Two Weeks ....

3-14-11

Moments of the week:

*Sister Larsen left. I cried so bad. It was so sad. I was not prepared for this hahaha. But Sister Buchanan is with me now. She is pure sugar. The sweetest thing ever. ever. ever.

*I needed to call Chuck, an investigator, because we had an appointment with him and he said to call because he might be moving. Welllll I could NOT find his phone number ANYWHERE. I looked for awhile and finally as I was about to give up- The phone rang. No joke. "Hello, this is Sister Starr." "Hi Sister Starr, It's CHUCK" ..... Whaaaaat?! God is so aware of us. It was so cool. We knelt down after our call and said a prayer and gave thanks.

*Brother Martinez gave a talk in church. He had not been to church in over 30 years. We knocked on his door a few months ago- having no idea that a member lived there. He was not on any of our records. He was done with life, he didn't think he had a reason to live anymore. We have worked hard these past few months and he has changed so much. Who would have thought he would be giving a talk in church! He said "I prayed for God to come for me. Then I had a realization that he did. He sent the missionaries to come. They are my angels." We are teaching his wife the lessons now.

There were so many other moments... just not much time to type.

Have a great week! xoxo Sister Starr*

3-21-11

I don't really have any funny incidents to tell. No crazy stories. But the one thing that I can say with confidence is that:

I. AM. SO. BLESSED.

Holy cow, it is ridiculous. I don't know who Heavenly Father is mixing me up with, but I am getting a lot of their deserved blessings. I know these aren't mine!

Have a great week! Love Sister Starr*

"Most people in trouble end up crying, 'What was I thinking?' Well, whatever they were thinking, they weren't thinking of Christ. Yet, as members of His Church, we pledge every Sunday of our lives to take upon ourselves His name and promise to 'always remember him. So let us work a little harder at remembering Him." -Jeffery R. Holland

Six Months.....

I entered the Missionary Training Center six months ago today.  Amazing!  


Yes we had snow. AGAIN! What is this? What... IS... THIS?? Pull it together SoCal. It was a wonderful week though. I love it here. A mission is bomb. You should totally consider it.

Highlights:

* We were teaching an investigator and her less-active husband about eternal families.
She says: "What if you don't want to be with ALL of your family forever?"
He says: "Well, hopefully they don't make it!..." Amen. (Just kidding fam. I love y'all)

* You know you've been immersed in the scriptures when you refer to the group of people you are teaching as "ye" instead of "you" ... luckily they were members and we had a good chuckle. 

* Shannon's Baptism. What a beautiful day. It has been a long but wonderful journey with her. She rocks.

This is probably Sister Larsen's and my last week together ): It has been a fun 4 transfers. I have learned SO much from her. I am so blessed to have the best companion in the mission.

Have a blessed week! Love, Sister *

 

This week was great...

This week was great. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful companion... and especially to have been with her for 6 months!

Highlights:

* SNOW! (yeah seriously, it snowed... AGAIN! not much though)

* Sister Larsen doesn't like coconut. We were at a members home and she was giving us cookies FULL of coconut. Sister Larsen took a bite as the member said "Do you hate coconut?" Sis. L responded "These are so good!" I then chimed in saying "We have an appointment soon and will probably need to take these to go..." Haha.

* While going over "Beware of Pride" by Ezra Taft Benson I read that "selfishness is one of the more common faces of pride." I then thought to myself "I don't want my downfall to be 'common'!" ... and then I thought "What am I saying! I am being prideful about my PRIDE!" ... I am obviously still working on my Pride...

* There was a lady who was taught by the missionaries a few years ago. We have been trying and trying to get her to let us come back. We would call and drop by. We have been doing this for MONTHS. Then finally she opened her door to us! She said that she didn't know why we were there.... but she knew it was obviously important and that God must have sent us there. She thanked us for not giving up on her. (:

"We will get our way more often if we don't have to have it." -Sister Martin

Have the best week! Love, Sister Starr*

Companions

at "Devils Punch Bowl"

The Palmdale Zone

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Highlights of the week:

* Having a "love song war" with the other sisters in our zone today. This involves leaving love songs on each others voice mails and then saying "tag you're it".

* While eating dinner at a members house their kids were playing "operation" Their 2yr old walks over to the game. Eats a bone from the man... I didn't do anything because I was in shock... and it was in his stomach before we could get it back. He thought it was a tic-tac! Now it's like REAL operation!

* Prayer at the end of a lesson "I'm grateful for the sisters and all that they have taught me. And how happy they have made my life. I want our meetings to go on forever." (:

* When Sister Larsen told me what one of my spiritual gifts was. I'm so lucky to be her companion.

* One of our Investigators descriptions of the Book of Mormon " All they do is receive revelation. All they do is wanna repent and get baptized" ... yep! haha (: she is getting baptized at the end of this month!

Enjoy the week! Love, Sister Heidi Jayne Starr*

I cannot believe that tomorrow is FEBRUARY! So excited!

Confession. Valentine's Day is my favorite holiday. Pink is my favorite color. I have recently made a connection between these two and why maybe I love Valentine's ... No, I do not feel ashamed of this realization.

We asked a less-active member if he had recently read his Patriarchal Blessing.
His response: "Front to cover?? ... Probably not. Maybe a few years ago."
...Front to cover? hehe.
 I just don't get why people fall away. I know that people do and that we have been told that people will be blinded and confused. But why can't people just join the true church, love it, gain and strengthen their testimony and stay.  We need them so we can continue to gather Israel! I feel like most of our time is spent gathering those that have already been baptized rather than finding those that haven't! Sorry. Small rant. I am still trying to understand this.

This week I officially felt tired. I just need a day (or 2 or 3) to sleep. That will have to wait a few more months (like 13). I've done soo good these first 5 months. Not dozing off. But it's been really hard lately. I just have to think of the wonderful people we are teaching and how much I would be missing out on if I were in bed.

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful week. Don't forget those resolutions you set! Now is the time that many people start to lose steam. Keep working toward your goals. Goodness, Heavenly Father is so mindful of us. We all truly are blessed. One thing that I have learned is that many of the people we come in contact with have problems that I have not experienced in life. Recent death, divorce, abuse, or other hard things. At first I felt inadequate to give aid. Then I realized that all though I may not be able to understand their problems exactly, I still know the answer.

The answer is simply always the Atonement. The Atonement, Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection, can provide comfort in all situations. If we were wronged or if circumstances of life just fell in our laps and we feel like we got the short end of the stick. It can also provide peace for the repentant sinner. The burdens, weight and shame that come with sin can leave if we humbly repent. I always know the answer though I may not know the circumstances. I am grateful for this knowledge and for my testimony of my Savior. He truly did come to save us. Not only from our sins. But also from our heartache.

-Sister Heidi Jayne Starr*

This week was great.

Highlights:

*We tried to double our lessons...And we did! We got 31 lessons, 10 of which members came to. It was crazy. I was told that that may be the highest number of lessons I have on my mission. Ha. Yeah right. If you put forth the effort, you are blessed. I don's t know why these missionaries settle for less than they can achieve. We just tried as hard as we could and told Heavenly Father our plan and how we were going to achieve it. Then I know He helped us to do it.

*We played soccer on Monday and I got ANOTHER bloody nose. This is NOT my sport. I have tried it probably like 5 times now and, yeah, it's time to end things with soccer. No more.

*Taught a lessons to an investigator. She was telling us how much she sees God's hand in her life. She needed to get her car fixed but didn't have the money. She was at the grocery story and found a $100 bill. She asked the clerk if she was missing any money. She said no. She asked the lady in front of her if she had dropped anything. She said no. So... She decided that God had placed this money in her path for her to fix her car. "That's what I'M talkin' about!" she said. It was so funny. I couldn't stop laughing during that lesson.

*We went another ward's baptism because they needed help with the music. During the baptism the bishop's wife leans over to me and asks quietly, "are you related to Elder Ryan?" What? No I'm not related to Elder Ryan.... Don't worry, after the baptism they had us stand together and they compared our features just to be certain. It was VERY embarrassing but really just hilarious.

*While walking to our car we saw this guy about our age getting our of his car with a guitar. "Do you play?" we asked. "Yeah" he said. "Well, let's hear a song!".... "Oh I haven't played in front of people in years".... "Well it's about time then!" He then proceeded to play some Metallica song.... I didn't know it needless to say. But after that we were able to teach him an entire first lesson in the parking lot. The spirit was there. He was prepared. Unfortunately he doesn't live in our area, but Heavenly Father is always placing people right in our path. It is just up to US to talk to them (:     Have a marvelous week!                                                                 Sister Heidi Jayne Starr*

P.S. Sister Larsen and I are staying together! This makes like mission history! (not really but it is crazy!) it is what we requested and what I wanted, but not at all what we expected. The zone leaders told us there would be no way haha. But they told us that we would stay together. So this is her 5th transfer in Palmdale and my 4th! We have both spent a 3rd of our missions together! (well we will have after this transfer!)   
  My address is still:    Sister Heidi Starr

                                  39129 10th ST W #24

                                  Palmdale, CA 93551

This Week was Hilarious....

Helllllllo!
This week was hilarious. Have I really been out almost 5 months? CrAZy! We had so many funny experiences knocking. I LOVE knocking.

*Me- "Do you pray often?"
Lady- "Sure, pretty often"
Me- "What kinds of things do you pray for?"
Lady-"The only thing I'm praying for now is that you need a coat!"
..... I wasn't cold!

*We knock on this lady's door. She comes to her window and tries to speak to us through it. We could hardly hear her. And apparently she could hardly hear us.
Lady-"Who are you?"
Me- "The missionaries"
Lady-"Who?"
Me- "The MISSIONARIES!"
Lady- "Miranda?"
Me- "no... The MIssIONNaRRIES!!"
Lady- "I don't know you!!"
hahahahahaha. Fail.

Oh contacting, you just never know who (or what) is going to be on the other side of the door. (:

Saturday night we called Brother Bob. He hasn't been to church in over 30 years. We "invite" (or push) him to go to church every week and he hasn't yet. But we called as we do every week and we said we would meet him at his house at 10:40 so he could follow us to church. He said "okay, I will go to church with you girls this week." I was silent! Was he really going to go!? We would see that next morning. Sure enough, we showed up at his house and he was waiting in his car! I was like hyperventilating I was so excited! We waved and then he followed us. I instantly said a prayer out loud thanking Heavenly Father for giving him the strength to come that week. It was a wonderful Sunday.  Goodness. So wonderful. So many members just wrapped their arms around him even though they didn't know who he was.

The church is so true. I said that to Sister Larsen the other day while we were planning and she didn't look up. She just nodded and said "Si". I loved her quiet, strong assurance. Like Yes, yes it is true. Now let's continue planning. Haha.

LOVE, Sister Starr*