Banana splits March 27, 2017

Hi friends! :)

I don't have a ton of stuff to talk about; this week really flew by! Sister Janson and I had two awesome tours the same day with the Negleys and Sister Holmstead. They were all members, and were just super spiritual and encouraging. Things are picking up because of Spring break. We love when nonmembers come to the trail center, but we also love our sweet members! :) Both mentioned how this decision to serve will bless us and our families for the rest of our lives. The Negleys just got back a few months ago from a mission, and Sister Holmstead currently has a daughter out on hers. 

Saturday was jammed pack with exciting things! We overbooked ourselves and had two lessons planned for 4:00pm and needed to go on splits. David ended up canceling (we got to see him last night anyway) but we still got members to come and thought it would be fun! Hannah went with Sister Janson to go try some potential investigators, and Alyssa, Elizabeth, and Dustin came with me to see Boris' cousin Lucas! (The ratio for gender always needs to be at least 3 of us if there's a single guy and then we brought our own guy so they could be friends.) It was kind of crazy but they're all RMs so we just took turns teaching! Lucas is interested, he just doesn't understand the priesthood super well yet, but there is hope! 

That night we watched women's conference downstairs at the trail center with most of the other sisters. Everyone brought cookies to share! It made conference even sweeter. I'm super pumped for this weekend as well. I'm so grateful we get to listen to the prophet, apostles, and other leaders of the church. It's as if God himself is speaking to us! It's going to be great! #ldsconf

Also...the new Easter initiative starts the end of March!! Get ready for it. #princeofpeace

Love,

Sister Irwin

P.S. 

1. new friend Sister Holmstead

2. 17 months😱

3. after the lesson 

4. a missionary's favorite place!

The things they teach are crystal clear... March 20, 2017

...for love is spoken here! ❤

Today has been a crazy day! We were at the temple cleaning from 8 to a little after 12. We got to clean all the crystal which I had never done before; it was so cool! They brought the huge chandelier down and we used these little finger gloves to wipe every single crystal until it was spick and span. (Not that it was even really that dirty in the first place which is why I love cleaning the temple.) There were a lot more missionaries there than usual because of the long list of things to do this time, so the temple presidency was so kind and ordered us all pizza! It was a funny scene with all of us eating in our white scrubs haha. After that, we ran home to switch our laundry because we had an appointment at the auto shop to take our car in for an oil change! They ended up finding some things wrong with our brake pad and rotating the tires and such, so we didn't leave until over 2 hours later...so President says we can make up P-day time for both the temple and the waiting for our car.  

Last Monday, we had a lesson with a family of YSAs! We thought we were going to just meet one, but all of her cousins were over so we taught them all. The most interested was probably the boy. His name is Jamal, but told us to call him Nemo because one of his arms is shorter than the other...He asked a bunch of great questions about The Book of Mormon and prophets! We were supposed to have a return appointment, and it fell through but we're not giving up yet.

Dave is the man! We had another lesson with him and Tanner came along. He's read a little more but still hasn't prayed on his own. He wants to know if God is really there, he's just struggling to find the answer for himself. We told him it takes time, just like learning how to do anything else. We found this awesome video for him, and if you've never seen it here is the link below!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng

Sister Janson and I spent some more time downtown this week. We met this cool girl named Jocelyn. She was singing and playing her guitar on the popular corner for musicians. I love Old Market so much, it feels like you're in a movie! We listening to a song she wrote, and then she listened to our 3 minute Restoration. We got her number and will hopefully be scheduling an appointment some time soon!

Saturday was the highlight of the week!! President Gardner showed us the new Easter initiative video. It is so good! I can't wait until it actually comes out. Sister Janson and I stopped by Judith's rehab center and took her some cookies. She's moving to another facility in Hastings, so I'm glad we got to say goodbye! The elders already got in contact with the missionaries there so she can continue to have the lessons. Then we hit up Bellevue for yet another baptism!! Amber looked so beautiful and it was so fun to see little Stasia and Sammy again. (Stasia is so funny and can't hold still for more than a minute, so that's why she's a little grumpy in the picture). I got a sticker from her that I put on the back of my name tag! I am so proud of that whole family and I love them to pieces. They have come along way. The Spirit was so strong, and BJ got emotional during the baptism and his talk afterwards. It was a precious jar memory to bottle up for sure. Then it got even better because a few of us sisters went to get Chic fil a for lunch. We had some familiar faces stop by the TC that night! Elders Olsen, Craig, and Wright came back for the sealing of one of their investigators. Sister Parsons and I took the sweetest lady Linda on a tour! She was driving back from South Dakota, on her way to Illinois with a new puppy she had just bought. We were able to testify strongly of how much God loved her, and the importance of tithing. Even more amazing things happened that day that I figured I'd just write in my journal. Twas a good day indeed. :)

Love,

Sister Irwin

P.S.

1. Exchanges with Sister Northrup!

2. Happy baptism day for Amber :)

3. Diana was there too!

4. Bob and Lucy ft. not so sneaky photo bomber Firth

5. The Hettinger family ft. Tanner

6. Most of the Papillion and Omaha Zones at the musical fireside!

Time Traveling pt. 4 March 13, 2017

Hey all you Zonies + other friends! We're now two hours ahead of you again. It's crazy!

Two of the best moments this week happened at gas stations. I've been praying for half my mission to find a guy wearing green at a gas station. The other day we stopped at your neighborhood QT for a bathroom break! I came out of the restroom, and lo and behold Sister Janson was talking to a YSA guy wearing a green shirt that literally said forest green on it! I almost screamed! His name was Carlos and he wrote down his number for us. Everything was great, until we got back in the car and discovered that we couldn't read his handwriting....we tried every combination that we thought it could be, and ended up calling like four wrong numbers....Note to self, always write down other peoples' numbers.

The other gas station miracle: we saw Dave again! He seemed really excited to see us too, and even gave us free food. :) Apparently he has Tuesdays off so we have an appointment with him tomorrow! We're also on exchanges, so I'm secretly hoping I get to be there for it!

Cold Spring is so great! We have another recent returned missionary, Mason, who just got home two weeks ago. We've taken him out for team ups, and also our power sibling duos: RM Spencer and Sami, and RM Hannah and Josh! We love them all, they're on fire!

John and David came to church again! We've met with them a few times and they are slowly but surely progressing! Dustin taught Gospel Principles about the scriptures and he drew this cool looking diagram about prophets. The person on top is God, the one in the middle is the prophet, and we are all the ones in the cave. It's so important that we follow the prophet because it's the only thing that we can see! He's the way to guide us in truth and righteousness. He can see both us and God, and is able to communicate as a middle man. He may be able to see part of the bigger picture, but still not as much as God. Heavenly Father sees the whole picture and knows what's in store for all of us as His children. We need to trust in Him. I know that Joseph Smith was the prophet who restored Jesus Christ's true church. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is the called of God to be the prophet on the earth today. I love the Lord, and I love all of you! Don't dig a deeper hole. Follow the prophet, he knows the way!

Love,

Sister Irwin

P.S.

1. We didn't choose the thug life

2. I have the best companion who makes us breakfast

3. Bowling with the Tremaynes! 🎳

4. Group shot :)

5. Gospel principles

Hair we go again March 6, 2017

Happy news!!! Amber from Bellevue 1st is getting baptized in a few weeks! And the best part is that her husband got the priesthood and is going to be baptizing her!! I can't wait to see them and little Stasia and Sammy again! 😅

Last Tuesday was so awesome! Something I've noticed a lot is the days where the most miracles take place, are sometimes the hardest at first! It started out super rough; it was dark and dreary, planning took way longer than it should have, no one was answering their phone, we drove around from place to place and no one was home, I even dropped my scriptures in the street. :( It wasn't until the end of the day that we decided to try an unlocked apartment complex that Tanner had told us about. We'd been praying for about a week to find a girl with short hair, wearing pink. We almost didn't try this one door because it looked dark through the peephole. We were about to turn away but then music started playing! We knocked and a girl named Sarah opened the door, with short hair...wearing a pink jacket! It was a miracle! :) She was so nice and we started to have a lesson right there one her doorstep, but she wasn't feeling good and needed to go lay down. She actually had come home early from work because she was sick, and if she hadn't we wouldn't have met her! Praying for specifics is something we've been doing all over the mission, and there are SO MANY MIRACLES! 

This week we met Sami who just got put into our ward after the boundary change, and it turns out that she knows Brooke Day! I swear it is such a small world. She's now our new best friend and both her and her brother (he just got home 4 days ago from his mission in Paris!) have come out with a few times for lessons! :) 

Another cool miracle is once upon a time, Sister Janson and I took two ladies on tour. They were both nonmembers and we were struggling to think of a commitment to leave with them. We put them in the video and said a prayer in the study room. Almost instantly I felt like we needed to invite them to do family history, which is so weird because I've never challenged someone who's not a member to do that! I told Sister Janson and she said she was thinking the exact same thing! We told that experience to the ladies, and one of them said she'd been wanting to work on her family history! Wow. I just love the Holy Ghost! I know as we follow promptings from the Spirit, we will be blessed.

We also met with one of our ward missionaries, Manny! He is so cool and I really hope he decides to serve a mission! If there's anyone out there who's debating whether you should serve a mission....just do it! Pray about. See what God says. Act on any prompting you get. I promise it will change your life. Missions are way hard, but the blessings are more than I could ever imagine. "If ye have desires to serve God, ye are called to the work." - D&C 4:3

Love,

Sister Irwin

P.S.

1. Happy belated 16 months ahh!

2. Sami! <3

3. The Bascom's farewell :(

4. What happens when you have a hair stylist in the ward....(colors are less extreme in person)

Ask me about my grand-dog February 27, 2017

Sooo transfers happened and I had to say goodbye to my favorite Asian...but now I get to be with Sister Janson!! Also, I'm finally a GRANDMA! Sister Young is training the only new sister and I couldn't be more proud. :)

This week was good! We had a lesson with this former investigator Zach. He met with missionaries about a year ago and has read the whole Book of Mormon. He knows everything is true, but his parents are devout Catholics and they won't let him come to church. He's looking to move out, so we're trying to see if any guys in the ward are looking for a roommate. We also taught David this week and are praying he can come to church and some activities this week. The APs gave us yet another referral! His name is Boris and is originally from Africa. We had a hand off lesson with the elders at the trail center. He has so much faith!

On last thing before I go, I know the Lord guides us and directs this work. We are meeting YSAs left and right. I feel like those used to be so rare to come across, but now wherever we go, even knocking on doors, we find YSAs to talk to! The church is true.

Love,

Sister Irwin

P.S.

1. Sister Henry wears my shirt better!

2. New comp Sister Janson! :)

3. Mesa better give a warm welcome to Sister Hall!

4. Queen Creek better give a warm welcome to Sister Smith!

5. Hermana Marshall also went home!

The church is true Febraury 20, 2017

Hello beautiful people!

Wow. So many exciting things this week. I thought Ricky had dropped off the face of the earth, but I heard that he texted the Eagle Run sisters and Brother Bruun is taking him out to lunch! Also, I got to see Carrie the other day! She is doing so much better and is living in a nicer place. The happiest news of all: Kathy's husband, Scott, got baptized!!! :) President let us go and it was so good to see them and other old friends.

Sister Firth and I had another lesson with chill Dave! We both love that kid. He's so funny and really sincere! He's also reading his scriptures! He asked a few "frequently asked anti-questions" but we got them all cleared up. Dave likes how happy Mormons are and really admires the strength of the pioneers. He said that right there is a good starting point in proof that there's a God! He prayed again at the end of the lesson. I hope and pray that the Spirit touches him and testifies that there really is a God - that He's our Heavenly Father and He loves us!

The assistants gave us two referrals, John and another David, who are neighbors. We had a hand off lesson on Saturday and awkwardly managed to fit all six of us outside on John's tiny trailer home porch. We couldn't go inside because we weren't able to find another female to come with us. There were so many awkward and hilarious encounters, but the funniest was when Elder Karl was praying we heard "hey, hey you! Whoever parked their car in front of my house needs to move it! I need it moved right now"...it was our car so we drove away in the middle of our lesson, trying to find another place to park! The crazy thing is we weren't even blocking his driveway and he didn't pull his car out or anything. But despite all the chaos, John and David both came to church! And so did four Muslim students from UNO who just walked in during sacrament meeting! They've only been in the United States for two months, and want to learn more about Jesus Christ! We made sure to get all of their information!

Last bit of crazy news, the boundaries changed between the Papillion and Omaha stakes. We lost the Old Mill ward and gained Millard and Chalco Hills. We ended up losing more people overall, including half of our relief society presidency! This is a hard change for a lot of people, but I know the Lord has a plan! Transfers are also this week and we have no clue what's happening, but all is well. :)

Love,

Sister Irwin

P.S.

1. Life size version of hungry hungry hippos

2. We love YSA family home evening!

3. Tanner loved his birthday present :)

4. Scott and Kathy <3

5. We love Brookelyn!

6. Shalyn and Melissa are leaving us :(

7. Best friend Sister Cope is going home </3

Love is in the air Febraury 13, 2017

We had an online lesson with Allie this week and it was SO GOOD! She is so prepared and it was nice to talk on the phone instead of just text. For just being 16, she has a great understanding of things we've taught her. She believes that God still calls prophets today and is going to pray about The Book of Mormon. She wants to get baptized, even if she had to wait a few years it wouldn't matter to her. She loves the scripture Moroni 10:3-5 and the concept that she can find out truth for herself!

Something our mission has been working on is asking inspired questions. Sister Firth and I gave a man named Brother Oliverson a tour and she asked him one that was so simple. It was something like "How do you apply the doctrine of Christ every day?" And he started crying! The whole objective is to help the person feel the Spirit and open up so we know how to help them. 

We found the family that we weren't praying for! We've been praying to find roommates instead. #singleswardprobs It was a really cool experience though. We took Hannah along with us, and I'm so grateful we did, because she helped a ton! She just got back from her mission in December, and is so cute! This family hardly spoke any English because they were all from Nepal. We talked to their YSA age son and scheduled the appointment a few days ago when I was on exchanges, but he ended up leaving so we taught his family instead! The other son spoke the most English, so we would say something and he'd translate. The cool thing is that the Spirit is universal. One of my favorite things is to hear people pray in another language.

Exchanges was with Sister Collins this time. I adore her! This is only her second transfer but she's such a powerful teacher. We spent a lot of time street contacting downtown, and people were definitely placed in our path. So many miracles! We prayed specifically that we would be able to find and talk with someone wearing red and gray, and they just started popping up everywhere!

Another cool miracle: Sister Firth and I fasted last Friday to be able to find two new investigators this past week. Guess what? We got a referral from the Spanish elders - Jose, who doesn't really speak Spanish! We also met this kid named David at a gas station! We've had a lesson with each of them and Jose even came to church with Manny. David's lesson was really cool because he's atheist but willing to learn. He said his first prayer ever and it was so sincere. Dustin came with us and was able to relate a ton because he didn't grow up believing in God either, but he was baptized 4 years ago, and has since served and returned from a full time mission! The church is true friends. If you know someone that's struggling, or if you're struggling yourself, the gospel will help. Guaranteed. Here's a link to meet with representatives of Jesus Christ! What have you got to lose? https://www.mormon.org/missionaries

Love,

Sister Irwin

P.S.

1. Protein smoothies with Alexis! (Flexis)

2. Exchanges...excuse the blurriness 

3. The complete Asian cuisine