MTC 5 pictures

The typical missionary picture with the big map. Only took me five weeks to finally take a picture with it :P

Elder Tew and Elder Wall

Elder Eyers is probably one of the funniest people I have ever met and it is not unusual to find him standing funny like he is here :P

MTC 5

Oh... Hey there! (: It's been such a good week. We got our new elders on Wednesday and it was such a blast to do the new missionary orientation with the zone leaders. It's a special opportunity to be STLs with my companion and have the chance to do things like that and to interview the sisters and really strive to build unity in our zone. The new elders are a lot of fun and they all seem to be adjusting really well. They bring a fun energy to our zone and we're just one big happy family!

Sundays and, of course, P-days here are my two favorite days of the week. This past Sunday, two zones had a combined sacrament where President Bertasso from the MTC mission presidency was presiding. He announced that the two zones are now one. Crazy! So our zone is about 70ish missionaries now. It will be interesting to see if everyone will come around and try to get to know each other. 

Okay.. So the purpose of bringing that up was to say that this past Sunday they chose one person from each zone to speak in sacrament. Yep, you guess it. I was asked to speak...in French...in front of 80ish people including President Bertasso. What typically happens is everyone in the zone prepares a talk for Sunday because you don't find out who is talking until they announce the program in sacrament. In this case, however, my branch president gave me a heads up beforehand because there were so many people so that was nice. I was really nervous but I felt like it went well. It's just crazy to see how much I've already learned. Can you picture me speaking French?! It's a real thing! Haha sometimes it even freaks me out. It's really special, though, and I'm thankful for this special and sacred opportunity. The gift of tongues is real! We had a really cool experience yesterday in zone conference where they had us all kneel with our companions, pray, ask for the gift of tongues and just really draw the spirit in and then teach another companionship as themselves. The spirit was so strong and it was such a testimony builder of how important it is to rely on the spirit. 

Also, my district and I were asked to participate in the "People and Purpose" activity for new missionaries tomorrow which I'm really excited about! It's basically like a big role play scenario. My companion and I will go on stage with the "investigator" and kind of set the scene and then the missionaries who just arrived that day will take over and participate in teaching. It's actually a lot of fun. I really enjoyed it on my first day here. 

Funny story: So I wrote a quote on the board in our classroom yesterday and Sister Jacobsen said "why did you write that on the board? I hate quotes! Are you a quotes person?!" So anyway, my companion and I went to teach our investigator and when we came back she had erased it! So it was their turn to teach and while they were gone I wrote a bunch of quotes on post-it notes and stuck them all over her stuff for her to find all day. Ha! Good times(:

Spiritual thought: I was reading in Moses chapter 6 and I really like verses 31-34. Look it up (; In times where we feel inadequate, it's important to remember that the Lord promise to "abide in [us]" if we do as He commands us and trust Him. He has invited us to walk WITH Him. So just like I follow up with my investigators after an invite I'm now following up with you... Are you walking with the Lord? 

I know that as you strive to do His will, you will be blessed and your days will be much happier. It's hard and it is something I have to work on everyday, but it's worth it. We're all learning together anyway, right?! So don't try to do it alone!(:

Much Love,

Soeur Stahura 

MTC 4 Pictures

INTENTIONAL matching this time with Sister Woolley (:

The Sisters from New Caledonia and Vanuatu

Sister Fouts - She left this week for NYC speaking Haitian-Creole

Mes Soeurs (:

MTC 4

Sorry this isn't going to be super long. Let's be real... I do the same thing 16 hours a day 7 days a week for a month and a half haha. My weekly letters will be way better in the field, I promise! My companion and I have been assigned to serve as Sister Training Leaders in our zone and we, along with our zone leaders, will welcome in two new districts tomorrow. We will have one Haitian-Creole district  and another French district coming. We have 17 elders coming in so our zone will be a total of 27 elders and 5 sisters. Crazy! I think it will be fun and I hope we can welcome in the new elders and make them feel comfortable.

We had two districts leave yesterday to their respective fields and that was really hard to say good-bye. It's amazing how fast you can grow to love these other districts like family. But I guess that's what happens when you are all working toward a common goal!

On Sunday, we had a combined Relief Society meeting with all of the sisters in the MTC. Mary Ellen Edmund spoke and she said "an ideal missionary is one who is doing the best she can do". The Lord knows my capacity perfectly. He knows where I am, where I'm going, and WHY! He promises to never "leave [us] comfortless". I've had lots of little miracles happen this week that just make me stop and realize that I do have Heavenly help and He is really there. I love the promise that is in D&C 68:6 if we will follow His plan and example.

 6 Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you; and ye shall bear record of me, even Jesus Christ, that I am the Son of the living God, that I was, that I am, and that I am to come.

I know that He lives and I know that we are never in this alone and we ought to never be alone. It was amazing. Earlier today my companion and I taught a gold tag which is just a volunteer that comes in and we teach them in English. Some are recent converts and some are real investigators. Some other sisters in our zone that left today passed him on to us I have a feeling our gold tag is a real investigator! He's way cool. His name is Dylan and he is married with a four year old little girl, but only he came because he said his wife isn't super supportive of the religion. Anyway, we were teaching him the plan of salvation and some things we said really caused him to think and he just kept saying "that's really cool!"  "I've never thought about that!" "that makes sense" or "it's kind of mind blowing." It made me realize that for people who have never heard this message before find it so incredible. Because it is! But I think as members we sometimes forget how incredible it is and it just becomes "normal" when really we should be just as excited if not MORE excited because a lot of us were born into it and didn't have to wait to find the message later in life or even in the next life! I love this gospel! It's so true (: 

Funny story...Sorry to ruin the spiritual stuff... So today I went to get my laundry out of the laundry room just before I came to email and I went to the dryer that had some of my things in it and realized it was still going when it should have been done a long time ago. Any way, I decide to open it and see that it is in fact my stuff PLUS some whites that an elder put in there. He must not have seen my stuff. SO, I had to sort through an unknown Elder's underwear. Super fun.... Haha 

Final thought: we used the talk "Be Strong and Of Good Courage" by Thomas S Monson from the April 2014 priesthood session for a lesson this week. It's way good and I encourage you to read it(:

Thank you for all of the love and support! I can feel it all the way from here and it's amazing!

With much love and gratitude,

Soeur Stahura 

MTC 3 Pictures

We played charades last P-day haha

 Elder Carleson fell asleep doing TALL - a language program. The missionary life is rough haha

The three sisters from my district going to the West Indies

A sister in our zone got a package from her family to have a "fiesta" with the sisters haha

Elder Ariotti being "artistic" haha

The new elders that came this week. Don't mind the photo bomb haha

Sister Pace going to Paris, France

Sister Hyde going to the West Indies

Sister Woolley  going to Paris

Sister Vance and my companion, Sister Caress

Unintentional matching round 2

Elder Zhu and Elder Carleson

P-Day! With our mission shirts. Thiis was taken about an hour ago haha.

MTC 3

Three weeks already? What?!

Sorry if my thoughts are scattered in this email. It's so hard to pick and choose what to write about. Everyday is a new adventure. Everyday is a new challenge. There are so many highs and lows, but the highs are so good that the lows don't even matter. It's so amazing to me how the gospel stays the same while we change and there is still so much power behind the word. I've gained so much perspective and understanding in just three weeks. It's truly incredible. This week we have had incredible speakers at our devotionals and we also watched the broad cast of President Packer's funeral on Friday. It caused me to think a lot and really get in tune with the spirit. I have a firm testimony that families can be together forever. Despite what others have done wrong, you are in control of your own salvation and you can make it possible for yourself. YOU. Alma 34:32 states, For behold this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors".  I love looking forward to the future and realizing what amazing things I have in store for me. The Lord is planning now for our salvation. What an incredible blessing it is to really begin my life with my mission as my foundation. With my foundation built on Christ I can and will overcome all things with Him. Christ is my rock so I shouldn't be afraid to fall into His arms, to hit rock bottom, when I need help. 

I was reading in Moses this week and the first chapter was really powerful for me and it was a good preparation to go to the temple today. In this chapter Moses is transfigured and can be in the presence of God. After this experience, Satan came to tempt Moses but in reply Moses says, "I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of him: for his glory has been upon me, wherefore I can judge between him and thee. Depart hence, Satan" (Moses 1:18). Do we realize how much power we have over Satan? Are we continually going to Heavenly Father for ALL things? Are we too quick to forget where that power and that love comes from? Every single person has the light of Christ. Every single person can discern between right and wrong, good and bad. We have what Satan wants most - a body. What an incredible gift it is to be here on earth and to know that by simply being here means that we chose to follow His plan. The first counselor in our branch presidency, Brother Newell, said, "the veil is over our minds, not our hearts". I thought that was such a profound thought I absolutely believe it. Our souls crave for the spirit and the communication with the Father through the Holy Ghost, but it's our minds that get in the way. The feelings of the spirit are familiar feelings, ones that we had before this life and ones we will have after this life. In Preach My Gospel it says, "this gift is a foretaste of eternal joy and a promise of eternal life". Our job is to gain as much knowledge as we can to put thoughts to those feelings and draw closer to and comprehend God. The Bible dictionary tells us that knowledge is "one of the attributes of God". This is why it is so important to be spiritually nourished each day. 

We cannot let the gospel become common ground. No matter how many times we teach the restoration, no matter how many times we read the same verse, no matter how many times we hear the same response - we must never lose the wonder of this gospel. It comes down to the primary answers we all know. Read, pray, search, ponder, repeat. It's okay to ask for a reconfirmation. In fact God wants us to ask again and again. Let us relive those feelings of confirmation by inviting the spirit into our lives each day. 

A new quote from a devotional I love is "It's true isn't it? Then what else matters?"

Everything is going great. I love it here and I am so excited to be in the field. The language is so hard, but I know it will come and I have already grown leaps and bounds. I know I will have incredible experiences with this beautiful language and will gain so much insight. We went to the temple this morning and the Sisters from New Caledonia were in the session as well so as we sat in the Celestial Room I saw them and just pondered. I pictured the people of New Caledonia and was flooded with the thought that I will be able to help women just like these sisters start their journey to the House of the Lord. Not only that, but families. It is incredible trust that the Lord has put in me to invite these people to come unto Him. Seigneur, je te suivrai.  

Well, that's all for this week!

Love,

Soeur Stahura 

MTC 2 Pictures!

The day the Sanders dropped me off at the MTC

the second day we had to move residence halls because there were BATS!

can you tell how excited we were?

all my study materials

my companion and I after our first lesson IN FRENCH on the THIRD day

My companion and the other three sisters in my district that are going to the Barbados Bridgetown mission

My sweet friend sent me cupcakes the first week. Don't mind the missing one, I gave it to my investigator that day haha!

My companion and I on our first temple walk June 28

My district at our temple walk

Soeur Caress and Soeur Stahura

My whole zone at the temple walk

Branch president had almost everyone's camera taking pictures of our group haha

Provo Temple (:

My cute teacher, Soeur Vance. I just adore her!

Unintentional matching with Soeur Jacobsen. We have like three of the same skirts so it bound to happen at some point haha

Fourth of July with Soeur Lonas and Soeur Fouts (:

Schedule for this week

Soeur Lonas. She left this morning ):

Sisters of the Zone. Don't mind the creepy statue heads in the back haha

Elder Fraga and Elder Child haha!

Elders of the Zone

Soeur Tilby and I today! For P-Day

MTC 2

When they say the days are long and the weeks are short, they aren't kidding. Each day feels SO long but I look back and realize I'm 1/3 of the way done with my MTC stay. This whole mission thing got real last night. I had to say my first "good-byes" to a district in my zone and that was pretty hard. It was weird waking up this morning and realizing they're not here anymore. In two weeks the Paris/Leon France and the Haitian Creole district from our zone will be leaving. That will be even harder. I guess I need to start preparing myself for the "good-byes" now because I'm going to experience it every transfer I'm sure. Ten elders will report to our zone tomorrow so that will be fun.

Last Wednesday, two sisters from New Caledonia and one sister and elder from Vanuatu reported to the MTC. They are going to be serving in Tahiti! It was so fun to meet them and I love seeing them around the MTC. I get so excited when I see them because I'm sure that love will just multiply in the field and the people of New Caledonia will become family for me. 

I'ts so hard to remember what happens throughout the week. All the days just run together and next thing you know you've been here for two weeks. We have devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday night. They are the best things ever. They are so uplifting and seeing an auditorium filled with young men and women all joined together for the same purpose is the coolest thing ever. We had a special devotional on the fourth of July and then we were all allowed to stay out later to go to the parking lot to watch the fireworks but we couldn't really see them so our zone went to our favorite spot on campus, "the garden", which isn't really even a garden haha. Anyway, we could see the fireworks a little better from there. It was such a good night. The next morning was rough, though haha. I went to bed way past my bed time (; 

There's so much love here at the MTC. The spirit is so abundant. It's hard, no doubt, but the spirit offers so much peace and I realize I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

Sundays are the best days ever. It was fast and testimony meeting and listening to the testimonies born in french was incredible. The spirit was so strong. Our french may be broken and sometimes a little choppy but the spirit is the same. I'm grateful for the gift of tongues. I can understand the french pretty well which is half the battle. I have a harder time speaking it but I think if I stop worrying about sounding silly and put off the natural man and just try to speak it more, it'll come. My branch president is the kindest person ever. He loves his missionaries and he makes sure we are all taken care of. He reminded me to keep my head up and that it will come in the Lord's time. He offered many words of encouragement and reminded me of the traits I possess that are truly gifts from God. I CAN DO THIS! And even if I butcher the lesson at least I can bear my testimony in French and declare what I do know! 

I taught relief society on Sunday and it went so well - in English, though. I give all the credit to the spirit for directing my thoughts to be able to teach to the needs of the sisters in the zone. I look forward to the day that I can do the same thing in French. It will come.

Heavenly Father didn't send me here to fail. I am not doing this alone. This is a wonderful and glorious work. It is an amazing thing to see people from every walk of life, from all around the world gathering together to accomplish the Lord's work. It is even more amazing to see missionaries going all over the entire world to share one message. The church has been restored through Joseph Smith and we have a living prophet today. The Book of Mormon is the word of God, another testament of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Through the fullness of the gospel we find our purpose and understand the plan laid before us. A missionary in my zone, when I expressed fears, promised me I would be okay. They expressed that I am confident. I wasn't so sure about that but then I realized that if I exude confidence it is because I know, without a doubt, that what I am teaching is the truth and so much peace and joy comes from that knowledge. Even with a language barrier the Holy Ghost carries the truthfulness of the gospel to the hearts of those ready to receive it. This opportunity is one that will bless me throughout my entire life. The Lord has trusted me with this second language. On Sunday I was thinking and realized that I will be the only member of my immediate family that will speak a second language and the Lord has much more in store for me than just using the language for my mission. I love you all and I am so grateful for all the continual love and support I receive. I have cherished every letter and package I have received. Thank you for helping me become me. 

With much love and gratitude,

Soeur Arianna Stahura 

Sœur Stahura!