Picture Update

This picture isn't my new companion, haha she's my STL. I went on exchanges with! We were twins that day! And I loooove her!!!

I got THE BEST SURPRISE from the one and only MAY family!!! :) hahah the mail man knocked on our door and said "this is yours" and it was just a ball and my companion said "umm  no its not?" and he said yes and handed it to us! who knew you could mail a ball?!?!? haha I LLOOOVVVEEEDDD IT!!!!!! :) 

Letter #14

Oh my goodness....I was praying this would be a better week...but wow.... Heavenly Father is 110% testing me right now... ugh!

So Tuesday...that was just crazy...hot mess Monday for sure carried over to Tuesday! Nothing went as planned and it was crazy! Wednesday we just did service where we go to St. Felix and help there! It is awesome because they love us and give us stuff and they are just the sweetest people! While we were there we met this lady who was super nice. We were talking to her and she’s like "oh Mormon missionaries, I think I live by some!" so that was cool she was super nice! But then the rest of the day didn’t go as planned, No one was home or wanted to talk to us...it’s hard because I feel like this area is going bad because of me...I know you’re all shaking your heads and say no, but it’s just what I feel like! 

Thursday, well let me back up. I can’t remember everything I put in my last letter and the weeks all mash together so I never know. hah but, I feel like it’s the beginning of my mission, I pray and ask the Lord for help and comfort in my trials...and I feel like I’m not getting answers. And at this point I don’t care what answer it is...I just need an answer... its hard when I feel like God isn’t helping me in my trials but I have to tell people that they can pray to God and he will answer. I was really having a hard time and feeling like I was a bad missionary... and I just felt like I needed to talk to President but then I thought no I don’t want to bug him. OK well now Thursday.. We were on exchanges and found out.. President was coming to do interviews! Wow that was an answer to prayer! I love talking to him because you can just tell he really does love us and sincerely cares about us! I walked in and we sat down and after we had a word of prayer he looked and me and said Sister Markus- you’re being too hard on yourself and need to stop! Haha that is so true.. I know I am hard on myself but it’s hard not to be because I know I should be doing things better... anyways I told president how I really needed to talk to him so I was happy he came. That really was an answer to pray.

Also I don’t think I have ever told you about this because I just forget.  But a few apartment doors down from me there’s a Spanish family. They are all so nice but I don’t speak Spanish and they don’t speak English. Well guess what....

There is a daughter who lives there and she IS SPECIAL NEEDS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ahhhh and I can’t help but think that every time I see her (which is almost every day) it’s a blessing! I’m 100% sure that we were BFFS in the pre earth life and that God knew I needed her! On my bad days I always see her a ton and she always gives me big hugs and Ahhhh it’s so great! Her mom will come and sort of say hi! Well one day I felt like I should tell the Spanish sisters about her, and they talked to her and are now teaching the family! I guess they told the Hermanas how happy they are every time I talk to their daughter and her older sister is always excited when I am so nice to her! But it’s just so easy, I just LOVE special needs kids and I know God put her in my life for my hard days!

But this week has been hard no lies! Within the last two weeks I have lost 6 investigators/potentials. One of them Paul who is older! Ok he is amazing! He just learned to fast and accepted everything we taught and just knew it was true; we were going to put him on a baptism date....but then I found out he’s not in my area...so we had to pass him off to elders and gave those same elders 2 other potentials! Ahhhh then one of my SUPER solid investigators moved and Dennis.....ugh.

Dennis is the first person I taught when I got here to Rio Rancho... he holds a special place in my heart even if sometimes he drives me crazy and I saw him progress sooo much! And now he’s just falling and I feel terrible...and then we had a lesson and a member hurt his feelings and....now Dennis doesn’t want to meet with us...we try talking to him but no answer.....

My heart hurts..... Ugh!!!! so that’s been hard that all the other surrounding areas here are doing amazing and baptizing and find new people and I just feel like we are dropping..... but I know I know.... great things are about to happen... it’s a test... when I do find that one person great will be my joy....but right now... it’s hard! Hahahah

Don’t get me wrong I love my mission...but yes IT’S HARD!!!!

Well I love you all soo much!!!!!!

Sister Markus :)

Letter #13

WOW WOW WOW!!! OK well transfers! So we were sitting at transfers and there was Sister Baker and then a sister from a ward in our stake and then one I  didn't know. So I thought what? Oh my goodness the sister that was in my zone but a different area is going to be my new companion! So I was freaking out a little but then.......Sister Baker got transferred to El Paso and her companion is Sister Bowen! She is the one I met before I left!!!! Crazy huh! Then they told me that my companion was coming up from El Paso! So that was at like 7:00 am and she didn't get here till 6:30 pm! So I just hung out with the STLS all day which was fun! 

Then I met my new companion finally! Her name is Sister Watkins and shes AMAZING!! She's from Idaho and she loves the Beatles!!! She is  a super hard worker and is just AMAZING! It is like we have been friends forever! But....this is her last transfer! So she's dying or aka I'm killing her! That's what they call it! 

Anyways, I was SUPER stressed because I have no idea how to take over an area! I have been stressed at what to do and how to teach the new WML (ward mission leader) who is awesome! He's super excited and wants to change and do things differently which is good. A lot of good is going to happen in Star Heights! 

But, I have been feeling a little like the beginning of my mission! Helpless! Sometimes I feel like I pray for help and comfort and guidance and I get nothing..... that is something I really am trying to learn! I'm trying to learn how God talks to me and how he answers my prayers and how he comforts me in time of need! I just have this feeling that once I figure it out and learn and grow I will find someone who needs help with it and I will know how to help them...which I know is good but I just wish I didn't have to go through such a hard thing, but I guess how else am I supposed to grow on a mission! 

It's weird getting used to someone new. I was with Sister Baker so much (3 MONTHS) so its weird! 

So I don't know if i told you but an STLl are sisters who are  just like your best friends and you go on exchanges with them and you can talk to them if you need help! All that good stuff! Well one day I had a pretty hard day and I was crying.... you know the usual! But we came home and they had put all theses hearts all over the door! it just made my day! I am sooo lucky to have an amazing zone family! 

But I have seen a ton of miracles! The first day we found a TON of potentials and we picked up a new investigator! ahhh I can just feel the blessings coming to Star Heights!!!! 

Oh!  also, we had this CRAZY rain storm! It's been REALLY rainy and we have had a lot of  thunder and lightning! Like it is insane!!! 

Anyways, I Love you all!

Thanks for EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With love from me to you!!!

Sister Markus 

Picture Update!

Letter #12

So this week was actually a really good one! we were able to meet with a lot of less active families and i really just love them all so much! :) The Horner family, the wife is less active and the husband goes to church. But she doesn't really let people come over but we have gone over there once a week for the last 4 weeks and the last time we did service for them! It was great! They weren't going to let us, but when Sister Horner was in a different room, Brother Horner (who uses a cane and is just a slow walker) was sitting at the table with us. Sister Baker and i looked at each other and we ran out to the back yard and started pulling weeds! haha It was so great! It started to rain a little so that made it even more fun!  The next day we were walking and it was CRAZY hot! People have told us in July and August that there are random crazy rain storms! There will be dark clouds and crazy loud thunder and lightning, but no rain! So were were walking and we kept saying that maybe people were just lying to us because we are new! Then BOOM! There was a down pour and thunder and lightning one right after another and it was scarey, but I LOVE IT! There were seriously like rivers in the road! haha  It was amazing!!!

We have been doing a ton of service for people this week which is good, but they have us pull weeds which is fine, but again its a million degrees outside! hahaha! But I LOVE doing service stuff, its fun! 

So Saturday, it was the CRAZIEST day of the week!  We woke up and were able to do service for a less active member who I had never met. She used to be a do not contact but then the Hermanas tracted into her and that's how we were able to go over and do service, hopefully we will go back! 

Then our ward had a bbq! That was weird because it felt like home in a good way, just how our ward has our morning thing. It was fun to have one here! Then Dennis came and he's an investigator who we have been having sort of a hard time with, but hopefully it will start getting better! Then we had dinner at a less actives home which was good! Then we went contacting!

We were able to talk with a lot of people which was good! Then we went to a members house and we were able to watch some fireworks for a little bit! Then our District leader called us for transfer news and oh wait i forgot, so on friday,'

Friday Brother Lockard called us to come over (our ward mission leader, WML) and so we went over and he told us... HES GETTING RELEASED! ahhh That was crazy because he's been so awesome and so helpful and just like a home away from home! I just love him and I know that the Lord will bless him and his family for everything they have done for the missionaries!

Then a lady in the ward gave us food for dinner on Sunday because she was going out of town  and it was enough for 3 meals! hahah  She gave us ice cream and it was a ton of food! People feed us too goood here!

Ok so transfer news....so our district leader calls us and I was so nervous!  I knew one of us was going to leave! I could just feel it! So we got a new sister last transfer, she's been out for 6 weeks and she is going to be training! Crazy right! Wow I could not have done that! hahaha but then......

SISTER BAKER IS BEING TRANSFERRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It seems sooooooo weird! Now I have to tell and teach my new companion all about Star Heights (my ward) and the new WML who just moved here a month ago about the area and people! But when I heard she was leaving I just felt this confirmation that this is a chance for me to really grow. If I would have been transferred I wouldn't be able to grow like i will be able to now and the Lord knows I can do it! I am excited but.... i know that i have had my hard times with Sister Baker, but I love her so much! She is like family! She has taught me so much and I just love her! It is going to be hard to see her leave...

but this means i will go to transfer meeting on Tuesday, and get my new companion, but I will get to see  Elder Yates and hear him say goodbye before he leaves for home! So that will be  fun!!! I'm exited for that! !!! its been a good week and its going to be crazy for this next week! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

With Love from me to you,

Sister Markus :)

Letter #11

Wow...this week was sorta a bummer one! But we will start off with good stuff! haha so there is Mia, if you remember we knocked on her door, and she invited us back for dinner, well the past couple of times we have gone there we don't really teach anything, just answer her bible questions which is great! But in district and zone meetings they want us to be lovingly bold and teach more simply! So we got to teach Mia the restoration, my favorite lesson, and we sit down and we have the lesson, and we were bold and told her that this is our purpose, to teach people that Gods power is now back on the earth and that we can use it! We are here to bring that joy and light to people and to you!

I shared my testimony on Joseph Smith and wow, the spirit was great! It's like you could just pick up hand fulls of the Holy Ghost haha! I LOVED it! Well, then we told her about transfers which are next Tuesday ( I find out Saturday night if I stay or go) and so we say a closing prayer and we are about to stand up, then Mia says,  can I hurry and say a prayer?  You don't say no when an investigator asks to pray!  So she did!  Mom, Dad, Family and Friends, wow! That night I gained a testimony of what pray with real intent and a sincere heart means! She prayed and asked to know if what we taught was true, and that if it is what the lord wants her to do to make it obvious to her! Then she said, "Lord if it be at all possible please let Kaylee and April (yes she knows our first names haha) stay here. But lord, if it be thy will please let me like and connect with the other missionaries."  After she said that I started praying that I could stay! It is possible that I could get transferred! But i just CAN'T!

We then the next day visited this less active family! I have only had 2 lessons with them, but WOW!!!  Being a missionary is great because like I said last week, I can just feel God's love for these people and I love them like they are my own family!! And ahhh, they are so great and they want to make the changes they need to to come back to church and to go to the temple! They have two little girls and just a week ago they had a little baby boy! We talked about how they can be together forever !!! ahhhhhhhhhhh I LOVE THIS FAMILY!!!!

Then Friday we met with this cute old couple and the husband is active but not the wife! Well no one can ever get into their house but we have gone once a week for 4 weeks !!! Harry (the husband) was telling us how he had been through hard times and how the missionaries saved him and how he met his wife, and he just looked at us, and started tearing up and said, I am a living testimony that the Lord NEVER gives up on us!! I cried of course because I'm a Markus! But it was great and you guessed it! I LOVE THIS FAMILY!!!  I prayed before we left and I was crying and they were crying! I just thanked Heavenly Father for this great family and how they have really helped us and how much we love them! Then the wife who is less active walked us out to the car and started to cry and said how much she loves us!

So many people have told us this week how much they love us and how much we have helped them! It has really helped me because this week I feel like I haven't done a thing to help anyone! But wow now writing this letter and looking back on the good stuff  like wow! The Lord has blessed me! I love you all so much and I am truly forever thankful for this gospel! I have no idea where I'd be with out it, and I don't know how I could go through life with out knowing that Heavenly Father loves me more than I can comprehend and Jesus Christ knows 100% how I feel because he's been through everything I have and ever will go through! 

Count your many blessings!!!!

Sister Markus 

p.s HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!

Letter #10

Hey family! So this week was alright, I got home sick again! What is that? Annoying I'll tell ya! But boy do I just LOVE the priesthood! Dad I can't say thank you enough for showing how important having the priesthood in the home is! I had my district leader give me a blessing and he said everything I needed to hear! It was great! I'm so grateful for my zone family! I never want to leave them or this area!!! This week we have been trying to contact for 2 hours a day.

So first off its been in the 100s here! And since there are no side walks you walk on the road and so its like a flippen oven!! You can just feel the heat coming off the road and you can feel it through your shoes! But everyone is so nice and member or not people ALWAYS offer us water and say how impressed they are! So that's a good way to start talking to people! 

We went contacting and we found this guy named Ruben, his girlfriend died about 8 months ago and has been having a hard time with it! Cue-- Plan Of Salvation Lesson! But he's so awesome totally accepting and it's just great! He was telling us when we first knocked on his door, normally he wouldn't answer it, but he just did and when he got talking with us he said that there was just something about us that he liked and he wanted to invite us in right then! He always tells us he loves how he feels when he is around us!

It's so fun just because wow, I'll never have these experiences again. The reason they feel that way is because I am lucky enough to be a representative of Jesus Christ! Wow, I'm so lucky! We have been able to go do service at a place called St. Felix food pantry. It's like a bishop store house so its been fun to go there! One lady asked if we were nuns! haha But I was able to talk to her more and invited her to church, but she didn't come. But I think she would go to a different church house than the one in my area. 

But like I said it has been like 101 degrees and..... OUR A/C BROKE!!! ): Oh man its always hot and I can't sleep at night. Ever since the MTC I haven't been able to sleep all through the night, and the fact that it is way hot doesn't help. So we have been sleeping in our front room because there are windows and a fan! 

But everyday I for SURE, see the Lords hand in my life!  That is something you each should do at the end of each day look and see how the Lord has blessed you! You will see a greater love that the Lord has for you than you ever knew! 

I LOVE YOU SWEET FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!

With love from me to you,

Sister Markus :)

Letter #9

Are you ready to hear about this week? Are you sitting down because its crazy! So on wed. it was exchanges! Our new STL's (Sister training leaders) are the Hermanas! So I went with Sister Nelson to go to her area! So all the lessons we had...or she had were in SPANISH! The night before she wrote down something in Spanish I could say so I practiced them. I thought I was doing so good! Then we went to our first lesson....I know with 1000% surety why the Lord sent me on an English speaking mission! HOLY wow....yup I had no clue what they were saying! But the coolest part was, I knew she was teaching the Plan Of Salvation, and wow...its like you could take hand fulls of the Spirit in the room! WOW it was soooo strong! And whats even more crazy is I had no idea who the families were and how to even talk to them, but I could totally feel part of Gods love for them! That's one of my favorite things as a missionary, God let's you feel part of his love for his children! I learned so much on exchanges. Sometimes I think that at all times the Lord is supposed to tell me what to say, but Hermana Nelson said, you know sometimes the Lord doesn't tell you because he knows that the people aren't ready or willing to listen and there isn't anything you could say that could change their mind, or God wants you to grow so he lets you do it! That really helped! 

Thursday was Zone conference! That was fun! We had a couple different zones all together and President Miller was there and we just learned a bunch of things! We had a guy from Salt Lake come down, he put these new things in our cars to make sure we are driving safe, but the guy is a convert to the church right? OK, well President asked if  a missionary could bring a recent convert and an investigator to him that he could ask questions to. So these sisters in my zone brought their investigator! PRESIDENT MILLER ASKED HIM QUESTIONS IN FRONT OF EVERYONE! Wow that would be scary, but he just asked like how he met them, and stuff, anyways he kept saying that he was trying to be a hard case, that he's reading the Book of Mormon and praying but not sure about Joseph Smith. Well you could tell his heart was hard and he was trying to be funny and not really listening, but soon missionaries asked him questions. Wow I don't think I have felt the spirit SO strong before, man people were testifying left and right, then one of the sisters teaching him asked why he kept meeting with them and then he said "well let me ask you this, why do you keep coming over and teaching me?"  and man, that sister just gave her testimony and said along the lines OH SO BOLDLY " Because I KNOW that this is true, and I know that it can help you  in your life and so does God! And if you're going to be a hard case--fine, if its going to take you awhile to understand it FINE! But I'm not giving up on you!"   ....... WOW... wow...wowow its was great!!!!! Aahhh then that one guy from Salt Lake shared his testimony! It was amazing!!!!

Friday was good, I can't remember if I told you, but we learned this new way of teaching with the pamphlets! They want us to teach it in 7 min. simply and then answer questions! It's super powerful! Anyways, we were knocking on doors and no one was answering, then we get to this house and the lady comes to the door and says, Oh hold on! So right now this is either good...or bad! She comes back and invites us in and she asks if we want a drink and says "I know who you are..well I don't know who you are, but I know who you are!" haha then we sat down, she told us she used to be catholic, but now she is just christian. She believes that God, Christ and the Holy Ghost are three separate beings and she believes a lot of the same as us! So we taught her the Restoration like we learned and the only thing she had a question about was baptism! WHAT?!?! We are hoping to see here again soon! But that was soooo amazing, since we have had such bad luck with knocking on doors! I'm serious, it's like God is saying, see I told you, you just had to work a little harder and now look! ahhh what a great Heavenly Father we have!!!!:) 

Then we went contacting again and we found this one lady who told us she believes.....that there were other beings from a different planet who came to earth and put their DNA in monkeys and then that is how we got here. But of course we were awkward and didn't know what to do so someone from this other planet had to come down and help us out and that was Christ. Then she began to tell us about a military base here in NM where in the middle of the base is this alien base! Their planet is dying and they need to find a new one, but not earth. they are called tall white ones, they live for 700 years and wear wrist bands that help them communicate.... Welcome to New Mexico! hahahah oh boy... alright! 

But we did get two new investigators this week and I have sooo seen the Lord bless me a TON this week! So that is good! I miss and love you all oh so very much!!!!!!!

With love, from me to you,

Sister Markus