~Happy Pioneer Day!~

Sis. Lee and Sis. Armstrong (missionary companions)

Sis. Lee, Viviana (after she was baptized) and Sis. Armstrong



Ready to go to the Pioneer Day parade on Pioneer Day

~July 26, 2012~

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Hope this has been a great week for you! Temple Square has been so crazy! I am convinced that all of China visited Temple Square this last week! Well, I am trying to think of which miracle to share with you. I feel blessed that we have had so many! But, I think that I really want to share with you about Joy. I met Joy yesterday and she called saying that her niece had passed away a few years ago and as she was going through her things a pass-a-long card from the church fell out. She feels that it is a sign from her niece.

I told her that it absolutely was! So, I told her about the Book of Mormon and what it is all about. She said that she would like one. Unfortunately right now she cannot meet with missionaries because she is basically on bed rest since her accident that she had.

So, Sister Lee and I will be teaching her over the phone until she gets well enough to have the missionaries over to her house. I shared with her that everything we have to teach her well with change her life for the better. Then she said something I will never forget she said, " I believe you. I feel that I have been missing something in my life and I have tried to fill that hole in my heart for years in many different ways. But, there is something telling me that you are telling me the truth." How amazing is that?!

She is so prepared for the Gospel and I just feel so blessed that Heavenly Father has entrusted me to take care of her and to help her find the truth. Well, I hope that you are all having a great week and that you will keep on smiling! I know that everything happens for a reason and that things as they are not will not forever be. Love you all!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

Oh PS Viviana got baptized!! And she asked Sister Lee and I to speak at her baptism-We were so very honored!

Sis. Armstrong also wrote us (on the realities of the mission):

"Okay well,  this week has been the longest week of the mission! We have taken so many tours and taught so many people. Mostly in Mandarin. So, yes I am learning Mandarin and it is so fun to speak it and then all the Chinese people freak out! It is hysterical! A lot of them understand or speak English and so I get to talk to a lot of them. The greatest thing about the Chinese people is that they only want to know about the gospel. They have just recently been able to come and travel in the United States and they are actually taught in school that God is not real. The teachers actually tell them that! So, every time we take a tour with them all they want to know about is everything we have to teach. They could care less about the history. Of course we always share pioneer stories with them because they love those. But, I have this great love for the Chinese people! We give away so many Chinese Books of Mormon it is not even funny.

We just learned that the only place in Salt Lake City that even has Chinese Books of Mormon is Temple Square! They are like gold right now! This is our only way of doing missionary work in China since there are no missionaries in Mainland China! It breaks my heart when they ask if they can have missionaries come or they ask where the church is and we have to tell them that we don't know. Even though we know that the church is in Hong Kong we can't even say that. But, we always tell them to look it up online and there are apparently so many little branches that can only be known by word of mouth. Once China opens up for missionaries it will be exploding with baptisms! These people are just waiting for someone to tell them that God is there. Last night we took around a bus load of about 30 people and at the end I bore my testimony of God and Jesus Christ and at the end one man told me that he believes me and that he would like a Book of Mormon. It is just so amazing that God has placed these great people in a place where they can receive a piece of the restored gospel.

Also, this week was Pioneer day! So, our Mission President let us go to the parade! This parade was like something that I have never seen before! It was two hours long! It was so fun and when we got there and were looking for seats, there was this sweet lady and her husband who had stayed over night on the grass and then left the tarp there for others. As they saw the sisters coming they kept telling us to sit there! They were just the sweetest! So, I have taken many pictures of the parade but of course I forgot my camera so I will have to send the pictures of the parade next week! Pioneer day here is not a joke! It is very serious and almost everything was closed! It was very interesting.

What else I think that is about it we are just working super hard. I felt bad because we have been taking so many tours and after a Mandarin bus tour, that didn't go so well, my sweet little Chinese companion broke down in tears and I just held her. This mission is not a joke! So many people say that it is just a beauty pageant. We teach more people and are on our feet more then any other mission. I just feel bad that I worked her so hard. I mean I think I have always been a hard worker but I am working even harder here. I mean it is salvation that is on the line. But, after all the tears she got up and we took another tour- all by her saying lets do it. If there is one thing that I want to teach her it is that we are on the Lord's time and we must work as hard as we can to bring as many souls unto Christ as we possibly can."

~July 19, 2012~

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Well, this week has been a great week! I get to stay with my wonderful companion from Singapore! How lucky am I?! I really feel that God loves me! Okay, I mean I know He loves me but that may not be the reason I get to stay with Sister Lee. It is probably because I am still training her but who is keeping track.

Well, this week we have seen so many miracles a lot of our miracles have been Mandarin miracles but I want to share with you an English one! So, we got to take Sister Lee's first investigator lesson. Which is when the Elders will bring their investigators here and we prepare a lesson on Temple Square for them. They are my favorite! So, it was Sister Lee's first and who shows up but the Assistants of the SLC West mission and their Mission President and they are all coming with us! This would happen when it was her first lesson! But, it went great! Viviana is amazing! She is the one investigating the church and she is so prepared! She wants to follow God with all her heart and she is really studying and pondering and praying to know if this really is the Church that Christ established when He was on the earth restored again. Well, she has come to know that it is and we will be attending her baptism this Saturday!! We are so excited!

Well, I hope you all know how much God really loves you and is watching over you! Everything will work out in His time and in His way!  I love you all and hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Armstrong

~July 11, 2012~

Hello Everyone!!

How are you all doing this week? Well, this is going to be a short one but I wanted to tell you the miracle that we had! BONNY GOT BAPTIZED!!!! I have been teaching her since the beginning of my mission and when I say beginning I mean since like week 2 of my mission. And finally on July 7th she was baptized and was confirmed on July 8th. It is a miracle that I am still having to let sink in. I am so happy for her and I just love her so much!

Also, since Bonny got baptized we kind of don't have any investigators. So, we have been working really hard to find new people to teach and have been saying many prayers. Well, answer number one: Kaysy, an old investigator that just stopped answering the phone, emailed us and said that she wants to start learning again so that she can get baptized.

Answer number two: we met a man from the Philippines who met missionaries a year ago and then they stopped coming because they got transferred and he wants to meet with missionaries again. He kept reading the Book of Mormon and wants to learn as much as he can and so we will be teaching him this week!

I am so grateful for all the blessings that come everyday and I know that this work is the work of the Lord. These things don't just happen out of think air or for kicks and giggles. These things happen because God is real and His hand is in the lives of all of His children on the earth, which is everyone!

Hope your all doing well! Have a great week and keep smiling!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

~Pictures of Sister Elizabeth Armstrong~

Driving back from taking all the new sisters to Walmart.

Sis. Armstrong and her companion at the mission FHE.

Sis. Armstrong and Sister Brickley at the mission FHE.

Sis. Armstrong, her companion, current zone leader
and former zone leader at the mission FHE.

Sis. Armstrong and her companion on their first day together.

~July 4, 2012~

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Well this week has been a very crazy and busy week on Temple Square! They are not kidding when they say that the square is busy in the summer. So, this transfer I am serving in the Beehive House, the home of Brigham Young, and there are about 4 companionship's in the home at a time. Well, yesterday my companion and I, alone, took 147 people through the Beehive House!!! We were exhausted afterwards! I don't think I have slept that good in a while! :) Well, there is one miracle this week that I really want to share with you!

So, my investigator Bonny, who I have been teaching for 9 months, now has a baptismal date for this coming Saturday! We are so excited! Well, we were again at the Beehive House and two ladies from Singapore walked in and since my companion is from Singapore we ended up taking the tour even though it was not our turn. Well, some more people came in and I was asking where they were from and they said Manitoba, Canada. Well, that is where Bonny is from so I was telling them about her and how she is getting baptized. Then he said well I am a Bishop there and turns out he is Bonny's Bishop!! Of course I started crying! I just could not believe it!

We would not have met them if the ladies from Singapore had not come in at that moment. I firmly believe and know that God is real and He knows us personally! We have so many miracles this week as we try to find new people to teach. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

Sis. Armstrong also shared this with us: "Today we are going to someplace as a mission to watch fireworks. So, we get to stay out after curfew. I wonder if we get to sleep in tomorrow...Probably not! :) Got to love being a missionary!

[and during a tour, she wrote]: ...In that same tour I ended up telling them that I am a convert and one man asked me if a dear friend introduced me to the church and I said "as a matter of fact yes that dear friend is my step mom." He thought that was just so great! I wanted to share that with you because when he asked me that I just felt that it was so true and really dear friend did introduce me to the Gospel."

~June 27, 2012~

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Well, it has beene a pretty great week here at Temple Square. We have had some pretty seriously hot weather but other than that, a great week. I am sure there is a miracle in here somewhere. But I really want to share a story:)

So, my companion and I and two other sisters took what we call a motorcoach, which is a bus load full of people, 30 or more, that we take around Temple Square for about 30 min. Well, they were a senior group of Lutherans and they had so many questions. We were able to clarify some things for them and really share our testimonies.

Well, at the end, like ten old ladies and one man came up and asked if I had a boyfriend and when I said "no" they all asked if they could set me up with their grandson!!!!! (I died laughing) It was the cutest thing ever! But, I was so happy that I was able to help them know that we believe in Christ and He is the center of our faith!!

I know that the miracle is that they were all touched by the peace at Temple Square. I love being a missionary here! I love that Heavenly Father knows us all perfectly!

Well, have a great week! Love you all!

Love Always,
Sister Armstrong