June 26, 2017

Sister Rook is having another Baby!!!

Hi Y'all!

This week was pretty good! There were some pretty cool miracles that have happened this past week! Also... we found out our transfer fate early this morning... around 7am.... and it looks like your homegirl Sister Rook will be having another baby!!! I am training again and I am so stoked!!! Sister Bringhurst is being transferred and we have no idea where she will be going... we will find that out on Wednesday! So there is some crazy news for ya! 

Here are some of the miracles that have happened!!

1. Hector, he is one of our investigators, last time we saw him we taught him the Restoration, and we committed him to read the introduction of the Book of Mormon. When we saw him this week, he hadn't read the introduction- so we read it with him! He was so intrigued! He felt pretty bad that he hadn't read it earlier before we came and he said that he will definitely start to read it before we come over again. We are seeing him tonight and we plan to set him for baptism. He wasn't able to make it to church the past 2 weeks, so that will be a main focus of ours tonight as we see him. 

2. Saturday was incredible!! Starting out with Shaqula and Shemeka's baptism and then being with Sister Gurr! It is always such a blessing being with her because I am always able to learn so much from her! I really think it helped Sister Bringhurst as well, just being with another missionary and seeing how they do things. Later that night and the next morning she was just expressing to me the things that she wants to implement and what the best way was to start doing those things. 

3. Tuesday with the car fast, we were around one of our Potential Investigators named Lee. Lee is Asian and he goes to UNL. When we met him he was pretty busy and he said we could come back at another time. This was our "another time" for coming back. When we knocked on the door, Lee did not answer but the sweetest girl named Sara Li did! We asked for Lee and she said he was a foreign exchange student and he had flown back to China. Before he left he had shared with Sara the Prince of Peace card we had given him. She was pretty curious and had done some research on the internet. Luckily she didn't get an-tied, and she was just hoping that we would come back soon so that she could learn more. It was so awesome! We were able to get a Chinese Book of Mormon/pamphlets and we are planning on seeing her this week as well! It is going to be so good!  

4. This happened on the car fast day as well-we were family finding around Sara Li's house, and we knocked on this one door and an older lady came out, she was around 75 years old. She was the most stern grandma I have ever met! She came out yelling I am a United Methodist and I have been for 100 years and I am not going to change! She then proceeded to talk about her family history and her grandchildren. Sister Bringhurst then said the most brilliant thing I have ever heard! First she asked about her family history, then she said something along the lines of, "We wish we could be your grandchildren!" That softened her heart so much and she let us right inside! We weren't able to really teach her anything, but we were able to sing, "I am a child of God" and the spirit was so strong. She is not interested at this time, but I know one day she definitely will be! It was an awesome experience of really feeling someone's ancestors leading us to their family! 

As for our investigators... They are all trying to play hide and seek with us... They are all trying to dodge us when we come over, and they aren't answering our phone calls or texts. The same thing is happening with Ivan and his family- they weren't able to make it to church and they cancelled the appointment that we had with them this last Monday. It is pretty sad, and I'm not exactly sure what to do? I guess I'm just not sure at what time we should drop them, because they were so interested and I really want to give them the chance to hear this because it is so vital for them in their lives. The cool thing though that has been happening, as we have been trying our investigators (and they don't answer) we always find someone who is interested and we are able to teach them the Restoration and set up another time to meet with them! It has been pretty awesome!!

Funny moments. 

1. On Saturday we were in a trio! Sister Gurr's comp had her appendix taken out, so she was with us for the day! While we were finding we were in this apartment complex and someone had answered the door and so Sister Gurr introduced herself, then I said I was Sister Rook, then it was Sister Bringhurst's turn and she goes, "Hi! I'm sister Atkins!!" Sister Gurr just slowly turned around and looked at her and started busting up laughing. The guy we were talking to had no idea what was going on- but it was quite funny! 

During my studies this week I have been in Alma chapter 48. Here are some of my favorite verses from this chapter that really stuck out to me this week! Moroni is preparing his people for battle, for defending the faith. 

"15. And this was their faith, that by so doing God would prosper them in the land, or in other words, if they were faithful in keeping the commandments of God that he would prosper them in the land; yea, warn them to flee, or to prepare for war, according to their danger;"

They had such strong faith in Jesus Christ, and they were not letting anyone destroy their faith. 

" 17 Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men."

This was the result of Moroni's faith that he had in our Savior. It just pumped me up so much for planning and preparing our investigators to be baptized! I just love Moroni, and I look up to him so much! 

Well, I think that is about it for this week! Thank you for all the support y'all give me! I love you so much! 

Love, 

Sister Rook 

Last District Meeting of the transfer!! 

Jimmy Johns for lunch! 

Shemeka and Shaqula's baptism!! We were teaching them for a couple of weeks but then we had to pass them off to the elders, but they asked me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost! So that was pretty fun! 

Last P-day together. We went to Hurts Donuts, then to the capital building! Sister Atkins is going home this transfer. 

Selfies for dayzzz #noshame :D 

June 19, 2017

#justbeingrealIhavenoideawhattoputformysubject :D

Hi Y'all!!

   This week has been absolutely crazy! I feel like every week I say that! Regardless of the craziness, I have seen so many miracles this week and it has been absolutely incredible!! The first one started Monday evening. We were out trying potentials and finding as well and none of the potentials we were trying were home, but there were these two little boys about 11 years old that were playing outside. We were a little cautious about talking to them because they are kids so we decided to ask some referral questions to start out. We had already tried one of the boy's home and their family was not interested, but the other little boy, Ivan, was pretty interested! He expressed to us that he knew who Jesus was, but he didn't know who Jesus Christ was. We clarified and explained our purpose as missionaries. Ivan said, "I think my family will be interested in your message, can I show you where I live?" So we walked to his home a couple streets away and we were able to teach his sweet family (family of four) the Message of the Restoration of Jesus Christ. Ivan accepted baptism- unfortunately they weren't able to make it to church yesterday, but we are seeing them again tonight and we are all pretty excited!! 

   We had an incredible District Meeting this past week! It was about goals and planning, but Elder Pacheco put a huge emphasis on Charity. Before, I knew that planning was a huge way that we are showing Heavenly Father, and our investigators that we loved them and that we had charity for them, but after this district meeting I think that mind knowledge turned into heart and soul knowledge.  That is always such a good feeling when something finally clicks. I am always so excited to do planning now because I truly love every single person we have either met or talked to or are teaching. 

  On Tuesday we had exchanges and that was incredible! I was with Sister Gurr, and I not only learned so much from her but she was just able to help me so much! I have been pretty stressed and we were both able to think of ways to help not only myself, but Sister Bringhurst as well! It was so good! On Saturday we did a study exchange with the Capital Sisters as well. We had all prepared by reading chapters 2 and 4 of Preach My Gospel in the previous days, then on Saturday we were coming together to talk about it- it was pretty neat! 

   In my studies I am in Alma 46 and I love verses 12-13.   

 "And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole."

"And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land—" 

These two verses for some reason reminded me of my cross country coach, Coach Rivera and team captain, Katie. I guess I should give you some background first. Katie is just incredible!! She isn't a member of the church but she was just such a diligent person. She worked hard in practice and on her own and everyone looked up to her, and she was just able to motivate everyone! Coach Rivera is awesome as well! I remember so many times throughout practice he would say to all the girls, "You need to be a Katie"  In reference that we needed to be diligent like her or to run fast like her, or any other thing. So when I read these verses I thought of how diligent they both were and how they were both able to motivate us to work our hardest. And throughout this whole week whenever I was tired or impatient, I thought of these verses and how I needed to be a Moroni. It was pretty cool that it was able to help me out every single time! I don't know if that made sense to you, but it made sense to me!   

   There were so many other good things that happened this week but those are the things that are sticking out to me right now! Well, I think that is about it! Thank y'all for all the support you give me! And for all that you have done for me and continually do for me! I hope y'all have the best week possible!!! I love you!!

Love, 

Sister Rook 

Exchanges!!

Sister Gurr! 

#carselfies 

You gotta do a crazy face. 

Just for funsies 

Sister Myer!! She is the cutest!! 

June 12, 2017

Hermana Rook?

Hi Y'all! 

I wanted to start out by giving a shoutout to all the Fathers out there! Happy Father's Day!! And a special shout out to my Papa for being the bomb.com! 

So this week has been absolutely crazy! I feel like so many things have happened this week and it has been so great! We found 6 new investigators! It still blows my mind that that happened! So you know how I mentioned Jeff last week, and that he dropped us? Well...he became a new investigator again! Yesterday before church he called us and he said that he wanted to meet with us, and he explained that the people he was living with were pressuring him not to be baptized and that he wasn't good enough. He told us that he was tired of them and that he actually does want to be baptized and he is tired of all the peer pressure that he was having, so he is just going to worry about himself now and no one else! So that was a happy thing! We found 2 new investigators on Friday- one was a former investigator, Lanie, and the other is Joshua. Joshua is Atheist but he is super interested in Joseph Smith and the message that we shared. We are going back this week and his fiance should be home then- and she is more religious so that should be great! As for Lanie, her big hold up is science. She believes more in science than she does a God. She still believes in a high power but that is about it. So we are going to be working on that with her and helping her to realize that there is a God! Tammy is an almost referral from Jeff. We asked him if he knew anyone in his building that would be willing to hear our message and he named off a couple of rooms. We were determined to try them right then and there because his apartment building is usually locked. So we tried one of the referrals and they didn't answer so we went right across the hallway and Tammy opened up and we were able to teach her and set her for baptism! It was so awesome!! We found Melody when we were out finding and she let us right in! It was so neat! Right before we shared the first vision her friend's husband got home (She lives with them) and we had to leave- we have been trying to see her ever since but she has been pretty busy. Hopefully this week we will be able to see her! And lastly Margaret- she is a former investigator but also a referral from the Capital Sisters. She had been coming to church quite a bit with her husband and their daughter, but just recently the husband passed away and so they stopped coming to church. Her daughter Sharon is one of the Capital Sister's investigators as well. She has been pretty busy as well with funeral arrangements so we hope that we will be able to see her this week! 

One of our part-member families, the Loehr family, had us over for dinner (they have been having us over now about once a week)  and we were able to teach a great lesson to them about faith, and how they can really strengthen their faith by doing the basics,: prayer, scripture study, and going to church. The husband is not a member but for the last couple of months he has stopped going to his Catholic church and has been attending all three hours of our church- it has been really cool! He has great fellowship in our ward and we are just hoping his heart will soften a little bit more so that he will have a desire to become a member and make and keep sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father.

These past couple of weeks we have been running into SO many Hispanic people, and somehow we have been able to speak enough Spanish to introduce ourselves, and the message we share, ask if they are interested and then get their information to give to the Spanish elders. It has been crazy but it has been so cool to see Heavenly Father help crazy Sister Rook and Sister Bringhurst in speaking just a little Spanish! It has also been so much fun. One day I'll be a Hermana haha!  

We had Zone Conference this week and it was so good- it was exactly what I needed to hear. It was able to learn how to  know what I can do to become better, not only in planning for our investigators but just in missionary work over all! One of the lines that stuck out to me the most was, "Make the choice everyday to become more like Christ." It is such a simple phrase but it has become one of my favorites because it shows that you have to work at gaining the Christlike attributes every single day. It is going to take a long time but all it takes is consistency, and being diligent! 

In my studies this week, it was super cool! I was able to find the Doctrine of Christ in the war chapters in Alma, but not only that- I drew a diagram of the doctrine of Christ and related it to a softball game! So the first base would be, Faith. The second base would be Repentance, and the third would be Baptism/Confirmation, and home base would be Enduring to the End! Since there are multiple innings in a softball game it shows that we have to be working at living the Doctrine of Christ every single week, day after day. Heavenly Father is the pitcher of the game, and we are the people up to bat. He knows what we can hit and what we can't- sometimes it will be easy to hit and other times we will miss, but that doesn't matter because Christ is the catcher, and he is able to make up the difference. If we miss the ball he is able to throw it back to our Heavenly Father and he is able to help us again and again. Instead of having, "Three strikes you're out!" We are able to have multiple tries at hitting the ball and striving to live the Doctrine of Christ. It was super cool to diagram it, especially since we had played softball the day before! 

Well, I think that is it for now! Sorry this email is all over the place and a little long! But I just wanted to thank y'all for the support you continually show me! Y'all are the bomb.com! I miss and love you so much!!  

Love, 

Sister Rook 

Last P-day we were baking cookies with our investigator Cindy! It was so much fun! 

Five minutes of fun on our car fast day? I think yes!! 

Lunch with Amelia!!! She told us that she wants to serve a trial mission and go on an actual mission! I just about died when I heard that!! 

Zone Conference!! This is Lincoln South, and Lincoln North zones! 

Softball afterwards! It was so much fun!! 

My cute comp and I! 

June 5, 2017

I think I might have died this week.... but I'm not for sure.

Hi Y'all! 

I just gotta say... this week was a bit rough. I was out two days this week from being sick on Wednesday and Saturday, but now I am feeling so much better! Yay for the Priesthood and a whole lot of Faith! Wednesday I did not have any strength in me to hardly leave my bed- it was bad. Then on Saturday we had interviews with President Gardner, and his 2nd counselor was there. So my Zone leaders were like... "Sister Rook... you need a blessing, would you like one?! We definitely have the priesthood here!" So President Kearl had the Zone leaders do it, and I was super grateful for them! I was able to make it to Stake Conference that night, so that was good! 

This week we were able to meet with our investigator Jeff a couple of times. It was awesome being able to teach him about the Atonement and how it can bless him in his life. Things were starting to click and it was great- he was really starting to understand the gospel- at least just a little bit. We also found the PERFECT fellowshipper for him. He is the Elder's Quorum President in our ward, and they just hit it off so good! Jeff was set for June 17, and he had quit smoking and he had a ride for church all planned out and everything, then Sunday morning came around and he sent us a drop text... he just said he didn't want to waste our time or his, and that he wasn't ready for baptism. We tried getting in contact with him but he refused. It was pretty sad but you just gotta keep the Faith that Heavenly Father has such a better plan in store for him and for us, it just wasn't the right time for Jeff, and now we are going to find prepared people who are ready to hear the restored gospel!  

This week we had two pretty cool miracles!! and they both happened yesterday!! Right after stake conference ended Amelia, she's in the capital ward, found us and told us that one of our less active members was here and that we needed to talk to her. (Amelia is pretty close with her.) so we talked to her and set up a time to meet with her and then we had to go. Later that night Amelia calls us and said that the reason why we had to meet with Holly Omen (less active) is because she wants to go back to the temple super badly!! It was so exciting!! And it really just made us so happy! Later that night, we had about 15 minutes left of finding before we had to head home. We saw this guy sitting on his front step just looking at his phone. He looked kinda down so we thought we could bring him some light to his life! So we started talking to him and he is so awesome!! As we were testifying of how families can be together for eternity you could just see a light go in his eyes! It was so happy!  I would say he is about 25 or 26 and he has such a cute family!! He has a wife and two sweet kids! The only day he is available to meet is on Sunday, so we are most definitely going to try him again!  It was such a neat experience! 

In my studies today I found this really neat verse. It is Alma 44:4, "Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith." While I read this I thought of a garden. I'm not very good at gardening and I don't have a ton of experience with it, but I feel like everyone in Nebraska loves it! So with the garden I thought of a tomato plant because it has a wire support around it. Our Heavenly Father is the wire support, and we are the little plant, and our faith is the nourishment that helps us to  grow and to reach our potential. In order for us to become what our Heavenly Father wants us to be, we have to keep relying on our faith and trusting that our Heavenly Father will always be there to support us! This was my first attempt with trying to diagram and it was so cool!! It definitely isn't the best.. but that is okay! 

Well, I think that is about it! I love you so much and thank you for all  you do for me! 

Love, 

Sister Rook

The only snow cone place in Lincoln, it was alright. 

This is Amelia. She is in a different ward than us but she LOVES going on team ups with Sisters. I just love her so much! 

Here you have Lincoln South Zone.. where Sister Bringhurst and Sister Rook are the only sisters! haha It is so much fun! And President Kearl joined in the pic as well! 

Training...

Interviews...

and..... Stake Conference!