Bring your swimsuits‏ June 27, 2016

Last Friday, our new investigator Steve invited us over for a message
and a pool party and we told him we don't swim as missionaries so we
settled for a pizza party instead. :) It was great! Sister Meyer came
along with us and we helped answer a lot of his questions. He's still
not completely sure about the whole religion thing because it was
pushed on him as a child and he didn't like it but he's still really
interested in our church and said he was looking forward to reading
the Book of Mormon.

We had a lesson with Lanisha who has the cutest little kids ever;
London and Kadence. We knocked on her door because London was out on
the porch and asked if we were going to come talk to his mom. Best
referral ever!! She seems legit and said her and her boyfriend have
actually been talking about finding a church. I'm excited because she
already has a solid testimony of who God is and she loves to pray. :)

This week we also went on exchanges and I got to be with Sister
Strong. It was really cool to see how much we've both grown over the
past 5 months. I know that as we follow the commandments and stay
close to the Lord that we can have the Spirit with us and learn how to
become the person He wants and needs us to be.

Love,
Sister Irwin

P.S.
Lunch at KFC with LaNell and her grandson Jaybreon!
Twinning with Sister Ravenburg!

The sisters ate all the ice cream!‏ June 20, 2016

"Keep looking good. Keep serving God," said a man in the ghetto. He
told us to tell everyone so there it is folks. Haha! I love Eagle Run.

So we didn't eat allllll the ice cream, but that's what we told the
little boy to tell the elders after they awkwardly showed up at the
members' house when we were eating dinner because they were told they
were having dinner there too! There was a miscommunication because
elders and sisters can't team up for lessons/meals with members so
they went outside to eat with the dad. We had ice cream sundaes for
dessert and ate them in front of the window because sometimes you just
have to tease elders. :)

Soo fun stuff, we got to take the new TC sisters, Baird and Church out
to visit people and go tracting! They are so sweet and way more
prepared than I was because I don't think I barely even said anything
my first day talking to real people!

Other highlights from this week...
Sister Parsons and I visited with Sister Ravenburg whom we love so
much because she's so sweet and spunky and we can talk about anything
and everything with her. She said something so profound that I wanted
to share; she takes her trials as a compliment because she feels like
she has a lot of faith. The hardships we go through can really
sometimes be opportunities from God to learn and grow, as long as we
rely on the Lord to help us.
I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday and Lucy came with her friend
Ruth! It was great to see them there. :)

Shout out to all the dads who rock our socks! Have a fantastic week. :)

Love,
Sister Irwin

P.S.
1. Homemade crepes for breakfast? Yes please!
2. Had a lesson with Kathy and we did some crochet
3. Photo opp flower
4. It's great to be 8
5. Sister Baird and Sister Church

Homeless but not hopeless‏ June 13, 2016

This week we saw a homeless man with a sign off the side of the road
and we felt like we should park the car and talk with him. It turns
out he has no family and he's been homeless for six years because of
his addictions. He was waiting for the bus so we didn't have a ton of
time to talk with him but we told him how to get help through the
church's 12 step program and he was really grateful and said that's
what he needed. We'll probably never see him again, but I hope he's
able to change his life around - and I know he can through Christ!

So something that's never happened before...we went to visit our
investigator Ricky and we found him sleeping on the floor haha.
Brother Wright kicked him and he still wouldn't wake up so we figured
we'd just come back another time! Ya snooze ya lose. The good news is
that we had another lesson with him this past week and we watched the
Joseph Smith movie. :) It was so neat because we asked him how he felt
after the movie and he said that weirdly enough he was actually really
happy. He was sad and disappointed about the persecutions of the early
saints, but he said he still felt happy about the church being
restored. He also made the comment that Joseph Smith was like Jesus
Christ, in the sense that they both sacrificed so much for others and
the Gospel! That blew my mind that he saw that similarity because I
don't even make that connection sometimes! It is so true though, the
sacrifices made by our Savior and His prophets are so great and they
bless our lives forever.

Last night was a blast because Bob and Lucy had their neighbors the
Johnson's (Phil, Rana, Sean, and Mary) over for dinner! These are the
super nice ones who let us stay in their house when we got locked out
of ours! We had an extravagant taco bar and skillet that we helped
with, and then afterwards we had a lesson and played Wacky Six. Since
all of them are super religious we said we wanted to "practice"
teaching them the Restoration while emphasizing the Priesthood, like
we learned from our last zone training. It went really well and the
Johnson's ended up taking home a pamphlet. :)

Sad news...Sister Funk and Sister Temp are going home this week from
the TC, and Sister Johnson and Elder Magleby! :( Since Elder Mapu went
home last transfer, after this next one all my original leaders will
be gone because Elder Sherman goes home too! They grow up too fast...

Other highlights from the week:
I got to take Sister Esplin's (as in first counselor of the primary
general presidency who just got released Sister Esplin) husband and
son on tour!
We had a group of three little kids come up to us on the street asking
us for Bibles and Book of Mormons!
I had an eye appointment at Costco the other day and Sister Gardner
and her mom met us so we got to hang out with them for a little bit
and we went around and tried all the free samples!
It finally hit 3 digits and everyone thinks I'm crazy for enjoying it! #AZprobs

Keep it real.

Love,
Sister Irwin

They see me mowing my front lawn‏ May 6, 2016

Hey y'all! :)

This week we visited with one of our members Lenel; she is such a
hoot! We had a fun time with her and we talked about the Plan of
Salvation and then she went off preaching to us about the importance
of prayer and walking by faith and how much she wanted to take us to
KFC haha. Speaking of prayer...I counted the other day the total
prayer count was over 30! There is no such thing as too much praying.
:)

Fun fact of the week, Sister Parsons taught me how to mow a lawn! So
we helped out Bob and Lucy with their front yard.

We found two new investigators this week! Ricky; who basically lives
at the Wright's house, and Hailey who is Amber's son's girlfriend!
Both just graduated and are so great. Ricky is kind of a punk kid who
you wouldn't think cares about religion and stuff and at first it
seemed like he was being bribed to meet with us but he is legit and
just doesn't want to admit that he loves the Book of Mormon!! He's
read every chapter we've given him so far!

On Sunday before church we stopped by the Prusia's house with cinnamon
rolls to get them to come because Brother Prusia jokingly said that's
what it would take but we held him to it! It turns out that Sister
Prusia wasn't feeling good so they were going to stay home but still
appreciated the kind gesture. But in other news....HAROLD WENT TO
CHURCH!!! His boss finally let him have a Sunday off which is a
miracle because he works at Cracker Barrel and Sundays are their
busiest days! I am so happy to hear that he is still progressing down
in good Cottonwood! Miracles happen my friends. :) Never underestimate
the power of prayer!

Love,
Sister Irwin

Happy Birthday to these lovely June birthdays...
Marissa! Wow I love you more than words and tell the whole Roberts fam
I say hi :)
Mahala! I still admire you for being the first girl to jump off the
cliff! You're the best!
Also to my Young daughter who is actually older than me..#walnutcreekforever
And to Sasha...you are my top dog

P.S.
1. Temple day with the Omaha zone
2. The fireflies are finally out and Sister Parsons caught one!!
3. Favorite tour this week with the Tucker family from SC
4. I found grace in the hood...did you?

What time is it?? May 30,2016

SUMMER TIME!!!

The temperature and people are warming up a lot! Remember Sister
Derrick's friend Connie from like five-ever ago?? Well we haven't seen
her since like December because she wasn't interested anymore but she
just decided she was ready and the Walnut Creek sisters set a baptism
date for her! :D Also, another miracle happened this past week, when
out of the blue a lady texted us from another ward asking if we knew
this girl named Stephanie. #greatname It's her friend that used to
meet with missionaries and she says she wants to meet again and so we
called her up and she said she wants to get baptized because it's
necessary for salvation! Yes!! #greatanswer We have an appointment
with her this week I'm so pumped!

At the trail center I took a less active man and his nonmember mom on
tour and we talked a lot about the temple and the steps one needs to
take to get there. He told me he was struggling with paying his
tithing. We had just recently had a lesson on tithing at church and
the mini devotional that morning was on tithing too! I was able to
bear my testimony on the importance of paying tithing and making
sacrifices. If you think about Jesus Christ and all the sacrifices He
gave for us then it shouldn't be hard to give the little amount that
we're asked to give! I know it strengthens our faith when we do that
and God will provide for our needs when we follow His commandments.

We've had a few family prayers at night with Bob and Lucy! They are
just the best. Even though they're Methodist we still love them. ;)

In other news...Sister Parsons and I met the cutest family last night!
They were sitting on their front porch with their dogs and we asked to
come pet them! Turns out they're Catholic but they had so many legit
questions for us and we talked for a good 45 minutes! They were so
kind and accepted to read and pray about the Book of Mormon! Perfect
ending to the week. HAGS :)

Love,
Sister Irwin

P.S. We had a fondue party with Sisters Hutchison and Firth and
volunteered at the Salvation Army food pantry!