Weekly Update

June 30, 2014

This week has been great! Sister Holt and I are staying together for another 6 weeks. We used Preach My Gospel to get ideas to find new investigators. We looked through Chapter 9 and decided to look through the Formers section in the area book and pray about which one we should go visit. We felt impressed to go see one lady who lives up almost to the top of the mountains, and when we did we had a wonderful conversation with her and set up a time to come and resolve some of her concerns. She told us she doesn't know how to get anything out of the Book of Mormon, or what it is she's looking for when she reads. So we are reading with her and studying it with her to help her feel the Spirit and know for certain the book is true. I have a testimony of Preach My Gospel--my best advice to those who read it is to not just read it front to back, but to have a question or someone in mind to apply it to. Whenever we don't know what to do in a situation, we turn to PMG and the answers are always in there. I am so blessed to be a missionary at this time in my life. Looking back, my testimony has grown so much since I started my mission, that it almost feels like I didn't even know what a testimony was back then. My testimony has been built from exercising faith, following the Spirit, and living the commandments, so much that it is the center of my life, the thing that drives me to do everything I do. And I've never had so much peace of mind and never been happier because of it.

Weekly Updates

June 23, 2014

We've had a great week in Bountiful and have been very successful in helping the members to be excited about missionary work and working alongside them. We've been teaching three different people who are learning from us about the restored gospel and there have been so many beautiful moments as they each progress at their own pace. Eimi, a college student from Japan has been learning from us and it was such a special moment to hear her first prayer on her own in Japanese. Also I've learned to connect with people on a personal level and get to know them, and have genuine interest in their interests. As we waited for dinner to be ready, Eimi started playing the piano and she asked if I knew how to play, and I played the only 2 hymns I know how to play and she sat next to me on the bench and asked what the lyrics meant and said that they were very uplifting and she liked them! It was so special to be able to share the gospel through music. 

Yesterday at church we had high hopes of Mandy coming to church for the first time, and we didn't see her throughout the whole meeting. I was feeling discouraged and really sad because I knew how much Sacrament meeting would help her grow her testimony. Then I found out later that she and her boyfriend actually did come, and were sitting 8 rows behind us the whole time! It was an eye-opener to me that even when you think things are going wrong, Heavenly Father is in charge and I just need to have faith that good will always triumph. Sister Holt and I taught Relief Society in one of our 9 wards yesterday and we helped answer questions the members had about sharing the gospel and different situations. Sister Holt talked about being excited and happy to share the gospel, just like you'd share your favorite food with someone. I talked about how we don't need to be afraid to talk to others about the gospel if we pray about it beforehand. Praying for help, strength, guidance and courage is how I manage to be a missionary each day, and no one should endeavor to do the Lord's work without praying to petition His help. After all, it is His work-how can we expect to know what to say without His help? He knows those people and what they need infinitely better than you do on your own. 

I'm so grateful for every moment on my mission--each day is a gift and I am so blessed to be a part of a work that is so much bigger than me. I am blessing the lives of others every day and receiving so many blessings in return. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. 

Weekly Updates

June 16, 2014

This week I've learned so much! Especially about the power of prayer and how we can invoke the blessings and guidance of the Spirit into our lives. Sometimes, being in such a highly populated area of members of this church, it's hard as missionaries to know where to go and how to find people to talk to who will actually be receptive and kind. Every Sunday night, people walk along Bountiful Boulevard to the temple and back with their families. We decided we'd walk down the sidewalk and try to talk with all the people and either get referrals, get them thinking about missionary work, or talk to some nonmembers. We said a prayer before we went, and as we walked by this couple sitting on a bench watching the sunset, Sister Holt felt like we should go talk to them and we found out they were Southern Baptists, from Tennessee and South Carolina, and they really connected with Sister Holt since she's from Georgia. It's amazing to see the Lord bless us as we go to him in prayer to find those we need to inspire and talk to. 

The scriptures say in Alma 37, "Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

I know that prayer is a divinely appointed means to bring our will in correspondence with the will of Heavenly Father, and the results are peace, comfort, courage, and inspiration. When we pray sincerely, we invite the Spirit more fully, and invite the Lord into every aspect of our lives. The only way to know for yourself how powerful prayer is, is to actually pray all the time, before anything you do, and no matter what it is. It's incredible-but don't take my word for it, try it for yourself! :) 

This gospel is the true restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the priesthood is here again on the earth, we have a living prophet to guide us today, and the word of God is sounding in every continent and visiting every clime, and we are all a part of it! 

--Sister Fluegel

Weekly Updates

June 9, 2014

Hello from Bountiful! I got a new companion mid-transfer on Tuesday. Sister Holt, who was my companion in the MTC! It's been a great week and we get along super well because we already knew each other pretty well. I'm excited to have a companion who is at the same level as I am and we can learn together. It's amazing how much we've changed since we last were companions 7 months ago. We taught one lady who is taking the lessons and she is so excited to be baptized! There are things we still need to help her with to prepare her, but she is so committed and ready. 

As the work here progresses, I am excited to fulfill my purpose as a representative of Jesus Christ, and see the joy that comes from submitting our will to Heavenly Father's will and letting Him work within us so we can grow into who He wants us to be. I know that we are going to be eternally happy when we trust that Heavenly Father sees the big pictures and knows what will make us happy. I'm so grateful that He loves us enough to give us challenges and experiences to help us grow closer to Him and exercise our faith. I find that I remember the hard, more difficult times on my mission so far than the easy times, because that is when I had to completely rely on the Lord and trust Him, and so many miracles happened as I was lifted up and filed with strength beyond my own. I hope you all have a great week! And don't forget to pray:)

June 2, 2014

I don't have much time to email today, but I just wanted to say that this week has been one of the best weeks of my mission so far! Every day was filled with more and more opportunities to serve, teach, and find more people to help. We taught 28 lessons, the most I've ever taught in one week before, and participated in 5 service projects that included staining a deck, weeding, and peeling off wallpaper.  Went to Temple Square and saw the Joseph Smith movie with Carmen and it was a wonderful experience to see her strengthen her understanding and her testimony of the restoration of the gospel. We were able to witness one of the recent converts we've been teaching family history to, attend the temple for the first time after a year of being baptized! We also had so many miracles happen that we have started teaching two new people who aren't members of this church and taught both of them last night. This week has put us on a spiritual high and by the looks of this coming week, it's just getting better from here! I'm so happy here in Bountiful, I really feel like I am fulfilling my purpose to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. Bountiful is such a beautiful area and I feel so blessed to have been trusted to look after this small part of the world and help others grow, progress and find joy! I've been on my mission for almost 8 months now, and am so excited about the experiences that lie ahead of me!