~September 25, 2012~

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? I hope this week has treated you well! I have a miracle that I want to share with you about Fred! So, Fred is our investigator who is Jewish but then turned Christian and now claims to be Catholic but feels something special about the LDS church. He is quite the hoot! So, when we taught him this week we talked about a lot of things that he was concerned about and at the end he just made a side comment says, "Well who knows maybe I will be baptized before I finish the Book of Mormon"! And then he made another one that went like this,"Well, maybe when I get baptized and am a member of the church..." Holy Cow!

 

We kept feeling like it was not time to give him a date for baptism and then this last week we found out why! He told us that he feels that we have really invited him to come closer to Jesus Christ and that we don't just want him to get baptized. Which is true we really want him to come closer to Jesus Christ. I know that baptism is and essential step to eternal life but that is not why I am on mission. I am here to invite others to come unto Christ and if they choose to get baptized because of that then I have gone above and beyond the call of duty. Fred also went to church and found the missionaries! Of course there was traffic and so he didn't actually get to stay for church but he is bound and determined to do it this Sunday!

I wanted to share with you all the challenge that my mission president gave to us this week! It is that we will read 6 pages of the Book of Mormon everyday and mark different things in it. Well, I want to extend the invitation for you to read 6 pages of the Book of Mormon everyday and mark all the references to the God head in it! I know that as you do this that you will see just how amazing and true the Book of Mormon is and just how much it compliments the Bible. The Book of Mormon is truly the word of God and the only way that you can know this for yourself is if you read, ponder and pray.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

~September 18, 2012~

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Well, I don't have much time this week but I do have  a miracle to share with you! So, we have this great investigator named Fred who lives in New York! Now he was raised Jewish and has now gone Catholic; yes he is an interesting character, but we still love him!

 

So, anyway he has been telling us that he is not going to go to church until the missionaries contact him and what not. Well, the missionaries did not contact him but then he told us that he was going to go to church anyway! We asked him what changed his mind and he said that he was just too darn curious! He is so funny!

 

So, we are praying that he went and that he found the missionaries! I just know with all my heart that he is going to find his answers soon! I know that he will get baptized! I just feel it! When we were setting a return appt. with him between our two schedules we won't be able to call for a week and he said, "I don't know if I can go for a whole week without talking to you two!" I feels that something has come into his life that he can't let go!

 

Well, I hope that you are all doing well and have a great week! Here is a scripture that I really love:

Romans 8: 24-25 - 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

Sister(s) Armstrong and Shamanga (from Africa)

Sister Shamanga and Sister Armstrong
Music and the Spoken Word

On a personal note, Sister Armstrong wrote:

So, today for pday we are going to go to this Polynesian restaurant that feeds missionaries for free! I have never been but the sisters always talk about it. But, next week we are going to the home of someone in the mission presidency and we are going to go bowling and eat Chinese food. President Seppi, is his name, and he has offered to pay for everything! So, we have gotten some money together from our zone and are also going to Walmart this week to get things to make a date basket for him and his wife to thank them for paying for our zone activity! (that may or may not have been my idea! :))

 

~September 11, 2012~

Hello Everyone!

How are you all doing? Hopefully you have had a great week! Okay so first I have an update on Nick- the miracle from last week- for you! We taught him again and he was actually in the airport but he still read scriptures with us! He said he was going to church which was a few days ago and we call him tomorrow to find out!!! He is solid as a rock! When we shared with him about Christ visiting those in the ancient American continent he said that it just makes sense. And it does!!! I mean why would Christ only visit those who lived in Jerusalem when God loves all of His children no matter where they live or what race they are- 2 Nephi 26:33 " For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he ^ainviteth them ^ballto ^ccome unto him and partake of his goodness; and he ^ddeniethnone that come unto him, black and white, ^ebond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the ^fheathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile. " We love Nick!!!

So, a miracle this week is that we found a new investigator on mormon.org! He came on and was just so interested in learning more! He said that he had met with missionaries before but that he never took the step to get baptized! So, we have been calling him but we are kind of playing phone tag right now. I am sure that we will get to talk with him soon! He already left us a message saying that he started reading the Book of Mormon again! The church is true!!! Thank you all for being so great! I want to invite you to start reading the Book of Mormon if you have not already and really take your time to go through and know what it is that the Book of Mormon is telling you. I promise that as you do this you will see so clearly the gospel of Jesus Christ! Have a great week!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong

Sister Armstrong also wrote the following when we asked about her new leadership opportunity:

"Well, yes I am a Zone Leader which is way more responsibility then District Leader. This means that my companion and I work together as Zone Leader's because there is so much work to do. We have been given stewardship over 20 other sisters in the mission. We are one of the biggest zones! And this week our zone had 4 baptisms!!!! Awesome!!!! The goal that we have set is to have 15 people enter the waters of baptism this transfer and I know that we can do it! It is great to be able to serve the sisters in our zone and motivate them to do the Lord's work. The Lord is really stretching me this transfer and really molding me for something more... not sure what it is but I am really being tested. So, thank you for all the leadership skills that you both taught me and always encouraging me to take those leadership opportunities it has completely helped me in my missionary work."

Leadership Opportunity~Sister Elizabeth Armstrong (Zone Leader)

~September 4, 2012~

Hello Everyone!!

How are you all doing this week?! I hope all is going well and life is treating you good. Well, I am dying to tell all you of the amazing miracles that have happened this week! First of all I have a new companion, her name is Sister Shamanga and she is from Zambia, Africa! That is miracle number one! I have been dying to have an African companion and now my prayers have been answered! She is awesome! She speaks a really cool Zambian language, but I am not sure what it is called. All I know is that Natasha means thank you! Okay miracle number 2: We have a new investigator named Nick!!! You won't believe how we found or should I say how he found us. So, we were leaving the North Visitor's Center (on T^2 of course) and this man is walking by and then he turned and looked at us and said " I think you two can help me." Then he proceeded to tell us that he has been to many churches and studied many religions and the more he studies the LDS faith the more it feels right to him and then he said, "What do I do now?" CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?! I had to hold back my tears and excitement so I didn't scare him away! So, he had told us many times that he had not been to church yet and so finally I just asked him if he would like to go to church and he that he would love too. Then we taught him about the Holy Spirit and how that is what he is feeling right now. Then shared with him how to get a copy of the Book of Mormon because he travels a lot and so he may not be home if we mailed it to him. Then we got his info and set an appt. to call him the next day after church to see how it went. I mean how does that happen?! And I mean there is no other mission in the world that could teach someone who is always traveling and never home! Well, then we called him on Sunday and he told us about how he found out that his boss is a member of the church and they tried to go to church when their work schedule got changed on them. But, his boss took him to the YSA ward at BYU for break the fast. He LOVED it! He said that everyone was so nice and that he just could not believe it. Then we just happen to call right when he got back from break the fast and we taught him the entire restoration. He told us that it is definitely possible that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. Then we invited him to be baptized once he came to know that all of this was true and he said that he looks forward to the day! So, then we invited him to be baptized on September 29th and he told us, "You know I have a lot to learn and I know it will take some time but I know that I can be ready on September 29th!!!!!!!!!!!! My companion and I were just in shock! In 24 hours he found us and then committed to be baptized in less then a month and bought himself the Book of Mormon! This is one of the biggest miracles that I have witnessed on my mission. There are many more wonderful things that have happened this week but this is the best one! Hope you all have a great week and never forget that God loves you and knows you and will always be there for you!

Love Always,

Sister Armstrong