September 26, 2016

Hello Everyone!! 

This week we have witnessed so many miracles. Miracles are happening all around us and it is so incredible to see them happening first hand. One miracle that really stands out to me is Kelly and Dave. They were a referral from some Elders in the Organ Salam mission. We met with them one time while Sister Gershin, my last companion, was still here. They said they were so excited to meet with us and come to church with us on Sunday... they never came to church and a couple days after we had met them they sent us a text saying how they wanted to stay with their Baptist church and to never come back or see them again.... so we never went back. Ever since Sister Bengtzen has been in Chalco Hills I kept on getting the prompting to go and visit them. I told Sister Bengtzen what had happened, and we decided to see them-we were both pretty nervous. Right when we knocked on the door, all of our nerves went away and both of us could just feel such strong love for Kelly and Dave, and we were just so excited to see them! Kelly opened the door and immediately told us to get inside and that she was so happy to see us! She ended up telling us that she and Dave (her son) have been going through such a hard time these past couple of weeks, and yesterday night she was praying to her Heavenly Father that he would send a miracle or blessing to them the next day. She has such strong faith. Well the next day came and we showed up knocking on her door. She knew that that was her sign. That her prayer was answered! We have another appointment to go see them tomorrow, sister Bengtzen and I are so excited! Oh my goodness, and yesterday Kelly and Dave came to church! We had no idea they were coming because they said they had something going on and they wouldn't be able to come... but I guess that changed and they came!! The most amazing part is.... They both got up and bore their testimonies!!! They both said that they knew it was true, it was the most spiritual powerful sacrament meeting I have ever been in. That was definitely the highlights of our week :D

Funny moments!

1. Last Monday we had to have our lesson with Mitch outside because his wife wasn't home... oh my goodness.... I have never had so many bug bites in my entire life. Sister Bengtzen and I are pretty sure that we might be those people who get zeeka from all the mosquito bites that we got... It's pretty crazy! Last night We thought we were going to die because our legs and feet we were so itchy... somehow we made it! haha 

2. Sister Bengtzen is the most funny human ever! Thursday night right before we tried a potential, I got a drink of water, and she told a joke or said something funny, and I spit all my water out. it was like a scene from a movie where water goes everywhere, It was the funniest thing ever! It was pretty gross too... but it definitely made our night!   

This week I have really been trying to make my studies more effective and meaningful. Our President has challenged us to "Feast upon the words of Christ" by drawing diagrams and really studying the Book of Mormon. He has asked us to study the Book of Mormon for 30 minutes everyday instead of 15... it is so amazing! I am continually amazed at how much I learn every single day. One day in particular I was studying the commandments, specifically prayer and scripture study, and since I'm terrible at drawing- I related it to baking cookies instead. I related all the commandments to a different ingredients in a cookie recipe, and it made me realized how important each commandment is... we absolutely need to be keeping all the commandments in order for us to have everlasting happiness (Mosiah 2:41) 

Well, that is basically my week! I know this is the true church. I love the Book of Mormon and I know that it is true. I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ and all that he has done for me. I love you all so much!! I hope you all have the best week ever! 

Love,

Sister Rook 

. The Soaz Family! They are from Micronesia and I absolutely adore them! 

Teaching my little Islanders how to take selfies 

They are my favorite kids ever! (don't worry, I was being obedient! They weren't sitting on my lap! :D )

 

Nebraska Pride! I absolutely love it here! 

September 19, 2016

This week was pretty crazy! So many good things happened! We had a zone conference, Stake Conference and a music devotional that about 50 or so missionaries got to participate in! It was so much fun, and so needed! It gave everyone the motivation we need to continue on in this work! We had a lesson with Pueleen this week and we got her on date for October 8!! So now we get to finish teaching her the lessons and plan a wedding in three weeks!! It is going to be so good!!  I am completely out of time... so sorry for the super short email today! Love you all!! 

I found this scripture in my studies today and I absolutely loved it! 

Alma 33, verses 8,11

 "Yea, thou art merciful unto thy children when they cry unto thee, to be heard of thee and not of men, and thou wilt hear them.

 "And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and my sincerity; and it is because of thy son that thou hadst been merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments away from me, because of thy son." 

This week my companion and I have really been praying to find a prepared family with softened hearts this week, and I can tell that our prayers have been so much more sincere than they were before, and I know that they are being answered. My challenge to y'all this week is to have more sincere prayers, and to really talk to your Father in Heaven when you pray to him. I love you!! Talk to you next week!! 

Love,

Sister Rook

Zone Conference!!!

Sister Draney and Sister Jordan!

My new companion-Sister Bengtzen and I

Mission life means eating mac n cheese and hot chocolate for lunch on a cold day. 

Twinning for Zone Conference 

My cute companion and I! We were making breakfast for dinner :D

The members in our ward were celebrating chile's "birthday" So our thank you card to them was this... we couldn't resist! 

The quartet that I was a part of for the music devotional

September 12, 2016

Hello everyone!! 

Well first..... let me tell you about my companion! Her name is Sister Bengtzen, pronounced Bensen, she is from Holiday, Utah. She went to BYU before she came out... she's a pretty exotic Mormon... haha just kidding! But seriously she is the most adorable person ever! She came out a transfer after me- so she just finished training and now she is in her 3rd transfer! She is incredible! I can already tell that this transfer is going to be so great, we have already seen so many miracles together and it hasn't even been a full week yet! The beginning of the week was pretty crazy with all the transfer stuff going on, cleaning and packing and everything else! On Wednesday I got to be companions with Sister Jordan for half the day, we both had to wait for our companions to get here, it was so much fun! All we did was clean, but it was pretty great! Then Sister Bengtzen got here!! I already love her so much, she is an incredible person! We have gotten so much work done here in the past few days, it is so exciting!! On Saturday we got to hear our area authority speak, Elder Carpenter. The spirit was so strong and you can already guess that I was crying the whole time! In the beginning he talked a ton about marriage and how our missions were preparing us to become better spouses, and as missionaries are we were all pretty awkward, but then he moved on and started speaking a ton about miracles, it was so inspired, it was just what I needed to hear!! Well this upcoming week is going to be super good, we have stake conference, and zone conference and a ton of other things going on!! I am so stoked!! But I'm pretty much out of time so I will talk to you later!! Love and miss all of you!!! 

Love, 

Sister Rook  

Sister Gershin and I...our last picture together.

Sister Jordan!!!!!

I got to see Sister Draney, my companion at the MTC!!! It was the best thing ever!!

Me and my cute companion in the rain! Haha

September 6, 2016

So much has happened this week I don't even know how to describe it! So many Less Active Members are coming back to church, it is incredible! One of them just had their baby blessed on Sunday, it was so sweet. We had an incredible lesson with our investigators Meagan and Josh, they are so prepared!!! It is so amazing to watch them gain a testimony of the gospel principles that we have been teaching them! We had exchanges on Wednesday and they were so good! Transfers are tomorrow and my transfer fate is.... I'm staying in the Chalco Hills Ward! Sister Gershin is being transferred to Lamars, Iowa and my new companion is Sister Bengtzen! I have no idea who she is but I am sure she is incredible! Other than that not much has been going on. I absolutely love being a missionary! This past month a lot of the talks in church have been on following the Will of the Lord, so I have really been studying that a lot, and in Psalms 40:8 and it says, "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." I know that as we strive to do the Lord's will- instead of our own  we will receive so many more blessings and we will be so much happier because we are seeking to do what our Heavenly Father wants us to do. Well time is pretty much out, so I've got to go, but I love and miss you all so much! I hope you have a great rest of your week! 

Love, 

Sister Rook

Sister Gershin and I  found out that we say I love you to the moon and back all the time... so we had to take a picture in these shirts!

We had a photoshoot! 

District meeting! 

I can official say I have mowed a lawn! We did service for a potential investigator! I was so scared when the motor turn on! Haha! 

More pics of me mowing a lawn haha