Arrived in Scottsdale!

Hi Family!! This week has been crazy!! The past few days have been wonderful I'll just write it all out for you all so everyone can read how I'm doing!

I don't really know how to start....I lOOOOVE my Mission President!! He is so wonderful!  He is a very funny guy but knows how to work hard!  I was blessed with a WONDERFUL companion!! Her name is Sister Heaps.  She is so dedicated, she studies hard, etc.  I just love her to death and we became companions not even 24 hours ago!!  We are in an area called Arcadia.  We are in a very wealthy area but I'm so excited!!  We actually went out to dinner with a member last night it was fun!  We had a few visits last night, and one of them was a recent convert.  His name is Don.  He is so wonderful!  He actually reminds me of one of my residents whose name was Don.  He is 86 and a widower.  He loves kids and is just one jolly guy.  Last night, he asked us to help him decorate his tree on the 16th of December and I just can't wait!  We can't go inside with him unless there are three of us Sisters so we just sat out on the porch.  It felt like a breezy summer night.  I love it here!!!  We had watermelon.  You read that right.  I ate watermelon at the end of November. :)  Anyway, we were talking to him and he is singing at the Ward Christmas party so he sang a little part of it for us.  He was so good and I was filled with even more joy than I already have right now!!  Tomorrow we will be eating at a members home and we will be stopping by six other members homes....the average weight gain is 20 pounds in this mission....the gym will become my best friend shortly :).  We also got a text today from an investigator that wants us to come teach her right away so we will probably just have lunch and head out!  Just last night being able to talk to a few people I have felt the spirit so much!!  I LOVE being a missionary!! I seriously love it!! I can't wait to see these next 17ish months pass by although I already really don't want them to end!!!  Please all try to get a referral in before Christmas!  I challenge you all to participate in missionary work and I promise you all it will bring you so much joy!!!! 

 

 

President & Sister Sweeney

Mesa Temple

 

MTC District all going to Scottsdale

   

MTC

Nov. 20, 2013
This week went so fast and I am on cloud nine that I have made it to P-day!! I love the MTC, but well here is how my day goes generally:
I get up at 6:30, then we exercise or just have prep time, then at 7:30 we go to the classroom to study, then Breakfast is at 8:30, then classroom from 9-12 then study time and a zone class then lunch at 1:40 then class from 2:25-5:25 then study time then dinner at 6:40 then study time or a devotional (Tuesdays and Sundays) then 9 we plan for the next day (just what we are going to do in our study time, then 9:30 we prepare for bed then go to bed at 10:30.  So the majority of the day I spend in a very small classroom so today has been a breath of fresh air especially because we were able to go to the temple this morning!
Nothing super special has happened but by Thursday, our whole district felt like we had known each other for a long time and we just clicked really fast which is great and nice to feel like I'm at home! I want to share a really funny story:
So by Sunday, we were all a little worn out because we had spent so much of our time studying and learning and just being really serious.  So on Sunday we had a refreshing day so to speak.  I did fall asleep during Relief Society...they really shouldn't turn the lights off during a talk...really really bad idea.  In fact I tried to take notes from the speaker and this is what I wrote down.... "When we have transfers or if our mission president changes, we must remember that is in change."  So you all can tell how awake I was by how much that didn't make sense :).  But what was so wonderful was the devotional speaker that night.  Her name is Mary Ellen Edwards.  All of you who can actually read other books, go find a book that she has written and read it.  If she writes close to how she speaks, you will be crying from laughter.  She was just hilarious from the beginning but I wanted to share a funny story from her talk.  She says "A mother mouse is with her mice.  A big cat jumps into their path.  The mother mouse turned and went "bark! bark! bark!" And the cat ran away.  The mother mouse turned to her little mice and said, "Now you know the importance of learning another language."  I wish everyone could have been there because just the way she told it was hilarious!! It doesn't matter that I won't be speaking another language, I'm scary enough as it is :).  I just thought it was a funny story I hope you all enjoyed it!  Maybe it was just that at that moment, everything was so funny, but who knows? 
I then watched a devotional from David A. Bednar which was really good and was on Christlike attributes and how we need to turn outward and not inward!  It was so great and he even tied in the cookie monster!! He said we are like the cookie monster when we say "I want baptism! I want to teach a lesson! I want investigators now!"  He just made a very good point that we need to get over ourselves and what we want and focus on what Jesus wants for us to do.  Tuesday night we had another great lesson from Brother and Sister Aidukaitis.  He made an interesting comment, he said "Once we make the decision to go to the Celestial Kingdom, every decision becomes smaller."  I would like you all to ponder that remark and hopefully make the decision to make it back to the Celestial Kingdom.  And I would like to challenge you all to read about the characteristics you must have to make it to the Celestial Kingdom in D&C 76! I hope you all try to find Christ in your life and have a desire to share it with everyone you meet!