The Zellers

Hey Everyone!

This was a wonderful week! Well first off on Monday I got to see the Zellers! That was amazing! I love them so much! I was so excited to see them! They first saw us in Target. They knew they could find us in the makeup section. hahah I am such a girl. I actually wasn't there to buy anything for myself. I was just helping my companion pick out makeup. But I received tight hugs! Than we departed after a little of talking and we went our separate ways to allow us to do the things we need to do on p-day. (laundry, shopping, cleaning). Than we met back up at Coldstone. Yummy. :) I love them so much. I didn't want to say goodbye. I'm excited to see them again. 

I had a hard day on Tuesday. I felt really inadequate. I felt like I was so burnt out. I was missing every turn while driving. I was all over the place with my teaching. I felt pretty bummed. I didn't want to end like this. I almost lost it in tears on the way to exchanges. I felt...How can I help other sisters if I can't even help myself?...I realized I needed to just forget about myself and just work. I know the only strength I have left is the Lord's strength. I'll let him carry me. It's a humbling experience. 

I was able to help the sisters in another area find a new investigator. They have like 4 people to teach! They are so timid. They refuse to talk to people after it gets dark. They are really paranoid. The new investigator I found for them was drunk. They might not go back. hahaha He wasn't drunk, but he had been drinking and you could smell it on him. I was teaching about the Restored Gospel and he stops me and says, "I'm sorry, but you have the prettiest eyes I've ever seen." I just paused...said " Thank you." and kept going. hahaha Than he asked the sister if there was something wrong with her because she wasn't talking. She was TERRIFIED that we were even talking to the guy. It was 12 pm. hahahah We were in a trailer park where there were people all around. We were totally fine. 

The next day we had a mission leader council. President is raising the bar again. He really wants our mission to be hitting 100 baptisms a month. Right now we are getting 30 on Average. This month we are at 40 with 1 more week to go. We were shooting to get 60 this month. I like that he pushes us because I can see past the numbers and see souls being saved. We are expected for just the leaders as of now to hit 5 people to sacrament, 4 people on date, and 5 new investigators. It's going to be a lot of work, but I know we can do it. I'm going to really push myself next week even harder. This meeting gave me that push I needed to really up the work. 

We found this new investigator, John Aubry. He is amazing! I got out of the car to go see a less active and I saw him on the bed of a truck talking to another man. I reached in the car and said, "Sisters we need to talk to those men." Sister Noffz said, "I'm on it!" So we go over there and the one guy was Anti-Mormon, but at one point John said, I'm sorry but I can't turn these girls away. So we went back with a member and had one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever felt! He was in tears. I loved it! I was convinced he was going to come to church, we had a ride set up, but he backed out. We stopped by after church and he said he had past memories come back to his mind of what Mormons believed. We talked to him, he at one point said, I think it's time to end here, and we bore testimony and he let us in, and we prayed. We are seeing him tonight :) I'm so excited. I love him so much!

We also have another amazing investigator, John Covington. He is hilarious! The first time we went in there, he was testing us. He would barely let us get a word in. He was singing and pulling out his guitar. It was like a little boy showing us all his toys. At one point. I asked him if he knew, Nearer My God to Thee. He said, I don't know. So I started singing it. I got the whole first verse in and than we bore testimony about how music can invite the spirit. The next lesson we had was amazing and we were able to teach the whole restoration. He came to church on Sunday with his wife who is less active! After church he made us blueberry waffles! We put him on date to be baptized May 4th! He is seriously the best thing ever. I love him. He always gives us hugs. hahah.

Hes like my grandpa. He loved church and told us he will wear a suit the next time. We had to fight him to get him there on Sunday! 

We also went to teach this girl and her boyfriend answered. Right as he answered, this random huge dog jumped up on Sister Noffz and lifted her dress ALL the way up. hahah I saw everything underneath. I was dying laughing! Than we were talking/ teaching and I asked him what happened to his finger nail because it looked so gross and he said, oil ridge and he lifted it OFF! I literally screamed and almost vomited on his doorstep. What a weird door step. hahaha

We are seeking a lot of part-member families. I have such a strong desire to bring families together forever. It's so important. Baptisms are the FIRST step. It's the Temple that I see these people in. 

I was asked to give a talk in church this Sunday. It went really well. A lot of people asked us to come over so we can teach their children. We were given 12 referrals this week! It was awesome! Everyone said that they were amazed because they said I only looked down at my notes to read a quote. It went really well. After they ran up to us and want us to sing in their choir for the Easter program. 

Our ward mission leader is really excited about the work that we are doing. He said people keep coming up to him and telling him how great we are. I have really fallen in love with this ward. The people are so wonderful and do so much for one another. I love how kind everyone is. I was scared at first because we are in a pretty wealthy area, but the people are so strong in the gospel.

The trio is going well. I am the glue. Hopefully things work out when I leave. haha But I love them both. They are working hard. 

I love you all so much. I am running as fast as I can. I can honestly say, I talked to literally every single person I saw on the streets this week. I'll do it again. 

-Sister Gampe

Grand Junction 5th

Hello Everyone!

I am in Grand Junction! Wow! This place is gorgeous! Seriously. The ward is amazing! It's huge and I'm terrible at learning names to begin with, but I have some time to still improve myself. Make weak things strong, right? Well the ward is amazing when it comes to missionary work. Our ward mission leader is amazing! He's an attorney and is all about presentation. He taught us about  how to previcate. Previcate- embellishing or misrepresenting for a proper cause. Theirs your word for the day. Anyways, he has us write down EVERYTHING we do. We have sheets and sheets of papers of what we do for the week. He organizes it and makes us look good in front of the ward council. I'm the lucky one in the tripanionship who gets to be lazy and just drive around while the other two are writing and calling people. haha He teaches us about pulling us apart from any other missionary the ward has met. He was talking to us about what we should do during our testimonies to get people to like us...my mind was blown! I think soon he's going to force us to show up in a flaming dress like in the Hunger Games. One thing he taught us which might be a neat approach. We are building our teaching pool. We are trying to find find find. When we do that, there's a lot of people who may not be actually interested. He taught us how to get them to actually want to keep commitments. He taught us what to say and do to make the commitments an expectation because we dont have "time" to waste because there are "a lot" of people who want to learn from us. haha He's intense. I'm excited because it will be nice to give me that push to keep up with him. He is actually really excited for us because the last sisters that were in the area taught 6 lessons last week. We taught 14 without knowing anyone. Oh I forgot to mention that I'm white washing again. haha That makes things more and more interesting huh. 

The Trio is going really great. I was super nervous at first. Because usually with a trio that means that you have a crazy with you. But we are all working really hard. We are seeing miracles. We are talking to everyone. I love it. I'm with another Sister Trainer Leader that was just called, Sister Noffz. My other companion is Sister Cowan. The only thing that kinda stinks is I have been sleeping on a cot. It was funny because at first we only had 2 beds and we called the housing people and told them and they said " okay we will bring you a bed." They called back five minutes later and said, "It's hard/ inconvenient/ going to be hard to bring a bed. Is it important/ really needed to have one?"...we were like...uhhhh yes. hahaha So we come home and there is a cot! hahahaha So I took the cot because I wake up earlier than the others to get a better work out. HEY I'm in my FIRST apartment on my mission. It's really really nice to have an apartment. Kinda expensive though. But the cot was killing my back. So our Zone leaders broke into an apartment that sisters used to live in and took the 2 mattresses. So now I'm on two mattresses. It's a lot better. I think I'll be able to sleep better. 

We had a neat experience. We went to go see this part member family. The husband is a member and the wife is not. Well turned out she wasn't there, so we talked to him for awhile trying to get any information out of him. He was going off on tangents that really didn't matter. I finally cut him off and said, "Is there a certain topic that really invites the spirit in your home and touches your wife's heart?" He instantly started crying and told us that he loved the previous sisters, but all they did was hang out and not teach. It's so important to teach! This is his WIFE'S eternal salvation! He wants everything for her and it breaks my heart that he had to experience that. 

We also were talking to this amazing family, the Rasmussen family. They are a family of 5 boys. The oldest is on a mission. They are so inspiring. We were teaching and the dad came home late from a church meeting. At the end he started crying and told us that when he was driving home, he pictured his home and it was glowing because he knew we were there. That was so neat. He told us that his greatest advice is to hold a testimony meeting wit h your family once a month. He said they do it on the Monday after Fast Sunday. I was so excited for that advice because I'll never forget when my family went to Yellowstone and we had a testimony meeting. The spirit was so strong. I want to do that with my family every month. That family is super amazing. I love them so much. They all memorized the first vision so they call each tell a friend! They went all crazy on me and said that I "LOOK EXACTLY LIKE ANA FROM FROSTED". I don't know who she is or what she looks like, but they said I have the same face. They said they will buy the movie so I can see the cover. I'm a little nervous.

We have 2 people on date. We are excited. The one is for April 13th and the other is for May 17th. We are excited because We know there's a lot more people that will be ready for baptism. We just need to find them first. 

There are some HUGE homes here. Some that make me choke on my spit. The Rasmussen's home is huge. hahah I accidentally ran over a mouse with the car right before we went in to teach them. I've never done that before. They thought that was the coolest thing. I'm glad I have ways to win this ward over. hahaha

OH here is something cool. Every 2nd Tuesday of the month 2 leaders from each Auxiliary takes a "route". They all visit someone at 7 pm. They literally shoot to contact 20 people every month just in 1 day! Crazy huh! Isn't that amazing! 

I love you all so much! Thanks for all your prayers and support. Remember that Christ lives. I know it. 

-Sister Gampe

ps. Saying goodbye to Sister Vasquez was tough because I truly love her. I learned so much from her. She has grown so much and it has been a privileged to serve with her.

No More Sister Vasquez :(

Hey Everyone!

This week has been an interesting one. Well I'm being transferred. I'm pretty sure I'm going over the mountains! That will be a lot of fun. I will be in a trio. (with 2 other sisters). I will be training a new sister training leader. I'm sad to leave these people, but I know it's what is best. I also am excited to get to a knew area. I'll be on fire and blow it up. I want to set high goals and reach them. 

So this week Ricky Thunderhawk got jumped by some gang members and his mother called us frantically and asked us to go see how bad Ricky was beat up, and if we needed to call 911 So we went over there and it was pretty bad... I cleaned up all the blood off of him before his mother got there so that she wouldn't have to see him like that. And then the 4 Elders that were there gave him a very spiritual blessing. And the next day he went to work! He had a really bad concussion. And he cried because all of the Elders started bombarding him with questions. I almost lost it when he started crying. I felt so bad for him. This is a normal thing for him. That beats me up inside. Well I was cleaning his face, Sister Vasquez asked for another rag and started trying to clean around his lips. She said, "Hey Ricky, can you pucker your lips for me?" I was like "Sister! Don't say that!" hahahaha the elders were all dying laughing. But by the time we were leaving he was doing a lot better. When I went to give his cousin a hand shake he pulled in for a hug and said, "Now that's a pretty girl." The elders won't let that down. His cousins a new investigator now. 

So needless to say, I think it's a good thing that I am being transferred out of here. I was really sad to see that and didn't get much sleep this week. We are being careful. I promise. We prayed like crazy whether or not we should go in.

    

So the weather this week is ALL over the place! Its been 70 yesterday and today. Clear skies. But on Thursday it snowed for two days straight! And it wasnt that nice falling snow it was that ugly wet snow. We were soaking after we went tracting for an hour! Yes no weather can stop Sister Vasquez and I from finding more people to teach! And that day the sun was suppose to be out so I didn't wear my boots thinking that I would be fine. 

I got to go to the Temple on Wednesday. That was amazing! I got to see the new, new video. It was beautiful. I felt a lot of guidance in there. 

I got a sweet letter from a girl from the Branch. Her name is Nicole (in her 30's) and she has down syndrome. She is really high functioning though. She has the strongest testimony I have ever seen. She has so many scriptures memorized. She's the only person I know that can invite the spirit so strong in church with her prayer, that every person in the room is in tears. This is word for word, spelling for spelling of what she wrote.

"with my own spiriual eyes the veil will be thin in my mind I shall see the savior face and know he is with me. but by the power of the light is upon me and i will feel the spiritual presence by The Savior. for I have seen him with my spiritual eyes. and when he come closer to me I will feel his presence and my emotion start to make me cry with tears of rian upon my face. The Savior will put his hands upon my face and whipe away my tears from my eyes. I was not afraid of the dark for he heaven light came in and found me. Then I heard a voice of the savior saying for by my spirit it is with you and I will enlighten the room by my power. My daughter my angel for I The Savior is here and will open your eyes for you to see my face. The Savior will put arms around me like the blanket of heaven upon me with love of the Savior. For he will see way beyound me and my ability my strength and the knowledeg I have resive. That made me who I am in his eyes." -Nicole Brewer

 

I read that as the sacrament was being passed and cried every moment of it. She is so beautiful. I love her so much. I am so blessed to have this opportunity to serve and help so many people. I absolutely love every single person I meet! I am so grateful for the calling that gives you this instant love for people you don't even know. It's amazing and it's indescribable. 

I love you all so much!

-Sister Gampe

Apostasy vs Apostrophe

Hey Everyone!

This was an AMAZING week! It wasn't even amazing until it was Sunday! We usually average about 30-40 members at church, and there were about 60! It was amazing! 12 people that were their were people that we teach! 3 of them were investigators. It brought so much joy to be able to see those people be able to enjoy the spirit of going to church. Our Testimony meets are really wonderful. I was surprised the first testimony meeting, because they aren't many members, I was expecting long gaps, but there aren't any at all, and everyone does such a wonderful job bearing their simple testimonies. 

The Thunderhawks came! They are getting back into the lessons and have the desire to be baptized again! And their friend who was totally anti-mormon when she met us, she came to church and loved it and wants to be baptized! Woot woot! We are really excited. We are not allowed to go there everyday, which they were really pushing earlier, but now they want the elders to teach them as well, so we teach them every other day. They are currently homeless though because they got evicted from their home, but luckily Bernadine has section 8 so she can get another apartment for cheap, we just don't know how long it will take. This would be a situation that would cause me to FREAK out, but they are used to this kind of thing, but she said she isn't going to tell her family or friends where she goes so she has no one bringing alcohol to them. That is a very good idea. They refuse to go to shelters because they have gone before and said they are terrible, so they are trying to get motel vouchers. We helped move her things into a storage unit. Bernadine bore her testimony in sacrament meeting! It was really really good. It brought me to tears. 

So my spelling, grammar, and English are terrible. Sister Vasquez says every time I impersonate someone, I use a ghetto voice. Uh oh... that's not good. Well anyways, Sister Vasquez was making fun of me for not using the correct form of "you're" when I was writing. I get lazy and just write "your". So this was our conversation.

"I know how to use "you're", I just get lazy." -Sister Gampe

"All you have to do is add an "e""- Sister Vasquez

"AND an APOSTASY!"- Sister Gampe

"You mean, APOSTROPHE! hahaha!"- Sister Vasquez

We were helping this lady unpack her things. It's actually really fun because she was from my Green Mountain 1st ward! Super pumped to see her. Well she is this sweet older lady and she wanted help going through her genealogy so she could teach a class at her senior apartment activities, well we found out she is from Los Alamos. Which is where the atomic bomb was made! She has so many neat stories. She lived in the gated community and the town was supposed to be "unknown" top secret stuff. I realized from going through her things, which I looooove snooping through people's things, so this was the perfect service job for me, well anyways, I realized how important it is to write things down and really keep good records of your history/ life. That is something I want to make sure I do. Mom, Dad, I bet you never thought I'd be able to use my Christmas snooping skills in the mission field. :)

Well I can't think of anything else to say. Actually, I think it was in Mosiah 14:2 describes Christ really interesting. It stuck out to me a lot this morning. 

I love you all so much! Still working hard! I find out on Friday or Saturday, if I am staying in the area or leaving. Sister Vasquez and I don't think we are staying together any longer. Which makes us both sad. I love her so much. She's become one of my best friends. Eternal Friends. 

-Sister Gampe

Snake Charmer

Hello Everyone!

I got to hold a snake this week! I think that's the first time I've ever held one. It was freaky and the first couple seconds I squealed a little, but I did well overall. haha

I'm trying really hard to help the other Sisters not be so stressed. They are so hard on themselves. I see that they just need to allow themselves to relax and have fun. So Sister Vasquez and I had a Doubled Stuffed Oreo licking contest. See who could lick off the icing first. Yes. I cracked because her mom sent a package in the mail...Not fair. Well anyways Sister Vasquez whoooped on me! I was so ashamed! I lost to my favorite cookie. Well anyways I sent out a mass text encouraging the sisters to do it this week and report back to me who wins. I said, "Winner gets a bigger belly." Great motivation huh. Good thing I'm still doing insanity every morning. 

Also this week I realized how much Sister Vasquez doesn't know anything about animals. Those people from southern California are deprived. We were in an appointment with a part-member family and they were talking to me about moose, deer, and elk. So when we finally were going to start our lesson Sister Vasquez turns to the husband and said "Thank you so much for talking to us about elks and mooses." I couldn't hold it in and starting dying laughing. She wasn't able to contribute anything to the conversation. I don't know how I was able. I think I was able to act like I know things because of my family in Altoona, PA. I just tell them the stories of me hitting a deer with my car and getting Dad to pick it up and having to help him gut it...gross...never again. Hopefully the Lord ships Sister Vasquez to Meeker, Colorado.

On Saturday we got to have a fireside and Elder James B. Martino, 2nd quorum of the seventy, came and spake to us! That was so amazing! He talked about how it doesn't matter who we are companions with, we are still doing the Lords work. He told us how we will have companions that will be eternal friends, some that we just got along with, and some couldn't care less about. I was so grateful to be able to say that all of my companions are on the eternal friends list. I think it has to do with your desire to be their friend. He also taught how there are 3 things we must do as missionaries, 1)Go to work 2) Be obedient and 3) Open our mouths when teaching and talking to everyone we see. He also said that if we love God, then we should do His work. We just need to give Him all of our heart, might, mind and strength. And I can say that I am working everyday to make sure He knows that I am giving Him exactly that. But the biggest thing that stuck out the most was when he taught us what it truly meant to be called and chosen. He taught how we were called in the pre-earth life and how we were chosen here on this earth. Many are called but few are chosen. I literally thought to myself, why was I so blessed to be called and he said right after I thought that, "you were called because of your exceeding faith and good works in the pre-earth life" 

Sister Murdock also spake and she is so amazing! I am blessed to have such a great mission president and wife. She told us "forget yourself and go to work". That came from Gordon B. Hinckley. What really hit me was when she said, "What if Gordon B. Hinckley went home from his mission because he was struggling?" Generations and millions of people are impacted because of him. She pointed out how our missions will impact us the most. More than anyone else we meet. It's going to impact our families, friends, future spouse, everyone around us. What a blessing it is for me to have the opportunity to serve. I still can't believe it. 

Yesterday we got a super solid investigator and she is so prepared for baptism its amazing! Her husbands already read the Book of Mormon and I am so excited to teach this family. They are also Native American. They have such a strong connection with The Book of Mormon. They already have heard the stories in it. Christ is their "Great White Spirit". 

We also had someone call us randomly that we met and schedule an appointment for Tuesday night. I'm really excited to teach them too. 

Our ward mission leader was released on Sunday. I'm excited to work with the new one. He has served 3 missions! He's hilarious too. 

I finished all my exchanges for this transfer! wooot wooot! The sisters are doing well. I don't know what Sister Turner and I are doing in that photo. Sister Vasquez took it. 

Well I love you all so much! I tried to write a longer one since you received a whimpey e-mail last week.

-Sister Gampe