Tracting

Hello one and all!

Did you all have an amazing week? I hope everyone is happy and healthy :)

Well let's see my week was pretty enlightening. Our stake had a

revelation that in order to increase membership missionaries should

start tracting, which is knocking on people's doors and sharing the

gospel with them. Arcadia, CA hasn't been a tracting mission because

it can be very dangerous to tract in a lot of areas. So they brought

the idea to President Villanueva of our mission and he agreed! Great!

So it is just our zone in the mission that will start up tracting

again. It has been very interesting. I'm not going to say I have a

passion for tracting... Yet! So far this week it's just been hard

fitting time to tract into our schedules. We're supposed to be

tracting 2-3 hours a day but this week it's been hard to get 1 hour!

No interesting stories to tell from it yet though. Just saying who we

are and invite them to learn more about Christ and then they say no.

I'll try to get some stories for you guys though for next week ;)

One thing I can say is that tracting definitely puts contacting in perspective.

Contacting is so much easier now! And we pray A LOT. It's a amazing

how much you rely on the Lord especially when you have no idea what

you're doing and somehow it all works out. I know that because I have

put my trust in him that he is going to lead me to others who need to

hear the message that will bring them to a brighter future. So ya the

mission's hard, I wanted it to be hard, I'm like super excited that

it's hard, because that's how great things get done! And great things

are getting done. Sister Iaboo and I are laying down a great

foundation here that didn't have sister missionaries for a while, and

I have a feeling that though people don't accept what we have to say

yet, they will later on in their lives.

So unfortunately we had to drop Refugio this week, which was tough.

Apparently she didn't understand that she had accepted a baptismal

date.... So that was awkward. So that limited our teaching pool. But

we went and visited a referral from the church head quarters, which

aren't usually that good because the info can be out dated, but this

guy was solid! His name is Khan and he told us that he was ready to

learn about our church, and he accepted the invitation to be baptized!

Also we got a referral from the elders! Her name is Brittany and she

is 16 years old and she just lost her dad and wants to find a religion

to connect with him. So we'll see how those potentials go!

Funny things that happened to me this week:

3 people asked if I was Russian (Which really isn't that random, this

place is very culturally diverse, and people like to ask where

everyone is from to speak their native language)

1 lady asked if I was pregnant

1 guy said I looked like Jennifer Lopez

Have a lovely day!

Sister Plumb

To Be Bold - 10/19/2015

My dearest family and friends,

What a great week it's been! I hope you all have been enjoying the

nice fall weather. It's starting to cool down here and the leaves are

falling but don't change color. Everything is just always green. So

that's interesting. This week we had to drop the family we were

teaching. They say they are going through some issues right and now

and need to figure it out on their own, but I think that's code for we

don't want you guys to come around anymore. So that's nice. A key

principle I've learned this week comes from Nephi 16:2 "wherefore, the

guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very

center." This week I've been trying to be more bold in our lessons.

And I didn't realize I wasn't until we taught a referral (her name is

Refugio) from some sisters in the area next to us with them. They

taught with such boldness and plainness it made sense to the

investigator and didn't come out harsh. I have come to find that when

you speak with boldness you find those who are ready to hear the

Lord's message, because those who are offended by what you say take

the truth to be hard and are not ready for that change in their life.

And in that lesson they invited her to be baptized and she was so

excited to do so. So the Next lesson I tried it, and we set a date

with her for November 7. And she said yes of course! Why would she say

no to promised blessings and gifts?? It was amazing! We have been

meeting with her everyday, and I can see her testimony growing so

much!

My other story for the week:

There are A TON of Armenians where we live. So when ever we go

contacting or pass people by on the street they are almost always

Armenian. We met this one gentleman named Rafik and when we spoke to

him he spoke English pretty well and we invited him to church the next

day. He showed up which was great but we realized that his English is

very very broken. Surprisingly the only words he seemed to make out

were, "you, me, everything!" We were so confused, but he was smiling

and just saying those three words over and over again along with,

"English, I listen and I know, everything!" He went to all three hours

and we told him we would set him up with the Armenian speaking elders.

So when all five of us met again, Rafik and the Elders were speaking

back and forth in Armenian and it sounded so cool. I really wish I

could understand it but it's crazy. Any ways, they said Rafiks

intentions to coming to church was to learn English better, not so

much about the church. But something really cool he told them was that

being in this church he had felt something he had never felt before in

other English speaking churches. He knew there was a reason we met him

and invited him to church and he was so impressed by the people who

came and introduced themselves to him. Most of all though, he was able

to feel the spirit, even though he didn't understand the language of

the speakers, he was able to hear the language of the spirit which

speaks to everyone the truth. The Armenians will be giving him English

classes along with some of the gospel lessons as well, and he will be

coming to our church every single week! I've always known the Lord

works in mysterious ways and I can't wait to see the blessing that

will come to Rafik and Refugio as the gospel changes their lives.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Mosiah 24:15- (replace Alma with your own name)

Love much,

Sister Plumb

These pics are of Sister Plumb with other missionaries in her district.  Her companion is still Sister Iaboo.  I have been writing Sister Iaboo because she doesn't get much mail since her family is on a remote island.  If anyone wants to write her please join.  She is a brave young woman and such a great missionary companion for Zhenya right now!  We have adopted her as our missionary until she goes home in 4 months.

Two Emails in One - 2nd One 10/12/15

So this week: 10/12/15

This week was transfers and I knew sister Iaboo and I wouldn't be

transferred because we are opening up a new area. So this week I would

like to explain a little more what it's been like opening up an area

my first week out on the mission.

So when I first met Sister Iaboo it was hard to understand what she

was saying from her accent and communication was tough. The area was

difficult at first because we are pink washing it. Which means that

missionaries had not been in the area before so we didn't have an area

book, which means we didn't have people to teach and we didn't know

the members and we didn't know how to get around. It was a slow start

up and it meant that we had to get right into contacting to get people

to teach. So our first few weeks we would have days just for

contacting and it was exhausting and very hard because I had no idea

what I was doing. It was a lot of rejection and I felt like we weren't

progressing at all in this area.

On my mission so far we have only gotten 2 progressing investigators that we found on our own but one ended up dropping us and one we had to refer. It's been difficult, but

that's how I learn the best. I learn through the trials that we have

faced and find ways to work around them. So now we are doing better. I

got Sister Iaboos accent down and she has learned so much more English

in just a few weeks! We are getting more lessons for the week with

investigators and the members know us and recognize us and are helping

us out so much! Humility hit me like a brick wall my first week in,

because I had all these expectations of what it was like to be a

missionary. Most of all I learned patience. I'm still learning

patience, that in the end, everything works out and that Heavenly

Father has a plan for all of us and that Sister Iaboo and I have a

divine purpose for this area, and it may not happen right away or when

we want it to, but it will in the end. Prayer has been a huge part in

this change that I have seen so far. I have prayed to Heavenly Father

to help me know what his will is for me and his will for those I

teach everyday. I still exercise patience everyday. I have to repent

everyday. I have to humble myself everyday to be sensitive to the

spirit and for the Lord to mold me into who he needs me to be for

others, and I am loving every second of it :)

I'm sorry for the super long email! Let me know how you guys are

doing! Btw thank you to Sister Folkman, Sister Wolfe, Skye Hatch, and

Elder Enos for sending me letters!

I love you all!

Enjoy your week,

Sister Plumb

Two Emails in One - First One 10/5/15

Dear family and friends,

I am so so sorry for not sending my letter out last week. I was having

trouble getting wifi because we were doing so much this pday. Because

the member that we are staying with is out again we are staying with

the Spanish sisters and their apartment doesn't have wifi. So we went

to the church but it turns out they were playing quiditch so that was

super fun and I basically played that the whole time. It was so fun. I

would explain if I could but this letter is going to be twice as long

now... Sorry again!

Ok so this is from last week 10/5/15

Did everyone enjoy General Conference? Sorry I didn't remind everyone

about it last week! It was super good though! The talks should be on

lds.org in a few days if you would like to look back on them. I know I

will! I honestly cannot tell you guys which was my favorite because

there were just too many that I learned so much from.

Overall in conference I learned how to be a better disciple of Christ, because

that is one of the many things I hope to improve upon myself here on

my mission. I learned that to truly love and care for someone is to

love them and to see their potential like a parent would see their

child (or how their Father in Heaven sees them). Even when people are

rude and harsh to you, don't hold that grudge. Christ has already

taken your pains upon himself and it's up to you to show your faith,

trust in him and continue on, and then remember, "what heals stays

healed."(Allen D. Haynie) As we use the atonement EVERYDAY in our

lives we strive to be like Christ. "We do not have to be perfect but

we have to be good and continue to try to be better... Simple

obedience." (Kim B. Clark) So many people can look at the word

obedience with distaste, but I love what Carol M. Stephens said,

"God's laws to us are an expression of His love for us. Obedience to

His laws is an expression of our love to Him."

Many General Authorities and Women spoke on how we can obey His laws and how to

continually draw closer to our loving Heavenly Father. Some examples

are: be worthy of the blessings of the spirit and act on your

impressions, ponderize (ponder 80% and memorize 20% of a verse of

scripture each week), always remember him, ask in your prayers what

you lack and what you are doing well at, and know that His will for

you and the path he needs you to take in life is for your eternal

happiness and progression. By listening and acting on the words of

Gods chosen apostles I know we will be on a path to eternal joy and

that others around us will see that. That is when we take our dear

President Monsons words and "be an example of the believers, in word,

in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1Tim.

4:12).

I think it is truly amazing how blessed we are as Latter Day

Saints to be able to receive this council from Gods chosen apostles

and prophets. I know what they say is true because what they say comes

from God, and is therefore is for all of our benefit. Pray for our

prophets health, pray for Elders, Perry, Packer, and Scotts family. I

love them all so very much and admire how much they care for each and

everyone of us.