Week 32

Hello Everyone!

I am sorry, but I only have a few minutes left to email.  Nothing too exciting happened this weekend.  We continue to work with Cazzie and she is doing really well!  We taught her the stop smoking program on Monday, and she was so excited to do it!  We have been SUPER busy this week with lots of service!  We have stopped by Wes almost every day this past week because he has been in the hospital because he let his health slip while he was taking care of his wife.  We sang to him and he wants us to sing at his wife's memorial!  He is such a sweetheart!  We have really enjoyed getting to know him more!  We also were able to serve a less active member who is a huge sweetheart.  We chatted with her and cleaned for about 3 hours.  It's just been an amazing week!  We don't have anymore investigators, but we have a few potentials and I am positive we will be gaining a few new investigators in the future!  I love you all so much!  I'm sorry that this hasn't been the best update, but I am safe and well and am still in Show Low with Sister Stevens, and for that I am very grateful!  Have a wonderful week and if you have time, feel free to read "The Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar.  It's absolutely AMAZING!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

Week 31

Hello!

This week has been crazy!  On Tuesday, Sister Knouse and I ended up covering both of our areas because our companions were both needed in White River with some sisters.  So we had a plenty busy day!  We ended up seeing the less active couple with the woman who was close to passing away.  She definitely had the death rattle, so I knew that she would be passing soon, and sure enough she passed away early the next morning.  It was good to be able to visit him and hopefully comfort him during this time in his life.  Then on Wednesday we had a Zone Conference combined with the Snowflake zone.  It was a great conference!  They designed it to where we taught ourselves, instead of our mission president and his wife, and the assistants teaching us.  We talked about how to overcome pride, doubting our faith, and something else that I can't remember right now.  But it was just very helpful for all of us.  Then we had lunch and then did a session in the Snowflake temple.  We had approx. 70 people in that session, and it is a tiny temple, so we filled the entire room!  It was pretty fun!  It was just neat to be in a temple session with so many missionaries!  Then we took pictures and went to dinner before going to a lesson with Steve Price.  We had a great lesson with him, and they surprised us on Sunday by coming to our Show Low 1st ward where they actually belong!  It was so exciting to see them!  Our lesson was even on keeping the Sabbath Day holy!  Then Thursday I was on an exchange with Sister Pew.  She is an amazing missionary and just made me feel so good about myself.  It's been a trying couple of months, but it was good to hear from someone that they were proud of the way I am dealing with everything and am proud of my efforts as a missionary.  Then Friday we had dinner with a less active member and had a great conversation with her, and she is letting us come clean her windows tomorrow so we are excited to be able to serve her!  Then we saw Cazzie and had a great visit with her, and tried to answer her questions about the introduction to the Book of Mormon.  Then on Saturday we saw the Skinners, and set a baptism date for July 5th!  He needs to quit smoking, but we are hoping that he will be ready to be baptized on that day!  And I completely forgot that Steve set a date for November 8th!  I sure hope I'm even here for that!  But we are excited that he finally set a date to be baptized!  Then we saw the Cluffs and were then kidnapped for ice cream that night.  Sunday was good as usual, and we had a surprise investigator come to church with her daughter who was baptized a year or so ago.  It was a great day for people coming to church!  It's been a great week and we hope for an even better week this week!  We find out transfer news this weekend and hope that we get to stay together!  I love you all!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 Snowflake Temple

 I know this isn't the best picture, but I had to get a picture with Sister Stevens and Sister Heap, because Sister Heap happened to train both of us!  And it was a crazy windy day up at the temple!

Sister Stevens and I after doing a session at the Snowflake temple! I really struggled keeping my eyes opened....

Week 30

Hello Everyone!

This week has been crazy busy!!!!!  Oh my goodness, it was long, but fast at the same time.  Monday we met with some recent converts that haven't been coming to church, and still didn't come to church this weekend and weren't at his step-brother's wedding.  So we are going to try to get in contact with them, but we are sad that they are pulling away from the church.  Then we saw Cazzie in the Rehab center.  Then Tuesday I was with Hermana Knouse (a sister in my apartment) in her area while our companions who are STLs were doing exchanges with other sisters.  We had a busy day and were able to teach a few lessons.  Hermana Knouse even taught a lesson in spanish, even though she has only been out for about a month.  It was good!  Then Wednesday we were in my area and we taught a lot of people.  My favorite lesson was a surprise lesson with the members who had us over for dinner.  When we got out of the car, the member told us that they had a coworker of her husband's over who has shown interest in learning more about the church!  So I started the dinner conversation off with asking him about what he was interested in, how open he was to learning more, if he had a religious background, etc.  It turned out to be a really neat lesson, and he really enjoyed it!  We gave him a Book of Mormon, the Restoration pamphlet, and the 20 minute Restoration video that we can pass out.  It was really cool!  We just need to set up another appointment with him!  Then that night we saw an investigator whose wife is less active, and we had the Relief Society president with us who got her information so that we could find her records and put her in our ward!  So that was fun!  Then Thursday we saw some members to support them in their trials, then Sister Stevens drove down with Sister Pew to the valley for their meeting they had on Friday.  Then that night Sister Knouse and I tried contacting some referrals, and the one we tried to contact was an apartment address without the apartment number, so we did a little tracting which was fun!  No one was interested in talking to us, but that's okay!  Then Friday we woke up early and left to a city park to help set up for Show Low days!!  It was fun being able to help in the community!  Then one of the staff members who is a member told us that we should take up a free booth and make a proselyting booth!  So we spread out and some missionaries got tables from the Stake center, then we went with the other sisters to get a tent.  We weren't able to be there while people were actually roaming around, because we went instead with a member to go see some less active members.  The wife is on her death bed....I know this more because I've seen it, and she hasn't eaten anything for two weeks.  So we visited with him for a minute then the Relief Society president gathered all of the dirty dishes in some garbage bags to take home to wash then return them Saturday morning.  Then Saturday morning we were privileged to be able to attend a temple sealing at the Snowflake Temple.  It was a very sweet ceremony and such a cute couple!  It was really fun to be able to see a sealing since I haven't been able to attend a sealing before!  Then we went back to the less active members that we visited Friday and I saw that the Relief Society president had left the clean dishes so I went to work putting them all away and trying to tidy things up a little better.  Then we saw James who was well-behaved which was nice!  We hope that he is understanding better the importance of being baptized.  Then we saw Cazzie who just found out that she will never be able to walk again, and will never leave a Rehabilitation center, and she's only 50 years old.  So we sang her some comforting hymns and told her we would be back soon.  It was hard to listen to her tell us this news.  As a missionary, and I'm sure one day as a mom, I just want to take these burdens away from the people we teach.  Then Sunday was full of church and then visiting with one of our Ward Missionary Leaders and then teaching the Rova's who I love so much!  It has been a wonderful week!  And this week I hit my 7 month mark!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone!  I hope you all have a wonderful week!!  I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 Here is a baby blanket that I finally finished crocheting for a member in Arcadia!  It was a fun blanket to make and is made out of 136 individual squares put together!  ;)

Week 29

Hello Everyone!

This week has been amazing!!!  It's been so busy and I just love it!!  On Monday we went to a Family Home Evening group that some older couples in the ward have put together.  They were so funny and we had a great time!  We also got a little lesson on a talk from the Ensign!  Then we saw Cazzie at a Rehabilitation center and had a great visit with her!  Then Tuesday we helped out at the community garden where Sister Stevens was paired up with a nonmember who has actually talked to some sister missionaries before.  The next time we see her we are going to invite her to hear the missionary lessons!  Then we visited some members that kidnapped us and bought us lunch.  How rude right? ;)  No, we love them and love visiting with them, especially as they are going through some really hard things right now.  Then Wednesday we had District Meeting and I gave a quick training on Obedience.  I'm a little bit of an obedience nerd....but that's okay, because you learn as a missionary that obedience brings blessings, but EXACT obedience brings miracles and I've seen it!  Then Sister Stevens gave a training on how to teach the Restoration in ten minutes using the proselyting pamphlets that we get.  We've been using it recently, but she did a great job at helping us get better at teaching!  Then we had dinner with some Recent Converts which was really fun.  She is from the Philippines and it was really cool to hear her story about coming over to America!  We also talked about them going through the temple as it's been almost a year since they were baptized!  Then we had another great lesson with Steve.  We asked about his plans to be baptized since neither of us were there when he told the sisters that he wanted to be baptized in August.  We found out that he is really ready to be baptized and is really excited as well!  He's been planning it in his head for a while so that was fun to hear!  Then Thursday we went to the garden again in the morning, then went to lunch with a member, then went with that member to do some service for an older widow in the ward.  We washed all of her outside windows then visited with her.  We had a great time!  Then we saw the Skinners for a short message, then we were kidnapped again by the same members that kidnapped us for lunch!  We had a good time serving them a little around the house!  Then Friday we went to that member's house again to help make breakfast for people that were coming to help clean and move things, then we helped them by cleaning out their chicken coup!  It was fun I suppose! ;)  Then we went to the chiropractor to get one of my ribs popped back into place?  I don't know, all I know is that my back sounded really sick when he popped my back.  Then we went to a wedding that was very interesting.  There weren't many people there, but it was nice!  Then we visited the Rova's and had a great visit with them about the Atonement.  We love sharing that message, it just makes us so happy!  Then Saturday we served some more at the garden then served some members and helped clean out their chicken coup as well!  Then we saw Cazzie again, but only were able to have a short lesson.  Then Sunday we had a stop-smoking lesson with Dianne to get her ready for baptism!  She was so ready, she had already stopped smoking that morning and fasted, and received a blessing to help her stop smoking!  She is too good to be true!!!  Then we saw the Rova's and shared a quick message with them.  It was such a great week and I continue to learn so much about having Christ-like love and being self-less!  I hope you all have a great week!  And participate in missionary work at home!  ;)

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 The Skinners

Top of our church in downtown Show Low

Week 28

Hello everyone!

This week has been good!  Monday we didn't do too much, but Tuesday was exciting.  We have members of the Relief Society in one of our wards signed up to take us out for one hour to either go Visiting Teaching or to go contact someone with them.  Well on Tuesday we were taken out by a member to go to see a less-active member that is a good friend of hers.  We had a wonderful visit with her and hope to be able to work with her some more!  She was very open to us coming over and was just very nice.  Out here we visit people from one end of the spectrum to the other.  Some cuss at us and shoo us away; some don't ever answer the door; some are never home, etc.  So as always, it is refreshing to visit someone who is very nice to us and is willing to have a conversation with us!  Then we were able to go to a Relief Society activity and make some banners and get to know the members more, which I was grateful for since I am still new to the area.  It's so different from being a greenie.  I almost want to watch my interaction with the members when I was a real greenie.  I guess my perspective on everything has changed and I just am so much more open to talk to anyone and everyone.  Everyone on earth has something to offer.  I've learned so much from members, investigators, less-actives and so on and so forth.  It's just amazing and am feeling so grateful to be out serving a mission!  Then Wednesday we had District Meeting then finished studies and let Sister Stevens rest because she had a bad cold, so we thought.  Well Thursday I wasn't feeling well, so we didn't see too many people, but we still taught a little bit.  Then Friday we went to the doctor to find out that we had sinus infections, so we got our drugs then came home and napped off and on throughout the day.  Then Saturday we didn't go out either, because we still weren't feeling too great.  Then Sunday was good, it was long because I still wasn't feeling well because my sinus infection was still running it's course, but we were able to make it through all of our meetings and for that I am grateful!  Then we had my first lesson with an investigator named Dianne at a member's home.  It was such a great lesson and I am so excited to be able to work with her!  She is a really neat lady and is basically ready for baptism after quitting smoking and drinking coffee and getting married to her boyfriend!  So that was exciting!  Then yesterday we cleaned a lot and went shopping then rested some more at the apartment.  Sorry I wasn't able to email yesterday, I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!!  I love you all!!!  

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 

 Sister Stevens and I waiting for blessings outside of a members home in our car, with Ted their cat.

 Our cute little apartment in Show Low

​we only have a couch because we are in a members apartment...they don't live there but they own it, and this is their couch so we are pretty grateful for it, at least I am

Week 27

Dear all who will read this,

This week has been INCREDIBLE!!!!  Being able to start over as a better missionary with a new companion and a new area is so refreshing!!!  Every day we have been guided by the spirit and have been so busy every day!  Wednesday night we had a lesson with an investigator and his wife who is a member.  The lesson was so amazing!!  I could feel the spirit the whole lesson and he just gets the gospel.  He's so ready for baptism!!  He wants to wait until August to be baptized, but I am happy to know that he will be ready to be baptized when he feels it is the right time.  So that was a great way to start off this week!  Then Thursday we had a lesson with a less-active member and her husband who wants to be baptized.  It was an interesting lesson, and we aren't too sure that he will be able to be baptized soon, unless he understands the importance better.  But they came to church on Sunday so that was good!  Then we saw some other less-active members and some members just to uplift them with a short and sweet message!  Then Friday we first saw a member just to introduce me to members in the ward.  We had a great visit, but had to leave early because we had to go to a lesson with a less-active member who lives in an Assisted Living.  For all of you who know me, you know that I was just a little excited that I got to go to an Assisted Living and we can go often to visit other people because it is in our area!!! :) :)  Anyway, the lesson there was great!  The lesson started off with the member calling us to repentance about not having started the last two lessons with a prayer.  That right there made me happy!  It was a great lesson with her and she came to church which always makes me happy!!!! :)  Then we met some more members in the ward.  I wish I could express how happy I have been this week getting to know people in these two wards I get to serve in!  Then Saturday we got to go to the Community Garden to help out wherever they needed us.  We both watered some different plants and both got some sun and got a little wet.  It was awesome!  :)  Then we had a lesson with a young man who is less-active and it sounded like he was ready to repent, so that's always a good thing!  Then we had another lesson with the investigator we saw earlier in the week and it went better than we thought!  Then we had a lesson with a Recent Convert couple and it was awesome!!!  It was so cool!!  But, they didn't come to church, so apparently it wasn't as awesome as we thought. Then Sunday was great!  We cover two wards so we went to Ward Council in one ward, then Sacrament of the other ward, then went home for a snack before going back to the first ward and then stayed until that ended.  Then we came home and ate and studied, then went to dinner, then had a lesson with a less-active couple who I already really love!  It was such a good week and I am sorry I haven't taken pictures of how it is up here, I will try to be better this week!  I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman 

Holding a parrot named Ollie at a members house for dinner

 

Week 26 - Transfered to Show Low in the White Mountains!!

Hello Everyone!  I hope you all had a wonderful week and that you all appreciated being close to your mothers!  This week has been great!  On Tuesday we went to the Peterson's because I had been thinking of them all day.  So we stopped by and they told us a miracle!  We finally committed them to pay tithing recently so they paid in on May 1st.  On Tuesday we found out that Brother Peterson got a promotion in work that will be a full-time position which also includes higher pay and benefits!  This is so wonderful!!!  Sister Peterson had worked their budget down to the CENT to pay tithing.  And just a few days later Heavenly Father started opening the windows of Heaven to them.  That was probably my favorite day this week!  It feels so good to see someone progress in your area!   Then Wednesday we had Zone Training Meeting which was great!  We learned a lot from all of the different trainings on how to be better missionaries!  Then on Thursday we saw Don and Rene.  We had great visits with them and I am so grateful to have seen Don progress so much since I have met him.  Then Saturday we went out to lunch with Don because we were pretty sure I was leaving.  Then we visited another less-active and were able to go to an Assisted Living out of our area to visit a member who recently had her appendix burst and a stroke.  We only visited for a short while but it was fun being able to go to an Assisted Living!  Then on Sunday we visited the Petersons again and had a great conversation with them and I was just so beyond grateful to have seen the gospel bless their lives!  Then Monday I had to say goodbye to Sarah which was sad because she was my first baptism.  She will be a great member though!  Then Tuesday we had transfers!  I left Arcadia after 5 and a half months of serving there, and am now up in Show Low.  We have the Show Low first ward and Rainbow Lake wards.  It is only 65 degrees outside and I couldn't be happier!  And last night I saw stars again!!!!!  There was a full moon out, so you couldn't see too many, but you could definitely see more than from the city!  My new companion is Sister Stevens and she has been out for 10 months, she is from Texas, and I already love her to death.  We are both just a little excited about this transfer!  It was hard to leave Arcadia, but I am also grateful to have a new perspective with a new companion and a new area.  I hope you all are doing wonderful!!

Love,

Sister Zimmerman

 

 Last picture in Arcadia!

 

New Companion Sis. Stevens in Show Low

Cacti covered Mountians