10.28.13-Week 38 [Week 2 of Transfer 7] "Primary!"

Hi everyone!i!i!i!i!i!i!i!

I think that is a pretty cool exclaimation point/I thing. Annnnnnnyways.. the reason why Primary is the topic for this week is because the Primary program was yesterday!!! It was my favorite :) And the best of all was that our cute little recent converts, Katelyn and Zackery, sang in it! As they started to sing "Families Can Be Together Forever," Sister Corbridge and I started to cry. Because they really can! Now their family can go to the temple and get sealed..forever. Their parents went to do Baptisms for the Dead this past Friday and they were just beaming on Sunday. They absolutely loved it! Their family can go to the temple as soon as January! Bah!! I am just so excited and happy for them! 

Alllso, Sister Corbrige and I went into the primary yesterday and taught them about missionary work. And they are just so cute! I miss kids so much. We had a funny object lesson with starbursts and they had a lot of fun. It was so adorable. When we walked in they all whispered "Huh!! It's the missionaries!!" "Missionaries!" It was soooo cute! Oh man. I just can't handle it. Little kids are too adorable. 

But, back to the temple. Saranna was able to go for the first time. I was talking to the Young Women's president yesterday and she said that when she walked in and saw the font, she gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She got teary-eyed because of the beauty and the spirit. I guess being a member of the church, I never really realized the beauty of the temple. But with her 'baby' spiritual eyes, it was absolutely amazing to her. I wish I could have been there with her. But it was amazing for her. Her mom said that night she came home and just talked and talked and talked about it. Oh man, it makes me soooo happy!! :D :D

We have 2 people on date for November 16th. First is Shelby and the second is Janette. We are so excited! I think I have really told you all about both of them, but they are very excited! Shelby should be able to come to church, now that they have a pet groomer at the dog kennel she works at. And Janette is going to talk with her parents about getting baptized. We are so excited! Although it felt like we didn't have many people moving forward recently, Heavenly Father is blessing us with miracles beyond belief!! There are so many people who are being prepared to hear and accept the gospel! I just love this work.

This week, we found a couple more part-member families to teach. There are 2 sons of a less-active who is coming back to church that we are going to start teaching this week! And a future daughter-in-law of another less-active we are going to start teaching. Heavenly Father just keeps plopping them into our laps!! It is INCREDIBLE! He is just too amazing. I am soo grateful that He is in charge of this work, because I couldn't do anything without Him!!

I had another cool study this week! We had an investigator bring up a concern about Joseph Smith. He was concerned about how much people talk about him. He feels like we put him above Jesus Christ by how much we mention him. He shared that concern with us, and we could tell that it was something that he hasn't shared with many people. So, we went home and prayed all night. The next morning, I started my personal study with a prayer asking Heavenly Father to lead me to an answer for him. And as I studied, Heavenly Father led me to D&C 135:3. It talks about how important Joseph Smith was and is. He has done more, except Jesus Christ, for the salvation of man than any other person who has lived on this earth. That is why we talk about him so much!! He is super important!! He has done more than any other imperfect-mortal man. [obviously we know that Jesus Christ did a million-times more than Joseph Smith] but it was incredible to have Heavenly Father answer my questions and concerns. And I know that He can do that for you. Any question or concern that you have, go to Him in sincere prayer, and then search. He will lead you by His spirit. 

I just love this gospel! I know that it is true. It is the only church that can make Terrestrial men Celestial. Families can be together forever. God loves us and watches over us. Never doubt His ability and power. He can do all things, but it is conditional upon your faith and your asking. 

I love you all so much!! Here are some silly pictures :) At a Sisters 9 month mark, you take a prego picture..haha. I hope you enjoy!!

Love,

Cute Companions

Sister Farr

Construction

10/21/13-Week 37 [Week 1 of Transfer 7] "Apples"

HI :D

This week has been a really rough week for Sister Corbridge and I. We have been really stressed and just feeling overwhelmed. We have been scared to be outside at night after the car incident. It has been difficult for us. But we are just trying to hold onto the hope that this week will be full of miracles. Because the witness of our faith comes only after the trail of our faith. We will see miracles this week! 

We were really sad to find out our investigator, Sherry, won't be getting baptized. She is not ready to move out from her boyfriend's house. She is staying with him during the week up in Fort Wayne to go to school, and says she doesn't have enough money for gas if she moved in full-time with her mom in Huntington. We really have been wanting to talk to her, but she just stopped everything. We wanted to talk with her personally, (because we found out from a text from her mom) but she has been avoiding us. Hopefully we will be able to make contact with her and help her continue her path and have more faith. Continue to keep her in your prayers!

We do have another investigator, Shelby, who has a baptismal date on November 16th! She has been wanting to get baptized for a while, but has had trouble getting to church. Right when she was about to start coming, the employee who worked on Sundays quit, so she had to take her place. But they just found a new one, so she should be able to come for the next several weeks. We were very excited! She is reading the Book of Mormon and feeling the spirit. She knows it is true! It is really exciting. We love her so much!

There is some exciting news about the Katelyn and Zachery who were baptized 3 weeks ago! Their family can go to the temple and get sealed in 3-4 months! Their parents are going to the temple this weekend to do baptisms and then are going to start taking temple-prep classes. We found out this past week and we are so excited for them! They are still coming to church every week and staying strong. 

Apple Smashing

So fun stuff from this week: On Friday, we went to the Johnson's (Part-Member family) house for a fall cook-out thing for a little bit. And we did some fun stuff! We sat around the fire (so relaxing!!), had chili, shared funny stories, smashed apples, played corn hole...ya know...the fun stuff! But! Have you ever heard of apple smashing?? Well, this is how you do it. You get a bunch of apples and some tennis rackets...and you pretty much play baseball with them! They explode all over with apple chunks. It is so fun! Sister Corbridge and I were having a blast with them. We were laughing quite hard. [pictures are attached]

 I love the Johnson's. We are still teaching Brother Johnson. He calls himself a "dry Mormon" because he is not baptized yet...but he said he most likely won't get baptized!! What??! yes he will. We will get him :) haah. 

We had a miracle on Friday night! We were out and it was dark. We have been really nervous in the dark since Monday morning, but we know we have to be obedient to the rules. So we were driving around trying less-actives and people, but no one was home. And we always just felt eerie. We had about 10 minutes left, and we didn't know where to go. I had the thought to stop by Sister Bair's house. We pulled up, and I just felt peaceful. We said a prayer and headed to the door. When Sister Bair came to the door, we could see that she had some tears in her eyes. But she looked relieved to see us. She opened the door and let us right in. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it. We came into the kitchen and we saw Brother Bair (who has just started investigating himself after a good 20 years) with a Bible and Book of Mormon just crying. We sat down and she said "He sends them when we need help." (referring to Heavenly Father). We weren't sure what had all happened, but he started to talk with us. Elder Day was the last Elder here and they got double transferred out last week. He was having a really hard time having him leave. Elder Day was one of the only missionaries to really touch his heart. He had questions about the Book of Mormon and different things like that. We talked with him and tried to comfort him. We answered some of his questions. It was an amazing experience. We were an answer to their prayers. Sister Bair was having a hard time explaining things, and Heavenly Father sent us to help. I just love being an instrument in Heavenly Father's hands. It is the most rewarding experience! Oh man. I just love this gospel! I love being a missionary! It is full of ups and downs, but I know this is where I am meant to be! 

Keep being obedient and faithful to the Lord. All things will work out! I love you all!! :D And I know that our Savior and Heavenly Father do as well. I will see you soon!! (I made it half way..just 9 more months! crazy.)

Love,

Sister Farr

Sister Corbridge & Sister Farr

Beginning of Fall in Indiana

10/14/13-Week 36 [Week 6 of Transfer 6] "CARS!"

Hi there!

Oh...today. It has been..adventurous! I just have to say that I am lucky to be alive. You see, this morning Sister Corbridge and I were out walking/running (like we are required to) and a car tried to run us over....
We were walking down a main road and crossing down a side road and there was this car coming straight on the main road. We looked at it and it was going straight, and had no blinker on or indication of slowing down. So, we started to cross the street. Right at that moment, the car turned it's wheel and pushed on the gas to speed up and headed right for us. Sister Corbridge screamed and yelled "we're gonna get hit!" and she jumped out of the way. I yelped and ran back towards the sidewalk, and the car chased after me. I ran as fast as I could. I kept waiting for it to hit my back, but it never did. I finally dodged out of the way, and the car went onto the sidewalk and almost hit a light pole. I will just say that I saw my life flash before my eyes. I thought I was going to get smooshed. The car backed up and they drove down the street without saying anything. Then we see it come back down the main street where we were walking, and it honked at us...but we weren't sure if it was the same car, so we just kept walking quickly back to our apartment. Then a few minutes later, we see it come back the other way. Sister Corbridge and I froze. She said, if he turns, we are running! And sure enough, he turns and starts to flip around. So we book it down an alley way. I felt like mission impossible!! We were running down alley ways, across back yards and hiding behind trees and houses.....adrenaline rush!! I have never been so scared in my life. But we kept going and running back to our apartment. We made it safely home. It was so scary. I honestly feel like Heavenly Father lifted me up or pushed back the car. It was the craziest experience of my life. I am grateful to be protected by Him!! 

THEN as Sister Corbridge and I came to email you all, we locked our keys and phone in the family history center in our church building. We propped open the door, and started to walk towards the restroom. We heard the slow creaking noise of the door coming to a close and it was like slow motion "noooooooooooooo.....!!!" and it shut. We were stranded. Our keys and phone were inside. So, we ran..well, walked...around the church building searching for any phone numbers. We finally found a sign-up sheet with the Kewish's number on it and called them from the phones in the church building. We got the Elders' number and pleaded with them to come and open the door.....50 minutes later we finally got back into the room. Hallelujah! Let's just say it has been a crazy day!!! (right as I wrote this the phone rang again in the church building...creepy. I feel like I'm in a horror movie).

Anyways!!! That has been our crazy day so far. This week has been full of miracles and lots of trials. There have been some challenges with Sister Corbridge with things back home, but she has been so strong! We have laughed our way through the week and have tried to keep our heads up, even when we could have easily given up. But Heavenly Father loves us and helped us along the way. We had a really amazing lesson with our new investigator, Joe. He is the husband of an active member and practically a dry mormon. We had a lesson with him the other week when we had dinner with the Weights, and it was an AMAZING lesson. The spirit was so strong! It was unbelievable. Then we had a lesson with him yesterday. We asked him why he specifically wanted us to teach him the lessons (since he had been taught in the past) and he told us that when we were teaching, we answered the questions that he had without him even asking. He said that he really connected with us and felt the spirit very strongly. It was incredible. We had a lesson with him last night on the restoration and during the part of Joseph Smith's first vision, everyone in the room was in tears. It was amazing. The spirit was SO strong. I loved it!!!! He says that he knows Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. Oh man! So wonderful :) :) :D

Then! Sherry will be getting baptized on October 26th! Keep her in your prayers. She was sick yesterday, and couldn't make it to church. But she knows that the church is true. She reads the Book of Mormon when she gets stressed and has noticed that it helps her feel calm. She is already living the Word of Wisdom before we even taught it to her! It is crazy! She is amazing. 

This week we also met Ann. And she has a pet squirrel!! How crazy is that?! We saw her outside standing by her tree and talking to it, we walked up and this squirrel was there. It climbed on her shoulder and crawled up and down her back. It was insane! I had never seen a squirrel that close before. She raised it from when it was just a baby..she even fed it every 3 hours. Anyways, she is amazing, and we plan on teaching her more about the restoration. She is really interested and has a very open heart and mind. 

We had 2 exchanges this week. One in Peru, Indiana and one in Fort Wayne, Indiana. So great! I worked with Sister Crosby and Sister Widdison. They are amazing sisters! I love being able to work with so many sisters and help them to lean more about what they can do and become. :) I learn more from them than they learn from me half of the time. I am definitely being stretched and tried, but I know that I am growing from all of it. I am so grateful for all that I am learning. This church is so true!! Bah! Sometimes I can't handle how true it is. 

Well, I love you all! I am working hard. I want to make my Heavenly Father and Savior proud and show them how much I love them. Thank you for all of your prayers! I have been sleeping better and it has been great. This gospel is true. Even if crazy things happen and I want to give up, I know that there is no better work that I would rather be doing at this time. I love it. You are all amazing!!

Love, 

Sister Farr

UPDATE: Sister Farr and Sister Corbridge were able to speak with their Mission President and file a police report. Because the car had taken it's license plates off, they were only able to give a description. President Porter instructed that they no longer run outside, but instead exercise inside. Sister Farr is doing well, but is understandably shooken up from the incident. Please keep her in your prayers.

10/01/13-Week 35 [Week 5 of Transfer 6] "Exxxxchanges!"

Hello all!!

Katlyn & Zackery's Baptism

It has been a good week! First off, I thank you all for your prayers and support! It helps us sooo much! We had a cute baptism this week :) Katlyn and Zackery Lane were baptized. And they were sooooo happy! It was so sweet and adorable. They were practically jumping out of their seats waiting for all of the talks to be over. Every prayer they told Heavenly Father how excited they were. I just love them! Their baptism went great. They even sang "I am a Child of God" for their musical number with their grandma. It was adorable! I just want to adopt them. Not really...but they are adorable. They are determined to go to the temple in a year to get sealed as a family. That will be a great day for them. 

This week has been full of exchanges! On Tuesday, I was down in Cincinnati, Ohio for a mission leadership council. It was at the mission home and we had lots of training's and discussions. I learned LOTS! I have so much to do. I just have to take it day by day or I get really overwhelmed. But all will be well! I don't know why Heavenly Father wants me as a leader in this mission...but I am just trusting in Him. He knows best. Then on Tuesday-Wednesday I went with Sister Fletcher (the sister assistant pretty much - she is the head STL). We saw lots of miracles! One funny thing that happened, was we were out trying to talk with everyone and we were headed back to our car. Sister Fletcher and I heard some banging from an inside window and it just sounded like a kid whacking a table (we were at an apartment complex). Sister Fletcher said, let's go knock on their door! So as we walked to go inside of the building, we hear "Bon jour!" We saw a little kid standing in a screen window to a balcony and we both look at each other confused and yell back "Bon jour?" Then we hear a lady start talking really quickly in french. We yell back.." We don't speak french!" She stopped talking and said "Oh.." then we yelled back, "Do you speak English ?" we heard a "Yes!" we commented, "where are you?? We can't see you!" Then this lady comes out of the screen door and starts talking in french again. I get out that she wanted to know if we were Jehovah's Witnesses, we explain that we were Mormon and had an interesting conversation with her. Eventually we found out that she is the sister of one of the people Sister Fletcher is teaching. She said she wanted to come to church, and they got a return appointment for the next day. It was pretty hilarious and crazy. Then we had another interesting lesson...we taught a kid while we walked his rottweilers.....let's just say that is an interesting environment to teach someone. There wasn't enough room for all of us to stand next to each other, so we would kind of switch off standing next to him and teaching. I couldn't hear what Sister Fletcher taught him,and she couldn't hear what I taught him. But apparently the spirit helped us because he said he would get baptized if he came to know it was true and they got a return appointment. The Lord works in mysterious ways... :) THEN on Thursday we had an exchange with Sister Colton and her companion Sister Standage. I went up to Fort Wayne/Aboite area with Sister Colton. We had...an interesting day. First of all we gave both of our phones to our companions who went back to Huntington..so we were phone-less. So we had to go to a members house to use their phone and leave them a message of where to meet after the exchange. Then we were talking with everyone that we could see! But we had a frustrating experience with a man we ran into. He was anti..big time. He tried to be sly and hope we didn't notice what he was saying, but we caught on. He was pretty much telling us that he hoped we didn't go to hell and that Jesus would have mercy on us because we seemed like nice girls. He told us that we had a different Jesus and just went off....all with a HUGE smile on his face. But...we weren't dumb and caught on. Anyways, he just kept going and going. He talked about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, the Godhead, the kingdoms of glory, blacks and the priesthood, polygamy, everything really. And it was interesting because everything that he talked about I knew the answer to. I had already searched it out. So finally after we got to talk for a few seconds, I told him that I had all of the answers to his questions, but he wasn't willing to listen so I wouldn't take the time to explain them. I started to bear my testimony...and he literally laughed at me as I did it. It was one of the hardest and most humiliating moments of my life. I have had plenty of anti-mormon people bash on what I believed, but no one had laughed at me yet. Let's just say we didn't stay too long.  It just reminded me of this part of a talk by Jeffery R Holland:

"When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit   upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life."

I just love that talk. I stand with my Savior each and every day. When people reject me, they are really rejecting him. I love standing as a witness of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is no greater place that I would rather be. 

Then we had an amazing experience on Monday night. We had dinner with the 2nd counselor of the Bishopric and they had a part-member family over for dinner. After dinner we shared the Plan of Salvation. It was SUCH a spritual lesson! The spirit was exploding..it was so cool. Then at the end of the lesson, the nonmember husband asked US if we would teach him the lessons.(!!) How cool is that? We were kind of in shock. It was great. Amazing things are happening here.

There were many miracles we saw this week! And they just keep coming. We have another investigator, Sherry, getting baptized on October 26th. So keep her in your prayers! I love all of you!! Continue being disciples of Jesus Christ. I love you all!!

Sister Corbridge & Sister Farr

Love, Sister Farr

09/30/13-Week 34 [Week 4 of Transfer 6] "Numbers!"

Hi :D

You may wonder why the title was Numbers...well you see, Sister Corbridge had a very funny dream last night. She had a dream that it was the second coming and Christ was here. And she was running around to try to find President Porter to tell him about how she didn't think she was ready and worthy for him to come and she needed his help. All he said was, "Well, get me your numbers for the week! Christ is here, I need your numbers!" So, Sister Corbridge was running around trying to find people to teach and report her numbers to the mission president. People were chasing her and shooting her with arrows....and all sorts of stuff. It just goes to show that in the mission they really stress getting your numbers! Sister Corbridge and I had a long discussion about numbers last night and how they stressed us out...and then she had that dream. I don't know if I explained it well enough, but it was a funny dream :) But speaking of numbers! We had 12 Member Present lessons this week. and over 30 lessons this week. It was crazy!! We were running around like crazy people! But we had some amazing miracles.

Sister Farr, Saranna Kewish & Sister Corbridge

FIRST!! Saranna got baptized this past saturday :) It was amazing! Sister Corbridge and I were standing at the side of the font with her towel in hand and watching her go down into the water, we were overcome with the spirit. We started to cry. I just realized how wonderful this is for her. She has waited for this day for a long time. She needed that clean feeling. A feeling of relief. I love that little girl so much! She just seems like my little sister. She is the long lost little sister I never had. Sister Corbridge and I went and bought her a dress for her confirmation and did her hair on Sunday morning for her confirmation. It was such an amazing weekend! I am so grateful that I have been able to be a part of her conversion process. 

And a miracle happened at her baptism too! Our investigator Wayne came! We haven't met with him in over a month, and finally got to meet with him this past Wednesday. We had a good lesson with him about the sabbath day and invited him to come to Saranna's baptism, and we would have a lesson after. I never actually thought in a million years that he would come! But he did!! He came!!! It was amazing! People talked to him and he said he really liked it. Then after the baptism, we gave him a church tour and showed him some pictures and took him into the chapel. The spirit is so strong in the chapel. Sister Corbridge and I had him come up to the front of the chapel for our lesson, but before we started, we sang him "I am a Child of God." Now, we don't have the best voices in the world, but as we sang that song, the spirit flooded into the room. He started to have tears come into his eyes, and it was amazing. Oh my goodness. That lesson was so full of the spirit. I can't even explain it. I love this work!! :D Hopefully he will continue progressing and never forget the feelings he had as we talked with him in the Lord's house.

Garbage Can Smash Down

We have continued to clean in the Kewish's home this week :) I attached a picture of me standing inside of their garbage can trying to smash the bags down. It was great fun! We have been going through lots and lots of boxes. They are supposed to move this week!! It will be...an adventure..;) but we have killed so many crickets...it is ridiculous. Now, every time I hear a cricket, I jump. I think I will forever despise crickets...

Then!! This upcoming week is the baptism of Katelyn (9) and Zachary (8). I am sooooo excited!! Each time they say a prayer they always thank Heavenly Father for us coming and teaching them. They tell Him how wonderful their lessons are, and they always tell Him how excited they are for their baptism. It is the cutest thing. Sister Corbridge and I are always just beaming because it is so cute. I love those little kids. Bah! I just love this work!!

Our investigator, Shelby, knows it is true! We had another lesson with her this week and she really wants to get baptized. She is reading in the Book of Mormon and she says that she knows this church is true! YAY!!! The only struggle she has right now is getting work off. She works at a dog kennel  and their dog groomer quit and people haven't been showing up for the sat/sun shift. So, she ends up getting called in. Please pray for her and her job! She is scheduled to get baptized on Oct 26th, but if she doesn't come to church for the next 3 weeks, she will have to move the date. But we know that through Christ, all things are possible. We just keep praying and doing all that we can to help her. She is so sweet. 

We have been teaching a girl named Janette (13). She is friends with one of the youth in the ward and has come to church a few times and comes to the youth activities. We had a really neat experience with her this past week. She is usually quite rambunctious during our lessons. She is adorable and cracks us up, but it can be hard to help her to focus. But this past week as we taught her the restoration, it was amazing to see her entire demeanor change. We told her the first vision and she just went calm. She stared at us with big eyes and you could see the the spirit was so strong inside of her! She was intently listening and was soaking up every single thing that we said. It was so neat!! The spirit is amazing. The spirit teaches the truth, it comforts, and it testifies. Without the Spirit in this work, we would be doing nothing. No one can come to the truth without the spirit. 

I am just loving my mission! It is a lot of hard work. I am so exhausted every day. We miss our breaks occasionally because we don't have enough time in the day to get things done! But to see the Spirit change people. To see them come unto Christ. To see the gospel fill in the holes in peoples' hearts. It is just incredible. There is no other work I would rather be doing. This church is true. It is the only true church on the earth. I am so grateful to be sharing it with the world!! I hope you were all able to watch the Relief Society broadcast this past Saturday! If you weren't.....GO WATCH IT!!! :D We must do as they say...keep our covenants. 

Thank you for all of your support! I need all of the prayers that I can get! With my new calling, I am very much overwhelmed, but I know that God has called me here for a reason. I love you all!!!

Love, 

Sister Farr

09/23/13-Week 33 [Week 3 of Transfer 6]

Hi! How are you?? :D I am good! 

This week has been a week of miracles! We had 14 member presents and I can't believe it. We have been struggling to get over 6 for the past few months, and then all at once Heavenly Father blessed us so much! We have had so many appointments, and we have been having a really hard time getting members involved. But this past week, Sister Corbridge had the idea to do a mass text to the members of the ward with all of our appointments for the next day and ask which ones they could come to. We had a huge response to that! It was really amazing. Our prayers are being answered. I know that Heavenly Father is in charge. He is blessing us beyond what I ever thought possible. I am so grateful to be a part of his work.

This week we had a miracle baptismal date! We met with a part member family (parents with 2 children) and they want to get baptized. But they need to get baptized in a matter of weeks because they want the grandpa to baptize them, but they move very soon. So, we met with them for the first time and they are so excited to get baptized! We talked with them about when, and we scheduled it for 2 weeks later - October 5th! Needless to say, we are going over almost every day to help them be prepared. They are so cute. In every prayer, the daughter, Kaitlyn, prays that they can get all of their lessons done so that they can get baptized. It is the sweetest thing. It will be amazing!

Then another one of our investigators, Sherry, is doing great! We gave her a baptismal date a few weeks ago, and she said maybe. She is reading the Book of Mormon almost daily, and is starting to get a testimony of it. Then this past lesson on Friday, she said that it went from a maybe, to a probably. Then Sister Corbridge stopped by on Saturday to see her mom (who recently got baptized) and she said that Sherry had a dream the other night that told her to get baptized!! So it went from a maybe to a probably to a yes! Miracles are happening here! 

Then we had another miracle! This past Wednesday we went to Young Womens and answered a bunch of their questions of how to respond to friends. It was a really great experience! We were able to help the youth out and have some spiritual experiences. But in the middle of our question and answer session, a girl (Janette, 13 yrs old) who I didn't recognize raised her hand. She said "What is the Book of Mormon?" A little shocked, I smiled, and answered her question. I wasn't sure how much she knew and if she was friends with someone. Then a little bit later, she raised her hand and asked "What is the Doctrine and Covenants?" Again, I looked at the young women, confused, but answered her question as simply as I could. At the end, we wanted to go up and talk to her, but all of the Young Women flooded us, and she slipped away. So we texted one of the YW leaders, and found out she was not a member. Then, on Sunday, she was there at church!! During Sunday School, Brother Colwell came up to us and explained that she went to school with his son and that she came to church last week, and came to mutual, and then came to chruch again. And she told him that she wanted to learn everything she could about our chruch. Missionary intervention? I think yes. So after church, we pretty much cornered her inside of the Young Womens room and talked with her some more. We offered to teach her more, and she said yes of course! We told her that she could invite her family to come and learn also. It was a complete miracle! It will be amazing!! Ah! I just love this work.

Then this week, Saranna will be baptized!!! Yay!! It will be a wonderful week. I am so so excited. We have been going there every night and having her read a few verses every night. Her reading level is behind, so we promised her that if she read the Book of Mormon every day, Heavenly Father would help her to learn to read faster. It will be wonderful. We have been doing lots and lots of service at their house this week too. They are supposed to move next week..... And it has been lots of fun going through....lots of boxes. They have...lots of stuff in their garage. And there were spiders and crickets all over the place!! Eeek! We jumped lots and lots. But we are proud of Susan for getting rid of some stuff. It is hard for her to do that. So, to make some of the bags fit in the garbage can, I jumped up inside and smashed them! It reminded me of being a kid.

So yes, it has been a great week :D I am so excited for all that is happening here. Huntington is exploding! We currently have 4 baptisms scheduled and hopefully 3 more scheduled this week. Heavenly Father's hand is in our work. I just love this work. :D It is so worth it! I can't believe that I am almost half way. It has flown by so quickly. I will see you all sooner than you know it.

Keep relying on our Savior. He will bless you and help you through every single thing that you are facing in your life. If you pray and follow Him, He will direct you. I am a firm believe that obedience brings blessings. No matter how weird the rule may be, if you follow it, you are promised to be blessed. I have seen that so many times on my mission. I can't even explain it. I love you all! The work of the Lord is moving forward.

I attached some pictures :) One of me and Sister Corbridge smiling away...and one of my hair! It is getting super long! I send all of my love :)

Love,

Sister Emilee Brooke Farr

Sister Corbridge & Sister Farr

09/16/13-Week 32 [Week 3 of Transfer 6]

Hi!!!

I have been out for officially 8 months today. I just can't believe it. It feels like I have been gone forever...but at the same time it feels like I just barely left. It is crazy. I hope that the time is flying for all of you back at home too! I know that I am loving the work I am doing! It is all worth it. The young women came and heart attacked out apartment this week :D It was adorable! It made us feel loved!

Bowers Family Baptism

First things first :D The Bowers were baptized on Saturday!!! YAY!!!!  It was wonderful. Sister Bowers was really nervous and tense before she was baptized. She was overwhelmed and you could tell she had been crying before they came. She was just trying to hold it all together. But after they were given the Holy Ghost (they did it at the same time because Brother Bowers had to work on Sunday), she was just beaming. She put her arms around her kids, she smiled more, she was just so happy. It was amazing. It was a great day for their family! This is what this work is all about. Bringing families together forever. I am so happy for them and the dedication they have put in to get to their baptism. They have taken one of the biggest steps that they ever will in their life. 

Then we found lots of new people to teach this week! We had a really cool experience on Monday  night. We were going to have an appointment with the Bowers family, but they had to cancel, so our back-up plan was to go tracting. I will be honest, I don't really like tracting...but I said "Well, God must have someone on this street that He wants us to find." So, we started knocking doors. First we met Matt. We talked to him about families and how they can be eternal. At first he wasn't too interested, but as we bore testimony, you could see the light come into his eyes. We will be going by this week and meeting his wife too and their kids. We will teach them and then they will get baptized and then they will go to the temple and get sealed!!!! It will be wonderful! Then we knocked on this door, and a kid came to the window and asked us what we wanted. We told him that we were missionaries and he ran to go and get an adult. Then a few minutes later of hearing some talking back and forth in the other room, he came back and said "8:10pm would be a better time." We said "Okay" but weren't sure if we really should come back. So we kept tracting. Then at around 8:10, I just thought, "well, why don't we just try and see if anyone is home." So we went back and actually ended up talking with Cindy and Carrie. They don't live there, but they happened to be there right at that time. They asked us questions about the after life and wanted to know more. So we got their number and will hopefully see them this week! God works in mysterious ways. Then we met a girl named Mandy who actually knows Sister Bowers from High School. We had a good conversation with her and she was very nice and friendly. We gave her a card and encouraged her to look into our website. Later that week when we were at the Bowers home for a lesson, Mandy texted her and told her that we had come over (Sister Bowers and her have been best buds since High School). She said that we were really nice and she thought that she would actually look into the church a little bit. Sister Bowers said that she can give us a call. Then her friend said "maybe I will be a Mormon..." Sister Bowers was really surprised because I guess that Mandy has had some really awful experiences with churches. She never thought she could get Mandy to go back to church. But, she may be interested eventually! We really saw so many miracles from that night! It was incredible. We had an amazing time talking with people and sharing with them God's love. This is His work. And I most definitely can't do it without Him. I learned a lot about how my attitude plays into how successful my work is. The more positive and willing I am, the more God will send miracles my way.

Saranna is still on check for her baptism!! It will be in 2 saturdays! Wahoo! She is ready. Yesterday we went over to review the Plan of Salvation with her because she said that she was a little bit confused. We asked her "what do you remember about the Plan of Salvation" and she literally blew out the ENTIRE plan of salvation. Start to end, without our help. She knew about the war in heaven, about the spirit world, the different degrees of heaven, EVERYTHING. It really blew our mind. It was incredible! She may be a little bit behind socially, but she is brilliant. It really was amazing. We just said "well! I guess we don't need to teach you anything!! What were you confused about again??" It was really cool. I am so excited for her! It will be a wonderful day for her. 

We also will be teaching some children of a less active starting this week :D She wants them to be baptized before the middle of November so that their grandpa can baptize them before they move. It will be so much fun! She has an 8 and 9 year old. I am so excited! I love working with kids!! I am excited to be able to bring a family united again. Then in a year, they can go to the temple and all get sealed together!! Horray!! Forever families. That is what it is all about. 

Sister Corbridge and I are getting along so well! We are just the best of friends. We have only known each other for a week and a half, but I feel like I have known her all of my life! We have just connected so quickly it is amazing. I am so grateful that she is my companion this transfer! I wouldn't be able to do my calling if I didn't have her as my companion. She helps me so much. She makes me laugh and we just have a blast together. We are so much alike. The only bad thing is that we cannot control ourselves in the store....we just buy everything. We are going to gain so much weight. Hopefully the running every morning helps...If you have any healthy-yummy food ideas, please send them our way!! We need some ideas. 

I love this work! It is crazy hard. I am so exhausted all of the time. I haven't been sleeping as well as I would like, but I will make it. Things could always get worse. I am so honored to be able to do this work. I know that this is the Lord's kingdom. It all fits together too perfectly. We know our purpose here. We know where we came from. We know about our divine potential as Sons and Daughters of God. We need not doubt our worth. Our Father in Heaven loves us beyond anything. He loves us more than any of His other bazillion creations. He finds the most joy in watching us follow Him. He is our Father and He loves us. All He wants is for us to follow Him and return to live with Him. He has done everything for us. The least we can do for Him is show him appreciation for this life and follow Him. We have to stop thinking about ourselves and our comfort zone or what we like doing, and start thinking about what He needs us to do. This is His time that we are on. And we must use it well. I hope that you are all doing family prayer and scripture study every single day. There is a POWER in the Book of Mormon. One that I cannot even describe. I have seen it change lives. And it can change yours. Just take the time for Him and He will give everything to you. Do Family Home Evening every week! You will be blessed because of obedience. I love you all! I know this gospel is true. Rely on Him and all will work out.

Love, 

Sister Emilee Brooke Farr

09/09/13-Week 31 [Week 2 of Transfer 6]

Hi :D

This week has been great! My new companion is amazing. Her name is Sister Kaelei Corbridge and she is from West Valley City, Utah. We get along so well! We are already best friends. I am so excited to be able to serve with her. She is so sweet and yet so bold. Sister Colton is training Sister Standage in the Fort Wayne area (only 30 minutes away). She is covering part of our ward and the Columbia City ward. So it will be great!! I am actually over her a sister training leader. So we will talk weekly and go on exchanges. She will do great! And YES, I did see Sister Ashby at transfers :) I ran up to her and gave her a hug! But...I did forget to take a picture...sorry! But she is doing wonderful!

We were personal contacting the other day and we started to talk with this guy who was outside with his dog. We started a casual conversation, and then he had to start to walk away to chase down his dog. I didn't know how to make him come back, so we started to walk down the block some more. But Sister Corbridge said "No! I am not going to leave without talking about the gospel with him." So she yelled, "Hey, can I ask you a quick question?" And he came back over. We found out that he was Jewish, and he really wasn't too interested, but we at least planted a seed. I was so proud of her! She is amazing. I was too awkward to say anything more, but she was determined to share a message about Christ with him. 

Our first lesson together was with Shelby (the part-member family). We had our lesson at the church and a member (Sister Bullock) was there with us. We taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a great lesson!! AND at the end, Shelby pretty much asked us how she could become a member. So basically she asked us if she could get baptized. What?!! [It reminded me of Jackie from the District.] It was so amazing!! Our member started to cry a little bit and I was so overcome with the spirit. We committed her to baptism and she said yes. We are going to give her a baptismal date this week. We are very excited! Now we just have to work to get her husband more on board. 

Then we had a new investigator fall into our laps this week. We have been doing tracting and personal contacting and such trying to find new investigators. We find a lot of potentials, but no one will set up a return appointment with us. But on Friday we went to go and teach the daughter (Sherry) of our recent convert (Sister Townsend). Sherry's boyfriend showed up and sat in with the lesson. He was very interested and intrigued by our doctrine. He had all sorts of questions about the Plan of Salvation and the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. It was very cool. Sister Townsend said that they have been talking about it for the past couple of days still. It is amazing how Heavenly Father just places people into our hands. We have been working as hard as we can and been getting discouraged, but then Heavenly Father blessed us with a new investigator without any real effort on our part to find him. It was very cool. I love Heavenly Father.

So my new calling is going to be a little bit stressful. As a Sister Training Leader I will be going on lots of exchanges and making a lot of phone calls. Every night after nightly planning at 9:30-10:30pm I am pretty much on phone calls. We have conference calls every Monday, Thursday, and Sunday with all of the Zone Leaders, the Assistants, and President and Sister Porter. We announce how our zones are doing and then we announce our numbers over the phone to the whole mission....let's just say it is a little uncomfortable. It makes you feel awful when you don't have very high numbers and everyone else has really high numbers. I just have to tell myself that I have to do my best and it will all be okay. For leaders we are supposed to get 6 new investigators every week (so far our average is 3) and 85% of our lessons should be with a member present. Currently only around 30% are. This is going to be hard to say the least. I am definitely being stretched to my limits. Also, President Porter wants all of the missionaries to read the Book of Mormon by Thanksgiving and highlight every time it talks about the Godhead in red, Miracles in blue, and the story line in yellow. We are supposed to read 9 pages every day.....and we can't do it during our studies. We can only do it during our lunch or dinner breaks, our morning time when getting ready, and after getting ready for bed. But considering that I am always on calls after nightly planning until 10:25pm, I don't think I will have the evening. It is going to be a big sacrifice to find time. But I have felt a lot more peace as I have been doing it. I have been really really stressed the past few days, but as I have started to read the Book of Mormon every spare moment, my stress level is waaaay down! It is incredible how the Book of Mormon does that. I just love that book :) And it is beginning to look like a rainbow! I know it will bless me so much.

ALLLLSO! Sorry about the mix-up with baptisms. The Bowers are actually getting baptized this Saturday :) They had to change weeks because of Brother Bowers' work schedule. But they passed their interviews last saturday and are set to get baptized! We are so excited. They are excited too. But also very nervous, you can tell. I am so excited for this step in their family. They are looking towards the temple and are so excited to be able to get sealed. Bah! I just love this gospel. Forever families are the most important unit in all time. I am so grateful to be a part of this great work. It is simply amazing.

Linda is also doing great! She had us over for dinner at her house this last week. That is something that Sister George (her neighbor) thought would never happen. She thought that Linda would learn for a little bit and then kind of stop. But no! She asked Sister George if it was alright if we came to her house for dinner and a lesson. And it went great! We taught her about the Restoration and she understood it perfectly. She pretty much told us about how corrupt her old church was as she went back through the history. She realized herself that the authority must have been taken. Oh man..It was great. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she was really excited. She got a new head lamp by her bed and didn't have anything to read yet. But she said that now she was going to read the Book of Mormon in bed! :D She really was quite excited. :D :D But some sad news, her husband has lung cancer, and was given 2 months to live. Keep her in your prayers. She cancelled her lesson this week because of those health problems. Hopefully she will be able to pull through. I love her so much.

Kewish news: Saranna should be getting baptized on the 28th of this month! Horray! She has moved it because she didn't quite feel ready. But this time we told her that she needed to be dedicated to it. She agreed and we are going to be dropping sticky notes by every day now. We are very excited for her. Keep them in your prayers too :)

I am loving my mission! It is the hardest thing I have ever done, but it is also becoming the best thing I have ever done. This gospel is true. This is the only true church on the face of the earth with the fullness of the gospel. Our Savior loves us and watches over us. We are all children of God and must never forget that. He loves us. 

I love you all!! Keep growing closer to our Father in Heaven. Pray daily. Read daily. and Thank Him every step of the way. The best is yet to come!!

With all my love, 

Sister Farr