Week 41

Hello Everyone!!

This week has been good!!  We had some slower days because I haven't been feeling well on and off, but it was still a pretty successful week!!  First of all, James and Jeremy are on date!!!!  We are pretty excited for that!!  They fed us Monday night and we talked with the parents and they are super on board!!  Then in our other two lessons this week, their mom Lupe sat in and then Tom their dad sat in on Friday night!!!  Then Sunday they didn't come to church because they slept in :/ But they did come to a fireside that night and they were talking with the Bishop and other ward members and had a great time!! They are an awesome family and I absolutely LOVE them!!  So they are doing great and things are coming together for their baptism!  It's such a great feeling to be able to watch someone actually progress towards baptism!!  Anyway, then Josiah was good this week, although he did have a bad day on Saturday and was feeling really low so he told us that he wasn't going to be baptized.  It broke our hearts because he is so ready!!!  So we went over yesterday afternoon and we helped him resolve his concerns and we hope to help him make it to his baptism!  He is having a hard time right now and says he isn't feeling that it it's the right time to be baptized, but we know that if he is baptized he will receive the blessings that he needs to make it through this hard time!  Anyway, we will be working hard to keep him on date!  Then we have some good referrals that we will be contacting this week so that's exciting!  We are still working with Kim and she is ready to make the changes she needs to make to go to the temple, but some of the main things aren't just dependent on her, so she is patiently waiting for things to change.  But she is amazing and we love her!  Then Thursday we were able to go to the temple!!!  It was so amazing!!  As a missionary, going to the temple is just about the greatest thing you can do!  I love it!!!  Other than that, it has been a slower week, but we have been striving to continue to be exactly obedient missionaries and are definitely seeing the blessings!  I hope you all realize how blessed we are to have the gospel in our lives, and that that gratitude will lead you to want to share it with everyone around you!  I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

Me by my trusty bike!  Don't know why but I think I look so much older here....

 At the temple! I love this Sister!!!

 This was for a project that our zone is doing!  An Elder that is on FB in our mission will be putting them on our FB page!  Check out the Scottsdale Arizona Mission page!  I think that's what it would be called...I wouldn't know! ;)

Week 40 1/2 way mark!

Hello Everyone!!

This week has been absolutely AMAZING!!!!  And I hit my 9 month so I'm halfway done!  I still think I have a whole mission left, but sooner or later reality will hit!  I've learned so much already and have SOOO much more to learn!  Anyway, missionary work.  So this week we have been riding our bikes around neighborhoods in our area to street contact from 8 to 9 and then any time in between going to homes of potential investigators, less-actives and so on.  This week we had at least a short conversation with 26 people!!!!!!  I told my STL that I felt like a real missionary this week.  She said "opposed to a fake missionary?"  Haha, what I meant is I just feel like I've finally gotten over myself to just go and do the Lord's work and OPEN MY MOUTH!!  We have met some interesting people for sure!  I love getting to meet so many different people, it's something that I definitely cherish out here!  On to investigators, James and Jeremy are doing great!  AND....their mom participated in both of their lessons this week!!!!!!!!  It was so cool!!  The second lesson she basically bore her testimony on the peace that we can feel from feeling the spirit and how it must feel in the Temple!  Then she told us she would come to church, and she did!  She loved it!  She said that it's so different, but she likes it a lot.  She likes the differences.  She told me that she is just going to stick by us during church so that we can guide her.  Oh, and pretty cool fact: she is originally from a city near Guadalajara but also around the cities that Haley has been serving near!  I got a tie to my twin!!  So fun, just thought I would share!  Then we have Josiah....and HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!  We are so excited!!  We set it last night, but he set it.  Right now it's set for September 9th, but we may have it earlier, we will just wait and see.  But that is his date for now!  It IS a Tuesday, but that's when he has his two little ones, and he really wants them to be there, so if anyone was confused, that is the explanation!  He is so ready for baptism!  He has a testimony, he comes to church (he hasn't quite made it on time to Sacrament, but we are working on that!), and he accepts every commitment that we extend to him.  I'm so excited that I have been able to see him progress since I've been here!  Then Monica sadly dropped us just today, she thanked us for our time and told us that she would call us up if she wanted to take the lessons again, she just wants to look around in other churches for right now so that she knows what church she really wants to join.  Marie is doing okay...she's still crazy....we may drop her but we are kinda waiting for her next lesson to see where she really is.  Then we have Kim coming to church with her boyfriend, and he is actually opening up a lot because at first Kim said he definitely wasn't going back to church....well...he's come twice! Yay!!  Our next step is getting them to the temple!  We are also going to be working with Shawn on getting to the temple!  It's just been an amazing week and I'm so grateful for this time that I get to be a missionary!  I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week!!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 Here are pictures for my 9 month mark!  I burned some socks because I didn't want to burn any clothes....

 

Well, I crashed on our way out of our apartment Wednesday, but it's all good!  I landed on a pile of rocks..but could have been a lot worse!  First crash on bike! 

 

Week 39

Hello Everyone!

These past few days have been good!  There isn't much to tell, but it's been good because serving the Lord is ALWAYS good! :)  So Wednesday night we taught a sweet lady named Betty.  She was actually first contacted by Sister Heap!  So almost a year and a half ago!  We followed-up on our commitment to read the Book of Mormon.  She hadn't really read much, so we read the first two chapters with her.  I think it helped her a lot and I think reading with her will help a lot as well, because it can be a little confusing if you aren't used to it.  Anyway, she is a sweetheart and I love her and hope that she progresses to baptism one of these days!  Then Thursday we taught Jack about the Plan of Salvation and it was a very long lesson....he soaks everything up that we teach him.  And he is almost done with reading the Doctrine and Covenants, so he had a lot of questions for us!  Then Friday we did weekly planning all day and talked with the other sisters about our plan of attack to get our ward members involved in missionary work.  We will still be working out kinks to better motivate our members, but I think we are starting in a good place.  Then Friday night was the best.  So, we had a lesson with Marie at 6:30 but we were a couple of minutes early, and she wasn't home.  We didn't want to leave so we walked over to Josiah's so that we could talk to people along the way if we saw anyone.  We actually did talk to a lady who we see around the complex a lot, but haven't really had a conversation with her.  She was a really neat lady, and maybe one day she will let us talk about the gospel!  Then we saw Josiah and had a good visit with him.  Then we walked back to Marie's and she opened the door and starting ranting about how we were an hour and a half late and she was only 10 minutes late, but we asked where she had been and she had actually been in the hospital.  Anyway, it's funny because she was looked happy to see us but was trying to get mad at us at the same time, and we think she has some mental problems but is pretty there.  Anyway, it was pretty exciting.  It was good to know how much she cares about us!  And she actually came to Sacrament meeting on Sunday which was awesome!!  Then Saturday morning we went out with the other sisters to do what we call "member teachings".  We taught two different families how they can participate in missionary work, and it was good!  Then that afternoon we were busy with studies and more planning.  Then that night we saw James and Jeremy because they weren't at our appointment we had set on Thursday.  Then we had our scripture class that night and we talked about how to find answers for yourself in the scriptures.  I think it went really well!  Then Sunday was good!  We had the boys and Marie at church and ALL of our recent converts came which is exciting to see that retention!  Other than that, nothing really happened.  It's been a good week, and Sister Lords and I have recommitted to being consecrated missionaries.  This happens a lot, but we honestly have to recommit almost daily!  Anyway, I'm really excited to see what this week brings!  I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 So...I finally wore my hair down and it's getting so long so I had to take a pic of it!

I love my companion Sis. Lords!!

 

Week 38

Hello everyone!

I hope your week has been great!!  This past week and a half has been so great!!  I LOVE the area that I get to serve in!  We of course always need to work on getting the members involved in member missionary work...but that's nothing new, and we are getting more enthusiasm which is awesome!  So last Monday we met with Monica and taught her the Word of Wisdom, and she committed to living it and that it all made sense!  Then we met with her again this past Monday and she said it's been hard to keep it, but it's a work in progress, which is fine as long as she still has the desire to keep working at it!  That meeting we talked about tithing, and again she committed to paying her tithing after she is baptized!  She's coming along, we just need to get her to church and get her a baptism date!  Then Tuesday we were able to have a good visit with a less-active member, and we hope that she is coming around and will gain a solid testimony of this gospel.  Then we saw James and Jeremy that night.  We taught them about scripture study, and they did great during the lesson!  Then the next lesson we had with them we taught them about obedience, and again they seemed to grasp it!  Then the next time we met with them which was Monday night, they joined us at Audrey's house for a back to school Family Home Evening.  They both received back to school blessings from another member of the ward, and after they told us that they felt happy and warm!!  We are SO happy that they are grasping the gospel so well and seeing it bless their lives!!  They are wonderful little boys and we love teaching them!  Then Thursday we met with a less-active member who is a convert that didn't really have a firm testimony.  So we sat down with him and answered questions that he had about 1 Nephi 1.  He had some awesome questions.  We were so happy that he was asking so many questions and being open with us so that we can know how to best help him.  He's a very sweet man. Then we had another movie night at Brother Monson's house and this time we watched 17 Miracles.  It was really fun, and Josiah came!  He really enjoyed it and was also able to meet some more members!!  Then Friday we met with Nalani, who is a sweetheart!  She has been less-active for a long time, and is ready to learn more about the church and start getting involved again!  Friday we just listened to her and her troubles, then Tuesday we set up a plan as to how we are going to help her.  We decided that we are going to teach her the lessons as if she is an investigator.  We are so happy that she is so eager to learn more about the gospel and hopefully make the steps that lead to happiness!!  Then we met with a man named Shawn who is less-active as well.  He has a strong testimony, we just have to help him get to church!  That seems to be a common problem..but by the end of my mission I'm going to be really good at convincing people to come to church! ;)  Anyway, Saturday we didn't have any lessons, but worked on some paper work to track our member missionary work.  I hope you all follow Elder Ballard's request to invite QUARTERLY!!!!  Anyway, missionary work is awesome. :)  Then Sunday was Testimony meeting, and our ward mission leader bore a strong testimony on member missionary work, then I bore my testimony, then Audrey bore her testimony on how awesome it is to go out with the sisters to lessons!   Then two other sisters bore their testimony!  It was really powerful, and I personally hope that it gets our members more excited to participate in this wonderful work!  Then Tuesday we saw the Watrous kids who are recent converts.  They are super sweet kids and we got to re-teach them the plan of salvation and they knew it all!  So, it's been a pretty awesome week!  I hope you are all doing well and helping the Lord Hasten His work!  I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 

Week 37

Hello Everyone!

This week has been awesome!!  So... I don't have my planner with me so I don't remember all of the details of this week.  But This week we weren't able to meet with Monica which was sad, but we get to see her tonight!  Then we were able to meet with James and Jeremy a few times this week which was fun as usual!  We have a date set for them for August 9th!  They should be ready to be baptized by then!  Then we were able to see Marie and she has committed to taking the stop smoking lesson tomorrow, so we are crossing our fingers that she follows it and is able to finally quit smoking so that she can be baptized!!  We also met with Josiah and committed him to pray about being baptized, and he told us last night that he doesn't feel comfortable committing right now, but that he is open to learning more!  Everyone else is doing well!   Then Friday night we spent a few hours at the stake center to start setting up for a big BBQ that we had with the Eldorado ward.  The goal was to have a get together with the two wards, and have nonmembers attend and receive a tour of the church building so that we could introduce more about our religion.  But it took a lot of time to set up! Friday night we just set up tables and chairs, then Saturday we were at the church from 11 AM until 8:30 at night.  We got there and started decorating, Sister Holman and I put up the streamers, then we also went around making sure that the rooms looked presentable.  The BBQ had a great turnout!!  There were quite a few nonmembers that came with their member friends and they all seemed to have a great time!  The sisters participated in a pie eating contest that ended up in a food fight between them, but it was pretty funny to watch!  Everyone had a great time!  Toward the end we were able to give Josiah a tour and it was so great!  He said that everything made sense and that he really liked it!  Then Sunday was great!  Only James and Jeremy were able to make it to church, but Josiah said he will make it next week he is just still recovering from his shoulder injury.  I love you all and hope that you have a great week!  

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 24th of July BBQ

So......we needed a place to chill the watermelon until we cut it later in the afternoon

on Saturday so....we filled up the baptismal font with cold water and a few bags of ice..

in our defense it was our Bishop's idea!  Probably a once in a lifetime opportunity!

This is us after chalking!  Sister Moser, Sister Hopkin (our STL they were on exchanges), 

Sister Lords and I!

Week 36

Hello Everyone!

This week has been absolutely amazing!  I love my new area and know for a fact that this is where I need to be right now!  So Monday we basically traveled all day then we got back to the apartment at 5:30 and I started unpacking, then we went to a lesson with a lady named Monica!  On our way over to the lesson, we were on bike of course and it poured!!  So we were soaked, and this was only the second time she has had missionaries to teach her....so we felt bad, but she's super cool!  We had a really good lesson with her and we were just so excited!  She is really open and we are so hopeful that she will join the church and that by doing so she will just be a lot happier!  Then we tried to meet a few other people, then headed home to plan and then I finished unpacking.  Then Tuesday we had a lesson with two boys who want to be baptized, their names are James (11) and Jeremy (9).  They stopped Sister Lords and Sister Taylor while they were walking and asked if they were mormon, they said yes, then they said they were mormon too, but they weren't baptized but they wanted to be baptized.  Turns out that their cousins and grandma just got baptized into the Spanish branch!  So we had a good lesson with them about the Commandments!  They are very rambunctious so we repeat ourselves a lot so that they remember everything we teach them!  Oh, we also had Interviews and inspections that were really good!  My interview was good!  I just absolutely love President Sweeney he is a very understanding and loving man, and I am just very grateful that he is my mission president!  Then we had to finish our P-day chores.  Then Wednesday morning we went out walking at 6 and on our way back to the apartment, we met a man who Sister Lords has met before but hasn't been able to catch him at home to teach him, so we asked if we could stop by later that day and he said sure.  So around 9 we went over to his house and started teaching him, and by the end we asked if he had any questions and he said, "no, it just sounds like I need to read this book (the Book of Mormon) and find out for myself if it is true."  We were a little surprised because we don't get that response ever....so it was really cool!  He told us to come back in 3 weeks so that he could have time to finish reading the Book of Mormon!  I'm really excited to teach him in 3 weeks, he is a very sincere and open man!  He just seems so ready to receive the gospel!  Then we saw Marie who is another one of our investigators, but she can't get baptized quite yet until she quits smoking.  This week we taught her about the importance of the Book of Mormon in hopes that it would help her understand her need to be baptized and also quit smoking.  Then we had a lesson with a man named Josiah. He stopped the sisters while they were out biking, and told them that he wanted to be baptized.  He had taken the missionary lessons in Texas, and wanted to be taught again because he was never baptized!  He is a super nice guy!  It was an awesome lesson!  Then we had a movie night at our ward mission leader's house with some recent converts and less-actives and investigators!  We watched Ephraim's Rescue and it touched me so much!  I love that movie and I love the example that those saints gave us in fighting for this gospel!  Then Thursday we saw James and Jeremy again and taught them about why it's important to be baptized.  It was good!  Then we saw Monica again and invited her to pray about being baptized and she said she would!  In our next lesson we are going to invite her to set a date to be baptized!  She was unable to come to church on Sunday, but said she would come next week!  Then we had a lesson that night with a man named Jack who is a recent convert, and I actually met him about a week after he first met the missionaries!  He is a super neat guy and is definitely converted to the gospel!  That lesson made me so happy!  Then Friday we had a lesson with Matt who is another recent convert.  He is awesome!  I can't really remember what we talked about, it's been a long week!  Then Saturday we went out at 8 and street contacted people and passed out flyers to a BBQ that we are having this coming Saturday for Pioneer day!  Then after studies we went out with Sister Sweeney to Costco to get a Camel pack and help her with some grocery shopping.  It was fun, we love Sister Sweeney!  Then we had another lesson with James and Jeremy and with Josiah.  We also had a lesson with a lady who's daughter was recently baptized into the single's ward, and I actually went to her baptism!  It was super cool!  She is opening up to the idea of joining the church, it was just a really good lesson!  Then Sunday we had church and James and Jeremy rode with us to church, but no one else came, but that's okay!  We have next week!  Then after church we did studies then went out with the other sisters to contact people that the Bishop didn't know, but they weren't home so we taught one of their less-active members.  It's been a wonderful week!  I hope you are all doing well!!  I love you lots!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman 

Week 35

Hello Everyone!

Well, this week has been a little crazy.  First off, I'm being emergency transferred back down to Scottsdale to the same stake but a different ward!  And I will be on a bike and will also be serving with Sister Hogenson again because we split the ward with her and her companion!  Crazy!  I'm really really sad to leave Show Low, I've met some wonderful people here, but I'm planning on coming back here to visit after my mission if I don't get a chance to come back during my last 10 months out here!  So Monday was really cool.  Sister Stevens and I had recommitted ourselves to being exactly obedient this past weekend, and Monday we saw the blessings from striving to be obedient!  We first went to see an investigator who claims she is always busy, but she was home and very open to meeting with us!  Then at the end her daughter started asking us questions about the plan of salvation, which was a miracle because usually she is not interested in talking to the missionaries, so that was awesome!  Then we asked if we could make Monday evenings a regular visit, and she said that would be fine, which was a blessing because like I said, she was always apparently really busy!  Then we went to go see another investigator that I hadn't met yet, and she was home and we set up a return appointment with her so that was a blessing as well!  It was an awesome evening!  And we knew that it was mainly because of our striving to be exactly obedient.  Then Tuesday we went out in the afternoon and first went to the Cluff's to use their computer to finish up a spreadsheet for us to be better able to track our ward's member missionary efforts.  Then we went to the memorial for Barb Sellards.  It was a very short and simple memorial, and I was happy to see a good amount of people to come and support Wes from the ward.  Sister Stevens and I opened and closed the meeting with singing "Lead Kindly Light" and then "Be Still My Soul" A Capella.  After the meeting, everyone came up to us to tell us how beautiful we sounded together, and some people told us that they even cried.  It was pretty cool.  I will miss being able to sing with Sister Stevens, because I get to harmonize and I miss doing that a lot!  Then we went to the Rova's and had a lesson with them.  It was a good lesson and we watched "Treasure in Heaven" and talked about consecration.  It was a very good lesson, and Sister Rova committed to coming to church on Sunday with Dillon!  We were very excited about that!  Then Wednesday we had our Zone Training Meeting which was really good!  I really enjoyed the trainings that we received on how to be better missionaries!  Then we went out to lunch with one of my Aunt's friends who is up in Show Low for a while!  It was very fun to have her take us out to lunch and visit with her!  She has had 3 kids go on missions, so it was fun to talk about her missionaries!  Then that night I was dropped of at the Rubert's to wait until they drove me to Hon Dah to meet some other sisters to do an exchange.  We had to do it this way because we also had a lesson with Steve Price that we had to go to, so we did some splitzies.  Then Thursday I was on an exchange with Sister Evans (who I totally Facebook stalked before the mission!) in Whiteriver!  It was a very interesting day!  We kept plenty busy, and along the way were approached two different times by some drunk men asking for money.  Oh what an adventure!  Then we exchanged back later that night.  Then Friday we didn't do much, then we had another exchange on Saturday and this time I was in my area and Herman White came with me.  We had a really awesome day!  In planning the night before, we had planned to see a potential investigator named Guy, and we were at the Farmer's market doing some contacting around lunch, and we met him there and found out that he is moving into our other ward!  Pretty cool coincidence!  Then we went out to see another investigator who has heard all of the lessons, and he was really happy to see us and we set up a return appointment with him!  Then we stopped by to see Wes and his friends and I told him goodbye since I found out that day that I would be transferred today.  Then we had dinner, then after dinner we decided to go see the Westbrooks to ask them about Jake and try to set up an appointment with him.  It was definitely our lucky day, because Jake was miraculously there!  It was so cool!  We shared a short message with him then set up a return appointment yay!!  Then we exchanged back.  Then Sunday was just sad because I had to say goodbye to everyone.  I've learned a lot up here, but I am also excited for the new adventure down in Scottsdale!  It will be good!  So that has been my crazy week, I hope you are all doing well!  I love and miss you all!  Remember to invite someone to hear our wonderful message quarterly!  

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 Here are the sweet Gardners!  He was our ward mission leader in our Rainbow Lake ward!  I love them so much!

I'm going to definitely miss my sweet Rovas!  I'll be back to ride horses with them one day!!