Fwd: Mission Miracle

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sandy Kezerian <sandykezerian@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 24, 2013 at 5:16 PM
Subject: RE: Mission Miracle
To: Annemarie Sudweeks <annemarie.sudweeks@myldsmail.net>

Dear Sister Sudweeks, 

Thank you so much for sharing your miracle story. I really do look forward to hearing how this woman progresses. We know you have great faith. This work is hard at times. It actually reminds me a lot of motherhood. Some days are very challenging but the rewards in the end are so worth it. Every time I have ever been around you your beautiful smile and optimism have lifted by spirits. 

We love you,

Sister Kezerian

---

Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2013 15:09:54 +1200
Subject: Mission Miracle
From: annemarie.sudweeks@myldsmail.net
To: sandykezerian@hotmail.com

Sister Vila and I have been praying really hard for people to teach, that we might be lead to those who are prepared. It was really easy to stay in the spirit of finding people and really being filled with motivation and determination to find someone to teach the first week or so after we had that wonderful mission tour. Then drudgery started to set in. Doors being closed, no after no, and although our determination didn't falter I started to decrease a little in faith. Not to mention my natural man started to kick in (being tired or that grumbley stomach reminding me I am hungry...). All the while, I would be reminded of our true purpose here and be filled again with that desire to find and have faith like unto the Brother of Jared. It was on one of these mediocre days I received a tender mercy of the Lord.  I had woken up that morning more tired than usual. For some reason I didn't sleep well that night, and so despite my efforts to go back to sleep, the alarm went off as usual. Normal routine kicked in: exercising eating breakfast, and preparing for the day. Studies were wonderful and filled me with the desire to share the Gospel with everyone I could talk to. As the day wore on, from studies to training my attitude became less excited. I was tired and the last thing I really wanted to do was go and talk with people, and we had planned an hour of street contacting for that day. I said a silent prayer that I might have my attitude changed, and when we were out talking with people I was filled with more energy but unfortunately my body reminded me I was tired again to quickly, and I began to not be as upbeat as I should have been. Sister Vila and I had been sitting waiting for our turn to be able to use the computers, and I thought we could go and make some phone calls to make appointments. We had noticed this nice lady who smiled quite big when we came in and sat down, but I hadn't given much thought to go and speak with her. Sister Vila agreed that we should make phone calls, but she wanted to give a mormon.org card to this lady before we left. When we walked up to her, I knew this was a lesson for the Lord. She was really excited to see us and invited us to sit down next to her right then. She then proceeded to give us a description of her life and her contact with members of our church with whom she has had multiple conversations with about the Gospel. I knew the Lord was blessing us for praying for finding someone who would be converted. We have a return appointment with her, and whether she is will join the church I don't know. I do know that the Lord was showing me that even though I was feeling less than excited about talking with people that day because I was tired, He blessed me to realize that He will cause his work to progress forward whether I am happy or not, but how much better a tool I will be and how much quicker will His work progress if I am positive.

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And there was Idaho!!!!

Dear Whanu,

  This week we had our first exchange. It was really good! The Gore Sisters came up and stayed two days with us. Then I drove them back (I am becoming a really good driver here now...: ) And who would have guessed but Idaho comes into view! Or at least I  thought it looked like Idaho, you be the judge. On the exchange, we found a couple new Potential Investigators and set a baptismal date for november the 2nd with Judy Wilson! Ah so excited! My companion and Sister Puleta set the date. She replied when they asked, "if that's what you want me to do" Haha yep! That's what we want you to do! :)

  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TREVER! Sorry it's late on the email! But I thought of you and your birthday on the 28th here! :)

   Something that was really cool this week: My companion and I have really been trying to focus on a vision for ourselves and the mission. As President Hamula asked us to do. We have also really been trying to find with greater faith and pray for greater faith. Because of this, we were able to find this really golden (means practially baptized! because they are soo ready for the gospel) investigator for the Elders. His name is Jared and he works at the Cadburry Chocolate Factory that is here (which I hope to go to next PDAY with Sister Vila :) Yum! Chocolate! ) We tried asking him some inspired questions (questions that answer or provoke questions of the soul) and ended up having a doorstep lesson with him. We then gave his information to the Elders. The Elders contacted him later in the week, and he said he would be interested in hearing more (he had been thinking tons about what we had talked about on his doorstep) It was really neat and such a faith building expereince for me about the power of faith.

     Grandpa Sudweeks: I get so many comments about my handshake. Thank you for teaching me to have a firm handshake with everyone I meet :)

     I had a really neat experienvce to see an Elder set apart as a missionary yesterday by President Kezerian. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong, and I was reminded of the excitment and energy new missionaries have as they are just set apart.

    In my personal study I had a neat thought. I was studying about the life after death and the call for us to concencrate our lives to the Lord. And when we concencrate we give our whole soul, might, mind, and strength to the Lord. I was thinking about how when we die, we go to the spirit world and continue to  share the gospel (our lives our entirely concencrated). We spend our entire lives and part of eternity concencrating our lives. Fully giving ourselves to have the Lord's will, to be like our Heavenly Father. I thought it was so neat that our entire life we try to be like our Heavenly Father who is fully concencrated for our behalf, because his Work and His glory is to bring to pass our immortaltiy and eternal life. By being asked to be this concencrated, we are preparing for the time when we ourselves will be Like God and this will be our desire for our children.

I love you so much! I hope you all have a great week!

As our mission motto says:

Faith is the Power

Obediance is the Price

Love is the Motive
The Spirit is the Key

Christ is the Reason

Alma 26:22

May we remember this always in our lives :)

Aroha,

Sister Sudweeks

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A Kiwi

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Can I say Pamilya Magpakaiylanman!?!?!? :D

Hello Whanu!

  I love you all so much! this week has been so good! A bit crazy though :) First, we had President Hamula come and it was amazing!!!! :) Sister Hamula came to and I just felt so much love from them. Sister Hamula put her arm around me while I showed her the restroom and I just felt like all of you were there at that moment giving me a big hug :D It was the best! Thank you for your prayers. You don't know how much I can feel them, it is such a neat experience for me and one I am so thankful Heavenly father is allowing me to feel. I learned so much and I cannot wait to put it all into action! :D Something that really touched me was what President Hamula said about the nature of Jesus Christ, He said if you believe that Jesus Christ isn't working among us, then think again. He isn't in some cloud watching us work here on Earth. He is working with us, unseen to our imperfect eyes. Just like it is said in Jacob 5 that is how Christ is with us. He is amongst us, helping and build us up. Something I really enjoyed about the mission tour was the reminder about Faith. How when we have a vision of who we truly are, we can then show that forth. Nothing will cause us to fear because we see ourselves as God does. I also had the blessing to stay two nights with Elder and Sister Webb as Sister Vila was at the Training Conference in Wellington. It was a wonderful experience, and I so enjoyed seeing how they do missionary work and appreciating more the role of Senior couples :)

  A scripture I really liked was in DC 98:1-3. I read it today and it just hit home! Truly the Lord has already listened and will cause our prayers to be answered as it we have asked, but we first must wait on his time, and he will always let things work out for our good. (You have to Read the this scripture! :) 

I love you all! Keep reading the BOM, keep praying, and see yourself as God does. :)

I love you

Aroha,
Sister Sudweeks

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First week in Dunedin!

Dear Whanu,

   Hello! Glad to tell you it is not too cold here! Haha, just a nice chilly wind and rain... but it is great! :D I will take some pictures today and send them to you next week! It is really pretty! My trip getting here was a bit crazy. I was suppoesed to travel on the plane at 9 am in the morning wednesday, but my fllight was delayed in Wellington due to the weather. And then it was delayed again to the next day at 2:20 pm. So I got to hang out with Sister Alcock and Sister Boehmer (both from Canada  and SIster Alcock was the Sister Training Leader). We went to dinner with Sister Saltana (she's from Mexico). It was super cool as I could understand her most of the time when she would start talking in SPanish. We ate wonderful mexican food! Which was so amazing! I loved being able to eat mexican food! I am pretty sure Heavenly Father made the plane delayed so I could talk to this wonderful girl I sat on the plane with on Thursday afternoon. SHe is going to be a DR so we had a good conversation about anatomy and such. :) Then I brought the converstaion around to God and how we couldn't have a the human body work they way it does without a God. I met my companion at the Airport. Her name is Sister Vila and she is from the Philippines. She is so cute! She reminds me a lot of Emma Baker :D

   Tomorrow, President Hamula is coming for a mission tour. We have the meeting at 8am, but we have to be at the chapel at 7am. It is going to be soo good! And I am going to learn so much I can improve upon! Can't wait to be changed!

    While I was in the airport, it was cool I saw a live Kiwi! It was just sitting on the floor and it was so cute. It was even letting little kids pet it. The Lady who owned the bird, reminded me a lot of Aunt Maud and Jessica. She had hair like Jessica, and her mannerisms where just like AUnt Maud. So I thought of you both when I saw  her and Kiwi bird :)

     Something I was thinking about the other day was about Nephi. He is on the ship talking with his brothers and they tie him up. And even thought Nephi's wife and childrend ask them to let Nehi go, and they are in a big storm... they still refuse. It is not until the moment where they are about to die, do they let Nephi go. I was thinking about that and how it took them the moment they were about to perish before they repented and changed. But Nephi, even though he went through all of that, he still praiesd God and was humble. This made me think about myself and which of the two ways I respond to situations in my life do I act. Am I a Nephi or am I a lemuel/ laman and wait until I am about to be destroyed before I change? Which side of myself wins and comes out?

   I love you all! Have a wonderful day!

 Nag Ma Mahal, (I love you in Tagalog :)

Sister Sudweeks

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And... Transfers! To Antartic!

Dear Whanu,

  Wow! what a week! We had two baptism from the Elders. Tame Hughs (the one who got married last week) and Tane (he was a referral from church head quarters). Such a blessing from the Lord! Things are defintely moving here in Masterton! :) Something that has been really cool for me, is the focus on the Priesthood that is placed here in Masteron. We had a lesson about the Priesthood and the blessings we can recieve from the Priesthood. It was really cool for me to realize also that the World was created through the Priesthood, thus the priesthood is able to create. After the lesson, the priesthood came in and sang Ye Elders Of Isreal. They alsways have the Priesthood come and sing songs for firesides, baptismss, you name it. They really undesrtand the importance of the Priesthood here.

    So! I am being transfered out! Ahhh! :) Way excited! President Kezerian called Sister Saunders and I and told us it wasn't planned but the Lord had a last minute change of plans for Sister Saunders and I. So I will be sering in Dunedin now with Sister Vila the Sister Training Leader. I am really excited. When I found out, Elder Christensen told us via phone, and he told me I am going to the Artic.Haha, but really I am the closet to the south pole! Luckily for me though I will be heading into the summer now, so it shouldn't be so cold! And I will be seeing one of the Elders I came in to NZ with, we will see if he survived the winter months... he hadn't brought a coat!

    Funny story: Satuday the All blacks were playing, and beacuse it was a pretty game to the Kiwi here, they express their support well, and consume much drink during the game I guess, because as I was driving to an appointment, I etentered the traffic line where everyone was having their breath analized for alcohol consumption... this happened twice! Because our second appointment was on the other side of town via the way we had just come. Sister Saunders remakerd how the first time for us both to be checked happened on our missions, its quite ironic. :)

     So a cool thought. When we read the BOM it increases our ability to learn and understand. Elder Christensen was telling us of this person he taught who wasn't very literate and had learning disabilities, but through reading the BOM he became more literate and his learning disabilities decreased and he learned and retained information more. Just like the BOM can change our habits, it can also increase our mental abilities, and this is because it brings the spirits into our lives and the spirit can give us many gifts that sometimes are forgotten.

     When we give lessons their are three things that we focus on Church, Praying, and Reading the Book of Mormon. In the end we use the accronym CPR. I found it intersting to note that we use that same accroyn for emergency situations. This just reminded me about how improtant it is for us to do these three things, truly our spiritual wellbeing is in danger with all those temptations and things the devil is putting before us at this time. Now then ever we are in danger of spiritual regression, so we should put these three things to use every day and every week becuase it will keep us safe from the dangers around us that are so prevalent in society today.

    I love you all, and I will talk to you next week in Dunedin! May the Lord continue to bless you and keep up the Great missionary efforts!

Aroha,

Sister Sudweeks

 

P.S.

 Elder Christensen says Hello

  President Hamula is coming to NZ for a mission tour! :) So cool!

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Wedding, fireside, and one more week

Dear Whanu (Family),

   This week has been very good! We have done lots of different things. This week has been a good fast week. We had a musical fireside in our ward, as a type of farewell for the well loved couple (Tui and Cissie Walker) as they are headed off to serve in the Hamiltion Temple on a mission this week. The fireside was very good. Their were several non-members there, and we are going to go and contact them within the next week or so and ask how they liked the fireside. We are just waiting for a list of names from Tui and Cissie Walker to know who to go and see. We already have one person who was touched by the spirit there, and she wants to go to church on Sunday! We are very excited, and can't wait to meet her. Because sister suanders and I are the only two who play the piano we did a lot of singing and and playnig the piano. it was quite exciting! 

    We also had Tame adn Tamara get married!!!! Whoo hooo! We were so excited for them! It was a crazy day filled with many blessing from the Lord.

  One of our investigators has a baptismal date! We are way excited! Sept. 28th. She is so prepared. I think i mentioned her before, KP is her name. She has ben wantign to get bapritzed for a couple of years now, just didn't know how to begin doing so. WE are relly excited! (Excuse the bad grammer and spelling... my keyboard has really stiff keys and it is taking me a while to be able to type)

   I was reading in the BOM this week in 1 Nephi 11:31. I was raelly cool becaus my companion was studying the exact sam thing. This scripture said that the Lord will show himseld unto us by his sspirit. I thught it was neat that the Lord showed himself unto the people back in hte day and he continues to do so but he dose it thruogh his holy spirit now. This is also illistraetd in 2 Nephi 26: 13.

   I know for certain that the work is true. God lives and he loves us so much. Through him we can do so may miracles and much good amongest his Children. I am so thankful for the chance to b here at this time serving the Lord.

I love you all! Have a great day!

Love (Aroha)

Sister Sudweeks

p.s. Transfers are next week! LOCO!!! Time is going by tooo quick!

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