Monday, March 21, 2016

Peyton's Baptism :)

Hello friends!

Today I would like to tell y'all the very moving story of a young man named Peyton.

Peyton, is a 15 year old, and super cool. One day we are all going to see him playing MLB. This year Peyton made a decision that has changed his whole family. He decided to take early morning seminary. Peyton's family hadn't been to church in a loooong time, and so he wasn't really raised in the Church and didn't know very much about it. But, because of the amazing examples from his neighbors, when they asked him if he wanted to take seminary, he said yes. One day, the sister missionaries knocked on the Richards' door and sat down for a visit with Sister R. She then told them that her son had been thinking a lot about being baptized. He started taking the lessons and ever since then his family has come to church faithfully every week. Peyton was baptize on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday, and will be ordained to the Aaronic priesthood next week. I can't even tell you all how proud I am of this kid. He has changed his family because he decided to be baptized. He didn't do it because his parents wanted him to, or because it's just what everyone else was doing. He did it because he knew it was right. This amazing family is well on their way to becoming eternal and I am soooo proud of them! Right after Peyton was baptized, the old relief society president leaned over to Hna. Reed and said, "Their names have been on the roster a very long time." This baptism was an absolute miracle. All of you youth out there, you can have a make a huge difference in your families! So basically this weekend was a very happy one for the Clayton ward:)

This week we saw so many miracles that they all ran together and basically just turned into one big miracle week. Right now our ward is doing a 40 day missionary fast. Each day for 40 days a different family has signed up to fast for the missionary efforts on the ward. At first I thought that it might be good, but we didn't see anything. In the last few weeks it feels like this ward is on fire and everything is moving in the right direction! This week in sacrament meeting there were around 160 people. A few months ago there were about 130 on average. This ward is going places! 

I literally have never been so happy to be a missionary. Sorry Mom, but I might not come home! Just kidding, I will. But I just don't know how I'm going to be able to say goodbye to these people! I've only been here for a little less then 4 weeks and I already love them so much!

So, that was our week. :)

Remember that the Easter Bunny isn't real, but Christ is and through him we can find new life!:) #Halleluja

I hope everyone is alive and well! I love you all! 

Hermana Fields
Baptism!

Pollen Puddle :/

A story our investigator Caelem told us :)

Monday, March 14, 2016

Springtime Miracles :)

Hola amigos mios!!!
 
Spring has sprung upon Clayton, North Carolina. The trees are blooming, daffodils and tulips are springing up, and there are bugs spattered all over our windshield. Gotta' love the bugs of good ol' NC!

This week was great! We saw sooo many miracles! Our investigator passed his baptismal interview, (he's getting baptized this Saturday!)  And, we have another investigator, (that is a member referral) that was set with a baptismal date in his first lesson! We are being so blessed!

Also, exact obedience miracle! As a companionship, we decided to be more diligent in how clean we keep our apartment, and guess what happened this week? We unexpectedly had everyone and their dog staying in our apartment! 1st,our sister training leaders surprise attacked us with only a couple days warning for exchanges. 2nd, the night I got home from exchanges in Goldsboro, I found out that the Hermanas in Smithfield moved into a different apartment and a crazy weird thing happened and their water and power got shut off.... So they lived with us for a few days! I felt like we were running a boardinghouse! If we didn't keep that apartment so spotless, it would have been pretty embarrassing! 
 
This area is doing so great! I'm so grateful to be here with Hna. Reed! We are really trying to work our hardest and we are seeing so many miracles for it! Oh, and a pretty neat miracle we saw this morning.  We found a member in the gym! Normally we can't work out in the gym because there is a man that works out there every morning, but today we had the sisters from Smithfield with us because of their housing situation, so we could actually go in!  So, we walked into the gym and all the Hermanas went and got on the treadmills. For some reason, I decided to stretch for a little longer and a random guy walked up to me and said, "Sisters! Where are you serving?!" He had apparently just moved in, but couldn't find the ward online for some reason! He's a super cool guy, too! He's a pilot from Costa Rica and he went to Georgia on his mission! His wife is moving here from Peru in a few months!  If we didn't have the other sisters staying at our house we never would have met him and he still wouldn't know where to find the church! God works in crazy ways!

That was our adventurous week! Oh, and we also had a super great zone conference with the Bakers! I love being a missionary. :)

Oh, and if you haven't yet, go watch the new Easter video! followhim.mormon.org !!!!

Have a blessed week! Que Dios les bendiga! 

Hermanita Fields
Us with our campions LAST transfer

Us with our companions THIS transfer. We literally all just switched companions! #HermanaLife

Monday, March 7, 2016

Clayton, NC and 3rd Time's the Charm ;)

Hey y'all!

Sorry I wasn't able to write last week! Things were a bit crazy because I got transferred! Hermana Nyre stayed in Smithfield and I moved up the road to Clayton!!! This place is the promised land! We're the only missionaries in the Ward, so we teach English and Spanish, which is kinda' weird, but great! Guess who my companion is?! Hna. Reed! Haha, for the third time!!! How crazy is that?! Who's companions THREE TIMES?! Us, apparently. Good thing we get along!!! At first we were both a little worried that our companionship would be trunky city because we're both going home soon, but we've made a goal to push each other to work harder than ever. So far, I feel like I have been working harder than I have in a long time. It feels great, and we're seeing so many miracles, and it has now been 21 days since I have had a bad day :) 

Something not so great happened this week, though. There is a family here that the sisters had been working with that was set to be baptized this Saturday. Everyone was so excited because they seemed so converted and excited. They had even already started sharing the Book of Mormon! This week though, we got a text that said that they didn't want anything to do with Mormons in their home. He had talked to someone and they had been convinced that Joseph Smith was a false prophet and that only Christ was going to restore his church and a lot of other very not true things. We were devastated. It was so sad that they could be influenced so easily! However, it turned out to be something that really strengthened my testimony. The more I thought about all the things they told us were wrong, the more it didn't make sense. I reflected a lot on the truths that I have held dear since I was little and realized just how grateful I am for the knowledge I have. The more I learn about the gospel, the more I see that it just makes sense! People always tell us to not be blinded by what we grew up in, but it's really because I grew up in it that I can't deny that this is the true church of God. I have seen and felt so much that I just can't deny it! I have studied the Book of Mormon, I have had countless answers to prayers, I been in the presence of men I know are prophets of God and I know without a doubt that it's all true. So, the whole thing was both good and bad. I'm grateful that the Lord helped me turn it into a learning experience instead of a faith weakening experience. 

So, that's basically our week! A lot more happened too, but I don't have time to type it out...

Have a blessed week!

Hermana Fields