Transferred to Lancaster

Hello Everybody! So transfers are happening this week. After almost 9 months I am leaving Palmdale. I am going a whopping 15 minutes away to Lancaster (even more into the desert. I will be serving in the Juniper Ward. It is a bilingual ward with English and American Sign Language. So I will be learning ASL... We'll see how that goes (:

We had a pretty good week. We had this couple come to church. They were interested and looked up the church online and found out where they were to meet and at what time and just showed up! I hope that they see that this is where the truth is. It just showed me that sometimes God leads the missionaries to his children to teach the truth, but other times he just leads his children to the truth.

We'll I'm sure I will have more to update you on next week, being in a new area and all. I hope everyone has a great week.

Isaiah 41:13- For I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. 

     Love, Sister Heidi Jayne Starr*

Here's my new address:    Sister Heidi Jayne Starr

                                       44030 25th St. W Apt #7
                                       Lancaster, CA 93536

Week of Miracles

   *Kay was Baptized! Golly I'm such a cry baby at these things (thanks dad). Her husband was able to do it after being away from the church for 30+ years! They have improved their lives though the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so proud of them for quitting smoking so they could do this together. Now off to the Temple in 1yr to be sealed for eternity!
     *We received a referral from a recent convert who thought her step-dad might be interested. He has read The Book of Mormon twice and loves it, though he was very anti the first time he read it. We stopped by and he invited us in. We talked about some of the things he liked while he was reading. We read over the last two paragraphs in the introduction to the The Book of Mormon and he said "yes girls, I know the book is true!" And we said "so if the The Book of Mormon is true... than Joseph Smith is a" and before we could finish he said "yes he is a prophet!" We then explained the significance of this. That Christ's Church is here on the earth, restored, for him to be apart of! He then told us that he had given up smoking and was working on coffee (: He is so prepared! He did have a concern though about being baptized again and was really firm on that. We told him that we would be teaching him more about that in our next lesson. He did come to church and during sacrament meeting he was writing in a journal. He then showed me what he wrote and he said "Today I went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Sister Buchanan and Sister Starr. Eureka Lord! I finally found your house. If there is such a place on earth." I assured him that there is such a place, and he did find it.
     A member of our bishopric talked to him after about baptism and authority and he said "yeah, it makes sense" he was able to resolve his own concern as he came to church. At the end of church he said "I hope you girls are planning on coming over to teach me what I need to know about this church because I know there is still a lot I need to learn" We are definitely planning on doing that (:
     It was really humbling to get this referral because we had been teaching the person that lived above him and next to him... but never HIM. So this showed me that there truly are prepared people right where we already are. Heavenly Father keeps showering us with undeserving blessings, which makes me want to be the best I can be. Even though it will never be enough. But His grace is sufficient for me.
     Have a wonderful week y'all.   
                      Love, Sister Starr*

Sister B, Bob, Kay, and Me

 

Happy Mother's Day

Today we went on a hike to "The Devil's Punchbowl" in Juniper Hills. Like 40ish miles out of my area. It is a pretty cool hike. I've decided I'm not much of a hiker when it is off the trail. There are ants and rivers and slippery dirt slopes. Staying on the trail is much more my style. If we relate this to the Gospel, it should be everyone's style. (:

To all of you wonderful mothers out there (especially my mom, sister and grandma, aunts and cousins) I hope you have a fabulous mothers day. I recently bore my testimony in church and expressed my gratitude for the many "mothers" that I had in the ward where I am serving. So many mom's here in Palmdale treat me just as their own daughter and I appreciate it so much! I have the most wonderful mother a girl could ask for. And especially that a missionary could ask for. She writes me all the time and is so wonderful. My sister is such a wonderful mom too. I cannot wait to learn how to be a parent from her example. And if it weren't for my grandma then none of us would be here, And boy, life sure wouldn't be as fun (: I love all of you!

I love y'all. Have the best week.
Love, Sister Heidi Jayne Starr*

Easter Week

*We can have sugar now because our investigators have not smoked in OVER A WEEK!!
*It turns out the Easter Bunny doesn't come to missionary apartments... but he does come to church and then the members give you the baskets. Go figure.
*We get to go to the temple tomorrow! I love the LA temple!
*We were praying about where we should go street contacting. We decided on Marigold Ave. We drove around the street to check it out and I saw this man standing outside washing his car. He looked Spanish but I just knew that he was why we were on that street. I said the prayer before we got out of the car and I prayed for the gift of tongues. We got out and headed for his home. We started talking and he explained that he didn't speak very much English. Ah, just what I was afraid of haha. So, in Spanish, I started explaining who we were and why we were there. He said that he had heard of the Mormon's and wanted to know what was different about us so I explained and we talked about some other things. We set up another time for the Spanish sisters to come by and teach him more. As we left the contact Sister Buchanan said "Wow. Where did that Spanish come from?" I know that it was Heavenly Father helping me. I didn't know many of the words that I said. I'm sure I've studied them, but this man was being prepared and needed us to talk to him and refer him to the other sisters. I am so grateful that I could be an instrument in the hands of God that day.
*Did I already tell this story? We were about to go into one of our investigators homes and we were praying in the car and this lady knocks on Sister B's window during our prayer... so she rolls it down. The lady says "did I just see you taking pictures of my car??" We of course looked so confused... because uh no we were not taking pictures of her car, bless her heart. "No we weren't talking pictures of your car..." we told her. But just in case we were she snapped a picture of OUR car and our license plate... OH California. (:
Hope y'all's Easter was fantastic!
Love, Sister *

we painted our nails!

 

6th Transfer and I'm Still in Palmdale...

Quick story that just happened. We were running late to email at the library. When we got there, there was only 1 computer available. I figured one would open up soon so Sister Buchanan started emailing. I ended up waiting for about half an hour for a computer. I was trying to place my trust in God. A man came up to me and asked me what my name was. He was from the Philippines. He seemed to be so interested in our church. He took my planner and wrote down all of his information so we could come by and visit him and his wife! I was so glad I wasn't on the computer emailing so I could meet this man! Thank you Heavenly Father for placing me in the path of thy prepared children and helping me see what I am sometimes blind to.

This was an uber frustrating week. Can't we just force people to choose the right? I get soooo mad at people's stupid decisions sometimes. Don't they want to be with God and Jesus and their families again?  I can only imagine what Heavenly Father thinks about a lot of my choices. He probably never gets mad though. I need to work on that. More patience... More patience.

Sister Starr*

Greetings from Palmdale!

Moments from the week:
*Today our zone is having a talent show. Every missionary must participate. Sister Buchanan and I are planning a stunning arrangement of chopsticks and heart&soul. Maybe I'll get a video of it.
*One day this past week I got 4 letters in 1 day! That is definitely a record for me. I would love to beat it....
*You know that your ward trusts you when your relief society president gives you the code to get into her garage/house so you can get food from her freezer to give to a family.
*Our bishop asked us to visit this family that another bishop had told him about. He didn't really know much about them and neither did we. We waited a few days because we couldn't fit it into our schedule just yet. I felt like we should go by one morning so we stopped by. We knocked and they let us in and told us that the mother, one of the people we were told to visit, had passed away the day before. Her son and his wife were taking care of her. It was such an odd situation that I've never really been in. I didn't want to feel like a burden and I couldn't exactly help but we got them in contact with the bishop and relief society president. We shared a thought about what happens after we die and how they shouldn't run faster than they have strength. They were so strong. I'm sure they were in shock. They started to cry toward the end. We hugged the wife for the longest time. Goodness it was so sad. But it was happy when we talked about all that she is doing in the spirit world and how it is a happy place. I'm glad we were there to talk to them at this tender moment in their lives. I am grateful for God allowing me to be a part of that. Go to mormon.org for answers about what happens after we die.

I LOVE YOU! - Sister Starr*

I'm still alive. Promise!

Goodness- It's been a while since I've done one of these. I'm still alive. Promise! 

Moments of the week:

*While ordering pizza the lady asks:
"what the name?"
Me: "Sister Starr"
Lady: "what?"
Me: "sisterrr starrr?"
Lady: "huh?"
Me: "S-I-S-T-E-R space S-T-A-R-R"
I am of course laughing..... because it is really ridiculous. I assured her that it wasn't fake but that I was a missionary.


*We have a investigator and her husband that are trying to overcome their addiction to tobacco. Sister Buchanan and I are trying to help them with this. The only thing that we could think to give up that would have even close to the same effect was... SUGAR. So starting Wednesday, NO SUGAR. No ice cream, chocolate, banana bread, shakes, smoothies, caramels, cookies. Yep. No sugar. You think we can do it? 

I hope everyone is doing great! California is getting beautiful! 
Welcome spring time! Have a great week. I love y'all. 

-Sister Starr*