03/25/13 - Week 7 in Indiana [Week 2 of Transfer 2 in Indy 1st Ward]

Hello all! 

This week has been great!! The work here is moving forward at a rapid pace. We have been doing so much tracting and working to get more people to teach! And I have seen the Lord bless us so so much. We have found so many miracles that I cannot explain unless saying that Heavenly Father provided them for us. We were tracting one day and we found this girl named Jennifer. We knocked on her door, and we were admiring her cute calico cat and she just invited us right in. We starting talking to her about who we were and what we were doing. We asked her if there was anything that we could do for her and she just started crying and said "Pray for me. I don't have a job and I am trying to get one." We gave her a hug and just talked with her. Then we shared with her about how God can help her with anything that she needs. We told her about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and she accepted everything! We have another appointment with her on Tuesday, and I am so excited! She is so prepared. At the end I told her how much Heavenly Father loves her and she just started to cry again..I love to see the spirit touch people and change their hearts. 

Then we found another girl named Amber. And she is Golden!! We invited her to baptism on the first lesson and she said "of course!" We are planning to give her a baptismal date on Thursday when we meet with her again. She came across the church because her boss is a member and has told her all about our church. She has gone to church with him and his wife and has read some of the Book of Mormon and stuff. Oh man, she is just so sweet! I am so excited to teach her..She has been so prepared by the examples in her life. 

Then we have a progressing investigator! Her name is Wanda. She was a former investigator, but got really busy and stopped meeting with the missionaries. We have been teaching her again, and she has such a hunger to learn more. She has been reading in the Doctrine and Covenants and in a few days has read to Section 20. She has a lot of questions about the history of the church and because I took a Doctrine and Covenants class right before I came out here, I am able to answer a lot of her questions! I have seen the Lord preparing me for so many years for these investigators that we are teaching. She also said that she would be baptized if she came to know that these things were true. She has a lot of doubts, but Sister Reeves (who comes with us often) has a lot of answers for her. She is a convert too and had a lot of the same questions, so she can answer them for her. Oh man! I just love this work! I love seeing people light up when something makes sense. I love seeing the light come into their eyes when they are feeling the spirit.

Then we tracted into another girl named Amber! She opened the door and I didn't think that she was going to listen to us. She had a nose ring, a tongue ring, and dark make up and clothing. But she came outside and talked with us for quite a while. We told her about Joseph Smith and the restoration. She accepted it all. We told her why we were on missions and why we leave our family and friends behind to do this work. It was great. She said that she was raised Catholic but has had doubts with God. But we bore our testimonies and she started to cry. We will be meeting with her again soon. Ah! It has just been a great week. 

Then (I don't know if I have told you about Eddie yet) we have another appointment with this guy named Eddie. He was a guy who met with us to do a school project on Mormonism. We talked to him a lot about tithing and about how our church is set up and such. It was really interesting. He is agnostic so he believes in a higher power, but he is not sure if it is God or not. But at the end of our meeting I bore my testimony to him. The funny thing is that when I ended, he commented on my body language...not what I said. He told me that I had the "perfect body language" when I bore my testimony. I was kind of frustrated that he didn't pay as much attention to what I was saying, but at least he believed that I knew what I said. Anyways, so after his presentation we texted him and asked him how it went. He said "It went good. So good in fact that I want to learn more." I don't know if that means that he wants to do another project, or if he wants to learn for himself..but either way, I am excited! We have a meeting with him tomorrow and I hope it all goes well!!

I have a cool story about the Book of Mormon. We were visiting a less active in our ward, Sister Pfeiffer, and she was telling us about a story. She said that right before she was baptized she had a house fire that started from a heating pad that was left by the side of the couch. She told us that the fire burnt the whole couch, ground, side table, ottoman, everything to a crisp! But there was a Book of Mormon on the couch... and it was barely even touched. The fire burnt everything around it completely, but left the Book slightly burned on the tip of the paper. I wish I would have taken a picture of the Book of Mormon (because she still had it), but it was so cool. The story gave me chills!! Isn't that amazing?? That just testifies of how true this gospel is! I will have to get a picture one of these days and send it to you all so you can see. 

Also, side note, Alyson Porter's parents are going to be the new mission presidents in the Ohio Cincinnati mission!! That mission is opening up in July and they are taking 2 zones from our mission to put into that mission.. which means I could be reassigned to that mission. Crazy huh?? Yeah..

I am almost out of time. But I love you all!! I am doing good and loving the work here in Indiana. Sorry about all of the typo's and the confusing stories, but it has been wonderful!!

Love,
Sister Emilee Brooke Farr

03/18/13 - Week 6 in Indiana [Week 1 of Transfer 2 in Indy 1st Ward]

Hello!

This week has been great! I received 2 new companions! 

Sister Cordner

 

Sister Tara Cordner is from Gilbert, Arizona and has been out on her mission a little over 6 months. She is so fun! She loves to go tracting and talk to people (which is something I need to work on). I am excited to learn from her example!

Sister Knight

 


Sister Taylor Knight is from Covina, California and is fresh from the MTC! She has a wonderful spirit about her when she testifies of truth. she has already come prepared! 





It has been wonderful so far! We all get along so well and we have lots of fun! We have a rule that when two of us are together, we can't talk about the other companion, which I think is so great! I think that it is important not only here on the mission, but in life generally. No one wants other people talking about them right when they leave! Anyways, it has been lots of fun so far! Also this week I got a new district leader...and guess who it is? Elder Buck! Kodee's best bud that is in the same mission as me. What are the odds?? It is crazy. I can definitely tell that they grew up together, they have similar mannerisms. 

Sister Carter went home on Tuesday. It was hard to say goodbye! I learned so much from her and continue learning from her past example. I am really happy to hear that Mom and Dad were able to go to her home coming! I think that is great!! 

Random thing about Indiana... the majority of places here don't have lights on the ceiling! In our bedroom, there is no light on the ceiling. We have a lamp that we plug into the wall for a light. Isn't that so weird? We never had anything like that in Utah. I thought it was weird at least.

I have a funny story about a sweet old family in our ward. Their names are the Sutterfields and they are so sweet! She is in her late 80's and he is in his early 90's. But anyways, the other week Sister Carter and I had gone over there for dinner. They had fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, bread, salad..all kinds of food. So my first serving I got a huge breast piece with a bunch of potatoes and corn and salad and bread. As I was finishing up, they asked me if I wanted some more bread, I told them that I was okay, because I was pretty full. But they insisted, so I took another piece of bread. Then they asked me if I wanted some more chicken, again I told them that I was pretty full. But they insisted, so I took another piece of chicken. They did that with each piece of food they had on the table. Until by the end I had 3 pieces of bread with butter and jam, 3 helpings of potatoes and gravy, 2 servings of chicken and corn. Sister Carter and I came out of that house practically rolling. I don't think I have been that full in my entire life! I had to pray at each bite that Heavenly Father would help me swallow it. Haha! But it was great. They are secretly kind of my favorite older couple in the ward. They are just my adopted grandparents. I will have to get a picture with them soon and send it so that you can see them! 

This week we have done lots and lots of tracting! One day we did probably around 150 houses. The majority of people closed the door on our face, but others were willing to listen! We tracted into one lady named Jennifer who was so sweet! She let us right in and we gave her a brief discussion about the restoration. She started crying and opened right up to us. We left her with a Book of Mormon and invited her to start reading it. We have an appointment with her this week and I am so excited! I bore her my testimony and she started to cry. I am so grateful for the power of testifying! I know that I have said it before, but it never ceases to amaze me how powerful it truly is! The spirit can testify so strongly when we bear what we know to be true. 

This has been a short week of work.. we didn't get here until Wednesday and we have mostly done a bunch of tracting. But we have 3 new investigators! Wahoo! We have Jennifer, a former investigator named Wanda, and another lady that we tracted into named Diane. The work is starting to move forward! We are seeing miracles take place as we have been doing the Lord's work. I wish I had some more cool stories, but there are just little miracles each and every day! The Lords hand is in every detail of our life. 

I have attached pictures of my new companions! And a cool picture of the railroad tracts.. you can see forever!! It is beautiful here.

 Thank you for all of your love and support! I am grateful for the things that I am learning each and every day. It is really hard work out here and a lot of the time I get discouraged, but Heavenly Father always reaches out and lifts me back up. I am not perfect, no one is, but all He asks is that we do our best. 

I love you all!! 

Sister Emilee Brooke Farr

03/11/13 - Week 5 in Indiana

Well Hello!

All is well here in Indiana! The weather has been a little crazy! They all say here "If you don't like the weather today, stick around, it will change for you by tomorrow!" And let me tell you, it is SO true. We had a giant blizzard this past Tuesday night and then on Thursday it was warm enough that you didn't need a jacket! It is crazy. The snow melts really fast too! We had about 5 or 6 inches from the snow and by Friday it was all completely melted...that is nothing like Utah. But other than that the weather has been pretty nice here. But by the middle of the week it is going downhill again, but then it has an uphill by the end of the week so... who knows? 

Anyways, so this week I had my first transfer! I went down North Vernon. It is at the south end of Indiana. There is a lot more fields and small towns down there. But it was a new experience! On Monday night we swapped and I went with Sister Bennett. We had a few appointments that night. But Tuesday was a cool day! We first did some community service at a place called Community Provisions where people in poverty go to pick up groceries if they can't afford them. We helped organize cans and boxes and also helped them bag all of their food at the end. They were all so sweet and thankful! The manager took a picture of Sister Bennett and I organizing some bags and he said that he posted it onto Facebook.. so you could try to look it up :) 

Sister Bennett and I serving at Community Provisions

But it was lots of fun! I love being in areas like that because the people are always so open. After doing service, we went to a place where a girl named Carolyn lived (she owns an apartment complex called Ivey Place). She is a potential investigator who they have seen a few times, but she has never been interested to have them continue coming to teach her. So we went to her house and knocked on the door, but no one answered. Then we saw someone walking towards us and realized that it was her! She has awesome puffy hair and was wearing a black Indian-like jacket. So we said Hello and asked her if we could talk to her for a little while. She said yes and we went into this apartment where she just had furniture stored all over. We started to talk with her and she began to talk about all of her past hardships. She has been in a lot of bad relationships in her past and has bad trust issues with men. As she talked about the bad things that she has done and the anger she felt because of things that happened, I just couldn't stop thinking of our Savior and how He could help her. She then started talking about how she didn't know her brothers and she didn't keep in touch with her family very much...and the first person that came to my head was my dear Mother. When she said that I explained to her about Mom. I said that she had a very rough childhood and had experienced a lot of similar challenges with her family and such. She then said "well I guess she has it pretty good now then.." But then I explained to her that my Mom wouldn't be where she is today if she didn't know that Heavenly Father loved her and knew her. She would not have been able to clear up those hurt feelings without the healing power of the Atonement in her life. At that point Carolyn started crying. I testified to her that I knew that the gospel that we bring to her can bless her life. I told her that it can heal the past wounds that hurt her still. I testified to her that we had the gospel of Jesus Christ. She then accepted a return appointment. I know that because I was able to share my Mom's experience with her, she was able to understand how it could bless her life. I hope that she pursues the gospel and continues in faith. I also made another man cry..Brother McQueen. I don't have time to write his story, but I am so grateful for the spirit. I may not know all of the doctrine, or know all of the scripture references to pull out, but I know that if I testify of the truthfulness, I can have the spirit testify. 

We also had an interesting experience with a lady named Theresa. We were tracting before an appointment and came across her. When she saw our name badges she thought at first that we were Jehovah Witnesses, and started to correct us of our foolish ways. But then we explained that we were LDS. Then she started to correct us on our religion. She would not let us talk or get a word in. We tried to share a scripture with her, but she would not give us the time. Eventually I stopped her and said, can I bear my testimony to you? She paused and said sure. Then I testified to her with as much boldness as I could muster. I could tell that she felt the spirit, but she immediately pushed it away and tried to think of something else to correct us on. Interestingly enough, this experience did not weaken my testimony at all. I did not doubt what I know, I became stronger in my witness of the truthfulness of this church. It almost makes me excited to get rejected more often! But maybe not...

This week we got 2 new investigators!!! One is Sister Hodge and another is Renae! Sister Hodge just got married to a recent convert and so we are now working with her. Renae is a tracting miracle who we came across. I have been learning patience and diligence waiting for the work to blossom, but I know that as long as I am obedient, it is all in Heavenly Father's hands. He is in control and I have to trust in Him. 

Anyways, I don't have much more time to tell stories, but I am doing great! I have been growing and trying to change into the woman that Heavenly Father knows I can become. I may not be able to see who I can be, but He sure can. I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and all of you. He is deeply involved in all of our lives. He watches over us and takes care of us. I have been relying on Him now more than I ever have. I couldn't do this work without Him. It is really hard, but I know I will start to see the blessings. Thank you for all of your prayers and support! I love you all!

Sister Emilee Farr

Oh! And P.S. I am staying in the Indy 1st ward, so the address will stay the same. But now I will be in a trio! And also! I can now email family AND friends now! The first presidency announced that earlier this week! Crazy stuff :) 

03/04/13 - Week 4 in Indiana

Hello Family and Friends!

I realized that last week I forgot to tell you about a few funny things that have happened last week! Let's get down to business.

So! Funny story about tracting. Sister Carter and I were visiting a few less active members in our ward and around each house, we would tract! So, we were getting into our car after we were done tracting, and Sister Carter and I waved to a man running past our car.

Sister Carter said "we need to talk to that guy! But he is running.." 

Just then the man stopped running in front of our car to catch his breathe. 

Both of us stumbled out of the car as fast as we could nearly face-planting into the ground.

Then he started running again.

So we started chasing him down.

Imagine a man jogging down the street and two girls in skirts and coats chasing after him frantically....That was us.

We finally caught up to him and said "Hey, can we introduce ourselves"

He looked at us kind of funny and said "Is this about religion??..."

We looked at each other and said..."Well yes.. we are missionaries......."

We went on and talked to him for just a minute about what we were doing and such. He wasn't interested at all, but he accepted our pass-along card. It was one of the craziest things I have done so far as a missionary, but I am sure that many other things will happen. It just shows that when Heavenly Father wants us to talk to someone, He might make us do crazy things.

Another thing that happened last week is I demolished my baby toe. We were in our apartment that morning, and I went into the bathroom to throw something away, but on the way out I stubbed my toe on the framing of the door.. and broke off part of my baby toe-nail. I yelped and started hopping around. (The first person I thought of was Tiffany when she stubs her toe and runs around the house saying "ouch, ouch, ouch"). When I finally saw that my toe was bleeding, I layed on my back and yelled for Sister Carter. She came out and we started laughing really hard (as missionaries you get really tired..and everything is funny). Needless to say, I had an imprint of the door frame on my foot and my toenail was hanging off. We bandaged him up and we were good to go! Although, it was a little hard to walk with my boots on. I attached a picture of the little guy after about a week of healing. Now it is just bruised, but feels completely normal. I hope you got a laugh out of that! I sure did :)

Next thing, we had an ice storm!! I attached a picture of our back window with the ice half on and half off. But the whole world was covered in ice! It was the craziest thing. We had to scrape our entire car to get all of the ice off. 

Another random story. Sister Carter and I have been searching around at every wal-mart for a vacuum bag to fit our vacuum for the past few weeks. So this week, on our break, we stopped by a different wal-mart to check. And hooray! We got the LAST ONE! Just then, I Need Thee Every Hour came on the radio. Both of us looked at each other and then looked up with wide eyes. It reminded me of the Best Two Years when they are praying for that man to call and then the phone rings and they all look up and it plays "Hallelujah!" It was the craziest thing! It only played just a few lines of it. So we started rushing past isles thinking that maybe there was someone there who needed us. But it was empty. Isn't that crazy?? We sure thought it was.

Now onto other things that have happened this week.

I am sure that some of you may know, but Elder M. Russell Ballard came to my mission this week! We had a special missionary meeting with him. He took time at the beginning to shake each of our hands. When I made eye contact with him, I could almost feel the earth shake. It is incredible the spirit that follows him around. He is a man of great power and authority. I felt very privileged to be able to meet him! One of the speakers said "Have you ever had an interview with an apostle before?? Well...you just did!!" How cool is that? He told us that just shaking hands with him is pretty much like having an interview with him. He has the spirit of discernment and can know about you within seconds. He spoke to us in stake conference also and I got to shake his hands again. It was incredible how many times I was able to make eye contact with him and feel of his spirit. I know without a shadow of a doubt that he is an apostle of the Lord. He has been called of God to testify of the truthfulness of this gospel. I am grateful I was able to meet him this week. 

Anyways, that was mostly my week. I love you all! The spirit is so strong around us missionaries and I am so grateful for that! I know that my Savior lives. I know that this is His church. People may try to fight against it, but I know that they will always fail. I love to testify of the truth to other people.. you can tell that they feel the spirit. Whether or not they choose to accept it is up to them, but I know that I am doing my part. 

I love you all! And I pray for you all! I hope you enjoy the pictures and stories. 

Have an amazing week!

Love,

Sister Emilee Brooke Farr

02/25/13 - Week 3 in Indiana

Why hello everyone!

This week has been a little...different. I actually have some interesting news to let you all know about. I have something that is called sleep paralysis. Don't worry, it is nothing that will harm me, it is just a condition that can come on when you are stressed. There isn't any medication or cure for it, I just have to relax myself when I begin falling asleep. So! When I start to fall asleep, my body goes right into deep sleep because I am sleep deprived but during the transition between my beginning "day dream" state to the deep sleep, I become kind of paralyzed...It is hard to explain. But I have very vivid dreams. I had one about huge monkeys swinging ladders at me; I had another about this weird pirate lady yelling something at me; I had another about this creepy chucky doll who was following me and stuff. But when I start having those dreams, my body thinks that I stop breathing and so I wake myself up to breathe again. But when I wake up, I can't move my body.. it kind of feels like I am being possessed to be quite honest. I want to share an experience I had with it this week that I found kind of cool. On Monday night, I had this cycle of these dreams over and over again for about an hour. I would start falling asleep, have a scary dream and realize that I wasn't breathing, and wake up, and not be able to move. I prayed and prayed and prayed. I honestly thought that satan was trying to attack my body with spirits or something..I was so scared and I had no clue what to do. After laying there for a while, I could finally move and I got up and put on my missionary badge. But it continued to happen. I commanded the spirits to leave in the name of Christ. and it still kept happening. I didn't know what to do. I ended up going into the bathroom and just turning on the lights and crying. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father what was happening because I just was so scared. But the thing that was the most comforting was when I was laying in my bed not moving, I called upon Heavenly Father and asked him to send me Grandpa Mel because I knew that he could protect me. And after I prayed for that I heard Grandpa's voice say in my head "Emilee.....Emilee It's okay." I knew he was there. I knew that he loved me and I knew that he could protect me. Even to this day if I try to think of his voice, I can't remember it.. but when he spoke to me in my thoughts, I knew it was him. I know that Grandpa is with me a lot on my mission. I can feel him near. I am so grateful for him and all of the strength that he is giving me.

Well, we had Zone Conference on Tuesday and that night I went and talked to Sister Collins and explained these dreams. I had it for about 5 nights in a row and now it is happening again. And she knew what it was! She said that there was another Elder in the mission who had come to her a few months ago about it and so she researched it. Don't worry, I really will be fine. Now that I know what it is, I am able to take deep breaths and fall back asleep pretty quickly. I know that Heavenly Father is protecting me. 

Let's see.... um nothing else too exciting has happened, haha. We had an appointment with Dylan this week, but when we showed up, he wasn't there. We tried to call him again, but we got his girlfriend and she said she would call us back, but she hasn't. I really hope that he will be able to get with us again. But when we went to the house where he is staying there ended up being another less active family there (it is actually their house) and they are actually a "do not contact" family. However, she let us in and we talked for a little bit. She told us that she did not want to talk about the church at all, and she refused to turn off her TV, but we are hoping that maybe if we continue to just pop in and say hello once in a while, the Lord can start to soften her heart again, and the spirit can begin to bring her back into his gospel. 

We found out that over 50% of the ward is less active and probably about 20% are part member families! We have a lot of reactivation to do here! It is a lot different here in Indiana.. I have never seen this many less actives before in my life. It just hurts my heart to see them fall away from the gospel. I just want to bring them all back in, but I know that they all have their agency. 

I had to give a talk in church yesterday! It was kind of scary.. but I also had a cool experience with that. Because of the lack of time as a missionary...I didn't have much time to really prepare a talk. But when I was assigned to speak, I asked Heavenly Father what I needed to speak on. What was the message that this congregation needed to hear? At first I had a talk on faith prepared, but that just didn't feel right. I couldn't get the Book of Mormon out of my head. So on Saturday morning during my personal study, I wrote my talk..all of the words just flowed into my head and I wrote it in probably 20 minutes. The power of inspiration and revelation is truly incredible! So the next day when I spoke, I had only read over my talk 2 times - once when I wrote it, and next the morning of. When the sacrament came around, I prayed to Heavenly Father and said "If I concentrate now and focus on my Savior instead of reading through my talk, will you please help me to remember what I have written?" And it worked! He helped me. I didn't look down at my paper very often, I had the thoughts and words come to my head. I know that as we are obedient and show faith in Heavenly Father, when we are doing the right thing He will always help us. He won't take away our problem, but He will give us the strength to make it through. 

This week we got 8 referrals!!! And in case you don't know..that is really unheard of here! When we told our district leader how many we had last night, he was freaking out.. it was funny :) But yeah, the work is very slow, but.. I have been praying to be more patient. And the Lord knows how to make you more patient and humble ;) He won't hold that back from you! haha. I am really working to develop the attributes of Christ. That of faith, hope, love and charity, patience, humility, knowledge, virtue, and so on. I have a loooong ways to go, and I will never be perfect, but I know that as I rely on my Savior, He will make weak things become strong. 

Tracting... oh tracting. I don't really like tracting. Who would have guessed?? It is okay, but when I get up to a door and start, I just blank out. I have no idea who I am, where I am, or what I am doing. That is a skill that I am going to have to keep working at. I don't know how to carry on a decent conversation period.. let alone carry on a conversation about the gospel. It is a work in progress. We have to do a lot of finding currently because of the fact that we were double transferred in and we also re-opened the area. We had to start from fresh. But I know that there are people here who are being prepared by the Lord to receive us into their home and into their life. We just have to rely on the spirit to direct them to where they are at.

Thank you all for your research and input about the questions I had regarding the bible and such! They really have helped! I have been able to do a little bit of scripture study on the matter too. In Isaiah 29 it talks a lot about the restoration and about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith. In verses 14-17..I think. It talks about a sealed book (Book of Mormon) that will be given to a man who is not learned (Joseph Smith). And it talks about how the Lord says that the people "draw near unto me with their lips...but their hearts are far from me." That is just what Heavenly father told Joseph Smith! And the Lord goes on to say that he will bring about a marvelous work and a wonder. There was also a verse.... somewhere else (my brain is kind of dead) that discussed about how there will be a famine of hearing the word of the Lord before it is restored. I thought that was really cool! I have loved researching these things. It has just confirmed my testimony of this church. I know that it is true!

I hope that all of you are well and happy :) I love you all and I miss you all, but I know that I am meant to be here in Indiana at this time. Even though we have not had much success in teaching investigators, I know that we are planting seeds and if nothing else, I am being more converted to this gospel each and every day.

A scripture that I love that I want to share with you is: Alma 34:41. Look it up :)

I love you all!!

Sister Emilee Brooke Farr

02/18/13 - Week 2 in Indiana

Well Hello Everyone! 

I have been gone for a month!! Crazy...This week has been wonderful!! It has been busy, but great. We have been running to and fro each and every day, but it is good to keep busy. I have learned a lot! I have learned more about how much our Savior loves us and how He can truly help us with anything that we need.

A key thing that I learned this week was about talking with people. I have been stressing about memorizing scriptures and knowing every answer to everyone's questions. But as I was reading in Preach My Gospel I discovered that all I have to do is be able to testify...and I can do that. I just need to testify with the spirit of the Lord and they cannot counter that. 

Indiana is just like Utah in the fact that there is a Church on every corner...except it is a different church on every corner. It is kind of crazy! But some of the churches are beautiful and majestic. A lot of people have arguments with us about the Book of Mormon because of Revelations 22:18-19 about not adding or taking away anything from the book. Also they get caught up in Joseph Smith seeing Angel Moroni because of Galatians 1:8. And they think that it is by grace we are saved...not our works. Does anyone know of good scriptures to use or things to say? I just don't know how to respond to that. I don't want to offend them or get into a bible bash, but I just want to know how I can be able to stand strong. I want to be able understand my own testimony also, so they can't shake it. I hope that makes sense.. haha :) I don't have much time to do researching on those topics, so I am enlisting my spiritual army back home to do some research on those three things! Thanks guys.

Anyways, this week has been full of wonderful experiences. On Wednesday night, Sister Carter and I were coming home from a dinner appointment and we both had a deep impression that we needed to be somewhere.. but we had now idea where. So we went inside of our apartment and got down on our knees and asked Heavenly Father where we should go. I had two names pop into my head "Shimp" and "Anderson" (they are both last names of people in our ward). But I had the strongest impression that we needed to visit the Shimp family. Their son was in a tragic motorcycle accident a couple months ago and almost died. He is now in rehab with a severe brain injury. He cannot talk or walk or really move, but he is making slow progression. He can now move his legs and hold up his head. Anyways, so we decided that we would go over to Manor Care (a rehabilitation place) and see if they were okay. When we got in there, they were just sitting with him and talking casually. So we sat down and started to get to know them a little bit better. But towards the end of our conversation I had a burning love inside of my heart for Sister Shimp. I knew it was from Heavenly Father and he was telling me that I needed to share that with her. So afterwards I pulled her aside and said "this may sound weird, but as a representative of Jesus Christ, I can feel God's love for other people through me. And right now I just have to tell you that Heavenly Father loves you so much. And he is aware of your family. He does hear your prayers and your concerns." tears welled up her eyes and she hugged me and told me thank you. It felt wonderful to help someone else lift up their head and have an answer to their prayer. The Lord works in mysterious ways. 

But what about the last name of Anderson?? Well, the next day we decided that we would stop by their house at about noon. We went there and knocked on the door once.. and no one answered.. then we did a second time and this guy came out. He had huge diamond studs in his ears and half of his hair was shaved off and the other half was longer. My first impression of him was "he will never listen to us, he is going to slam the door in our faces". But he didn't. We started talking to him and introduced ourselves and he didn't leave. He was actually on the phone with his friend and he told his friend that he had to go and then he looked at us as said 'This is cool! I haven't been able to talk with someone about this in a really long time.' His name is Dylan and we ended up talking with him about if God was really there and about his nature for about 20 minutes on his front step. He was actually there at that time just stopping in, his son had been sent to the hospital that night and so he was back to get some things. We were lead to stop in at that time to catch him. If we would have come the night before, we would have missed them. Heavenly Father impressed me strongly with the Shimps the night before so we could help them, but wouldn't let Anderson get out of my head...that way I would visit them the next day. It was a wonderful experience! We have an appointment with him this week and I am so excited! 

I have had many experiences like those two this week that I wish I could share! But I can't type fast enough. But just know that Heavenly Father is taking care of me out here. There are a lot of people who laugh and shut the door or kindly refuse us or try to battle with us, but when that one person stops and takes the time to listen to what we have to say, it makes up for all of the other bad experiences that I have had.

Other than that.. this week has been a typical missionary week. Going to dinner appointments (and there hasn't been any weird food thankfully), tracting, going to appointments, eating food, sleeping, taking naps on lunch break instead of eating..... (just kidding), doing lots of paper work, reading the scriptures every morning.. I don't know.. just simple things. But I have still seen the hand of the Lord in my every day activities. 

One thing that has helped me get through the rough days is a saying that Sister Carter shared with me: "Be grateful for tests in life. If you are not tested, it means you're not worth testing." Keep your head up and be grateful that you are strong enough to make it through. Heavenly Father tests us only to make us stronger. Said by my wonder father: "Winds of adversity that will snuff out a match, only make a torch burn brighter."

Thank you for all of the sweet letters and packages for valentines day! I loved every one of them :) sorry I don't have much time to send you guys things, I really wish I could.. but P-Day is more crazy than my regular days actually! We have lots of miscellaneous things to get taken care of so we are just running back and forth. But know that I think of you all and I send you prayers every day.

I know that the Lord is guiding me and helping me along each day. I am so grateful that I know I can rely on my Savior whenever I am feeling alone or feeling down. When He leads me to a cliff, He will either catch me or teach me how to fly. :) I hope that all of you are reading your scriptures daily, going to church and the temple, and saying your prayers daily. You can never be too careful. It is the little things that really keep us active in the church. Almost 50% of the ward here is inactive or part member -  we have a lot to do. It has made me realize that it is just so easy to lose your way and lose focus if you do not do those things that will keep the spirit in your life. I have seen it happen to so many of the wonderful people here in Indiana. So don't forget the simple and little things, they are the most important. 

Anyways.. here is our mission theme: 

"The standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the truth from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, and caulmey may defame. But the truth of God will go forth boldy, nobly, and independent. Till it has reached every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear. Til the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." 

I know that Heavenly Father's gospel will go forth no matter what the adversary tries to do. We are on the Lords errand and He will protect us as long as we are being obedient. I feel honored and privileged to be able to come and serve the Lord for this part of my life. I know that I am where I need to be and I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. The Lord is watching over me and helping me in anything that I need. I know that He is also watching out for all of you. Even though I may not be there with you, my spirit is there :) 

I love you all!! You are my shining examples,

Sister Emilee Brooke Farr

02/11/13 - First Week in Indiana

Hello!

Well, I am officially in the mission field.. crazy huh? I have been in Indiana for only 6 days and it is so different, but also so similar. Right now the weather is about the same as Utah was, just a little warmer. It also looks just like Utah except they don't have the mountains. Maybe I will notice more of the trees in the spring and fall time, but everything is just dead. It is pretty here and I am really enjoying it!

Well my new companion is Sister Kelcie Carter. She is from Layton, Utah and she goes home in just 3 weeks!!

 We are serving in the Indy 1st ward in Indianapolis. We re-opened the area.. it has been closed for 6 weeks. We were also double transferred (which means that neither of us have been in this area.. so we are both super lost). And it went from being an Elder's mission to a Sister's mission. So needless to say, we have been kind of lost and directionless these past few days. We are making the best of it though. We don't have any investigators yet because the area has been closed. Most of the previous people who they had been teaching were last taught back in October or November. So I am not having the normal "new missionary" experience.  We both kind of feel like new missionaries. But a cool thing is that I am 1 of 2 of the first 19 year old sister missionaries in the state of Indiana!!  Some members were joking with me that I was a legend :) haha Also! I have my new address! it is:

Sister Emilee Farr
8515 Red Oak St Apt G
Indianapolis, Indiana 46227

I hope that helps everyone contact me easier! The apartment is just fine. There isn't anything too special to talk about there.. besides that the last missionaries left their food and things in the cupboards and they were all really old and expired so we had to throw away a bunch of things.. so we are kind of starving, poor, missionaries. But we will go shopping today and get some food. 

Let's see, this past week has been really kind of slow. We went tracting this Thursday, but only 4 people answered their doors because everyone was at work. We didn't find any new investigators, but every door I pretty much had a heart attack. I am not quite used to this whole 'talking to random people' thing. But mostly we have been going to members homes and eating dinner with them and sharing a short message. Last night we went to the Buckles' home and had Navajo Tacos! Yum! But afterwards we shared the message of how Heavenly Father loves His children. It went really well. But as always, I was a bawl baby and started to cry in front of all of them. But it is cool being a missionary and being a representative of Jesus Christ and being able to feel the love that He has for the people you see. I became overwhelmed with love for the people that we were teaching. I wish that everyone could feel that. When I meet random people I am overcome with love and care for them, even when I don't know them. It truly shows me how much Heavenly Father cares about each of us even when we go astray or don't even know that He is there. I am very grateful to be here on a mission. 

My mission president and his wife are AMAZING!! They are so sweet and understanding. They honestly have love radiating from them. They barely even know you and they will come running to help you with anything! I am so sad they they will be leaving in the summer and we will be getting a new president. But they have already left a lasting impression on my life. They are great examples of who I want to be when I get older. I have many examples in my life of great people to look up to.. I am so blessed. I hope that I can become the woman that Heavenly Father sees in me. 

Anyways..this was a cool thing of the week: I got to go to the Louisville, Kentucky Temple on Friday!!! :) You see, Sister Carter taught an investigator named Peggy last year and she was baptized. Well, this past week she went to the temple to get her endowments out and we got to go with! I was just lucky enough to be Sister Carter's companion and get to tag along. The temple was beautiful. The people were so nice, as always. They were all so excited to see us because we were sister missionaries. I just love the sweet spirit that I can feel in the temple. I feel so blessed that Heavenly Father gave me the opportunity to go to the temple on my mission. Most missionaries don't get the opportunity to go to the temple for their entire time in the mission field; but I got to go during my first 4 days! Lucky me :) But it really was cool to meet some other people from Indiana and be able to go to the temple with them. 

Louisville, Kentucky Temple

Let's see.. the Ward Mission leader here is great!  His name is Brother Wheeling and he is so ready to work and help us in any way that we need! The ward in general is just wonderful! We got to meet them yesterday and they were all so excited to see us and greet us. So many people came up to us and said hello and gave us hugs and everything! I actually met a sister in my ward that knows the Hamners! I can't remember her name.. there are so many names running through my head.. but she started talking to me and we figured that out! She is blonde and said that we will love her family the best. :) haha. But the ward is so willing to help. They all volunteered to give us dinner.. we have a dinner with a member EVERY DAY for 2 months!! That is crazy! And some days we even have lunch and dinner scheduled. They are all just so happy and excited to have Sister Missionaries in their ward. :) 

There are also a lot of less active single sisters in the ward. The Elders before us couldn't visit them very often because they are not allowed to go into a home with just a sister unless there is another male with them. But now we can go and visit them all we want! It is great to know that we can help out so many people who have not been to church in a while. I am determined to get the members of this ward back and activated.. for the right reasons (for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ). Not for the missionaries, not the people in the ward, but because it is part of their eternal salvation. 

I think that the work here will go great! I have high hopes for the future and I am very determined to find those people whom the Lord has prepared for me and Sister Carter to find. We will find them! As we are obedient and diligent and patient, we will find those people who are searching for the work. 

Thank you for all of your prayers! I definitely need them. There are a lot of trials and struggles already that I have had... But I am just trying to keep my faith in the Lord and trust in Him. Heavenly Father is definitely teaching me patience out here. I just have to keep my hopes up and my head high and know that everything will turn out okay. 

I love church. I really do. I liked it before and it was nice to go to church to feel the spirit and such, but on my mission, church has taken on a whole new meaning. I have learned a lot about revelation through church attendance. When I go to church, I take a question that I need answered.. about anything at all! And without fail, Heavenly Father always answers it. Whether it be through someone's talk or a testimony or just the spirit speaking to me, He always answers it!! Try it. I am committing all of you who read this to take a question about ANYTHING next week to church. Write it down in a note book, and then curing church, take notes of the speakers and write down the impressions that come to you from the spirit. And I promise that He will answer your questions! But you have to be listening. You have to be paying attention. You may miss it. It can be very subtle and out of the ordinary. Sometimes I don't realize that it is my answer until I am writing it down just as notes and I realize that it was exactly what I needed to hear. But I want all of you to try it out. I promise that He will answer you. 

I can feel my testimony growing and I can feel the spirit around me all of the time. I don't want this feeling to go away. I can already see the changes within me. I am learning more about how to be a better daughter, friend, wife, mother, sister, a disciple of Christ, and a servant of the Lord. I hope that each of you are studying your scriptures each day and praying multiple times a day. Make Him a part of your life and He will gladly help you. I have seen Him in my life and in the life of those I serve with.

I love you all!! Keep pressing forward. 

Love Sister Emilee Farr

02/04/13 - Final Week at the MTC

Hi Everyone!

I am doing well. This past week has been so fast though... I feel like it was just barely my last p-day. We had in-field training this past week for 9 hours straight. That was a bit boring.. but I made it through! I honestly can't remember much of what happened this past week here. It is just the same thing day in and day out. Classes, Lunch, Personal Study Time, Companionship Study time, Zone Teaching, Progressing Investigator teaching, more study time, more study time, additional study time, TRC teaching, more food.. so nothing too crazy to talk about.

But one thing that was really cool is that we had great success with our investigator named Andrea!! When we first started to teach her, she was an atheist  She didn't believe in God and she thought that you just made it up in your head. She was a challenging person to try to teach. But after much teaching and prayers she ended up saying that she would try to see if He was there again. This past week we had an amazing experience with her. We had invited her to read Alma 32 about Faith and it went so well! We came back and she had verses marked up and she got lots of insights from reading it (big surprise for us). Then when we were there I had a prompting to have her pray and ask God if He was NOT there instead of if He was there. We knelt down in a circle with her and she prayed. It was a powerful prayer and experience even though it was simple. After she ended her prayer we just sat in silence pondering and letting the spirit testify to her. After about 30 seconds we asked her what she felt, and she said she felt 'calm and warm and just full of joy'. We asked her where she thought that feeling came from and she said 'probably from God'. Then we asked her what she thought He was trying to tell her and she said 'that He is there'. WHAT?!?! The power of prayer is so amazing! It was a wonderful experience for me and for her. She now knows that God is there. She has a testimony of Joseph Smith and of the Book of Mormon. It is so powerful what the spirit can do. We are not perfect teachers, but the spirit will make up for those things that we forgot to say or if we said it wrong. I know that Heavenly Father is helping me in my teaching and I am so grateful for that! I wouldn't be able to do this if it wasn't for Him and His son Jesus Christ.

I had a great fast Sunday yesterday! I took a challenge from my teachers to bring in questions about things I had and see if they were answered. I want to let you all know that every single question I had was answered, even those that were in my heart and I didn't know I had. It was completely amazing! I never thought of church being a place to find answers to the questions that you have. I hope that all of you will try it out! Find questions that you need answers to and take them to church with you, I can promise you that they will be answered, if you are listening. I was able to bear my testimony during Sacrament meeting and also in our district meeting. Of course I cried, but I always do :) One thing that really touched me during church yesterday was that after sacrament meeting was done, the Branch President came up to me and told me that if he had the authority to call two coordinating sisters, he would have called me and he told me that I would have been an amazing leader. He told me to take that knowledge as I head out to the mission field... I just thought that was so sweet of him to tell me! It made me feel really good. Heavenly Father has reached out in many different ways to let me know that He is proud of me and that He knows that I can do this. 

It was so fun to see Kevin and Mari and the kids yesterday! But it broke my heart that I couldn't go over and really talk to them. Our Branch President told us that if we saw family, we had to wave and walk away.. we aren't allowed to say anything to them really. But I loved seeing their smiling faces!! :)

Emilee walking at MTC - photo courtesy of Mari Farr

 The temple is so amazing! I have loved going each week. I know that it is the House of the Lord. The spirit there is so strong and the peace you feel when you enter the doors is overpowering. It has been a big blessing to be able to attend every week..even if I have to get up at 5:30 am to go. ;) But I hope that you are all taking advantage of the great blessing of the temple. We have so many here and we need to be attending them more often. I won't have one when I go to Indiana and it will be hard for me. So all of you need to go extra for me!! :)

So I leave tomorrow morning at 4 am!! I have to wake up at 2 am.. wish me luck! But I plan on calling you around 6:00 am. I know mom said 6:30, but I think I will need to call earlier because I think my plane boards at around 6:45 am.. I don't want to only talk for a few minutes and have to leave.. I hope that is okay with everyone! I am so excited to talk to all of you.

I miss you all so much. It has been especially hard this week as I have been preparing to leave the MTC and head out to teach real people in Indiana.. but I know Heavenly Father is strengthening me in ways that I didn't expect. He truly does love His children.  Heavenly Father is protecting me and strengthening me so much. I have felt His kind spirit and loving arms wrap around me when I need Him most. I have a very strong testimony of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and His atonement. I know that He loves us and that He is so merciful if we just turn to Him. This church is true! Never doubt that.

Thank you to everyone who sent me packages this week! It helped me a lot! I loved the "greenie" package from the Hamners! It was so cute and had green everything! Then Miss Johnson (aka Jenni Bitter) sent me some amazingly delicious gingersnap cookies (which I have been chowing down on). The package with all of the letters was SO sweet! I am keeping the rules and just reading one every day. That was such a cute idea :) Thank you everyone!!

Also.. sorry if there are any spelling mistakes.. I don't have any time to read back through the email. It is literally a 30 minute heart attack!

I love you all!!

Sister Emilee Farr

01/28/13 - Week 2 at the MTC

Hi Family and Friends!

 

I am sorry that I cannot write each of you an email back, I just don't have enough time! I only have 30 minutes on the computer and it kicks me out. I am doing well, but this last week has been so crazy and kind of hard for me.

I got a really bad cold on Tuesday that was all in my head. I couldn't concentrate very well and I was in a lot of pain, but hey! I made it through the enitre day. But the main adventure of this last week was on Thursday when I spent 7 hours in the Provo Hospital ER.

 

I am sure you are all familiar with the ice rain that fell last week that caused so many accidents and injuries. Well, after Breakfast my companion, Sister Clark, and I were walking back to our residence to get dressed to go to gym. We saw people sliding on the ground, but we didn't know why. The ice was crystal clear and smooth as glass. We walked onto it and realized that it was pure ice...and our shoes stood no comparison. Well at first we thought it was all fun and games. We were laughing and holding onto eachother and just trying to get across the ice to the normal sidewalk. But when we were about 1 foot away from the sidewalk, my companion slipped. We both had coats on, so she just slipped right out of my grasp. Well, I looked down at her once she had fallen expecting her to be laughing and trying to stand back up, but she was laying face down, completely still. I thought that she was dead. I was sliding so much that I couldn't get over to her to help her or see if she was okay. But luckily we were clsoe enough to a walk way that some Elders were able to pick her up from the ground. She opened her eyes, but she was not responding at all. They had to come and help me off of the ice too because I couldn't get off. I started asking her if she was okay and if she knew where she was and just trying to talk to her, but she wasn't answering. After a while she started talking a little bit, but really wasn't there all of the way. Some other sisters went and got a wheel chair for her and then they shuttled Me and Sister Clark off the BYU Health Clinic. When we were there, they took some X-Rays and examined her vitals. We got some bad news from them...they told us that she had cracked her skull. Scared me and her half to death. Then the shuttled us off the ER where we waited for 7 hours in the waiting room so that they could see if there was internal bleeding or anything that they could do. After 7 hours, they finally called us back and they took a CT Scan of her. When we got the results they actually told us that he skull was not cracked but that the way the plates in the skull are fit together made it look that way. Also, there was no internal bleeding. She does have a concussion though and a huge goose egg on her head. It was a long and tiring day. We left the MTC at 8:30 AM and got back at 4:10 PM... wow.

 

Now she has only been able to go to one class a day (which means I can only do that too) and she can't go to gym. It has been kind of hard for me to handle, but I am getting better. I have just been trying to look on the bright side and stay positive. The Lord is blessing me so much! I know that He is watching out for me and that He knows me. I would not be able to do any of this without Him. It is really hard to be away from everything that I know, but I know that I can do it.

 

This past week we taught some of our progressing investigators. We teach Andrea (an Athiest) and Dave (who isn't really religious). We got Andrea to believe in God and she is now praying and reading in the Book of Mormon. Dave is reading in the Book of Mormon and praying. He also has a testimony of Joseph Smith! :) Horray!! I love the adrenaline rush that comes from bringing others the Light of Christ. I love seeing people change their life for the better and being more happy.

 

This gospel is truly amazing. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be out here growing and changing into the Woman that God wants me to be. He has definitely put me through some hard challenges to show me more of my weaknesses, but I know that through him, weak things can become strong!! I hope that all of you are putting your trust in God and relying on his spirit to guide you. This life would have no meaning or purpose without Him and His son Jesus Christ! Never forget to read your scriptures, attend the temple, pray daily, and do everything you can to change your life to be more in line with Him. Learn to trust in the spirit and follow it's promptings, because the spirit will tell you all things that you should do. One scripture that I really love is Mosiah 4:9 - We cannot comprehend all that God can comprehend. We may go through things in life that are very difficult and we don't know why we have to experience them, but believe in God, believe that he is that he created all things. We can't understand why we have to face certain challenges, but I know that as we put our faith in Christ and in Heavenly Father, they will only make us stronger and better.

 

I miss you all more than I can explain, but I know that I am here for the right reasons and that I need to be here. I also love you all!! You are all so supportive and loving in every way!

 

There is just so much to learn and so much to do here! We are always so busy. I am really sorry that I can't respond to all of your emails personally, I hope that this will be good for everyone.

 

Remember to never forget to trust in the Lord. Lots of Love,

 

Sister Emilee Farr :)