decided to go and seek the missionaries on her own and 5 weeks after I called her she was baptized.

That is one big miracle that came from conference on Temple Square but I know of many more that have occurred.

I am so happy to have had the opportunity to speak to you today and I would love to leave you with my Testimony.

~Homecoming March 20, 2013~

Today, Sister Elizabeth Armstrong arrived home after a two hour flight delay in Spokane (flew from SLC to Spokane to Seattle)! She traveled side-by-side with her last companion, Sister Steenblik (who went home to Spokane). A gentleman in front of them, who was mormon let Elizabeth get off the plane before him as he said she had waited 18 months to see us :) He offered to call us on his cell phone too to say they had arrived because they had had difficulties on two planes.

Elizabeth met baby Brandon and of course, Shamberly was delighted to see her big sister. We went to lunch for her 24th birthday at Moctezumas and met Ryan there. We arrived home and Ryan helped his dad and Elizabeth get her an Iphone. Then, Ryan watched both little ones while we took her to be released by Stake President Barker. Tomorrow evening, we have a babysitter so that Elizabeth can report to the High Councilman. It has been an emotional day! We are so happy and pleased to have her home!!!!! ~A Happy Stepmom and Dad



Sister Armstrong and dad



Shamberly (holding Lambie), Sister Armstrong, Mike and baby Brandon at airport



Shamberly, Sister Armstrong, Mike and baby Brandon at airport



Cynthia holding baby Brandon, Shamberly and Sister Armstrong at SeaTac Int'l Airport



Ryan, Mike, baby Brandon, Elizabeth and Shamberly at Moctezumas



Sister Armstrong, Shamberly and Ryan Armstrong at Moctezumas

 

Sibilings Reunited: Ryan, Elizabeth and Brad

All Armstrong Kids Together: Brandon, Ryan, Elizabeth
Bradley and Shamberly (April 2013)



~Pictures of Zone Activity at Red Robin (March 2013)~

~March 13, 2013~

Hello Everyone!!!

Well, I hope you all had a great week! I can't believe this is the last post I will make as a missionary! I can't make anymore because my mission ends in 7 days!!!! Crazy stuff! Well, of course it has been a great week on Temple Square with lots of things to do and lots of people to teach! I have a few miracles to share...of course.

 

Well, the closer I get to the end of my mission the more and more people I meet that are Catholic! It is crazy! I am able to relate to them so well and share my testimony with them! One man I met was Don! We met him last night when the Sister missionaries from the SLC mission brought him to Temple Square. T

 

he first miracle is that Sister Ray is the missionary that brought him! She is my old room, roommate from college! How cool is that?! We not only shared a closet together but we got to teach the gospel together! Then as we were teaching him I was really able to tell him what it was helped me know that this Church is truly Jesus Christ's church. He really wants to learn and get baptized but he also wants to know it is true...all of it. It was a really good lesson! He came to a lot of conclusions last night!

Then earlier this week I talked to a man named William on chat and he is Catholic as well. The miracle about this is that other sisters started chatting with him and then couldn't keep chatting because something came up and we took over for them and low and behold he is Catholic and couldn't believe that I used to be as well. He asked so many questions and at the end he didn't want to meet with missionaries but I committed him to go to church with one of his cousins who is member and he said, "actually it is funny that you ask because I have been thinking about going..." so needless to say I am pretty sure he will go to church one day!!!

 

I LOVE being a missionary and will miss being able to do this 24/7 but it is time to move on and share the gospel in a different way. I know that Christ lives and that for the last 18 months I have been doing His work and sharing His story the way He would want it shared.

 

Thank you all for being so supportive and as always, I hope you have a great week! Talk to you all in a week or so!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

~Pictures of Sister Armstrong Announcing after Music and the Spoken Word March 3, 2013~

 Me actually announcing to everyone coming out of Music and the Spoken Word!

 

This is me and Sister Wettingfeld again...I know I sent one that looks
almost the same but I really like this one too!

Sister Steenblik (my companion), Sister Anderson, me and Sister Wettingfeld! We all love each other a lot and spent a lot of time together last transfer when they were in our zone.

 

~March 6, 2013~

Hello Everyone!!!

How are you all doing? I hope you all a great week! Well, of course things on Temple Square are amazing! We are getting to see the sun again so that makes things even better! Well, I am running low on time so I will get straight to the point! We had a miracle!!!!! I know it's a shocker! :)

 

Well, on Sunday I was asked to announce....it is this thing we do on Temple Square...kind of hard to explain so if you really want to know just ask me in 2 weeks. Okay so after announcing tours in English no one was coming to take a tour with us and then one man came and so my companion and I got to take just him around. His name is Amit and he is from India! He was so nice! He just got married a year or so ago.

 

Well, he was here on business and was curious about Temple Square and also because he has seen missionaries in India before. So, we taught him the restoration and a little bit of the Plan of Salvation and we asked him if he would want to be with his wife forever and he said yes of course! He then said he would like to meet with missionaries and wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon! He will fly home on Friday and then we will call him! He was almost in tears when we told him this book would bring him closer to Jesus Christ!

 

I know that the church is so true! There is no way that things like this could happen to over 14 million people and it not be true! If you have ever wondered about this church or are struggling to know if it is true I invite you to read the Book of Mormon and then pray and ask God. He will give you an answer if you really want to know.

 

Thanks everyone and I hope you all have a great week!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

~Pictures of Sister Armstrong~

Sister Brickley and I together again (we are in the same zone this transfer!)

Sister Anderson and I! (We were both trained by Sister Astorga!)

My companion (Sis. Steenblik) and I going crazy in the Teaching Center!

Sister Wettingfeld and I! (She knows one of my outbound

companions) I love her!

~February 27, 2013~

Hello Everyone!

I hope that you all had a great week! This has been a great week on Temple Square! I know I say that all the time but it really is true!

We have been running around like crazy people! We are trying to get a hold of Imade, our investigator who is supposed to get baptized on March 9th! We will pray and hope that we can get a hold of him and that he went to church!

 

But, we had a great lesson with Fred (he got baptized on Jan 6th) and he is doing well. Fred has adopted us as his daughters and is not very happy that we will be leaving but we reassured him that we will be friends forever. But, the great miracle that I wanted to share happened on Friday night.

 

So, my companion and I were on exchanges with another companionship and well the sister that I was with was great! We took a lesson with some Elders and their investigators and then we were walking around the square looking for people to teach. We then walked by the Temple Model (if you have not been to Temple Square to see it, you should!) and I saw a man looking so intently at it, so we walked up and talked to him. As we started talking we found out that he was a member of the church who is seriously struggling with a lot of things. He just told us his whole life story (that happens all the time). He was really in need of help and was so sad. So, we shared a scripture and talked some more and I offered to send him text messages with scripture to read and his face lit up! He was so excited that there was someone to help him. So, needless to say as we parted ways that night his countenance was so much brighter then when we first started talking to him.

 

I know that this church is true and that God really does speak to man. We have a living Prophet on the earth to lead and guide in the right direction.

I know that God listens to and answers our prayers and always will as long as we are willing to do the talking. I hope you all have a great week and keep smiling!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

~February 20, 2013~

Hello Everyone!

I hope that you all had a great week! Well, of course this was another great week on Temple Square full of ups and downs and all arounds! The first week of the transfer is always a little crazy around here, but we are all getting in the swing of things.

 

I wanted to tell you about a few miracles....So, I was talking with my old companion Sister Brickley (who just got back from being outbound in Reno) and she was catching me up on all the things that happened while I was gone. So, she told me about a man named Ellis that we were teaching together and he finally got baptized! I was so excited to hear that! His wife has not yet been baptized but he is and is so happy! He had two different baptism dates when we taught him together.

 

Then I don't know if I shared this miracle but also when I was with Sister Brickley we met a man on the square who's name is Abakar. He is from Saudi Arabia and the day we met him was his first week here. He came to the square just doing some site seeing and when I saw him I just felt so compelled to talk with him. So I did and found out that he had no idea who Jesus Christ was. So, we walked over to the New Testament paintings (in the North Visitor Center) and we started teaching him about Christ and who He is and all about His life. As we got to the painting of the crucifixion Abakar looked at me with the most sincere face and said, "they killed him?" and I said yes and then he pointed at the painting and with an even more sincere face he said, "Who did it?! Which one of them did it?!" He had already begun to love the Savior after hearing about His life for only 15 min.

 

So, of course he referred for missionaries and then we tried to call but could never get him on the phone. But, we would see him periodically on the square. Well, the first transfer I was in Texas apparently he came to the square looking for Sister Brickley and I to tell us that he had gotten baptized!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How amazing is that?! The day that we taught him about Christ he found the Elders and they started teaching him too.

 

The church is so true. I can't even put it into words how true it is. It is something that can't really be put into words. It is something that you have to feel in your heart and then you know. I hope you all have a great week and know that your Heavenly Father loves you and is always aware of you! Don't ever give up on Him or yourselves! Love you all and have a great week!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

~February 13, 2013~

Hello Everyone!!!

How was your week?! I hope it was great! Of course it was another great week on Temple Square! We had our transfers today and I am staying with my wonderful companion!!! We were companions in the MTC and are going to be companions now the last two transfers of our missions! Crazy stuff! So, in my own words "we started our missions together and will end our missions together" not many people can say that!

Well, anyway for the miracles of the week! Well, we have been teaching many great people and found two new investigators this week. Unfortunately one of them is not really sure what he wants. I think that he knows the church is true but that he is just confusing himself with all the other stuff from the world. But, we will pray for him and hope that he calls us again. Also, yesterday we met a girl named Katie from Scotland who is 16 years old and she already went to church by herself! She wants to learn more and so we told her we needed to talk with her parents and so we called today but no answer. Hopefully we will get a hold of them and they will let her learn from us! She told us they said they don't really care but of course we have to hear them say it.

Also, we took a wonderful couple around Temple Square and got to teach them so much! They were so grateful and love the church. They weren't sure about learning more but they wanted to make a donation to the church! We don't really do that so we told them that they could send in their comments and what not. So, anyway it is amazing how the Lord keeps blessing us with so many miracles! I know that as we do all that we can, we can and will find all those that God wants us to find.

I really love being a missionary! Have a great week and keep smiling!

Love Always,
Sister Armstrong