May Photos

Miracles

                                                                                                                                    May 26, 2014

Miracle #1: Ligia. Sister Zerkle and I are the only sisters in our district, so on Wednesday when we went to district meeting, the Elders surprised us by announcing that they were going to BLITZ our area that day! A blitz is when several companionships go to one area and tract or contact people to help that companionship find people. Our district is so good to us! Two of the Elders found a lady named Ligia. They called us after they found her and were so excited to tell us about her! They told us they set up an appointment for Saturday at a coffee shop, but they didn't get her address or phone number because she is living with her sister and didn't feel comfortable giving out her information... Usually appointments like this aren't super solid, but she was there! And she was so prepared! Man. It was one of the most spiritual lessons I've taught on my mission. She talked about how she was about ready to give up on God, and then she met those two young men and hearing this message opened her heart again. It was absolutely incredible!

Miracle #2: Tiffany. Sister Zerkle and I were in a town house area talking with people and I was talking to the Zone Leaders on the phone about something and she went and talked with a lady standing nearby. The lady turned out to be a less active member that was baptized at 13 but hasnt been to church since high school. She now has three children and one on the way. Her oldest son, he's 6, had asked her earlier that same day if they could go to church. Then Sister Zerkle talked to her. Coincidence?! No way. The crazy thing is, things like this happen all the time! (Another quick example of crazy miracles is a recent convert in this area relapsed back into smoking and hasnt been out to church for a few weeks. He was at a very low point in his life and was sitting on a bench downtown praying. When he looked up he saw us crossing the street. And he called out to us and we were able to meet with him and help him out...Not a coincidence either.) Anyway Tiffany ended up coming to church with her children and we're going to start meeting with her regularly to help her become active again.

Miracle #3: Dominique. On Saturday we dropped by a former investigator named Dominique who has been going through some very hard trials. She pretty much broke down and told us to come back later that evening. We were thinking all day about what we could do to help her. We decided we would just read the Book of Mormon with her. When we went back that evening she was making dinner for her four small kids and her house was insane! The kids were running around and being crazy and she was frustrated and just wanted some quiet time, which is pretty much non existent for a single mom of four kids that is out of work. We read Moroni 7 with her (which is my favorite chapter!), and at first the kids were eating and complaining and were being rowdy, but after they finished eating, one by one they trickled in and sat down with us. The oldest two were learning to read so they joined our reading circle. The spirit in that home changed from one of contention to one of peace and love. It was an incredible feeling. A familiar feeling. As I was using a temple pass along card as a bookmark to guide the oldest daughter, Ahmya, and help her read, I reflected on the many times we had family scripture study in my family. I was overwhelmed with the Spirit and gratitude. We finished with a kneeling prayer offered by Ahmya and it was powerful.

The Church is true. The Church is so true! I am grateful for the Gospel in my life and my membership is the true Church of Jesus Christ.

Love and Prayers, Sister Felix

"Spiritual light cannot be discerned by carnal eyes." -Pres. Dieter F. Uchtdorf

PS. I went on exchanges in Kingston this week and they had a jar of Nutella that was bigger than my head!! It was insane! It was fun to be back in Kingston for a day :)

Mission Leader Conference 4.30.14

Things I've Learned

May 20, 2014
It was exactly a year ago today that I stepped off the plane in Toronto. Man. What a year it has been. Here are some things I have learned (or relearned) in the past year:

• My Heavenly Father, my Savior, and my Comforter are real. They are three separate beings but They all love me personally and are united in their purpose to bring me home.
• Joseph Smith was not a perfect man, but he was called by God and qualified for the work he was called to perform. Through Him the Gospel and Church of Jesus Christ was restored to the Earth. The Priesthood was restored through him. I have a testimony of the Priesthood.
• The Book of Mormon is the word of God and contains the fullness of the everlasting gospel. I have found more answers, peace, and direction from reading the Book of Mormon than any other book because it is the most correct. It is a light and a liahona.
• THE TEMPLE IS THE PLACE. Covenants are essential.
• "Happiness is not for the chosen few, but for the few that choose it."

I don't know if I can actually sum up everything I've learned in the past year, but if I had to sum it up in three words, they would be: God is real. 

Two highlights of the week are named Al and Tunde. Al is from Trinidad and is amazing! We gave him and his four year old daughter, Miracle, the most spiritual chapel tour I've given on my mission and he accepted a baptismal date for June 15!! Pray for him though. Serious trials of faith have come up in his life since he made that decision. It just goes to show how prepared he really is and how much of a kingdom builder he will be. Tunde is from Budapest, Hungary and is a miracle! She was one of those "just one more door" miracles. We scheduled an appointment with her for Saturday, but she wasn't there. She called us the next morning and said she found the note we left and had been there 20 minutes later! She asked if she could come to church with us that day. We said "YES! Of course!" I hope I didn't sound too enthusiastic or over excited on the phone :) She came to church and LOVED IT! And she also came to the ward party last night for Victoria day and brought 4 or 5 friends with her!!! She's incredible. God blesses us when we are obedient. I know that for sure.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love and Prayers, Sister Felix

Sister Zerkle

New Market

                                                                                                                        May 12, 2014

Hello and happy day-late Mother's day! If you haven't been to motherhood.mormon.org you should definitely check it out! The video is adorable!

I went on an exchange in Newmarket this week and it was quite exciting! I got my first sunburn of the season! It's nice to have some color again :) Before that exchange I was having a small down moment and wondering why I am where I am and why I was called to be a sister training leader. That night when I was in Newmarket, I prayed and asked Heavenly Father those questions. The next day it was incredible to watch the answers unfold! She was going through many hard things that I have gone through on my mission and I was able to help her and leave her with commitments that gave her hope. The Spirit whispered to me that I am here for several reasons: 1) There are sisters that need my personality and experiences to help them learn and grow as missionaries. 2) I need this experience to progress and become the kind of missionary my Heavenly Father needs me to be. 3) There are people in the Oshawa area that need me to be their missionary. It's as simple as that. And it never ceases to amaze me how Heavenly Father uses my strengths as well as my weaknesses to bless the lives of those who I influence wherever I go.

While I was in Newmarket, Sister Zerkle was here in Oshawa and they met an INCREDIBLE man named Dave. He is a retired school teacher and is a history buff! He has read the Bible three times, but doesn't like going to church because of the hypocrisy that he sees there. She offered to come back the next day to help him do yard work because he is working on quite the project. I think he was a little surprised when we actually showed up the next day ready to work! It was incredible to watch service soften his heart. He was asking us questions about what we do as missionaries and the church while we shoveled dirt and placed patio stones. He let us teach him about the Restoration after we had worked for about an hour and a half. Because of his interest in history, he was intrigued to learn about the Book of Mormon and the group of people that left Jerusalem in 600 BC. He committed to read it, but he wouldn't commit to pray about it or come to church. But we know that he'll come around :)

We also had another unexpected service opportunity! We dropped by a member on Saturday night, but she wasn't home. The lady across the street was outside so we went and talked with her. We found out that she is friends with the member and that she had met with missionaries before!! After talking for a while, we offered to help her clean her house, and she was shocked! Her boyfriend was also shocked! We left to put on service clothes and were back in 15 min. She was so grateful. She lived there with her boyfriend and her three kids and his three kids and works and is going to school, so her housework gets put on the back burner sometimes. Her home was beautiful for mothers day! She asked questions about that the church services are like and said she might come. She didn't end up coming but we know she felt the Spirit while we were in her home.

Another miracle! As we were walking down the sidewalk yesterday, there was a lady in a baseball cap approaching and I was all ready to talk to her because as missionaries we talk with everyone! I was caught off guard when she looked up and said, "Well it's the missionaries! How are you sisters? Where are you from?" She obviously knew who we were! Through our conversation we she told us that she is from Winnipeg, her dad is a Bishop there, she was given the choice to be baptized when she was 8 and said no! She still hasn't been baptized, but wants to someday when she's ready to live the commandments and live in harmony with the Gospel. Isn't that insane?! She's met with missionaries before, but was open to letting us come talk with her. She has only been in Oshawa for 10 days and said her dad told her to find the church here, but we found her first :) He has been praying for her. I could feel it. We talked for about 20 minutes and when we walked away Sister Zerkle and I were still trying to process what just happened! It was an overwhelming sign that I am where I am supposed to be and we were exactly where we were supposed to be in that precise moment! 

I hope you have a fantastic week! I love this gospel. I love my Savior and my Father in Heaven. I love my companion. And I love being a missionary!! 

Love and Prayers, Sister Felix

Quote of the Week: "Our full potential is not on this earth." -Sister Zerkle (She said this while we were talking with someone and the Spirit burned it into my memory witnessing of it's truthfulness!)

I am choosing to give it my all!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!! :)                                                                                                                                                 May 5, 2014

What a week it has been! Tuesday I went on an exchange in Bowmanville and it POURED rain all day! We had an appointment that morning, but for the rest of the afternoon we were out tracting in it. It was definitely an adventure! I've gone on at least one exchange every transfer for my whole mission, but now I go on two exchanges every week and the Sisters look to me as an example and for feedback on how to improve. It was a little weird at first to be the leader, but I'm getting used to it. I'm so grateful for the amazing sisters in this mission! On every exchange I've been on so far the sisters have been so humble and willing to change and they help me change and improve as well! I think I have the better draw because I get to work with all these amazing sisters and learn from them and they only have one exchange a transfer. 

On Wednesday we went to MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) and it was incredible! Absolutely amazing! It was like a zone conference for all the zone leaders and sister training leaders in the mission. It was pretty much a lot of instruction, reporting, and discussing. It was humbling to be there for sure! Here are some of the highlights:

The purpose of a council is the find the will of God. 

"A goal forgotten is no longer a goal."

"Repentance is a process of joy." -Sister Scott

President Scott did a question and answer time instead of instruction, and it was inspiring to hear his response to questions that have been on our minds. A main theme of the questions was actually repentance and earning the Lord's trust.

Sister Scott is brilliant at teaching from the scriptures, and she talked a lot about Moroni 7, which happens to be my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon :) She asked this question, "How am I being blessed because of the covenants I keep?" I invite you all to ponder on that question as well.

All of the departing missionaries and new leadership always bear their testimonies at MLC, and it was a good time of reflection for me. I was the last to bear my testimony and there were probably four or five who bore testimonies that are going home. Some of them, probably most of them, talked about wishing they had more time on their missions and how sad they were to leave. I thought about the six months I have left and pondered on some ways to make the most of it. The Spirit bore a strong testimony to me that I have complete control over how I react to the time I have left on my mission. I am choosing to give it my all. I've tried hard my whole mission to give it my all, but I feel a greater sense of urgency since that meeting. Heavenly Father has called me. All of me, my whole soul to serve Him here for 18 months. I only have 6 left and I want to do my best to show my love for my Father in Heaven.

Friday we had Zone Training meeting and the Zone Leaders asked Sister Zerkle and I to instruct. We had 20 min to instruct on whatever we wanted. So we decided to instruct on this line from the white handbook: "You will be expected to devote all your time and attention to serving the Lord...As you do, the Lord will bless you and you will become an effective advocate and messenger of truth." Our zone has been struggling in the past few weeks to hit our full potential, so this was a crucial meeting to pump everyone back up and give the zone the boost necessary to reach our potential. We talked letting go of distractions through focusing on the Christlike attributes. We highlighted one of my favorite sentences in PMG about becoming Christlike missionaries and not just doing missionary things. It went really well for our first instruction together. Between our instruction, the Zone Leaders instruction, a KILLER musical number, and a good council, the zone was on fire! This week we've seen so many miracles in our zone. I've never felt so unified as a zone and I love it! We did a zone fast and it worked miracles. I wish I could express how amazing it's been to see it all unfold! And we're only on week three of the transfer!

We went on another exchange on Saturday with the Bracebridge sisters and it was the first time I stayed in Oshawa for the exchange and Sister Zerkle went to the other area. I've only had two weeks to get to know the area, but it was good for me to get to know the area even better.

We cover a few small towns north of Oshawa as well and on Sunday we went out to a small town called Port Perry and did some tracting. We met this incredible lady named Alexandria. It was extremely apparent within the first few minutes that she was a firm believer in Christ! She has such strong faith and usually people that are that strong in their faith are usually strong in the church they go to as well. But she was open and willing to listen. She actually had a Book of Mormon and had previously met with missionaries in Calgary. She said the thing that confused her last time she met with missionaries was why she needed to be baptized again? She let us come in and explain the answer by teaching the Restoration. It was incredible to watch her receive the answer as she understood the pattern of prophets and priesthood authority through dispensations. She understood at the end and committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and be baptized again if she found it was true. We're so excited about her!! There was something special about her and I feel she is truly prepared!

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love and Prayers, Sister Felix

Quote of the Week: "If we are not improving, we are not repenting."