November 17, 2014
Sharing your Light
This week was so wonderful! We contacted a woman in the apartments with a member she knew really well. He knocked on her door and introduced us to her and we had an amazing talk about the gospel and Jesus Christ. She told us she was just thinking last night about how she'd like to start going to church again, and even though she is Catholic, she said she prefers the Latter-day Saint's church because we sing hymns. She accepted to learn from us and to go to church! Our ward mission leader and his wife picked her up yesterday and she went to Sacrament Meeting! The Spirit is already working on her and softening her heart to the truth.
Arianna is excited for her baptism this Saturday; on Sunday she ran up to the stand and peeked her head over the ledge right before the meeting began and said, "Bishop, will you baptize me on Saturday?!" The whole ward is so excited for her. She's taken 7 months to decide whether she wanted to be Catholic or Mormon, and she is so confident in her decision she is practically glowing! It is such a privilege to be a part of her journey to making this essential and beautiful covenant with Heavenly Father.
Thursday night we were double-booked so I split with Sister Anderson to teach a lesson with an older couple who haven't made it to church in a while. I had to teach all by myself, from the talk by Elder Scott, "Make the Exercise of Faith your First Priority". The Holy Ghost helped me so much that I didn't feel nervous or afraid and even the Andersons were surprised that I was so calm during it even when the discussion went off topic. I love being able to teach with the Spirit the truths of the gospel to others, at any time to anyone. It is such a gift to be a missionary!
While I was at that lesson, Sister Loy went to the Jones, a family who is coming back to church actively and the two daughters want to be baptized in December. They missed me while I was gone and wrote me two little notes that said they missed me, and hoped to see me at church, and thanked me for helping them be better people and make it possible for them to get baptized. These kind of little blessings just make being a missionary so rewarding and I know I'll treasure those notes forever. There is truly nothing more beautiful or joyful than seeing those you love progress in the gospel.
Love you all and hope you have a great week!!
Love, Sister Fluegel
November 10, 2014
Help Others on their Way
The last two weeks have been absolutely incredible. This week we had transfers and Sister Blankenship went to Centerville while I got Sister Loy from California. We are still the STL's which has been a blessing because she is teaching me how to be even better! Sister Loy actually came out 6 weeks after I did last year and we were in the same District in Layton way back. Then she came to the Bountiful Zone 6 weeks after I went there too. So she's been kind of following me throughout our missions in a way.It was pretty surreal for her to come back to Layton; reminded me of my first week here too.
The day Sister Loy got here we got so much done and that night we visited a family in the trailer park who were so ready to come back to activity! The father was a convert and has been taking his family to church for the last 3 months, and the mother and her two daughters desire to be baptized! We were able to set a date for their baptisms on Dec 6th! Throughout the week we had so many miracles I can't count them all, but I know I was led by the Spirit to go where I needed to go and say what others needed to hear. Last Saturday Toni, a 59yearold woman who was baptized in July, was able to go to the Ogden Temple to do baptisms for the dead her first time! Friday Sister Loy and I had no set lessons so we spent the whole day contacting referrals and walking instead of driving so we could meet more people. It was so much fun and I definitely stretched myself a lot as I invited and stood boldly for the truth even when others were mocking or belittling the church. One lady even told us that she would've been mean to us if we were Elders but we were too cute to be mean to. Perks of being a Sister!
Saturday we had one of the greatest miracles--Arianna, who we took to General Conference, accepted the invitation to be baptized on November 29th!!! She had issues with the word of wisdom in that she likes sweet tea a lot. We taught the lesson and she was so ready to believe and understand why God asks us to take care of our bodies, which are like temples and are gifts from God. She is so excited and it's amazing to see her go from so much hesitation to so much happiness and confidence!
Some quotes I wrote down in the many Sacrament Meetings/Primary Programs I attended yesterday:
"Taking the Sacrament is like shaking hands with Jesus Christ every week"
"Never underestimate the power of music in conversion"
"This age is fraught with limitless perils, as well as untold possibilities"
"The revelation of a parent has its lasting effect in the personal revelation that continues in the child."
"Words are the only swords we have in this divine battle"
"Have faith, have hope, live like His son, help others on their way"
I'm giving a talk this coming Sunday and the one after that too. I love receiving revelation and insights in church meetings and classes. There is so much to learn!! Sometimes when Personal Study ends I just wish I could keep reading the Bible and the Book of Mormon all day and never stop! I hope everyone has a wonderful week and feels the Spirit every day!!
Love, Sister Fluegel
Recognize and Follow the Promptings of the Spirit
This week has been full of trials, miracles, and blessings!! I honestly think it was one of the best weeks of my mission. Where do I even start...well, Tuesday I went on exchanges with a Sister missionary from the Navajo reservations in Arizona, Sister Horseherder. It was good to get to know her better and we talked a lot about obedience. I found myself answering her questions and giving her insights that I'd never even thought or said out loud before. Something I learned from the Spirit as we spoke was that you shouldn't be obedient for a companion, for your mission president, or out of fear of what everyone else will think. Obedience is first and foremost between you and the Lord, and you should be obedient because of an inward conviction that you have made promises and covenants with God and you are keeping them because you love Him. She told me later that that really helped her see things differently. It helped me too!
Wednesday was a refiner's fire...I was driving down a two lane road in Fruit Heights to drop something off to some sister missionaries in the zone, when this lady was making a left turn and totally didn't see me and ended up crashing into my drivers' side back door. I jerked the car away from her as much as I could before she hit me so it was only a small dent in the car, thankfully. Everything got taken care of, but I've been a little jumpy now when I drive because I've got this irrational fear that every car that gets near me is going to hit me, haha. Then after that we went to our recent convert, Toni's house and we found her in really bad condition where she was hallucinating and shaking. We called the Relief Society president who was there in minutes and thankfully she came back to reality. It was a traumatic day but through it all I felt the Holy Ghost with me, comforting me as well as giving me the strength to be strong and stay calm through it all.
Thursday was Weekly Planning and District Meeting, and I got to teach our ward mission leader and his wife, who were both baptized less than a year ago, how to do family history. Friday was awesome because as we were driving away from dinner around 6pm, I got this urging feeling from the Spirit to go see Dennis and Kirstin, our investigators, and ended up having a heart to heart where we set up expectations with them. And I cannot put into words the elated, soaring, surreal moment I had yesterday when I turned my head to see Kristin and Dennis and their three children, Arianna, Caden and Sariah, walking into the chapel all holding hands with each other looking like angels. Seriously I swear I heard an angels' chorus of Hallelujah's and everything was slow motion like a dream...yes, my family of investigators came to church, all dressed and ready, 20 minutes early no less, and sat in a pew and listened to Sister Blankenship and I give our talks. My heavens I can't explain the explicit joy I felt...I never felt joy like this before my mission. I can just see them in the white baptismal clothing...sighh.... life is so good.
Not only did this happen on Sunday but earlier there was a special moment in Gospel Principles class where Josh and Jessica, a couple I've been teaching since my old area in Layton who moved here to this stake while I was in Bountiful, bore their testimonies of what gives them a fullness of joy. Jessica expressed that she feels the most joy when the missionaries come over, because they're all together as a family, and even after the missionaries leave the whole evening is just spent together. She was getting teary-eyed and then her husband got all choked up and expressed the same thing, that he's never felt so happy with his family before the missionaries came. It was one of the most beautiful moments and I felt so honored to be THEIR missionaries. I wonder how I got to be so blessed to have so many wonderful experiences and come to know and love so many elect, special people on my mission. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.
Something I learned personally this week was that the Holy Ghost is always speaking to us, but it's our job to put our minds and hearts into a place and setting where we can hear Him. I've noticed the last few weeks that I've gotten small little thoughts and impressions to go there or visit that person, and it's proved to be at the exact moment we needed to be there. When I received the prompting to see Dennis and Kristin on Friday night, it was stronger than ever before, and I wondered why I felt it stronger that time. I've realized that the Spirit always prompts us at the same level of loudness, but it's us who are either more or less receptive to hearing him, and when we follow the little promptings, he begins to prompt us more often and we feel it stronger because we've built up a trust with him where he knows he can depend on me to act on it. I love learning and developing my relationship with God through prayer, study, and acting on faith. I also love having trials and hard things to get through, because I always know there's a miracle coming.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
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