Wow! What a week!!

Family and Friends!!!

     Wow! What a week!! I LOVE conference week, I'm always sad when it is over. But! Here soon we will get the ensign and then I will get to study and re-read the talks until October when conference is here again:) Let's see... where do I even start with this week... I don't even know. I'll start, I guess, with Anthony's lesson. Anthony is an investigator that we have been teaching. He is going to basic here soon, so this was our last lesson with him :( Anyways, it was a ROUGH lesson. One thing Sister Horrocks and I have learned about the Springs is that they are brutally honest sometimes. So we were really bummed after the lesson, and were just frustrated with so much! But, as Sister Horrocks keeps telling me, whenever we have a really bad week it just means that Satan is trying to stop us from achieving something really good. So what was that really good thing? Well we have 2 new investigators!! Both are super solid! Jake is the first one. He doesn't have ANY religious background, but he is really excited to learn about the gospel. In fact, we had to do a transition lesson because the elders started teaching him, but he is in our ward. The elders had taught him half of the first lesson and we had planned to teach him the second half. When Jake got to the lesson, however, he informed us that some OTHER family ward elders had tracted into him and had given him and his roommate the full first lesson. So, we figure the Lord really wants him to learn about this gospel. He watched conference with us on Saturday morning (he even took notes) and we are seeing him later this week. We are super excited!

The other investigator was a member referral and we were super nervous, because we were informed that she had already read the Book of Mormon cover to cover, all of Doctrine and Covenants,  has started the Pearl of Great Price, and is halfway through Jesus the Christ. She has also apparently watched every available Elder Holland talk. So, we were nervous that if she had done all this and hasn't desired to be baptized yet, then we were in for some serious anti questions. This, lucky, was not the case. She read all of this in three weeks! Not only that, but she is a cadet at the academy, so I don't know when she had time to read everything, but she did!! Anyways, the lesson with her went REALLY well! In fact, she has a baptismal date! I'm so grateful for the privilege the Lord had given me to be the missionary that teaches he. I feel like I did nothing. Actually, I didn't. The Lord has been preparing her for this gospel for a long time. She also came and watched both sessions of the Sunday session of conference with us. :)

    Anyways! I've been reading in Alma lately and I LOVE the scripture in Alma 13:28: "But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering." This is one of my favorite scriptures because of the promise that we will not be tempted above that which we are able. However, I didn't notice until recently the condition that God gives us. We, in order to be strong enough to resist all temptations that come to us, must humble ourselves before God and pray to him continually. I can testify to everyone that power of prayer! I know that even just a quick prayer said in the mind holds great power and can help us to resist and overcome all temptations. But not only that, it can help to lighten our burdens and make us more able to carry through and persevere through the storms of life. I love you all and I hope you are doing well!!

Love,

Happy Easter!

Family and Friends!!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!! The family I am staying with has an 18 year old daughter. So yesterday morning Sister Horrocks, Allison(their daughter) and I got to participate in an Easter egg hunt that the Whites had prepared for us. It was pretty intense and I lost.... by like 20... But that's okay cause what I did get I was able to keep. They hid little chocolate eggs. They also put out an Easter basket for us it was so sweet! We are so blessed to live with the Whites, they defiantly take care of us! This week has been an AMAZING week! I can defiantly see the Lords hand in my life and in what Sister Horrocks and I do. Tuesday we had an appointment that didn't show up, so as back up we did a stop by. We went to a girls house that we didn't recognize from her picture in the ward roster. Well when she answered the door we did recognize her. She is not less active like we had thought. But! As we got talking we found out that she had decided to go on a mission, but some things in her life (a boy) had come up and she wasn't sure anymore. So on Sunday she had gotten a blessing from the bishop and he told her that she would know her answer when she received it' and then we randomly showed up to her house. Her mother quizzed us to see if maybe the bishop had sent us but we had by complete accident scheduled her in as a back-up appointment thinking that she was a less active member. Anyways, her mom came up to us at the Easter Cantata (a huge music performance the stakes around here do annually) and told us that she had decided to go on a mission and that she was so much happier about her decision than she was before.

Then on Wednesday we had specialized training where we got to talk about the Atonement and watch the new bible videos! So GOOD! http://www.mormonchannel.org/bible-videos here is a link to them I strongly recommend watching them! They portrayed the Atonement in a way I had never seen it!! We also got to teach our investigator Anthony, who told us he wasn't going to get baptized before he left for basic training but that he still wants to know and find out if this is the true church. Which is awesome because he has been meeting with the missionaries for a while but he told us that in the last month or so he has gained the desire to truly seek out the truth rather than take the lessons out of pure curiosity. Sorry this letter is long! So many good things happened this week though!! So, since it was spring break and we work in a YSA ward, EVERYONE was out of town! But, that is okay! Why you ask? Because we got to go tracting!! Okay admittedly it is hard, but Saturday we went tracting with a member. For the first forever it was super hard. people didn't open their doors and when they did they were extremely rude. So Sister Horrocks and I were panicking because we wanted out member to have a good experience. Well, we knocked on a door and they guy went off about how 'Mormons are a cult and the book of Mormon is blasphemy' So we were really bummed and downhearted and out of time. So we began to head back to the car but Sister Horrocks was all 'no! We can't leave like this we need to do one more door' so that one more door turned into four more doors because no one would answer. Finally, we stood in front of the last door on the hallway, but Valarie (our member) pointed out that when we were walking up we had seen a girl leave this door. To that Sister Horrocks responded "then we will convert her husband" and knocked anyway. Well lo' and behold her husband actually answered the door and was super interested! We have a return appointment for Saturday so keep us in your prayers!! Anyways, This letter is super long so I will let you all go!!

Much love!!

Sister Bice

Family and Friends!!

Family and Friends!!

     Wow! what a week! We have been crazy busy trying to get everything done.... Oh but before all of that, I shoveled snow for the first time on Saturday!! It was pretty exciting and the White's were shocked. Apparently people here know where St. George is but they don't know that it is a desert that doesn't ever see enough snow to need to shovel it... It has been cold and very snowy the past few days but I think I will survive... It would be a lot easier to survive though if there was less wind! Ah! I tell you what Colorado is always windy! But this week has been great! Mostly we have been doing ATM's (assisting the members) where we help them with mission plans for themselves and finding people in their lives that they can help. One thing I have noticed this week is that I apparently need to pray more... out of the 20 lessons we taught I can count on one hand the times I wasn't the one called on to pray. At first I thought it was because Sister Horrocks was asking who they wanted to pray so I decided I needed to start asking but that has made no difference. In fact the times she has been the one called on to pray have been in the lessons that we have taught with that person before so they felt awkward calling me to pray two lessons in a row. I even got called on to pray in Relief Society yesterday! So I have said a LOT of prayers this week!! But that alright, more blessings!! On Wednesday we went up to UCCS the college up here and stood at their free speech corner (which was outside and freezing!!) and I got to practice ITL's which means inviting to learn... its a fancy way of saying street contacting. I'm really good at saying 'hi' to people but I didn't talk anymore than that. I'm working on it though! Its my goal for this week:) Especially, since it is spring break for the schools down here so our best bet in finding people to teach will be tracting. We also have an appointment with a girl that Sister Horrocks contacted at UCCS, her name is Kacie and she seems super awesome! So we are praying that she is open to the gospel. Also Wednesday night we were asked to go to a Cadet social and well socialize with the cadets. It was fun we got to know a lot of new people from all 3 YSA wards in Colorado Springs. In fact, a couple of the cadets served in Tokyo Japan with my Japanese tutor from Snow College! Crazy right? We also got to meet with our investigator Anthony, he is stubborn. He doesn't want to pray to know if the gospel is true he kept saying that if it was true it would be manifest to him by the spirit therefore prayer was unnecessary. So, we had decided to go in and just read a chapter from the Book of Mormon with him, we were going to read on faith. But! Sister Horrocks decided that we should read from where he was at in his reading. It just so happened that he was in 1 Nephi 15. Well, it just so happens that in 1 Nephi 15:11 it says "Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said? --If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things will be made known unto you." It was awesome!! Unfortunately, he leaves for basic training in a little over 2 weeks. So even if he did accept our invitation of baptism he wouldn't be able to be baptized until much later... You have to go to church for 3 Sundays in order to be ready for baptism and he has only been once. He missed yesterdays service... But keep him in your prayers. I think he knows this is what is right he just doesn't want to act on it yet.. Anyways, sorry this letter is so long! I will let you go. But before I do I just want to share a scripture in 2 Nephi 26:28 and it is talking about Christ "Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged one like unto the other, and none are forbidden." we all have been given the same privilege and invitation and that is to come unto Christ. So I challenge you all to keep a gratitude journal, to look for 3 things each day that Christ has given you in your life and then pray to thank him for those blessings:) I love you all!!

Love,

Sister Krista Bice

Family and Friends!!

Wow! I feel like it has been forever since I have got to email everyone! I don't even know where to start! I have been so crazy busy this week! Me and my Trainer Sister Horrocks were flushed into an area, which means she knows about as much about the area as I do... Better yet we have no GPS in our car so we have this big and really beat up map that we are using... Its been a learning experience to say the least. Wow! I guess before all that I will be serving in the Mount Herman YSA ward... crazy right? I never would have imagined my first area to be YSA. But it is good fun! We actually have a bunch of people from the United States Air force Academy that are in our ward and since we don't have enough miles to meet everyone at their houses we do most of our appointments at the church or over at the USAA. Not only that, since cadets can't get married while they are attending the academy we have lots of engaged couples that have been engaged for like 2 years and are waiting until one or the other graduates. It make for some interesting ward dynamics that is for sure! So we have been super busy! On Wednesday I got my companion and we went to assemble my bike which must have been very disconcerting for our elders because they ended up assembling it mostly... then we went to district lunch and home to drop off my luggage... and then I went to my first dinner and .... wait for it... my first Investigator lesson. The sisters that were here before us must not have wanted to let us be bored because we have been slammed with appointments with less actives and ATM's (Assisting the members). But it has been a blast! Sister Horrocks is so much fun!  We have a good time. Sometimes I think we must be in different lessons because she is always turning to me after a lesson and telling me how intense it was and I just didn't notice.

      I also had my first tracting experience, which Sister Horrocks was determined I should get. In YSA they strongly encourage us not to tract because it is so hard to find YSA eligible people that way, but we went for like 10 minutes. We talked to one lady and got another lady to open her door long enough to shut it once more, but such is life. We are staying in a member home and it has been fun. Friday the White's (the members we are staying with) had a Beetles and Broadway party, we did not get to join but we did hear the karaoke :) Wow! I don't even know what else to say besides I'm LOVING it here... Though it has been really cold and windy... Luckily we live in one of the more mountainous areas, but there are some places where it is flat as a pancake! Anyways, so the thought I would like to share with you all is in D&C 122: 7 "and if thou shoulds be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murdered, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." Now don't get this wrong. The mission is great! But there were some things that I went through before coming out that were really hard... But every person I have taught here so far is going through, to some degree, what I went through. And it is because I went through them,  that I can help the people here in Mount Herman now:) Anyways! I'm running out of time! I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Bice

My First Week!

Dear family and friends,

So this week has been crazy. For like the first week we had no idea what we were doing... literally they got our scheduled mixed up and we would show up to zone teaching only the teacher never would... It was crazy, in fact, I don't think that we got the correct scheduled until Saturday. But! We managed!!! ... So what to tell you, my companion Sister Steele is awesome! I accidentally got her sick though... I feel so bad about that but she is taking it all in stride. So funny story, we got here the first day and we're super busy with no time to unpack. Finally with like 10 minutes till lights out, we got the chance, so I quickly made my bed and wrote in my journal. Well much to my dismay I crawled into bed only to discover that my sheets were super loud. I think Sister Steele put it best when she said it was like I was sleeping in tinfoil. Every time I moved they made this really loud noise and I was trying hard not to move but to no avail... First thing the next morning I switched sheets, so it is all good now! What to say. . .  the MTC has been amazing! But super busy. I leave on Monday for Colorado and I have mixed feelings about it. But when we got here the MTC presidents wife said /the minutes are long but the hours short, the hours are long but the days short, the days are long but the months short and the months are long but the years short/ This definably applies ... I feel like I have been here forever but I still cant believe that it is already been a week! We taught our first TRC yesterday and it went kind of well ... She brought up polygamy, but wasn't really happy with either of our answers. But we got a follow up visit, so that good right? So its been fun. We have four sisters and the rest of our district is elders, but we are all going to Colorado Springs which everyone I meet tells me is lucky. They are all so great and we are having a good time getting to know each other. Ive enjoyed getting to know them.  Sister Steele and I both have no sense of direction, so we keep getting each other lost. So whenever possible, we follow our district places. But, the other sisters are so amazing, Sister Hutchings has to go home for a bit because she needs to get a small surgery, but she has taken it is stride. I am so inspired by these girls. They are so spiritual and nice to everyone. Oh! and my companion talks at Tasha speed. It was nice that I could understand her from the beginning, but I haven't been able to help her with her goal of slowing down because I'm so used to Tasha speaking so fast! So I'm almost out of time, so here is a quick thought! One of my teachers Brother Terry keeps telling us "the MTC is our opportunity to become Gods investigator." I love that! I definably feel that this whole week the lord has been teaching me. I have felt the Spirit so much and I feel like I have grown so much more than when I entered. Everything I do, I have to do relying on the Lord. Sorry this letter is so short Ill try to write more next time I have a Pday, but I don't know yet when that will be! Love you all so much!!

Love,

Sister Krista Bice