New Companion

Hey Everyone!

Okay so on Tuesday we had our transfer meeting. They asked me to lead the music. The last song was "God be With You Till We Meet Again". I look over at Sister Hatch and she is crying. I started sobbing and couldnt sing! In front of everyone. ugh. Then we got to go to the temple with Gary, Laurie and Sena! Oh it was so wonderful. We did baptisms for his family that he found. He drove 4 hours to come! Oh it was so powerful. I got to the font and I asked them to wait to do Gary's family until everyone was in the baptistry. I did 34 names! I got dunked alot! hahaha When we confirmed them, the spirit was so strong that the man doing the confirmations started crying. I've never felt the spirit so strong doing baptisms. I felt the missionary work pressing forward in the spirit world. Oh I forgot my temple recommend and had to get president on the phone...so lucky he picked up. tender mercy.

Well I got my new companion. Her name is Hermana Gage! She is amazing! I've never laughed so hard! She is so funny and we have the same humor. We have so much fun and work really hard together. We get alot done, but sometimes we get distracted in personal and companion study which isnt good because I love me some study time. So that will be our goals. She is from North Carolina. She went to BYUI. She only have 3 more months left. :( I hope I kill her. (I am with her when she goes home)

We were driving and I felt like I needed to turn around and knock on a house. So I turned around and we knocked and she invited us the next day. We go back and she tells us that her family is falling apart. I gave her a family proclamation and we talked about families and said a powerful prayer for her. She invited us back. I told her how we were directed to her. Her name is Christine.

Sonya is jumping right in the ward. She brings everyone in the gospel principles class! It's so funny! There's not really enough room, but it makes the lessons so much powerful, so I love that she does it. We were sitting with our investigator Tom, and I see that she is sitting by herself in sacrament meeting! I was really sad and was about to go over and sit with her, until the ladies behind her invite her to sit with them after the first hymn. She got up and moved! It was great! Everyone loves her so much!

Well Everyone! I better get going. Just know that I am happy, I love the work, I love the people, and I love you!

-Sister Gampe

Alexis Got Baptized!!!

Hey Everyone!

 

Guess what! A girl that me and Sister Betts found in Meeker while tracting just got baptized on saturday! I was so happy! I was able to give her a call and send my love to her. She is only 14 years old. She's amazing! :) Also we should have baptisms coming our way. We taught 31 lessons this week. And we were cut down a whole day because we had mission leader counsel. We are working hard. It is very different in the states. At our Mission leader counsel, President wanted to discus changes with the standards. We are now expected 8 member presents. We have been hitting above that lately, so I will personally make it a goal of at least 10. Also we want to find 6 new investigators weekly. I'm nervous about that. We only found 2 this week.
Also I got to go to the temple and see the new endowment video. WOW! it's gorgeous! I loved it. Eve was amazing. I cried. You need to go if you havent.

Well. I lose Sister Hatch. She goes home. I am so proud of her because she worked hard till the end. She never planned saying goodbye to people, we just worked. With the Sister change, I'm going to work hard to start with really good habits like getting home on time, being on time in general. I don't like being late ever, and shortening our lessons. The spirit is powerful with 30 minute lessons. I'm working on that one. Pray that I can accomplish these goals.
We had a couple go to church and the girl friend cried in my arms because she was amazed at how her boyfriend has accepted the gospel and she felt bad for giving us the cold shoulder. In church they surprised me by having me come up and sing with Sister Hatch. I looked her dead in the eyes when I sang. She felt the spirit. :) We san Nearer My God to Thee

 

Sonya got the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Wow she is amazing.

 

So I am still a Sister Leader Trainer, but they are calling another set of Sister Leader Trainers. So I will no longer be a Sister "AP". haha I'm very happy about that. The sisters need another set in the mission.

 

Here's a funny story I think I forgot to mention. It happened like 3 weeks ago. Maybe 2. but anyways. I lost a contact in the middle of the day. By the end of the night my other was bothering me so bad, I just ripped it out and threw it out the window. I forgot how blind I am. We went into our next appointment with Evelyn. She is 93 and has a cat named, Sammy. I walked in and say, "OH YOU GOT A NEW CAT!" and everyone looked at me funny (luckily I couldnt tell they were looking at me funny because I was blind) and they were al confused. I finally pointed at Evelyn's "new" cat. and it was a porcelin cat under the table that has always been in there. haha She accused me of being drunk.

 

Well I love you all so much I loved the August Ensign. I loved the artical on Gratitude by Henry B. Eyring.

 

The photos are of Alexis and her mom Tammy

 

-Sister Gampe

One of The Greatest Secrets of Missionary Work is Work

Hey Everyone!

Okay so the tender mercies this week is how well it went! We worked hard and we were able to hit beyond the standards of excellence. We were able to teach 31 lessons! receive 7 referrals and contact 7. We found 2 new investigators, and we had 4 investigators at church! It was awesome!

We have an investigator that is really struggling. Every time he drinks really bad things happen. The first time we knocked on his door, he was all cut up. The next time he's not there, he is in the ICU. He fell and hit his head. He was so blessed to be alive. We went to the hospital on Sunday to go see him. That was the day he was scheduled to get baptized, but he dropped it because he wants to get tattoos. Members must have talked to him about that. I know he will be baptized one day. He is thinking about it still. The sad thing is, he is moving to Washington :/ I'm sad, but it's a blessing because he has family members there that are members of the church. Keep him in your prayers. His name is Allan.

We went to go do service at a potential investigator's home. The lady was so excited. She let us weed. While we were weeding, she came out and asked if we wanted to see pictures of her grandchildren. We said yes and walk over to her. The ONLY picture she shows us is a picture of her son who is single! She talked up her 36 year old son. haha

I'm seeing more and more blessings coming from the exchanges. We had a really really hard exchange last week. I was so frustrated because there was NO faith in the area. They didn't have faith that they could hit the standards. They kept giving me the, "well in this area, the members don't help us, we cannot find, blah blah blah" I found them a new investigator, set up 5 other appointments with potential investigators, and taught 4 lessons, and they didn't have a single appointment set up. We had a talk about how much faith does to an area. They texted us this week and thanked us. They found 3 investigators. I'm so proud of them! They are great missionaries, but they didn't see the potential the area had. No worries. I don't just tell missionaries what they should work on. I always compliment, give improvement, and compliment again :) that's my sandwich of love!

Oh so we had zone meeting this week. The zone leaders asked us to do a training on social graces. So we had President stand up in front of everyone and had the group compliment him on everything that looked nice. President always looks nice because he's a cars salesman. It means a lot to him that we always look nice. Well I meant to say "Look how shinny his shoes are!" But I accidentally said, "Look how shinny his eyes are!" The crowd had a good laugh! Also we had a role play of how to eat at members homes/ how not to eat. I was the missionary that didn't eat well and was really rude. I ate an apple really really obnoxiously. Juice was flying everywhere. It was really funny. I thought I was going to choke, because I was trying to talk with a huge piece of apple in my mouth.  Everyone was in shock and laughing.

We went on exchanges. I was with Hermana Encarnacion! Oh I love that girl. But not enough to let her use my tooth brush. haha.

President invited Sister Hatch and I to come to a meeting with him and the President's Assistants tomorrow morning. He says he wants our opinion for the mission. I'm so grateful he trusts us to much. He thinks we are the best. Sister Murdock want's to join us for a day this week. We are excited. I hope it works out.

Well this week was amazing. And we will have another amazing week. I love you so much!

-Sister Gampe

Tender Mercies

Hey Everyone!

Tender Mercies came my way times a million! We were on our way to Frisco to go to the Mission Leader Council to discuss the mission with President and all the zone leaders, and I got pulled over by a cop! Darn :( Luckily I put on making that morning and this was a very kind cop. So I got a courtesy warning. I was going 74 in a 65mph area. To make the matter worst, ALL the elders from Denver drove by us while we were pulled over. I got made fun of really badly during that counsil.

Than Sister Hatch scheduled a dentist appointment at Summit Family Dentistry. The reason why I put the name in there is because they are ranked really high in Colorado. This place was classy! They offered chapstick and blankets and tv and lemon water! Seriously it was amazing! At the end she gave me a steamed cloth. I held it in my hands and didn't know what to do. I literally looked up at her and said, "I'll be honest, I have no clue what I'm suppose to do with this." She laughed and told me some people wipe their face with it...hmmm? So They found a small cavity :( Sad, but I went back and they fixed it for free! This whole thing was free! Blessings!

We went on exchange this week. I went to Clement Park with Sister Pori. They only had 2 investigators. So we went tracting alot. We found 5 new potential investigators. and Also we taught one of them and set up another appointment so they got a new investigator. We got 2 referrals and we taught 4 lessons. It was a busy day even though they had no set appointments. Sister Hatch and I had set appointments the whole day except for 2 hours. But the exchange went well. We worked hard and I learned alot from her.

We had amazing lessons this week. The work is progressing more than I can type on P-day

Well I better head out! I love you all so much!!!!

-Sister Gampe

Mission Tour

Hey Everyone!

Wow Colorado is so beautiful. I loved every moment of the scenery! It was so neat to train all the missionaries. I feel like Heavenly Father has a good sense of humor to put me in charge. When Sister Hatch and I would introduce one another she would tell everyone that I have a fetish with licking envelopes. I do enjoy licking envelopes. Is that wierd...alright it is. Well anyways. We got to go all over! We slept on a lot of floors, got to bed way late (not our choice), and woke up way too early. It was so fun to travel with President and Sister Murdock. We got to know them and their daughters Mackenzie and Myken, and also their neice Abby. Mackenzie is 21 years old and has a brain injury from birth. She has the mind of a 5 year old. She doesn't have good short term memory. The whole time Sister Hatch and I tried our very hardest to get her to remember our names. She finally remember the very last day! We were so excited. The trip was very hard on her. They have a wonderful family. The one night we had to stay in a hotel with Myken and Abby. Sister Hatch slept in the bed and I slept on the floor because missionaries can never sleep in the same bed. Hopefully our obedience gives us a baptism! The one night we both were sleeping on the floor. We put a blanket in between us. I got cold, so my feet worked their way on Sister Hatch. I'm a total snuggler. haha We taught the same training 17 times! Whoa that was tough at times. But we did it. My favorite part of the trip was when we got to Meeker! We ran up to the Zellers home and rang the doorbell. Gary yelled come in. As I came in he saw me and yelled, "OH MY GOSH!" and darted towards us and gave me a tight hug! He came charging so fast I thought I broke my face! I loved every moment of it! I missed that beautiful family so much. We got to eat dinner and spend time with them for a little. We then went and surprised Jodene Gardner and the Patersons. That was so much fun. The next morning we went to the Zellers to eat breakfast. That was so fun. We were tired because the night before we had medical issues with one of the sisters. So we didn't get to bed on time and woke up early. We went to Craig for our next training and we got to see Sister Isenhour, Hobbs, Matia, and Sanders all from Meeker! That was so fun! they were in Rifle for a Relief Society Meeting! I heard "Sister Gampe is here!?" from out in the hall while President Murdock was trying to talk. haha. Then we started traveling back towards home. We stoped and trained in Glenwood Springs, Veil, and Frisco. It was so amazing.

While we were in Grand Junction, Sister Hatch and I really wanted to go street contacting. Because of the trainings we didn't have much time to proselyte. (Heavenly Father allowed there to be ALOT of extra time in Meeker. Tender Mercy) We said a prayer that we would be able to talk to someone. We talked to Kurt. He has taken lessons from missionaries before. He loves the Book of Mormon and knows it is true. We has such a wonderful conversation. We sang and he said, "Wow that was amazing! You sound good!, you look good, you smell good!" hahaha funny. So then we commited him to come to church. Were excited to see how that goes with the missionaries in Grand Junction.

When we got back to Lakewood, we wanted to get to work. We found 6 new investigators and taught 9 lessons! We literally only had 1 day! That was awesome work. It's easy to say we were exhausted!

What an amazing experience. Thank you for all your prayers and letters! I love you all so much!

Mission Tour With The President

Hey Everyone!

 

Wanna know something really cool! Okay so we got a call from the President's Assisstents on the 4th of July asking if we could go to a meeting with them and President later that evening at 7. So we go and find out that President Murdock want's to go on a mission tour with him and the Assisstents. He wants us to train all the missionaries in the who mission. So we are going to be driving around like crazy! We started Friday the 5th and we don't get back to our area until Saturday the 13th. What an amazing experience! Heavenly Father has so much trust in me, it boggles my mind. The trainings have been going well. The first day we kept changing it up trying to tweak so we were teaching exactly what the spirit wants us to. We have been teaching on making BOLD, inspired commitments, that bring the people we are teaching closer to Christ. It's wonderful because I'm learning so much as I teach. President also has asked us to sing at the meetings and also for the next transfer meeting. Cool. It's really nice to be able to get to know him better. We got to go to Red Robbin with him, his wife, and the assisstents. Which was awesome because on Friday we missed breakfast and lunch. On Saturday we missed just lunch. We are just so busy and there arent enough hours in the day! Wanna know whats also amazing! We get to go to Meeker! We are surprising Gary Zellers! His beautiful wife, Laurie already knows were coming! I cannot wait to give that family a big hug! I love them. Also I love Meeker. It will be nice to drive through that! Were going to try to see as many people as we can. Sister Hatch also served there so we both were so excited! It's going to be an  exhausting couple of days because of driving and long hours sitting in meetings. We listen to the same 3 trainings 3 times a day! It takes a little over 3 hours with each group. But this whole thing is so awesome!

 

We got to teach a less active on Sunday inbetween our meeting and church. It was the first time we have met him. He was filled with the spirit. Right now he is struggling because his wife doesnt like the church. His whole family is really active. His brother is a Mission President in New York. It made me so sad for him because he has such a strong spirit, but a few wrong choices with alcohol caused a divorce and alot of separation with the family, and his own separation with the church. We sang Nearer My God to Thee with him and testified Heavenly Fathers love for him. He is going to Utah for a family reunion next week. So he told us we should expect to see him the week after. Tender mercy with the situation was, we met him at the perfect time because his wife happened to not be home, so he was able to open up and express his desire to come back. That was such an uplifting experience.

 

We had a similar experience with Sonya and another family. We shared the power of the hymns. In the Ensign on page 31-33 it talks about how the hymns can give us so much comfort, peace, and can motivate us to choose the right. The hymns can truly help people feel the spirit. Thats why we try to sing everytime we go somewhere. It's awesome!

 

Well we have to leave at 1:15 today to go over the mountain to Montrose. Wish me luck! and more importantly keep us in your prayers so we can inspire and motivate! I love Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ. I see miracles everyday.

 

-Sister Gampe

New President

Hey Everyone!

My President went home on the 28th! :( So sad. My new President's name is President Murdock. He's going to be awesome I know it.

Well guess what. I love my area more and more everyday. I love it. I get a gorgeous view of Denver and of the Mountains. I'm in a perfect spot. We have transfers on Tuesday. Sister Hatch and I are staying together. I'm so grateful. I love that girl. She got really sick the other day. While she was laying down on the phone, I decided to give her a lotioned feet massage. I don't know why I thought about it, but I did. So I did and I was worried the whole time because she is a massage therapist. She said that everything that I did is what they do to help nausea! The church is true!!! hahaha Even though she was sick, we were still able to have a good time. She only got sick at 6:30 pm. I think it was a mixture of alot. We were out in the hot sun staining a playset and on the go alot...well we are on the go all the time but yeah she doesnt have the best of health but she keeps going. They almost sent her home at one time but she refused and President allowed her to stay. Shes awesome. But while she was laying there I decided to use one of my ridiculous belly button tattoos a member gave me in Meeker, Teresa Murray on her. She was laughing so hard. I thought she might puke on me. That wouldnt have been good. Gross.

Earlier we had our last exchange! After we got in the car we literally both looked at each other and screamed at the top of our lungs because it was a rough one. haha but we learned alot. One of the things we learned was how much we love eachother.

The thunder and lightening storms have been amazing!

We helped move one of our investigators. Boy that was exhausting. But she went to church for the first time! Our members were amazing!

Well I better get going! I love you so much!

-Sister Gampe