I'm Home!!

Well, my mission came to an end. :(  It will come for all of you too, but don't be scared!!  It is kind-of sad to be home, but this is just the start of my next mission in life!  I wanted to share a few favorite scriptures that have meant a lot to me on my mission, and they sort-of just encompass my testimony!

1- Mosiah 24:13-14 "And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.  And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions." 

     -I know that this scripture is true.  I know that as we face afflictions that we can lift up our heads and be of good comfort because the Lord will ease the burdens that are put upon our shoulders that we cannot feel them.  The Savior is there to lift us if we will let him in!

2- Alma 7:11-12 "And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of ever kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.  And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." 

     -I love this scripture so much and loved sharing it on my mission with different people.  I learned a lot more about the Atonement on my mission.  I realized that our Savior truly knows exactly how we feel and how, and He truly does know how to succor me.  There were different times on my mission where I felt like there would be no way up, and the moment I knelt down and prayed to my Heavenly Father to use the Savior's Atonement in my life, I was able to be freed from the sorrow that I felt. 

3- 2 Nephi 32:3-5 "Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ.  Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.  Wherefore, now after I have spoken these words, if ye cannot understand them it will be because ye ask not, neither do ye knock; wherefore, ye are not brought into the light, but must perish in the dark.  For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do."

     -One of the favorite things I gained a testimony of was the power of scripture study.  I love this scripture that it tells us that if we feast upon the words of Christ, which are in the scriptures, then we will know all things that we should do.  I've learned a lot about how we can receive so much revelation through studying the scriptures. 

I just want to bear my testimony that I know that this church is the true Church of Jesus Christ.  I know that it was restored through the prophet Joseph Smith and that we have a living prophet guiding His church today.  I know that our Savior lives and that He knows each and everyone of us.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that we truly can become closer to our Heavenly Father by reading it daily.  I loved my mission and am so grateful for all that I learned in the last 18 months! 

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

Me with C.H. Packer and his daughter, Caralyn.  I love them so much!!

Me with Aly and Rylee!  These girls are so much fun!!

Me with Brent and Christina!  I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to work with them!

The Holladays!!  Such sweet people!

The blanket I made for President and Sister Sweeney!  I had a lot of fun making it :)

One last picture with Sister Christensen!!  I'm going to miss her!!

Sister Mckellar and I riding to the airport!!!

So, I started off with Sister Wallace in the MTC, then we flew home together!  And Elder Russell wanted to get in the picture too ;)

Leaving Phoenix, Arizona!!!

Arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah!!!!

LAST UPDATE!!!

Hello Everyone!!

Well, I don't know about you, but I absolutely cannot believe that I made it down to my last week on my mission!!  It's been a wonderful journey and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to serve the Lord!  I will send an email next week when I get home with my testimony and any miracles from my last week! 

So this week has been really good!  It went by really fast, and it felt like we kept very busy!  We were able to visit a lot of less-active members this week so that was good!  We have been working with the Galliens and they are doing really well!  Their son is 12 and we went over the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he was so sweet, he pulled out 2 Nephi 31:13 that has the gospel condensed into it, so it was cool!  Then we read just a couple more verses from that same chapter, and it was just a really cool lesson!  Then on Tuesday we were able to do some Family History with Jeff, then on Wednesday we went to the temple with him, so that was really good!!  Also on Wednesday, we had a cool little miracle.  We were trying to find a house to contact a less-active family, and their neighbor was outside and she said "are you the sister missionaries?" and we said yes, then she told us that she wasn't active but she wanted to start getting back into going to church again!  So we haven't had a return appointment, but we were really excited to meet her.  We've also been working with Taylor and she is doing really well.  She has been opening up to us a lot more so that we can help her out more, and hopefully we can help her get to the temple soon!  Then Friday morning we were able to do some service for the Galliens and we dug up weeds and picked up trash in the backyard.  We honestly had so much fun.  Missions change you :).  Then that evening we visited Sister Mun and she gave us cute little pillows with a sister missionary embroidered on it!  Then we had a good visit and hopefully this week we can share a little message with them.  Then on Saturday we had a cool little miracle, we found a family!!!  Their names are the Houstons and they are a very sweet family.  They have two little kids, 4 and 2.  We had a short little visit with her, and she said that no one has really shared any message about the church with her, and she said that she's open to us coming over to teach her more about our church!!  We have an appointment with them tonight and are excited to see what happens!  It's been a great week and I'm excited to see what this last week of my mission brings!!  Thank you all for all of the support that has been sent my way, it has definitely carried me through some hard times.  I love you all and have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 my cute pillow from Sis. Mun :D

 Me and Taylor - I love her!

It's the Chees - I love them so much!

Week 77

Hello Everyone!!! 

This week has actually been really great!!  We were able to go to a Family Home Evening with a family in one of our wards and a Recent Convert came and he brought his mom who isn't a member, and it was just a really cool evening!  The lesson ended up being on the Articles of Faith which I honestly haven't taught much on my mission, but I thought it was really cool especially for her since it lays out the basics of what we believe!  Then Tuesday morning was really cool!  We went to a quilting group to visit casually with a lady who isn't a member, but has been contacted by missionaries for 8 years.  When we first contacted them, he talked a lot more than she did, so it was just a really good thing to be able to get to know her better, and the chat we had with the other ladies was about our religion as well, so it was great!!  Oh, and she was embroidering squares for me and Sister Call that she will put on a pillow!  I thought it was so cute and thoughtful!  Anyway, then we went to a luncheon with some more ladies in one of our wards, and they had a neighbor there who isn't a member, and it was cool to chat with her as well and we were able to answer some of her questions about missions!  It was cool too because Sister Call and I are close to finishing, so of course everyone was asking what we are doing after, and how our missions have been.  Anyway, then we saw Taylor and she is doing well, we were able to go over with our Relief Society President, so that was so helpful, we love our members coming out with us!!  Then before dinner, we contacted a young man named Jake.  We found him trying to contact a potential investigator.  He was home with the door open, and his cute 3-yr. old boy greeted us at the door with a lot of handshakes :).  His son has epilepsy so he struggled to speak, but he was just so cute!  We asked him if we could come back to share a message with him and his family, and he said he would talk to his wife and get back to us, hopefully she is open!  So that was our exciting miracle this week, because we LOVE finding families!! :)  Then that evening there was a preparedness dinner for one of our wards and we sat at a table with a couple who aren't members but live up in Pinetop, but it was good to visit with them too!  Then Wednesday we had some good lessons in the afternoon, one of them being with a man, Alfonso, who had dropped the sisters about a month ago.  He said once one of the last sisters left he wouldn't listen to the missionaries, but he was open to us when we stopped to share a message and he even told us that he asked his daughter if she wanted to go to church last week, which I was super excited to hear because that means he must want to go at least a little bit.  Then that evening we had another member come out with us and we taught a less-active couple, and the member happened to know about some program that the couple wants to get into to help them with finances, so it was really cool to have her there to help them.  It really is always a good thing when our members come out with us!!  Then Thursday was good, we were able to see Brent and Christina, and they are doing good, they keep telling us that they're really going to pick up the Book of Mormon and read it, so hopefully next time.  Then we saw Jeff and he came to church on Sunday and he blessed the sacrament AND his mom came to church with him!!  It is just too fun to watch him progress. :)  Then this weekend we had Zone Conference and it was really good, we learned some really cool things including a little training that was given to the General Authorities before conference on the Sabbath Day.  It's amazing how many of us become relaxed with our Sabbath Day observance, but it is really our gift to Heavenly Father to focus our activities toward Him.  Then Saturday we did a lot of service painting, and I was on an exchange with Sister Krutsch who I trained a year ago!!  It was fun to be with her again!  Then we had a great Mother's Day yesterday, and I hope you all had a great day as well, and told your moms how much you appreciate them!  I'm sure grateful for my very special mom, and am so very grateful that she is with us today!!  I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 

 

 And this perfectly showed our companionship!  I thought it was funny :)

 So, a long time ago we made soap.......and we ruined it so this was the result!

So, if you have the cleanest care out of your zone, you get what we call "The Golden Plates".  And if you know me, cleaning is one of my strengths but this was the first time I got the plates, so I was pretty excited! :)

Week 76

Hello Everyone!!

It has been a crazy and good week out here in Taylor, Arizona!! :)  So, we were able to see one less-active family Monday evening and that was great because we had yet to sit down and have a long chat with them, because just a lot of things have been going on with them and we needed to hear the story to know how we can best help them out.  It was a really great visit and we did learn more about how we can better help them to be active in the church and to progress to the temple!  Their 12-yr old boy will be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood soon so we are hoping to get him ready for that!  Then on Tuesday I was on exchanges with Sister Wallace, who if you remember was my companion from the MTC!!  So that was pretty fun, we had a great day of work!!  We were able to visit with a less-active family in the morning, and we hope to help him get back on his feet.  He was ex-communicated many years ago but he is such a sweet guy and he loves our visits, so we hope to help him to come to church again!  Then we were able to contact some people in the afternoon, one of them being a nonmember couple that has been contacted by missionaries for 8 years.  They are the sweetest people, but they think that they don't want to change.  They have a couple of sons that are members, so they have a lot of influence around them so hopefully we may have a chance with them?  She is a quilter, so we connected there with the crafts, so you never know!  They have only had sisters for the past 5 months, so maybe that's what they need? :)  Then we were able to see Jeff and he is doing well!  He brought his friend who isn't a member to our lesson, so he's doing great!  He wants to share the gospel with everyone, and that's my favorite thing to see in a recent convert! :)  Then we were able to see the Shumway girls and they are doing well also.  Then on Wednesday I went on another exchange with our New Mexico sisters so I got to drive for a total of about 3 hours, so that was fun!  The sisters there are doing great!  They were able to commit a 9-yr. old boy to a baptism date in June, and his mom is taking him to church which is great because she has been less-active!  Then on Thursday we went to the valley, so that was another 6 or so hours of driving.  Then on Friday we were able to attend our Mission Leadership Council meeting and it was a really good meeting!  We learned about some cool doctrine about being persistent with some investigators, and also about the Lord preparing people around us.  Then we came back that evening.  Then on Saturday we were able to do some service with one of our wards in the morning, and at one house that we were helping build a fence, the member sent us over to talk to a less-active lady that was outside at the moment.  So we went to go talk to her and she was really nice!  Her husband isn't a member, and she told us that we could come back to visit with her so we hope to do that soon!  So it's been a really great week and we are looking forward to working hard this week!  I love you all and hope the best for you!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 We decided to have a sleepover with the sisters last night!!!  We have fun :)

 Me and Amanda.:)  I love her so much!!!

Me and Kilee at her baptism a couple of weeks ago!!  I love this girl!! :)