December 10th, 2012

 

in Fredericton on the way back to the car. We're told to teach every living creature right? 

 

 



this was Sunday night at Jane kinnaman's home

 

Paint Louis

 

It was been another wonderful week here in Missouri. This last week has been really nice, but this morning it decided to turn cold. As i was coming in from my run i saw an icicle hanging from the bottom of one of the cars. Not a good omen. :) last week was trainer calls, and i was called to train the only sister coming in. We were expect to have two, but we lost one. However we're expected to have 8 sisters coming in next transfer. Pretty much every sister will be training next transfer. My new companion and i will be white washing Glen carbon Ill. which is I'm nervous/excited about. I've been to that area before for exchanges so it won't be all new.

Sister Luker and i had a lot of fun in Fredricktown Missouri this last week. We were up there working with sister Lowe and sister Allen (new sister). I have throughly enjoyed my time serving as an exchange sister and am going to miss being able to go and see all the other sister. But i am excited for sister Luker as she has been called for this transfer.

We had a neat experience the other day. We went tracting with one of members. She is an RM and really misses doing missionary work. We had a great experience finding two new people for sister Luker and sister Johnson to teach.

There was a baptism on Saturday for a young girl in the ward. Her mother is a convert for only two years and her father is not a member. It's interesting because this family is jewish, and although the mother doesn't still practice, the father (still a practicing Jew) sees the benefits and blessings for having his children in the church and has agreed to let them be baptized when they come of age. We had invited Eugene to come so he could see what it will be like at his baptism, but he was unable to make it because he wasn't feeling well. As i was sitting watching the program, my heart was filled with such love for my savior. He set the example and made it possible for us to then follow his example and be forgiven of our sins. What an amazing gift! I was also reminded of my own baptism. Feelings of love and excited as family and friends shared in my special day. I remember that i was baptized with Jared and that we had waited or Grandma and Grandpa Newton. I think they were serving mission. Tears filled my eyes when i thought of the simplicity, and sacredness of this special act of faith. Why can't people see how necessary it is for our salvation. Jesus is the Christ. I love this time of year when we get to spend a good solid month remembering and thanking him for his selfless act of love.

Eugene hasn't been doing to good. He's been a little down due to this time of year. He said it brings back memories of the his "brothers", the men he served with during the Vietnam war. He didn't make it to church yesterday so we're thinking about moving it back a week. On a happier note, we went to the YSA ward yesterday with Julie. She's been touch and go the last week but seems to be doing better. We've talked a lot about small and simple things and how we need to nourish our testimony everyday through small acts of faith. We're going to the YSA FHE tonight and hoping we can find her some good fellowshippers.

I received my stories, thank you so much mom. I had some from last year, but you included some different one this year. I read the one about "may our alms be in secret". It always brings tears to my eyes. I think becuase this was one dad always seemed to have a hard time reading. I love my memories from this time of year. I've been reading the Christmas stories to my companion by flash light these last couple of days. Not quite the same, but close. And I also got my small PMG. And i love it! Thank you. Also I was in the office yesterday and saw my package, so i should be getting it at transfers on Wedesday. I'll wait and only open the ones I"m suppose to.

Also i loved my Fish tails. Everyone looks so great!...But where's my T-shirt? Not feeling the love on that one.

love you all
sister salmon

December 3, 2012

Dear Family,
Dad told me about all the excitement that has been happening in our ward/home this last week. Sounds like there has been a lot of missionary service rendered. That's really exciting about the Rojas Family. I think I mentioned last week that we have set a baptismal date with Eugene. He's doing amazing; he's really excited about his baptism. We had asked if he wanted to move up his baptism a week, and at first he said yes. But then he said he'd rather keep it the same. He’s has been telling friends and family and doesn't want to mess with any plans that have been made. He wasn't able to attend all three hours of church yesterday because his medicine was making him nauseous but we went to visit him prior to the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional. We took Sister Clark with us (our mission president’s wife) and taught the Ten Commandments and the law of Chastity. It went extremely well. Eugene didn’t have concerns and has the same values. Also ever since we taught him the W.O.W he’s been smoke free and coffee free. He’s been doing it on his own, he said when he puts his mind to things he just does it.
We were in St. Charles for Tuesday and Wednesday. I always feel like I’m coming home when I go back for exchanges in St. Charles. It was great to see old faces, and to again teach people that I had once taught and love so much. One night Sister Dutson and I went and visited one particular person whom I had spent a lot of time with. She’s a PM/LA family and had some obstacles that she wasn’t willing to overcome and work through in order to come back. During this particular appointment she brought up some of those concerns that I had previously talked with her about. She mentioned that she those things no longer bothered her and that deep down in her heart she will always be a “Mormon”. Although there are still a few things that she needs to work through before she will allow herself to come back to church, I was ecstatic at the news. This was a huge tender mercy for me. I’m not serving in that area and to be able to go back and hear that type of news from someone I care about so much. …Sometimes as missionaries we don’t always see the fruits of our labors. I am so grateful that God let me be there to witness this person’s change of heart.

Once a transfer we are able to attend a session at the temple. Sister Luker and I were able to attend Friday night with the Killers’; they’re an older couple who work in the office. They had already put the lights up so when we came out of session the tress and everything around were dusted in little white lights (I’ll enclose a picture). The temple is a wonderful place; I love the spirit I feel whenever I attend the temple. A friend pointed out a verse in 2 Nephi 9:20 that talks about holiness. It shares how God is holy because of his omnipotence. He then shared how on our temple it says holiness to the lord and how when we go to the temple we are increasing our knowledge. So when we go to the temple and gain knowledge, when we attend our church meetings, read our scriptures, even increase our knowledge of the world around us we are becoming more holy and more life our Heavenly Father.
Love you all

I know the Gospel is true. I hope you’re enjoying your cold weather. We’ve been in the high 60’s and low 70’s the last couple of days and I am loving it!
Sister Salmon

November 2012

November 26, 2012

Dear family and Friends- Missionary work has been awesome this week. Sister Luker and I were out of our area Tuesday and Wednesday on exchanges. We went to Mexico (got a tan, felt great), Mo. :) We arrived just in time for a gathering put on by a member in our ward. They rented out this old Presbyterian church and they held a little program filled with remembering, giving thanks, and singing. It kind of reminded me our our family thanksgiving programs minus our funny turkey song. But it was great and we had one of our investigators come along. She seemed to really enjoy it. Thanksgiving we were told to just enjoy the holiday and spend time with ward members our investigators eating. I love holidays, although i sometimes don't know what to do with myself. I don't handle free time that well. We played some volleyball at the church with some of the elders from our district and then we had a lunch app. @ 1pm with the Ereksons. They are an amazing family. They're also really good friends with a young women who we've been trying to get a hold of. Her name is Lauren, she's the dry Mormon i think i told you about. Anyway, she was there and it was good to see her, I've been missing her. After the Erickson's we had a dinner app. @3:30pm with the Shumway family. I'm grateful that I've learned how to pace myself. Dinner was great, and then afterwards they asked what sorts of things we did on thanksgiving. I mentioned that we played card games...They know how to play ROOK! We played a couple hands. It felt so good to have a card deck on my hand. They play the right way, but they're not as competitive/aggressive players as we are. At first they started the bid at 50's and had a hard time going past 120. The shumways then invited us to Shaw park where they were hosting at the local skating rink. I guess its a tradition every year to rent out the rink for two hours and invite friends/anyone to come and skate. We didn't end up skating, but we did talk to many of the people there and found a good contact. She's a friend of the shumways and another member in our ward. The last three days we were playing catch up. The lord really blessed us in teaching this week. We had appointments fall through but our back up plans always went through. I guess that's because our first plan wasn't the right one. Thank goodness for back ups. Sunday Eugene came to church. This was his fourth time coming since I've been here. We called him prior to sacrament to remind him and told him we'd save him a seat. Sacrament started and he wasn't there. He ended up coming half way through which is better than not coming at all. I asked him what happened, and he said SATAN. haha I guess everything went wrong for him. We were able to see him that night with a member in our ward and taught him part of the third lesson. We reviewed Faith and then went on into Repentance. It was an amazing lesson. Eugene gave the closing prayer and afterwards he sat up and you could see that he had been touched by the words that he had said in the prayer. The Lord is very much aware of him, he's changes so much its so exciting. He has a date to be baptized on Dec. 15th. He still needs to overcome smoking and drinking coffee. Heaven Father is such a loving merciful God. The more i learn and desire to serve him the more i see his hand in my life and the lives of others. I just finished the Book of Mormon again and started this morning and am excited for things i get to learn this time around. I know that the book of Mormon is is true. It truly testifies of Christ and as we read it our capacity to love God and those around us increases. There's a song on a CD a fellow missionary gave me. Its titled aren't we all beggars? On the way to the library i always see this homeless young man holding his sign. And i think at first we might think that he did that to himself, that he could get help if he truly wanted. And maybe he could, but I'm not the judge. So finally this morning i decided that i would put a bag of food together for him. I forgot to tell my companion what i had planned so when i quickly veered off the road into the nearby gas station she was a little started. I'm not sharing this story for recognition by any means. The point i wanted to share is that truly we are all brothers and sisters. We are all in different situations, and some need more help than others. This Christmas season please take the time to look around and find those who could benefit from your help. I know that when we are in the service of our fellowmen we are in the service our God. love you all sister salmon

November 19, 2012

Dear Family, This week has been great! We picked up a golden investigator on Monday. Julie has been taught the lessons before but got freaked out when she was first asked to commit to a date. We were able to meet with he twice this week and we went to the YSA ward with her to help her meet other young single adults. On Wednesday we had a lesson with Marty. She's someone we picked up from the Maryland Heights elders. We had a great discussion talking about the verses she read in Alma 32, we had planned on going into the restoration with her but after talking a little bit more she shared how she had two really good friends pass away just in the last couple months, years? and is still mourning them. That led us to teaching the plan of salvation which went really well. Half way through the lesson her boyfriend came home and sat in the rest of the lesson. He seemed somewhat interested, he's also on a path for strengthening his faith in Christ. They invited us back for dinner this week so we'll see where it goes from there. Yesterday besides prepping for Thanksgiving (two dinner app. right on top of each other.) we had a miraculous day. After PEC on Sunday I called Eugene to remind him of church. It was so sad to hear him on the phone, he was not feeling good at all. Because of his service he has many wounds that still cause him pain occasionally. The elders went over before their church service and administered a blessing. That night, we had an appointment set up to visit a potential investigator, we had a young couple from the ward. It was going to be perfect. The potential wasn't home so we went and stopped by Eugen's home. He welcomed us right in. We asked about his experience with a priesthood blessing, and then brother Burnside shared his testimony of the power of the priesthood and read from 2 Nephi 31. We had previously asked him to pray about a date to be baptized, but he hadn't yet gotten an answer. It was at the time in the lesson that both sister Luker I felt we needed to set a date for baptism. The last verse of 2 Nephi really stood out to him. He said he liked it because it was true. That's what we were waiting for. Once he said that i invited him to prepare for baptism on Dec. 15th. He accepted the invitation. It was such a powerful experience to see how the spirit works. I know if we had started with asking him about a date the moment wouldn't have been right. The Holy ghost is the Master teacher. This last week i went to the chiropractor because of my accident (nothing serious, just being safe mom) and he's a member and he shared a neat insight with me. Its from 2 nephi 9:20 it is talking about the holiness of god and one of the things that makes God a God is is Knowledge. So that would mean that as we gain greater knowledge, spiritual righteous knowledge we to are becoming more holy. When we go to the Temple ( holiness to the Lord) we are going their to learn and gain more knowledge, how to become like God. I know that God wants us to be like him, that was why the Plan of Happiness was presented. I know that God lives, and that the Gospel is true. love sister salmon NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

November 2012

November 11, 2012

well the say a picture is worth a thousand words, i was hoping this might help in my letter writing because its getting harder to write. The short old lady is Kay Baynes she was someone i worked with back in st. Charles. She's the one who called you. You should call her again. She needs to feel the love. That's not good about your knee mom. I'm so sorry. Exercise is so good for it, and strengthening the muscles around it is good too. Maybe you should look into doing water aerobics somewhere? Happy Halloween! We had transfers on Wednesday which is always bitter sweet. Its coming to the point where many of my dear friends are going home. We picked up sister lowe at transfers. She has been staying with us until her new trainee arrives tomorrow, and then they will be returning back to Fredrickstown. We had many tender mercies this week but the miracle that stands out the most happened last night. We had written out a list of people that we wanted to go see and no one was home. This can be a little disconcerting but what can you do but carry on. We had one last home we wanted to try before dinner, she was a women the sisters in the Maryland Heights had taught a long time ago. The elders found her progress record in their storage unit earlier in the week and had just given it to us after church. It was late in getting cold and she opened the door we could see that she had been crying. We introduced ourselves and asked what we could do to help. She recognized us right away as missionaries from the church and welcomed us in offering us some hot cocoa to warm up. She then openly shared everything that was on her mind, how she had fallen into financial problems and wasn't going to make it after 3 months. She then told us that the previous sisters used to come and read inspiring passages from the scriptures and wanted to know if we had anything for her to read. We started out by reading the introduction of the book of Mormon and then proceeded to share scriptures that had brought peace and comfort to us during times of trial. We all bore testimony of the peace that is found when we rely upon our Savior Jesus Christ and how the book of Mormon teaches us how we can do that. It was such a spirit lead lesson, it was amazing. Before we left we hadn't yet invited her to read anything and so i felt the need to extend the chapter Alma 32, we set up a follow up appointment and then closed with a prayer. Another miraculous part of the story came when we were leaving. Sister Luker my companion turned to me and asked me how i knew to give that chapter because that was the chapter she felt she needed to extend as well. We all knew that the the spirit was attending us and was guiding us to say the things we said. Everything that happened that night happened because God knew that Marty needed to feel his love. I know that we were sent to her, and that we came at exactly the right time. Timing is everything, and it has to be in Gods time for it to work. I know that God lives and loves all his children. love you all sister salmon

October 28th, 2012

Hey dad, mom and family
i think all your notes made sense. That really helped me out, i have know idea what most of the things were all about. Our mission president and his wife have really been putting a push on voting. Half of us don't know what to vote for.

That's really exciting about the Calgary temple. What a cool gift to have it snow. I bet the temple was lovely all blanketed in white.

Wow that's super exciting about Talmage. Too bad he can't wait until the early march. :) then i might be able to make it. But you can't please everyone so you might as well please yourself.

This week was another great week on the mission. Super busy as always. I'm not sure how frequently Gabriele works in Seattle. She didn't make it so the next appointment. We were able to contact her via text message yesterday and found out she's been really involved with her sister and her her family. Her sister is due with their first next week and Gabriele's trying to help them prepare.

Our contacts? That's a good question. Its really hard to get in contact with anyone in this area. They're always doing something. This last week we had sisters conference. This happens about every 6 months, and is time for the sisters to congregate at the mission home for our own little conference. We went to the temple Wednesday and then after having dinner we gathered together in the living room of the mission home and had a little testimony meeting. Sister Clark asked us to share our road of discipleship, and so we went around in a circle sharing how we had gotten to this point in our lives and some of the fears and obstacles we had to overcome. It was a very spiritual experience; there wasn't a dry eye by the end of it. To end our conference President Clark and the Ap's came and we had a little Q&A session. It was during this time that president and sister clark wanted us to become more comfortable with our leaders and to also express some of the issues we experience as sisters. And when i mean issues i mean the gap some of the sisters feel from the elders. We understand the need for some space, but many (most) of the elders don't know how to function around sisters and so some sisters are avoided like the plaque. Not a good thing when we are trying to become more unified as a mission. It was during this meeting that President Clark asked sister Shutt and I to attend ZLC the next day and talk about the concerns that were being brought up.

ZLC was something new. It was amazing to see how everything is addressed and processed. We were able to share some of the sisters concerns and to help the ZL's understand how to act around sisters. I received a call from Elder Christensen this morning and he wants me and sister Fallentine, the other exchange sister to give a training next week at leadership training. The topic is on priesthood duites and how they can be better men? Not very explicit. They also want us to go over how to act and treat sister missionaries in their districts and zones. So dad/mom if you have any advice or know of any good talks send them my way.

Due to ZLC Sister Shutt and i were companions until Saturday. During that mini exchange we were able to see Eugene. He's doing much better. He's been struggling a lot with health problems, but lately he's been doing a lot better. We had planned on going over the plan of salvation with him, but when we asked him about his reading the Book of Mormon our plans took a different route. He reads his daily bread every morning, a little book that has a spiritual thought attached to it for everyday of the week. I shared with him how important it is to add reading the book of Mormon to his daily bread session, that the Book of Mormon is a true and how it bless him. When i shared that he opened his Book of Mormon to Alma 32. The chapter we had asked him to read. We took turns reading a couple verses and then expounding what was read. The lesson went so well, better than anything we could have done. I know that the spirit was there helping us know when to stop and what to say. He wasn't able to come to church, but we're really praying he'll make it next week. Sister shutt and i were also able to meet with Erica Martin. She grew up in the church but never had a testimony. We had a really great discussion. She had some great questions about the story line of the book of Mormon and how it was found in America. This lesson was the most engaged she'd been in.

People go all out for Halloween here. They don't just do the jack-o-lanterns, they do the lights, and zombies and skeletons, and little ghosts holding hands in a circle around objects. Its kind of creepy. We had our wards trunk -o- treat activity Saturday at the church. And then for Halloween we have been told that we stop proselyting at 5pm, we aren't allowed to drive our cars and if we don't have appointments we need to be in.

Transfer calls were Saturday as well. Sister Luker and i are staying together here for another 6 weeks. I'm really excited about this. I really wanted to stay for at least one more transfer.

Something that i have really learned this transfer is my best one week isn't necessarily my best the next week. I need to constantly be changing and growing. I know that the gospel is true. Jesus Christ did come to earth for us, and was lifted up on the cross so that we can be redeemed from our sins. The atonement works when we let it. I know that when we are humble the work, life is so much easier.

love you all
sister salmon

October 22, 2012

Dear Family
I'm trying to think where to start. Pretty sure this is the hardest part when it comes to writing is just starting.

At the beginning of the week we were able to contact a former investigators. One in particular is named Jackie Skincoff. She had been taught by some missionaries a couple of years ago so sister Luker and i decided to start with her. She is a sweet older woman, she's Jewish but is open to meeting with us. She didn't let us in at the moment because she was battling a virus so she we talked through her screen door. She told us to try back in a week or two so we're planning on stopping by her home towards the latter end of the week.
That night after visiting with Jakie we went to try an old referral. There was a note that said the address wasn't correct but we wanted to make sure. Its true, the address is incorrect. There wasn't a house there, but we did find someone on the way there. As we were walking we stopped to talk with a young family who were out on their porch enjoying the sweet fall air. We shared with the mother a short message of the plan of Salvation gave gave her a pamphlet to read then asked if we could return and share more on this topic. She was a little hesitant, but told us we could come by the following tuesday night.

Wednesday was spent in Mexico, MO. (Nothing like the actual country Mexico). We drove up Tuesday night and spent all day Wednesday helping sister Pedersen and Silvers in their area. Sister Pedersen and i were able to contact an investigator and share a little message before she had to run out the door. And then when i was teamed up with sister Silvers we spent a lot of time driving back and forth from different houses trying to contact potentials and La's.

Thursday were blessed in finding another new investigator. Her name is Gabreile. She works in Seattle,WA at the university doing research for a cure for breast cancer. How cool is that? She self referred herself because she wants religion in her life. We were able to share a message about the book of Mormon and its importance. We have an appointment with tomorrow night and I'm really excited about it. She seems really solid.

Saturday we had a mini blitz. Some of the elders from our district came and helped work our area.

Sunday was our stake conference. (We had primary prgram the week before general conference) The messages were really good. They called some people from the audience to come up and share their testimonies and the thoughts that were on their minds. One young man they called had just turned 16 and shared that he was thinking of the girl he likes. He asked her to a school dance and then had started receiving a lot of pressure from friends to steady date her. He shared a very powerful testimony of the for the strength of youth and ho he knows we are not suppose to steady date until we are looking for a spouse. The spirit was very strong during the entire meeting and brought tears to my eyes. I can see how the lord has and is preparing his children for these last days.

I have also seen how important it is to make sure we are following and honoring the Lord's will. I know that when we are humble and accept his will for us we are so much happier.



sister salmon

October 15, 2012

Dear Family,

I am amazed at how much the Lord is aware of us, he knows what we need before we need it and knows exactly how to help us.

This last week was a super crazy one, most weeks are but this was crazier than most. Sister Luker and i had two exchanges planned for this week. The first was with sister Johnson and Sister Crandall in Parkway. They're white washing the area and doing an amazing job. I find so much joy in doing these exchanges, and am blessed with being able to recognize the spirit of the lord more and more in the work. I had an opportunity to go tracting with sister Johnson (she's been out as long as Elder Salmon and swears she saw him in the MTC) and we were blessed in being able to find a couple of potentials. At one of the houses we tracted into we found this young teenage girl sitting in her car as her phone charged. We had no parting of the seas experience but, she said she'd be interested in meeting the sisters again. That was how the rest of our day went.

And then on Thursday and Friday we were in St. Charles. as we were driving it felt like i was going home. We worked hard, and spent a lot of time outside knocking doors. Sister Fallentine and sister Dutson are also whitewashing and are having a difficult time finding people to teach as well. But we all made the best of it and recognizing that this is god's work. Thursday night sister Dutson lucked out and was able to contact a referral from their bishop. Becca is marrying a member of the ward in two weeks and the bishop had been asked to marry them at the church. Becca is so prepared for the gospel. She's grown up around members and even has some family who are currently members as well. We shared with her the book of Mormon and why it is so central to our message. We then invited her to be baptized if she found these things to be true and she said yes. This was a reminder that people are being prepared, and sometimes all we need to do is ask and invite. Friday morning for exercise we all rocked out to a Richards Simmons workout video. It really gets your heart rate up! :) One last experience. As sister Fallentine and i  served together Friday we met this one man named Scott. It broke my heart as we talked with him because he shared about a time in his life when he longed for religion, but because he couldn't find truth has turned atheist. Although he didn't accept our invitation to be taught, I knew there would be a day when he would be able to recognize truth and feel the joy the gospel brings to one's life.
Love to all
Sister Salmon

Wednesday October 10, 2012

Dear Family,

Sorry this is really late, with it being a holiday on monday the library was closed, and then I had exchanges on Tuesday which is why it has taken me so long...I'm still alive and kicken against the pricks.....Mom could you make me a corn bag thing that i warm up in the microwave? and maybe some wool socks. I'm staying warm. its only started to get cool, the leaves are turning their vibrant fall colors. Its so beautiful.

 

General Conferance was amazing. We were invited over to our mission presidents home to have breakfast and watch both sessions of  conferance. The speakers were amazing! When President Monson made the annoucement about lowering the age for missionaries everyone in the room gave a shout for joy. What an inspired announcement. These are the last days and we need more missionaries. I think that this decision shows the need and the great confidence the Lord has for the rising generation. And especially the great need for sisters to come out and serve. Though i can't see them say it, but as sisters, we are being asked to serve missions. God truly is pulling out all the stops. The stone the prophet Joseph smith prophecied would roll forth is picking up momentum. And with the possibility of having a Mormon president, more and more people are become intereested in the church. Infact, just this last week sister Luker and i were out knocking doors prior to our dinner appointment and a women (whom we're hopefully seeing tonight) let us in because she was interested in what the "mormons" believe because of Mitt Romney. More and more people have become curious. They see that we are different and they want to know where the source of happiness flows from.

 

For the sunday morning session sister Luker and I were at the church. I think it was during that session that Elder Holland spoke about missionary work. It was an amazing talk and was very similar to a talk he gave in the MTC, but with a little less flame. :) Elder Eyring's talk titled Where is the Pavilion was also another favorite of mine. "The pavilion that seems to intercept divine aid does not cover God but occasionally covers us. God is never hidden, yet sometimes we are."...It was also during this session that I nearly froze. To say it was freezing in the chapel would be a huge understatement. I even pulled my mittens out of my bag and put them on, and i had a blanket. Between sessions sister Luker and i went out working and although we felt sure about the street we started working, no one was home and by this time it was close to the start of the second session. We stopped by our apartment to grab something before going to Sister Burton and Sister Cox's home to watch the second session. While walking from our car to our apartment i see this women coming out. I call out a friendly hello and soon fall into a friendly conversation. She was on her way to work and asked us to come by her apartment later this week. Sister Luker and i were super excited about that.

 

I'll talk to you all soon. sorry its so short. I love you all.

Sister Salmon

Monday October 1, 2012

Work in the field is going amazingly. I don't know if i told you, but earlier on in the year we made a mission goal to find and baptized 365. It isn't that we are doing this for numbers sake, but to help us be motivated in the work and to get out there to find, teach and bring people into the gospel so they can partake of the blessings their Heavenly Father has for them. Currently to date the day number is 275 and we have had 282 baptisms. The Lord has really been blessing us in being able to find those elect who are searching for the truth but don't know where to find it.

MOM- Yes sister Luker and I are companions again. We served together back in Champaign. She doesn't like to run, but she'll watch me from the window as I run back and forth up the street. Its starting to be dark in the mornings so getting up is getting hard. Morning comes too early, but that's to be expected. But by the time 10am comes around I'm ready to get to work. Days and nights are too short....We saw Lauren again this week. this time she brought the person she helps who is a member. Lauren also came to church on Sunday because the member she lives with was speaking. She enjoys coming and will come if it doesn't conflict with mass. We told her about conference and she's really excited. She's another one whom we are trying to teach but don't want to be pushy on. She'll come around, the lord will help her.

We had some amazing miracles this last week. We haven't been successful in finding people to teach, but we have had many opportunities to visit with people and to plant seeds.

We are still teaching Sarah. LOVE HER! She is awesome. Last week she told us she will never leave her church and be baptized somewhere else. Her faith is such a part of her. What sister Luker and I hope to help her see that It is Jesus Christ she loves. I hope that with the guidance of the spirit she can know that The Church of Jesus Christ is Jesus Christ restored church. She may not see it with me, but I feel blessed to be able to be a part of her quest. We also had an oppertunity to go on exchanges this last week with the Fredrick town sisters (i was called as the exchange sister again), sister Lowe and sister Randall. They are doing so well, they're area is on fire. I had a blast being able to work along side them again and see the changes that they have experienced since the last time i went on exchanges with them. They are amazing missionaries with great desire to share their testimonies. I was privileged to be paired up with sister Lowe Saturday morning; one of the visits that we had planned was to visit Melissa, an investigator that i had helped find last time i was up there. She wasn't there when we stopped by but, as we were out walking she drove by and stopped to talk with us. She seems to be progressing very well and last i heard was planning on attending that R.S broadcast later that night. Miracles are happening everywhere i Love it! We made it home in time for the R.S broadcast and were spiritually fed.

This morning as i was getting caught up in my journal writing i was reflecting on that last couple of days, thinking about my missionary efforts and what i could do differently to help my area progress. Compared to the areas that i visit we're not doing too good. But then i had a thought come to mind that the Lord truly is aware of me and my companion. He knows our desires to find, teach and invite people to be baptized...Earlier i was a little down because we seem to be good at finding people for other missionaries to teach and never for ourselves. But then that thought came to mind. And i was reassured that we are doing all that the Lord is asking of us. We know who to find, and how to teach. It doesn't matter where people are being found, just as long as they are being taught the true gospel. And i know that this is true. That as missionaries we can only do what the Lord asks of us. Maybe the people in my area need more time preparing. Who know's?

With us being out of town for the last 48 hours sister Luker and I went to right to work. Sunday we spend a good amount of time out contacting and tracting the streets in what i am told is the lower class section of my area. I told this to Sister Luker and she just laughed me. I don't think this place really knows what lower class is. :) But the people here awesome. They're super busy so its hard to catch them at home. Before we went home Sunday night we stopped by Jane Kinnaman's home who has been LA for 30+ years. We shared with her the messages that were shared at the R.S broadcast. She loved them and was a little shocked by them. She was shocked because the things we shared where things that she had been pondering that last couple of days. Sister Luker and i both shared our testimonies of the restored gospel with her, of the atonement and how much the Lord loves her. The Spirit then touched her heart and i know she knew what we shared was true.

I am so excited for general conference this weekend. OH baby oh baby! We haven't been invited over to a members house yet so if that doesn't happen we'll most likely watch it at the church. We invited Sarah to come and watch it. Hopefully things will work out.

Love you all
sister salmon

Monday September 24th, 2012

Dear Family,
So i guess to start off this week was transfers, we kept ourselves busy working. We made sure to set up appointments with families we are working with at the beginning of the week so that sister Grover and Sister Pedersen could have one last time teaching them...and to say goodbye. Tuesday we received a call from sister Clark, our mission presidents' wife asking if one of us wouldn't mind coming over to the mission home and spending the day with the new sister that was coming in. Sister Pedersen readily agreed which was fine with both sister Grover and I.

Sister Luker is my new companion. We arrived home Wednesday spent a few short hours unpacking and getting situated before going out and working. Sister Luker has such a wonderful outlook when we go out to work that is highly contagious. We spend a lot of time out sowering... or "planting seeds" is what we call it. Its kind of difficult finding people at home, and those we do find are usually too busy. When we hear this excuse i just want to tell them "you're too busy for Jesus?" I don't think that would go over well.

We had an awesome experience teaching Saturday morning. Lauren Milburn is a young single adult who loves the Mormons. BACKGROUND: She grew up coming to Mormon activities and is really good friends with a prominent LDS family in our ward. She has her own quad and loves reading the conference talks. The one problem is she is Catholic. And she feels like she needs to be Catholic at this time. We've asked if she would like to be taught the lessons, she wasn't too interested in that but would like to come out with us to tract and watch us teach..... She called us Saturday because she is working as an aid for a LDS Mormon in another ward who suffers from epilepsy and seizes and wants to know more about what we as members believe so she can help build up the faith of her friend. She asked us to teach her the Plan of Salvation which went very well. The Spirit was there and sister Luker and i were blessed with being able to teach in unity. We are praying that this might be the way to help Lauren gain her own testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.

Later this weak sister Luker and I were blest in being able to find a new investigator. Her name is Sarah, she lives in our same apartment complex and already believes the Book or Mormon....She belongs to a branch off the the original church. They call themselves restorationalists? Yesterday we spent some time comparing scripture, specifically the doctrine and covenants. They have a lot of new doctrine, and doctrine that has been changed. It make same sad and angry when man takes it upon themselves to interpret the will of God.

 I'm currently reading in Helaman 6 and 7, this is the transitional period when the Lamanites are become more righteous than the Nephites. As i was reading is was ponder upon what causes people to turn from the Lord and to fall away from the church. In chapter 6 of Helaman the Gadianton robbers are on the rise and the Lamanites knowing how destructive this group of people are ran then out. In 6:20, "and they did use every means  on their power to destroy them off the face of the earth." But what did the Nephites do? They accepted  them. They gave into pride and forgot God. And this happens in such a short space of time. When they stopped remembering, when they stopped feasting upon the scriptures they became weak and susceptible to Satan's power.

I want to share was a miracle that happened yesterday after church. I was in the library making copies when i saw two individuals who looked a little out of place. Come to find out they are members of a local Scientology church, but had heard something about a "latter day library" and had come looking. We introduced ourselves as missionaries and invited them to meet with us. We gave them a copy of the Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet. Peter, the young, man seemed really interested in meeting with us at first.. Towards the end of our visit you could see his countenance change. It was almost like you could see the adversary working upon him. He kept the book of Mormon but said he wanted sometime to think about meeting with us. We have his number and address and if we don't hear from him by the end of this week are planning on calling on him. So although this story doesn't have the greatest ending, a seed was planted.

Please, NEVER push a missionary to eat more food. Always offer, but don't slop it on their plate. Yesterday we had dinner with an awesome family, the food was delicious but she wouldn't take no for answer and kept piling it on. And then when we thought we couldn't eat anymore they pulled out dessert. Sister luker, sister burton, sister cox and i were all good sports and just and just laughed about the entire experience. But oh my goodness it was rough. :)

To end the night we went over to Brother Menlo Smith's home to watch a fireside being given by a member in our ward. (Bro. Smith invented the willie wonca pixie stick FYI)  Brother Thomas gave the presentation. He spent the last two weeks over in Rwanda on a humanitarian service mission. He shared slides about his time over there and the Church's influence in that country.  It hasn't been until the the last 6 months that the church has been able to send missionaries into its borders. What a blessing it is to live in a land where we have the right to worship when and what we please.

I love reading my Book of Mormon. It is true! Every time I read I am blessed with some new insight. God really new what he was doing when he asked his holy prophets to write the record of their people. The gospel is true. There is no room for doubt!
love sister salmon

September 17th, 2012

HeY FAmilia

This week was pretty crazy for me. It was the first time I'd been in my area the entire week. The last three weeks we were on exchanges so my days have been off all week.

We did a lot of finding this week, which i was really happy about. Because we haven't been in our area a lot, i feel like we've abused the people in Frontenac. The weather has been perfect for finding as well so that's been a blessing. I wish i could report that we found some people to teach, but we didn't. We had some really good conversations, but once we would start bringing up 'new teachings' like additional scriptures, or that we existed as spirits before we lived they'd close up. We started talking to this one man, and was very hopeful. But then once we brought up that he lived as a spirit he got really angry and no longer wanted to talk about religion. One of my companions took this very hard. We ended up going to Oberwiess to cheer her up. Oberwiess is this really nice dairy story. They have really good ice cream, milks, etc. That seemed to brighten her mood. As missionaries we can't offered to take those things personally. It breaks my heart when i meet people who reject this message. I don't think they understand that its Christ they are rejecting. We are here to help them strengthen their faith in Christ. We only want them to be happy.

We were able to get a hold of Eugene this week and talk about baptism and the coventants we make at baptism. I think that really helped him understand why we need to be baptized. We again invited him to be baptized and to pray about a date. He seemed more sincere this time about it.

Saturday night was transfer calls. I will be staying in the area and my new companion will be sister Luker. We've served together before, and I'm really excited to serve with her again. She is an awesome missionary. I've had an opportunity to serve with her a couple of times on exchanges. She has grown so much as a missionary. Frontenac has so much potential as an area and I'm excited to really dig in. Sister Pedersen is going to Mexico Ill? and sister Grover is going to Glen carbon. They are both pretty excited.

Yesterday sister Pedersen put sister Grover and i on house arrest. We've been feeling under the weather.(i didn't know what to do with myself. So i finally went to sleep. I slept for 4 hours, waking up at 8:30pm...don't worry mom I'm feeling much better :) ) While we were at home resting sister pedersen went out with sister Burton, an elderly sister missionary who works in the office. They were able to go and meet with a family in the ward that has been battling a lot of physical trials. And then they had an opportunity to stop by rob's home and visit with him. They shared a message about finding peace from reading the scriptures and from the words of the prophets. They invited him to read 2Nephi 31 and sister Luker and I will be following up with him later this week.
Love Sister Salmon

September 10th, 2012

I had a blast at the city museum. We met up as a district and spent a couple hours climbing through tunnels, sliding down slides etc. It was loads of fun. And then for the next couple days we were reminded of the fun we had by the appearance of bruises that appeared on our elbows, knees and other random places. There weren't any rides there. It was like an adult play toy, and had to try everything because i didn't want to get left out. Its kind of like missionary work. When you are fully committed to something the fear of things have a hard time surfacing and you have a blast.

I wrote James last week and heard back from him. He sounds like he's having so much fun and has learned so much from the short period of time.

We haven't been able to meet with Eugene this week because we were out of town for exchanges again. And then he had his son in town over the weekend and was unable to come to church because he wanted to spent time with his son.

For exchanges we went to Glen Carbon Illinois. Sister Shutt, Luker and Brinck are all serving there. The first day i served with sister shutt. We were blessed with being the ones on bikes that day. And that tuned into such a blessing. Everywhere we went we biked into someone who was willing/wanting to learn about the gospel. We didn't have any specific roads. We had only talked about a general area. One particular time, sister shutt suggested we bike further down the street. We came to a park, chained up our bikes and while crossing the street we see this young man coming closer, walking almost adjacent to us. We started to talking to him. Found out his name is Marquies. He's had a really ruff life. His little brother died when he was younger, resulting in a lot of confusion and anger. His parents seem to still mourning over his death, which as a result have caused them to shun Marquies. We were able to sit down with him in the park and testify to him that he is a son of God. That he can see his brother again and that his father in heaven is very much aware of him. The Spirit was so strong during that lesson it was awesome. We were able to set up an appointment the following day which i wasn't present for but heard it went well. That was how our day went all day. One of us would suggest a direction and we were led to someone to talk to. When we were finally able to come back to our own area we were able to contact some potential investigators. One being Rob. He was a media referral we received last week. He was very open to taken the discussions. Apparently he has a lady friend in Utah, they've been talking about the church. We are going to see him tomorrow.
I'm glad that everything is going so well at home.

love you all sister salmon

Tuesday September 4, 2012

Well this last week my companions and i were on exchanges, this time we went to st. charles. It was so great to go and teach in a previous area. I already new most of the people the sisters had been working with and it was good to see their progression. I was able to see Angel one of our recent converts and was so happy to see that she was doing amazing. Her testimony is growing so much. With it being Labor day the library was closed and we we weren't able to write home yesterday so I'm haviong a hard time remembering all that we did. We had a really good lesson with Eugene, we reveiwed the plan of salvation with him. It had been a while. When it came time to talk about the Celestial kingdom we shared with him that those who want to enter this kingdom must be baptized by someone holding the authority of God. He shared that he had already been baptized (something we heart alot). We then reviewed how the authority was lost and then restored on the earth. We each took turns then sharing our testimonies of how we knew that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was true and that it contains the fullness of the Gospel. He accepted our invitation to be baptized but wasn't ready to set a date. Said he wanted to pray about it first. We also stopped by Dorthy Callaways' home Saturday night? She had mentioned that she wants to go to the temple so we brougt by the temple ensign and talked to her about the joy of temple attendance.We scheduled a lunch date for this thursday on the temple grounds. There is such a spirit about the temple, that we want her to feel. And then, we were all so excited when we saw her the next day anter the chapel, she also had her Daughter and her grand children there as well. Her daughter is a member but is also slowly coming back to church. And only one of Dorthy's grandchildren is baptized, we're hoping to be able to start teaching her soon. Sunday night the office elders and us were invited to dinner at Mission home. It was like a family dinner, in fact our mission president and his wife joked around that we were all his kids, three daughters and two sons. After dinner we gathered in the living room where we had a mini family home evening, and then read the scriptires together. It was so great! Yesterday for pday we went to the city museum with our district. Pretty much its this huge play toy for kids. You crawl through caves and metal bridges that are suspended 50+ feet in the air. So fun. I'll have to send pictures. They even had this slide that is 10 stories. You climb up these stairs that look like an image our of Harry Potter. we're currently on exchanges with the Glen Carbon sisters in Illinois. We got here last night and will be here until tomorrow night. Well the church is true. The gospel does change people, and its for everyone. Jesus Christ lives, he is our savior. The atonment is real and it works. We just need to let it work our our lives. Love sister Salmon

Aug 27, 2012

Mom I can't believe its here for James.That so exciting. "James, you are going to love your mission. My advice to you would be to never compare your best to anyone else' best. Do your part to be obedient. Love your companion, and if you struggle with that, prayer to love them. The best way to have love for someone is to serve them...There heart may never be softened but you will have done your best and the lord will bless you for that. Always have a prayer in your Heart and a cheerful song (hymn, Disney movie) in your head. This truly is a great work and a wonder that we both have an opportunity to take part in. Every day i am reminded how the lord doesn't need our help in sharing the gospel. But he loves us and wants to let us help him. I am so proud of you little brother. Make sure to email me." I can't think of anything i need. I have clothes, blankets.. all the necessities. No sweets! But if you think of anything i am more then willing to accept. Pictures are always good. Updated ones. CAN YOU MAKE SURE TO SEND ME JAMES ADDRESS AT THE MTC. MAILING AND EMAIL. Just in case i want to send him anything. Its funny how this was pretty much a year ago that went through this same thing. DAD- That's so cool that you have sisters now. I didn't even know our mission had sisters. We do have senior companions. I haven't really served around them,. Many of them serve in the office. But i think there are one or two sets that are proselyting missionaries. On Monday we got together with the zone and had a Zone P-day. We Played Volleyball, soccer and then ended with a water fight. I can't jump anymore, its so sad. And then for the water fight, the elders filled up pitchers and water balloons and placed them in bowls all around the front of the church. I didn't feel like getting wet because we had an appointment right afterwards but elder Terrazes quickly changed that. He came out of no where and soaked me with a pitcher of water. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!. But miracle that night. We were headed home after an appointment and on the way home one of my companions wanted to stop by a gas station to pick up a Dr. Pepper. As we were pulling in, on of my companions and I saw a girl with no shoes on filling up her car; she was wearing mismatched socks. My companion said that i should go and talk to her. So i did, I made a remark about her socks and the conversation took off from there. It was awesome. I introduced myself and then we had a neat discussion about Jesus Christ and what we love about church. We were talking for a while when a voice came over the speaker and they told us to move our car because we weren't filling up our car with gas. We finished our discussion across the street and set up a time to meet up with her later this week. Sadly we haven't been able to meet up with her yet, she's pretty busy with school, work and other etxra-curricular activities. But we're hoping maybe later this week when we return from exchanges. Meeting Kelli was such an awesome experience. We would never have met if I hadn't gone over and said hi. Only the Lord know if she is ready, or even close to being ready to receive the gospel. Its so important to as missionaries and as members to open our mouths and speak to everyone around us. When we don't share with them the knowledge of the Gospel we aren't letting them exercise their agency to accept or reject the message. I think as members we go about looking for that golden investigator. That one person who is ready and will accept. Although there are those who are ready, there are so many others who are not. There is a section in D&C that talks about how we need to not rush through life searching for that one person while we are surrounded by people who are perishing in unbelief. We are all sons and daughters of God. We see them at the grocery store, at school, work...Everywhere we go. It is my testimony that if we simply put our trust in Heavenly Father and open our mouths we will know what to say and how to say it. We had exchanges with sister Randall and sister Lowe on Thursday and Friday last week in Fredrick Town. It was soo small. Its only a little branch, and they meet in this tiny chapel right off the highway. I love exchanges, its such a refresher for me. Its gives me an opportunity to see new places, and new people. I had a really neat experiences finding with sister Randall on Friday. Our first door we set out to knock was a potential investigator. The individual we were looking for wasn't currently home but his wife was there and gladly welcomed us in. As we were talking, she told us that she could feel herself getting closer to God. And that when she saw us she couldn't close the door on us. She knew God had sent us. That set the stage for an awesome lesson. We introduced the book of Mormon using the pictures in the front cover. We invited her to read and prayer about Alma 32. She accepted the book and said she'd read it while she was at work. We were able to set up a follow up appointment for this coming Thursday. Heavenly Father is so amazing! He is so aware of all of us and our decisions. There have been so many instances on my mission when I have felt the Love my heavenly Father has for me. He is so loving, and so merciful. He wants more than anything so see us come safely home. That's why the plan was presented. Its the through the plan of Redemption that our souls can be redeemed. Its through that same plan that we can find eternal happiness. We were never promised that this life would be easy, or that we would be above trails. I know that it is through those trial we are given that we are able to more fully appreciate the blessings of our Heavenly Father has for us. We have to experience opposition in all things, if we don't, we wouldn't appreciate how good things really are. Jesus Christ is my savior, i love him so much. I know that this gospel is true. Love sister salmon

Pictures

Mom here are the pictures that Sister Salmon has sent me. I thought y'all would like to enjoy these pictures too. 

 (Out biking and saw this on someone's front lawn.  Had to stop and take a pic. Only $750?)
                                     

 

(Me and my Greeny Sister Randall on our 3rd day together.  In front of our home.)

August 20th, 2012

Oh Mom, you always know what i need to hear. This week was a trying time. There were a few instances were there was some miscommunication and feelings were hurt. But we were able to talk through it and mend things as well as we could. So we'll see how this next week goes. This week we spent much of the time out finding people, knocking doors, trying to locate formers and potentials and LA. We made some awesome contacts this week. We were able to get inside two LA homes that apparently in the past hadn't let members in. We're in the process of trying to start up lessons with them. One of the LA members still reads the Book of Mormon, prays and seems to believe in the gospel. Her husband isn't a d member...yet. With the Lord's help we'll hopefully help to change that. Then we were blessed in being able to find three new investigators this last week. The first two are a mother and daughter. The mother was a former investigator. She was just busy all the time so she was dropped. We stopped by her house this last week, she was out in her back yard cleaning up her yard. We had a pretty bad rain storm a couple days previous so she had some large branches strewn about her yard. She said that once school starts she wants to start meeting with us. And she wants us to also start teaching her two daughters. Hopefully we'll be able to see them today. We have exchanges this week with the sisters in Fredrick town. That makes working in our area a little difficult. We found our third investigator last night. Sister Grover, Sister Pedersen and i were trying to contact some potentials and as we were on our way out we saw this man outside watering the courtyard of the apartment. We had a really good discussion with him. He didn't seem too interested at first. But in the end he accepted a mormon.org card and said that we could call him to set something up. We walked away looking forward to hopefully being able to call him later and set something up. But later that night as we were in the middle of companion study, he texted us. We set up an appointment with him for tomorrow. So we're really excited about that. There are people all around us who are searching for the gospel. Try thinking about your life with out the teachings of Christ in your life. That is such a sad depressing thought. I am so grateful for the knowledge i have. The Gospel is true! love you all sister salmon

August 13, 2012

Talk about memories... I can't believe a year has already flown by and little James is getting ready for his mission. So received mom's collection of letters that she collected at the family reunion. I was laughing so hard. I must say, we have a very dysfunctional family. Most families when they go on vacations go and relax. Nope, not us. We play hard and it seems to be full of concussion, at least a couple people sick, flesh wounds and ton and tons of food. (Dan, welcome to the family. It sounded like you received a proper welcoming into the Salmon Family. Its going to be a great eternity :) So transfers were this last week. Sister Randall and I were both shipped out of St. Charles. I am now serving in Frontenac, Mo with Sister Pedersen and Sister Grover. The ward has the largest percentage of active members I've ever served in. Church yesterday was great. We got to meet a lot of new faces. Its excited, we are serving in the same ward that President and Sister Clark, our mission president and his wife attend. This week has been filled with moving into the apartment, Its been fun trying to find places for all of our things. And also getting to know the members and investigators the previous sisters had been working with. We will get to do a lot of finding, our teaching pool isn't very large, but we have high hopes for the end of the transfer. Towards the end of last week we were able to meet with a potential investigator by the name of Felix. We were able to visit with him and discuss his views of church attendance and prayer. Half way through the discussion he got all teary eyed and and said that he knew he needed to come to church. The spirit was strong in our discussion and I look forward to seeing him this week. Thursday, sister Pedersen had to go up to Pittsfield,ILL. to get a cast put on her foot and to do iron transfusions. She had broken her foot back in May and hadn't followed the advice of her doctor so it had gotten worse. As for the Iron. She is Iron deficient and is allergic to all iron supplements so she has to take it via IV. That was an all day adventure. Our GPS was taking us all over the place so we really didn't get a lot done that day. Its going to take some time adjusting to working in a tri.They each are seasoned missionaries and i am excited to learn from each. I know that God puts us in situations and with people for specific reasons. I know that Jesus Christ is my savior. I have seen how people have changed when they learn and accept this simple truth. I know i still have much to learn when it comes to the gospel, and am excited for this opportunity to learn. I have come to know that missions aren't really sacrifices. I have learned so much from my mission. Things i wouldn't have learned anywhere else. I love my heavenly Father and his Son Jesus Christ. This is their church. love you all sister salmon

August 6th, 2012

Hey Dad, what a wonderful family reunion. It sounds like you all had a blast. Thank you for the words of wisdom. I always appreciate them. Also, i made it a goal that i wanted to run 5 miles by the end of this transfer, and this morning i ran 5. It was totally wicked. Did you get the CD that i sent you with pictures on it? Also our mission president is strongly encouraging all those who are eligible, to vote in the presidential elections. What do i need to do about that? This week was another busy week in the field. Sister Randall and I went on exchanges with sister Northcutt and sister Toala in Dardenne creek. They they are such wonderful sisters, i enjoyed every minut of it. On Tuesday while sister Toala and we were out tracting she introduced me to a game she plays with her companions. You take turns doing the door the initial door approach. And who ever gets 20 doors opened to them wins. You wouldn't think that would take that long. I think collectively we knocked doors for 5-6 hours before she hit her twentieth door. It keeps you engaged and the mood light. We found some awesome potential investigators. I'm excited to hear how they turn out. On Wednesday we were still on exchanges in Dardenne, and our Zone leaders Elder Perks and Elder Rudd called us asking if we'd like to have a mini missionary come join us. We were able to rearrange our schedule and Thursday night we picked up sister Meadows from the st. Charles building. From there we departed for Warrenton to do exchanges with sister Silvers and Sisters Brinck. I was out with sister Brinck and our mini contacting a referral on Thursday and sadly enough our referral wasn't home. Sister Brinck and I were ready to move onto our next location when sister Meadows in her excitement asked if could do some tracting in this neighborhood. We were blessed in being able to contact Laina. She was the neighbor of the referral we had originally gone out there to seek out. She was outside with her three children. She was very friendly and has some really great questions. She didn't go to church growing up and only recently decided that she wanted to learn more about god. She had heard about the LDS church and invited missionaries back to her home. Its amazing how the lord places people in our paths her are ready and seeking. Saturday night was transfer calls. Both sister Randall and I are being transferred out. They white washing our area, bringing in a new set of missionaries. Sister Fallentine, who's been out for about 4 months i think and then a new missionary. I'm sad to leave, but at the same time have been here a long time. I know that sister Fallentine and her trainee will do great her. These call are inspired. I have been called to Frontenac. Supposedly the rizt part of town, that's what everyone keeps telling me at least. And i will be serving with sister Grover and Sister Pederson. Little nervous about being in a tri, but at the same time am really excited. I am blessed to be able to learn from two great sisters instead of just one. Love you sister salmon

July 30, 2012

Okay you slackers, how are things going for you all? Sister Randall and i were pleasantly surprised to have had a baptism this last Saturday. Angel O'Neill surprised us on Tuesday by telling us she had talked with the Bishop on Sunday and had set a baptismal date together. We spent the bulk of that lesson preparing her for her Baptismal interview the next day and the program together. There were a few complications concerning who was going to speak so last minute i volunteered to give the talk on the holy Ghost. Saturday was a very stressful day for me. I think baptisms are always stressful for those involved. I had completed some reading on the Holy Ghost but hadn't had time to write my talk yet. We found ourselves in a deep discussion with a catholic preacher who was so concerned for our well being that he didn't give us time to talk. What we thought would be a 30 minute discussion turned quickly into an hour + discussion. I now had only 30 minutes to quickly write a talk.I was able to piece some thoughts together and when it came time for me to speak i know that the lord blessed me to know what to say.I only used a fraction of what i had prepared. I know that God does help us and when we are prepared and worthy of his spirit he can directs us in our actions, thoughts, and words. This week we also had our super activity. So on Thursday all of us in the mission gathered down town for the Cardinals Baseball game. It was so much fun. We all wore our proselyting clothes. Well, all except the other sisters. The sisters were told they could wear jeans. My companion and I wore skirts though because it was too hot and muggy to even think about wearing jeans. After the game we gathered at Forest park for dinner and a talent show. Friday was the spiritual part of our activity. We had three awesome speakers.The First speaker, Doctor Anderson (Psychiatrist?) talked about the importance of our spiritual, emotional, and physical well being. Bro. Menlo Smith (who purchased the St. Louis Temple site and then donated it to the church. Part of the agreement in purchasing the land was to not sell it to the Mormons. So he donated) spoke about sources of instruction and how we can be successful as missionaries and as future mothers and fathers. The last speaker was Doctor Olsen (physical therapist), spoke on the law of consecration as a missionary. The spirit was thick and i didn't want to leave at the end. There is so much power when you can gather together with people who have the same goals and beliefs. I love being a missionary. I never understood when RM's would talk about how on your mission you experience the very highs, and the very lows until now. I know Christ lives, that he is so much aware each of us. I know the Plan of Salvation is true, that it is the only way we can be happy now, and in the eternities. I love you all. sister salmon

July 23, 2012

I am so grateful for the my mornings. :) How we wake up, our attitudes, the way we conduct ourselves truly affects how the remainder of our day will go. In the morning is the time that i am able to read my scriptures and prepare, spiritually and mentally for the day. My testimony in receiving revelation through scripture study has grown so much. Not only have i been able to receive greater understanding through reading, but i have been able to see others receive blessings and answers to their questions as they search the scriptures. We have one investigator, his name is mike. Sister Randall and i have been able to meet with him only three times and his faith has grown so much. Its amazing to see people light up and share what they know. We had a great visit with Mike last night and we were able to discuss some of concerns about baptism. As we did this, we asked him about his personal scripture reading. We asked if he know what he reading was true and how he knew it. He shared with us a simple, but strong testimony that he knew the Book of Mormon was true. He said that he's been reading and has received so many reassurances. At the end of our lesson he shared with us that before he can decide to be baptized, he wants to talk with his family. They know he has been attending our church services, but doesn't know that he has been meeting with us. When he said this we invited him to give a kneeling prayer and ask so courage to know when and how to approach his family. I know that God hears our prayers. He know our thoughts, desires and designs. When we reach out to him in sincere prayer and ask in faith he will answer us. Another awesome lesson we had was with Angel on Saturday. We had gone over to check up on her. We had been having a hard time getting a hold of this week. We are so close to being able to set a baptismal date with her. She wants to be baptized and understands the need to be baptized, but needs to get permission from her husband. We're going to be seeing her later this week, so hopefully she'll have good news. This week we have our super activity. This is something the mission does every year in the summer. It'll be on Thursday and Friday. Thursday is the fun play time and Friday will be the spiritual power punch. On Thursday the entire mission is going to the Cardinals baseball game VS. Dodgers. Super excited about this, i love going to live baseball games. love you family sister salmon

July 15th, 2012

Ok so its not that weird that you invited the guy over because you are a member missionary that's true. I received your package on Wednesday. We had leadership training on Wednesday... The office elders forgot to bring it, but we live so close that they brought it by later that day for me. I love all the goodies. The granola is so good. I shared some of it with my land lord JD and he thought it was super delicious! This I already know. I'm so spoiled. And the eye spy game and little drawing pad is perfect. I showed it to my land lord and jokingly she asked me "aren't you a little old for those toys?".... I don't think so. That eye spy game kept me pretty occupied when i first found it. There are some cool things in there. It was a slow week for sister Randall and I. Full of tracking and member stop bys. I'm trying to help sister Randall become more acquainted with the members because i'm pretty sure she'll be taking over this area in a months time. I'll have been here for 6 months this August. We an interesting run in with a very devote Catholic priest. Kyle is a young father who grew up catholic and just loves his faith. It was non confrontational. He did a lot of speaking, and sister randall and i were content on just listening to what he was saying. It was very educational, and at the same time as we listened sister randall and i sensed that he was also looking for more from his religion. We shared some of our basic beliefs as well and extended him a pamphlet on the restoration. He took it and genuinely and said that he would read it. Our time was cut short due to our dinner appointment, we were already going to be late. He apologized that he had done most of the talking, but said that we could come back the following week and discuss what he will read in the pamphlet. We invited him to pray with us and gave a very nice heartfelt prayer. I had leadership training this week. Actually didn't find out until the day before. The theme of the meeting was on elder Uchtdorf's talk from this last priesthood session entitled The Why of Priesthood Service. But instead of focusing upon the Priesthood, we focused on the Why of missionary work. And from there we broke it down into two branches. The mechanical side: showing obedience, and then the spiritual side: doing something because you were moved by the spirit, because you greatly desire it for you brother or sister. The messages that were shared were very inspired. And as always, i couldn't wait to get back out to apply what i had been taught. We weren't able to meet up with angel this week. She was sick for the first half of the week and when we went to go see her on Saturday she wasn't home. We called her later and found out she had been in a serious car accident and flipped her car. Miraculously she and her daughter were fine and were able to attend church yesterday. Saturday morning sister Randall and i had volunteered our time to go and help a sister move. Sister York was a women we had tried various times to go and visit but could never catch her at home. With all the help that showed up we had her out of her old apartment and into her new apartment and just a couple of hours. Sister Randall, a few other sisters and I stayed behind to do some last minute cleaning. As we did this we were able to start up a conversation with Sister Yorks neighbor Tracy. Tracy was very impressed by all the people who had showed up to help Sister York move and had come over to see the progress. We were able to have a short lesson on the book of mormon and share our testimonies that we each new it was true. She has a very strong faith and belongs to another church, but seemed very interested in reading the book of mormon. She kept thumbing through it as we shared our testimonies. We're going to stop by her house later this week to check up on her. I love sharing the gospel. I kick myself whenever i see a missed opportunity to share my testimony, or to make a contact. I know that when we simply open our mouths and put our faith in God that everything will work out. Even if what we said may not make sense in our minds. Sister Randall and i were driving down the road Saturday night when i felt an impression to park the car and back track to where i had seen an older women sitting on her porch. I didn't know why, but i knew that i must not ignore the impression. I told sister Randall how i felt and that we should park the car. We did, and had a good conversation with the women. Nothing spectacular happened during that visit. I know the lord is helping me recognize the promptings in my life so when a prompting comes and i really need to obey i can know it. After that visit sister Randall and i went out to dinner and we were blessed with a free meal. A gentleman visiting from Utah with his high school basketball team saw us sitting eating our meal and came in introduced himself to us. Then when we asked for our check the waiter said that it had been taken care of. God blessed us in mysterious ways. :) K family i love you all. i'm out of things to write at the moment. sister salmon dad (and anyone else) there is a cool website that my WML told me about. It has two articles that i think if you haven't already read would really enjoy. Its on missionaryleaders.org . The first one is titled: Sister Susan Fulcher Case Study and the second is titled the field is white.

July 9th, 2012

Oh cougar bear. That little rascal. lol. I'd suggest getting a dog. Maybe a Rhodesian ridgback. They're lion hunters. That's what i want to get when i come home. Yes i am still playing the piano. Only piratically. I have found the easy hymn book and our land lords let me play whenever. They're awesome. I plan on having you give me piano lessons when i return so be prepares. So who's this young man you met at the 4Th of July thing? How old is he? Isn't that kind of weird to just invite him over? Joanne had sent me a wedding announcement in the mail so i remembered that she got married this last week. When you see of talk to her next thank her for the invite. That was very thoughtful of her. We have been in a major hot wave this last week. We've been up in the triple digits the last week, breaking records like crazy. People thought my companion and i were nuts walking around tracting. It wasn't all the bad. The hardest part i think was going in and out of house. The transition from hot to cold isn't very comfortable....And like all church buildings the Ac never works properly during sacrament. So I literally froze during the first hour. I had goose bumps up and down my arms the entire time. For the 4th we were told not to proselyte. Instead sister Randall and i enjoyed attending the ward pancake breakfast, the st. Charles parade and then touring historic st. Charles. And that night because we were able to stay out till 10:30pm, we walked down to Frontier park with a member family and watched the Firework display. There was a lot of talk about cancelling it this year. Its been so dry and we've had hardly any rain. Sister Randall and i had a fun time walking around in the sun this week. It has been exceedingly warm here. The weather has cooled a little bit, somewhere in the 90's today and i think that's where it will stay all week. On one of our outings we walked down to where one of our investigators lived and found her and her daughter at home. She was preoccupied at the moment so sister Randall and i engaged her daughter Jessica in conversation. We had an amazing lesson on the importance of the Book of Mormon and how we can receive personal revelation through reading and pondering its pages. It was wonderful to be able to share my testimony with her, and then to see the holy Ghost confirm what I said was true. We committed her to read to pray about whether the Book of Mormon is true and set up a follow up appointment for this Wednesday. Jessica has a lot of questions about her purpose here on earth and displayed a very open mind when it comes to learning about God. We also met with Mike Lane this last week. He's the boyfriend of a member in our ward. This was our third time meeting with him. He is progressing so well. He is reading and praying, and come to find out he's been praying with his girlfriend. Which when i heard that i was ecstatic. He was so unsure when we invited him to pray with us a week ago and here he was praying like it was never a problem. The gospel changes people. When we follow the teachings we read in the scriptures the Holy Ghost can then bare record to our spirits that what we are doing is true. I know that when we are obedient that we are showing love and appreciation to our Heavenly father. sister salmon

July 2, 2012

Happy Canada day yesterday family! This week is going to be awesome! A side from the fact that i get to go out and work all day, we have been asked to not proselyte on the fourth of July. Instead we will be going to the wards pancake breakfast, and then going down to the parade with our land lords. We'll spend the day walking around main street and seeing all the things they'll have set up down there. I think there having some sort of carnival. And then fireworks that night. We are able to stay out until 10:30pm. Last week on P-day a member took us down town and we were able to go and see the St. Louis arch. We actually went up it. It's 630 feet high. You sit in these little four foot elevators that seat five people. No windows so if your afraid of heights or are claustrophobic this would not be good for you. It take you four minutes to get up, and three to get down. It was so cool. This week has been super Hot! I think we're breaking records here in St. Charles. The other day sister Randall and i were out finding and in 107 degree weather. Every door we came too the people thought we were crazy, would offer us a cold bottle of water and sometimes would let us come in to cool off in their air conditioned home. They were never interested in our message, but still praised us for our diligence. Personally, I liked being outside. I think my body is doing a good job acclimatizing to the heat... They're houses are too cold. We had two really good lessons with Angel this week. I know she felt the spirit strongly in our second lesson. We went over the law of Chastity with her and thankfully she doesn't have a problem living it. :) She is already married and has a young 20 month daughter named Fiona. Sister Willard who was our member was also in attendance to our lessons. Her daughter Pheobe and Fiona were able to play together and keep each other distracted during the lessons. We asked Angel if she had prayed about knowing if the Book of Mormon was true and if Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God. She shared a very sweet simple testimony about how she knew it was true because of the wonderful things/changes that have been happening in her life since she started reading. I love when our investigators are able to recognize the the fruits of the spirit. Faith truly is like a little seed as the prophet Alma explains. We need to let that seed be planted in our hearts. But it doesn't stop there. We need to nourish it and strengthen it so that it may get root. When we read our scriptures, when we ponder and pray about the things we read and then apply those things we learn our faith is able to grow. I hope that Angel will continue to grow in her faith, and come to understand how important the gospel of Jesus Christ truly is. Last night we had another awesome lesson. His name is Mike, he's the boyfriend of a member in the ward. He's come to church multiple times and two week ago Jackie his member girl friend invited us over to start teaching him the lessons. Last night was our second lesson with Mike. We walked through the Plan of Salvation with him, hitting hard upon the atonement of Jesus Christ and how its only through Christ that we can be saved. He had a lot of really good questions and with the help of the spirit Sister Randall, Jackie and i were able to address his questions and point out scriptures from the Bible and book of Mormon that we hoped would help him. At the end of the lesson I was able to invite Mike to pray with us. He was very hesitation at first, saying he'd never given a vocal public prayer before. Not even with his girl friend Jackie and they'd been together for almost three years. We all waited for a long time praying that spirit will help him. Finally after a couple of long seconds he finally consented to pray. He said that he would pray if someone would pray with him, then he would recite what was said. This was awesome. A huge break through. Before our first lesson i had asked Jackie if Mike would feel comfortable praying and she said that request would freak him out. Both sister Randall and i knew that we Mike needed to pray. It was an awesome experience to kneel down and hear him talk with his Heavenly father. Yesterday was a huge blessing. Sunday morning during companion study sister Randall and I had studied the importance of Prayer in conversion and had role played how to help Mike understand the importance of praying with us. Jackie and Mike had been out of town all week so at the time we practiced this we did not have lesson set with Mike. Wow, the Lord is amazing. I know that the Lord is always watching out for us. I know that he knows what we need prior to us even knowing. I know that when we seek guidance from the holy Ghost and follow that guidance that we are blessed. Jesus Christ is my Savior. I will forever be indebted to him. I know that I am a child of God. I know that the gospel is true. Love sister salmon