Self Worth Video

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Letter #44 01/27/14

Count Your Blessings. That is the song going through my head right now. As I continue to be surrounded by gray skies (we have not seen sun for almost a month now), cold air and stubborn snow still stuck on the ground, I realize that I am still blessed as I have been informed of the drought in California and the fires. My heart goes out to everyone there. I know that as long as we are doing what we are supposed to be doing and have faith that everything will work out. 

This week, we had a leadership training (all the senior companions) on working with the Stake and Ward Leaders. It was neat because we had a small panel of a bishop and Relief Society president and were able to get some feedback and ideas on how to work better with them so that we can be more united in our purpose of bringing others closer to Christ. We then went out and worked on applying the things we had learned. I had been able to set up appointments with our Relief Society President, Bishop and Elders Quorum president and brainstorm more ideas to be of help. Especially now that Sister Maness and I are only working with one ward, this is crucial because we cannot do any of our work without them! 

This week as we met with individuals it was neat to see how much our visits can mean to these people. Tuesday night we went to the Relief Society activity night where we learned how to make "knock off meals" (KFC's coleslaw, Wendy's chili, Red Lobster's cheese biscuits and Applebee's Blondie brownies). I have to say that coleslaw is the closest thing to KFC's and it's the only coleslaw I like ;) Later that week, we stopped by a sister's house who we've been visiting that is still mourning from her husband's sudden death the last year (Parkinson's). She was making the Blondie brownies for her sister's birthday and so we helped her to make it. Although it was a simple act, it was so fun to spend that time with her and probably more fun than if she had made them on her own. She is having knee surgery this next week and she asked if we can just continue to come visit with her because it helps her so much. We had another boy, Alec (who's been struggling with his activity in the church) also share with us that he feels a difference when we visit him and that because of our consistency with him, his desire to serve a mission a rekindled. That was like music to our ears. There are days when I wonder if I'm making a difference, but to hear those things reassure me that I am doing my part, no matter how small or big it may seem. 

It is so important to remember that we all play a part in this game of Life. We may seem like we have a lot of responsibility, and other times feel that we are inadequate, but I can promise you that no matter the size of what we do, it all makes a difference and God's Plan for happiness would not work if we all didn't do our part. Serving and loving those around us, attending all activities that we are encouraged to go to, sharing what we know is true, these are all important. We never know the impact that our choices can make on others, hopefully for the better. You matter. Many of your choices have impacted me and where I am today. I thank you for that. Whenever you doubt your importance, just send me an email and I'll remind you why you're important to me ;) 

Love you all and hope you have a GREAT week!

Sister Wightman

Letter #43 01/21/14

Inversion! This is a new concept to me. We have had inversion, or thick fog, for the past week, and boy does that get old. It gives everything a misty cool look, but as the driver, you sure have to drive careful. We keep hoping for some sunshine, but soon enough. I reflect back on the summer when it was 112 degrees and we were looking forward to snow. Not saying I'm ready for the heat again, but some sunshine would be nice ;) We've been singing the hymn, "There Is Sunshine In My Soul Today" a lot lately haha. 

Well this was Sister Maness and my first official week of just serving in the Beacon Light ward. It was definitely an adjustment. One day we're super excited, and then we're a little discouraged (having so much more time on our hands to fill), and then we're excited again as we see progress. We have made it a goal just to meet everyone. We're still working on that. Lately, I've been feeling myself a little less motivated than normal and so I turned to a booklet that we had been given about "Adjusting to Missionary Life". In it, it addresses different stresses that we experience on a mission and one of them is about feeling unmotivated. There was a great suggestion that really stood out to me which said to focus on a talent that you have and apply it into your missionary work. SO, since Sister Maness and I both like to sing, we decided that when we would share a spiritual thought, we would sing a hymn instead. It was incredible just that one little change made. As we sing (harmonizing), the Spirit is so much stronger. I know that hymns are a form of scripture and it has been so great to teach in a different way. Friday, we stopped by a family's house that the husband is not active in the church, but the wife is. We sat and visited (and defrosted) for a while and then sang the wife's favorite hymn, "I Stand All Amazed". She shared with us later that after we left, her husband turned to her and said how nice that was. She said she almost fell off her chair because he is not one to share his thoughts, especially on spiritual things. So that was really cool. Our dinner for Sunday night was a cool experience too. The family had forgotten that they had signed up to have us to dinner after inviting their neighbors (attend another church that tend to not support the LDS church). She was afraid of having them feel like this was a set up when it really wasn't, but when she explained the situation and asked if they still wanted to come, they cheerfully agreed that they had no problem with it. We had a great meal and visit with all of them. I got to talk to the husband about classic cars (thank you Dad for raising me on that!) and it was just so comfortable. At the end, Sister Maness and I got up to sing a hymn. We had actually felt prompted to sing "I Need Thee Every Hour" and afterwards, the wife (neighbor) expressed that she hadn't heard that song in a long time and it seemed to really touch her. Before leaving, they told us that we were welcome over to their house anytime if we were ever in the neighborhood and needed anything. Score! I love the ways that we get to meet so many people :)

Saturday we had our first ward open house. This is an opportunity for members of the Church to invite their friends to see our church and learn about how we worship and what we are about. Since throughout the week when there aren't any activities going on the building is locked up, many people who maybe want to know, don't have the opportunity to. Again, this was our first one and we didn't have any one that wasn't from our church come, but we had a pretty good turn out of members. So I think that was good so that now they know what happens there for when they do invite their friends. This is something that will happen every first Saturday of the month, so definitely plenty of more opportunities to invite :)

The work is slowly but surely progressing in this ward. We are still meeting with Mary Jo (actually just met with her this morning), Hudson, and Brenda. We taught Hudson a little bit about the Plan of Salvation last night and it was a good reminder that is different teaching children. Hopefully next time we will be able to relate it a little more to his level of understanding (good practice for when I'm a parent ;)). Brenda and Mary Jo came to church on Sunday and stayed all three hours. As we've visited with Brenda lately, she is actually the one bringing up about baptism. She has had all the lessons, but it's been since about last February since she took them so would definitely need a refresher. Although she has not fully committed, as she worries how this will affect her relationship with her parents, she has such a strong desire and still doing all she needs to do to prepare and be actively involved. I think she prepares for the lessons at church more than most members do! I love her and her family though and have a strong feeling that she will make that commitment this year. 

We are having a training tomorrow (all the senior companions) on working with the stake and ward leaders and focusing on how we can all work together more so we can be united in our purpose. I'm looking forward to that because I think that will really help. When we all have the same goal in mind and are able to support one another better, the results are so much better. 

This past week I have been studying more on the Christlike attribute of Faith in Jesus Christ. As I've read books and scriptures on this principle, I have seen how simple faith truly can be. Faith is an action word and as we study, are obedient and diligent in our work, we are showing our faith. I love how it talks about faith preceding miracles. The miracles are an effect of our faith, but we must do our part first. There is so much more satisfaction when we know we've put our all into and done our best first and then see the outcome of that. I am reminded that miracles do not have to be a big event, but even just those little tender mercies. Faith truly is the foundation of it all. With a couple of our investigators, they are simply needed to exercise that faith [in Jesus Christ] by taking that step forward to do what they know is right and true and having the faith that everything else will fall into place. Our Heavenly Father knows each of us and our individual situations. He wants ALL of His children to return to Him and so He will provide the way. Even when we wonder if we will always have that support from those around us, I know that Heavenly Father will allow everything to work out if we are doing good. 

I love you all and am grateful for the faith that you've had in me! I hope you all have a wonderful week :)

Love,

Sister Wightman

p.s. Just want to give a shout-out to my cousin, Erin, and a big congratulations on her new baby girl, Joelle!!!

Letter #42 01/13/14

Wow, what a week! Ok, so I think to make up for a slow week last week, Heavenly Father has blessed us with so much! It started off with us getting to teach Charles Wambolt! Although it was because his daughter "persuaded" him to do it, he made it very clear that this lesson was for him (his daughters get a bit chatty). So that was awesome to hear. We taught him about the Restoration and had some great discussions about it. Although he did not say that he knew for sure that Joseph Smith was a prophet, he explained that something must have happened with Jesus Christ as it is such a well known topic, and the same with Joseph Smith because so much has come from that. He was able to basically draw out the point that even though we weren't there for these two events in history, we can see the fruits of them and that's enough for him to believe that something happened and that he would pray about it. At the end, we knelt as Charles closed in a very heartfelt prayer. He didn't set up a follow-up appointment, but informed us he would ponder on the things we taught. He has the desire and that is huge!

Tuesday, I had another missionary leadership council (once a month) and we focused on the importance of the Book of Mormon. Although this is not the first time I've had training on the Book of Mormon while on my mission, it is so wonderful to have a reminder and I always learn something new. This time we focused on how the Book of Mormon can answer "Questions of the Soul". President Winder assigned each companionship a question and told us to find a scripture that would help answer/resolve the concern. There was a variety from "God doesn't care about me anymore" to "Should I marry him?" (we all laughed at that one). It was so neat though to see how really any question can be answered in the Book of Mormon. Truly this scripture was written for our day and time. These great men who recorded their experiences and revelations never even got to see the Book of Mormon put together as they passed down their recordings from generation to generation and it was preserved until our time so that nothing would be corrupted. How marvelous and special this is to our Heavenly Father and now for us! We also discussed "unity" and how as we incorporate it more as a mission, we will see more miracles occur. With our mission growing so quickly, it can be hard to feel united as a whole mission when we rarely see half of the missionaries, but as we keep focused on the same goal and purpose, "to invite others to come unto Christ", then we can feel the unity grow. I was able to reinforce this at Zone Meeting on Friday and it was really great to be able to share my testimony about unity and to discuss ideas of how we can all be more united. To put aside our pride and differences as we work together to help build the Kingdom of God.

Friday was amazing as Sister Maness and I went to work and saw miracles! There is a family that was referred to us that we have tried for a couple weeks now to contact, but not having an exact address, had troubles locating them. Finally, we we received and exact address and went to contact them. As we pulled up, Clair (the wife) opened her garage door - seeing an unfamiliar car and wanted to see who it was - and greeted us. At first, she seemed a little confused, not knowing who we were, but when we mentioned that we were the missionaries and that Brother Barfuss had thought we should come by to meet them, she softened a little bit and welcomed us inside. As we met inside, she asked if we wanted to talk (uh, yeah!), so we sat on her couch and visited for about 20 minutes. She is so sweet and shared much with us about her family and religious background. She grew up in a devout Catholic family, but the last few years had decided to stop going for personal disagreements. Her husband is not religious, but feels he can be one with God while out in nature. She respects him and doesn't force him to come with her, but they have made sure their two little girls know who God and Jesus Christ are. She grew up in California (woowoo!) and even spent summers in Hemet, where Sister Maness is from!, so that was a cool connection. She had heard of Mormons in CA, but as she moved out here to Idaho and was surrounded by so many more LDS families, she began to see more what we are about. She really was impressed with how put-together we seem to be about the family and being involved in the community. We explained that as missionaries (sisters), we spend 18 months of our life devoted to teach people about our religion and what LDS people believe. We asked her if she would be interested in learning more and she said yes! Oh we were so happy. Not much feels better than finding someone who wants to know more. She even asked if we had stuff we could leave with her to read (of course!). We are looking forward to going back. We met with Brenda later that evening and found her sick at home. The rest of her family has been sick and so she got the tail-end of it. Poor thing. Anyway, we were just chatting and then she started to bring up about baptism. Just a recap, she has had all the discussions before, but for various reasons has not been able to commit to baptism - though she wants to. She expressed to us that she really does, but being an only child and not having support from her family really concerns her. Sister Maness and I shared a few stories of family and friends we know that has joined the church alone and that their families may not have been supportive or understanding, but that over time as they saw it only made them a better person, they softened their hearts. She still is uneasy about it and so we have just been praying for her faith to increase her confidence and for her family's hearts to be softened. It will happen in the right time :)

Saturday, we got our transfer calls. It was kind of fun as we were together with our district (all the missionaries in our stake) for a meeting and so we sat around the table waiting "patiently" for the voicemail. SO...Sister Maness and I are staying another transfer together here in Star (guess this is my 6 month area :). It was a little bittersweet though, as we are having another set of sisters come into our stake and are taking the Star 2nd ward. So we are now just covering Beacon Light. I love both these wards so much and so it was really hard to say our goodbyes yesterday. Sister Maness and I were able to do a musical number of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" (I accompanied her) and I'm grateful we were able to do that before we left the 2nd ward. I think why this is so hard for us is because we're still here in Star, still share the church building, and really are just serving across the street, so we'll still run into members from the 2nd ward but can't go see them like we could while serving in their wards. I have had a lot of close people in that ward and so it was hard to say goodbye, but I know that Sister Maness and I are needed in the Beacon Light ward for particular people so I'm excited to see the miracles that come from that this transfer. Yesterday, we said our goodbyes to the Bartholomew's and Miary. We cried so much with Miary. We were able to share our favorite scriptures with her and bear our testimonies and it was just a really special visit. I'm so grateful I was able to meet her and to learn so much from her! She is going to do marvelous things. 

Last night, Sister Maness and I were able to teach Hudson Sparks! It was great to finally get to do that, as it's been talked about for a while but never followed through. Hudson's dad explained how he had felt pushed growing up to go to church and ended up going inactive. But he knows that this church is true and wants his family to be a part of it, but he wants them to make that decision for themselves, not just because dad told them to. Hudson has actually had the discussions before, but it's been a while so it was good just to go over everything. We taught him the Restoration and we were really impressed with how attentive he was for a 9 year old boy (definitely good practice for when I have kids of my own!). It was neat to see his whole family come in and be involved. Although the struggle with coming to church, you can see that they all know it is true and the Spirit was able to testify of that. He gave a sweet and simple prayer at the end and felt good about everything that was talked about. I am excited to see him progress as well as his family as we strive to help him prepare for baptism and for his family to go to the temple together. 

Like I said earlier, this week has truly been amazing. I continue to learn so much. I continue to see the tender mercies of my Heavenly Father and how much He knows me and my struggles and blesses me based on my efforts. Sometimes we don't see those blessings or get our answers right away, but either way He is always there. I am excited for a new transfer and this time that we can really focus on one ward (crazy!) and continue in the "hastening of the work". This gospel is true. The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and does have the answers to any question we might have, whether temporal or spiritual. Our Heavenly Father lives and knows each of us by name and is there for us. Remember that if you feel distanced from Him, it's not Him turning away from you, so check out what you're doing before assuming He's neglecting you. 

I love you all. Thank you for your prayers and letters. I feel so blessed with the wonderful family and friends that I have.

Love,

Sister Wightman

Photos 01/06/13

The Star District right after receiving transfer calls

saying goodbye to Miary

Sister Maness and I "partying it up" New Years Eve!

Sister Chen (we were on exchanges), Miary and I with our copies of the Book of Mormon in 3 different languages :)

Letter #41 01/06/14

Well hello there!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe New Years :) This year was a little different for me, for obvious reasons. Sister Maness and I spent the day doing some contacting and helping the Wambolt family get their house ready for the party that night. We then joined up at their house for a potluck dinner, socialized a bit and then had to be back at our home at 8pm. We got in our comfy pj's, popped some kettle popcorn and watched some church movies. We still had to be in bed by 10:30pm so we figured we could celebrate New York-style at 10pm, but...after our second movie, I looked at the clock and it was 10:04pm. I turned to Sister Maness and was like, "Welp, Happy New Years.". Haha. It was ok, it's just not a big deal while on the mission. That was also our last night of sweets (New Years resolution) so finished off our favorites and donated the rest to the party. Unfortunately, it's hard to control your diet on a mission, but desserts are one thing you can. This is my 4th time trying in on the mission, but with all the major candy holidays behind me, it is more realistic. We just have to figure out how long we're going to do it for haha. 

So this week, we have been really gung-ho on talking to everyone and not being afraid if people are going to be intersted or not. The Wambolt's are actually a part-member family (the husband is not a member) and last Sunday we decided we were going to invite him to take the discussions, however, after sharing a message, we hesitated because with his family surrounding him, we didn't want him to feel pressure and being doing it because they want him to. As we left, I just kept thinking, "we need to do it, we should've done it!". So we came by Monday night and were able to just talk to him a little more privately and ask him if we would be interested in learning more about the church. He expressed how he has been thinking about it, but not sure if he's ready (I think it's a commitment issue). But he said he'd let us know. So Friday, we popped by and his daughter was like "I got him to agree to one lesson!". Apparently he did something to upset her and she said the only way he could make up for it was to take one discussion. Not how we would have liked him to agree to it, BUT we are still grateful he is willing and we will be teaching him tonight. Fingers crossed that it will go and he will actually want to continue them for himself. He's a pilot so he's gone a lot and leaving tomorrow for half the month, but I think that will give him time to really ponder. 

We are still teaching Miary English and she is doing really well. We've been teaching her rooms so that she can communicate within the house, and so far she has mastered the kitchen and working on the bathroom. We were teaching her phrases to use and things like, "I need more toilet paper". It just so happened that she had run out of toilet paper in her bathroom, so when we came back downstairs, she turned to her daughter and said, "Give me more toilet paper!". Haha we were all laughing so hard. Eva was like, "No Mom, that's not nice" and so we went over how to ask politely. She is doing so good though and I know that Heavenly Father is blessing her with being able to retain so much. 

As I was saying earlier, we have been focusing on just talking to everyone and we've been trying to contact lots of people who have not been attending church in a long time and just seeing what they would like in their lives right now. It has been a bit disheartening as we've had a couple people say they don't want us there, or any contact from the church, or even their records removed. It makes me so sad to see how people have forgotten the truth that they once knew and that they close their hearts to those who are always willing to be there for them. But I have to remember that everyone has their agency and that it is better for them to choose when their are ready then feeling pressured or pushed. Yesterday, was just another one of those days, but just when I felt like I couldn't do it anymore, Heavenly Father reminded me that He is there and hears me. We were able to Brenda Gould again which it had been over a week since we had heard anything from her. She even told us that she attended sunday school and Relief Society (she normally only stays for Sacrament if she comes with her husband). The two wards we cover just switched times we were in the other ward during those hours. It brought me such joy though that she is still progressing on her own and still has that desire to learn more about our church. She's going to get baptized this year, I can feel it! And THEN, we went to our dinner appointment at the Haney's, who are members but the parents kind of struggle with being fully committed to the gospel. They invited their friends, the Sparks, over who are all members (though not active), except for their son Hudson (9 years old). We had visited with the Sparks before and they had said we could start teaching Hudson, but every time we've tried to follow up, they aren't home or it's not a good time. So this was great getting to visit with all of them. At the end as the Sparks were leaving, the husband told us we were welcome over anytime and that his family needed more spirituality (kind of in a joking way, but serious at the same time). We were so pumped! I know that there are people ready in this area and that they will either be placed in our paths or us in theirs. I have learned that I just need to keep trying every minute every day, and when it seems like nothing is happening, to just hold on because those miracles and tender mercies are just around the corner. 

I continue to learn so much every day of my mission. Just when I start to doubt or hesitate, Heavenly Father reminds me that He is there and that I have received many witnesses before. I know that my Heavenly Father lives and loves me and knows me. He is always there, we just have to turn to Him. I am grateful for these trials and hard times because I appreciate the blessings so much more. I know this gospel is true. I thank you all again for your love and support. I feel your prayers and you are in mine as well. Have a great week!

Love,

Lauren

photos 12/30/13

after opening all my gifts Christmas morning

With Brad after his temple session

Sister Maness and I singing "Silent Night"