Sunday, July 27, 2014

Re: Mormon.org

so to make your own mormon.org cards, log into your account. click on profile(top right conrer)- edit profile
left hand column -share your profile-pass along cards
Best of luck :)


On Mon, Jul 21, 2014 at 1:07 PM, Annemarie Sudweeks <annemarie.sudweeks@myldsmail.net> wrote:
Dear Whanau,
    Hello! How are you all? I hope you have all had a great week! I certainly have :) This week I wanted to share some things about my new mission president. newzealandwellingtonmission.blogspot.com  Here is their blog if you want to check it out!
   Also President and SIster Hudson are wonderful! I love them heaps. President Hudson served in the Toronto Canada mission with Elder Ballard as his mission president. Pretty cool huh! SIster Hudson is a convert to the church and it all started because of the Osmond family... truly your influence is noticed by so many more people than you realize. He suggested to all of us to have this as our new motto "Good, better, becoming Great in Christ!" I love this, because truly with the Atonement of Jesus Christ everything we do can be done better until we are perfect in Christ.
    I loved this quoute from the Conference Ensign "You've prepared for this[time being on earth] for a millenium. This is your moment to perform. This is your four minutes. your time is now!" (See Lds.org General COnference talk Your Four Minutes) I loved this quote because it is so true! Our four minutes is now and we need to remember that our performance isn't over until that four mintues is. So no matter what mistakes or how badly we think we performed we can know that we can still make it up in that last minute and win the prize of living with our families together forever with Heavenly Father. Of this I know we can all achieve.
    I love Heavenly Father's plan for us. I know that we are all here for a reason, We all have divine gifts and talents that we were bestowed with by a loving Heavenly Father. WE can do so many great things! And all of this time we spend on earth in tribulations, sorrows, joys, and many other experiences are all to give us experience and be for our good, that we can prove to our Heavenly Father, who is God, that we will do all things that He has commanded us so we can have all the blessings, or gifts, that He would give us for our obedience.
I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Sudweeks
P.s. you can make your own mormon.org cards at mormon.org cool huh? :)

Fellowship of the unashamed

Dear Whanua,
   I hope you all had a pleasant week! Things have been pretty busy here and going forward with haste! We had the opportunity to clean the chapel and put the furniture in in preparation for our first time meeting there this coming Sunday. How fitting that we are meeting there on the first Sunday of the month to begin able to meet again in a Church building. I loved my time meeting in the Ohoka School, but I am excited to meet in a chapel again.
     So, a while ago I asked you all to find one person to invite them to church/ to hear the message the missionaries have to share with people, via the extension made from Elder Ballard. How did it go? What happened when you made the invitation? I can't wait to hear all about it! :)
     Our District Leader Elder Dunbar's 1st councilor (I am going to name him Jim) in the Bishopric shared this really neat story with Elder Dunbar who shared it with us. Jim was serving his mission and received a call from President Ezra Taft  Benson, the Prophet at that time. Jim didn't believe it was the prophet at first but after his Mission President called and asked if he had hung up on the prophet, he quickly called him back and listened to what he had called about. He had asked Jim to reactivate 600 inactive members in 6 weeks by letting them feel of their love for them, God's love for them, and how much God, their Heavenly Father and the ward, needed them. In not 6 weeks, but 8 weeks they accomplished this Goal. This shows how important it is that we show others that we love them. Truly Love is the motive to change, and Love is the one thing that can help people in ways we probably will never realize.
    It is truly through our love-- that we can show our Heavenly Father we love him-- by doing what he has asked us to do. I know that as we do this we can truly show our love to our Heavenly Father. WE can show Heavenly Father our love for him as we are willing to go out and serve his children to "feed his sheep" "feed his lambs". Truly it is our works that show our love. We love our parents and to show them that we follow their council. Likewise when we want God, our Heavenly Father to know our love, we show it by doing as he has counseled us to do. To love everyone one as he has loved us.
      Our pianist was gone this week, so I was asked to pay the piano in Sacrement and in Primary. It was a lot of fun to play the primary songs. It brought a lot of good memories of my own time in primary and the things i learned while I was there as a young one.
I hope you are all have a great week!
Much Love,
Sister Sudweeks

The Fellowship of the Unashamed
I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The dye has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back , let up, slow down, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense,a nd my future is secure. I'm finished and done with love living, cheap giving, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need per-eminence, positions, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk with patience, am uplifted by prayer, and labor with power. My face is set, my gait is fast my goal is Heaven. My road is narrow, my way is rough, my companions are few, my guide is reliable, mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, divided, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I  won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up and paid for the cause of Christ. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. and when He returns for His won, He will have no problem recognizing me. My banner will be clear
--Author Unknown

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Celebrating my one year mark
Timaru's bay-- we went there on exchanges this week... too beautiful!

Mormon.org

Dear Whanau,
    Hello! How are you all? I hope you have all had a great week! I certainly have :) This week I wanted to share some things about my new mission president. newzealandwellingtonmission.blogspot.com  Here is their blog if you want to check it out!
   Also President and SIster Hudson are wonderful! I love them heaps. President Hudson served in the Toronto Canada mission with Elder Ballard as his mission president. Pretty cool huh! SIster Hudson is a convert to the church and it all started because of the Osmond family... truly your influence is noticed by so many more people than you realize. He suggested to all of us to have this as our new motto "Good, better, becoming Great in Christ!" I love this, because truly with the Atonement of Jesus Christ everything we do can be done better until we are perfect in Christ.
    I loved this quoute from the Conference Ensign "You've prepared for this[time being on earth] for a millenium. This is your moment to perform. This is your four minutes. your time is now!" (See Lds.org General COnference talk Your Four Minutes) I loved this quote because it is so true! Our four minutes is now and we need to remember that our performance isn't over until that four mintues is. So no matter what mistakes or how badly we think we performed we can know that we can still make it up in that last minute and win the prize of living with our families together forever with Heavenly Father. Of this I know we can all achieve.
    I love Heavenly Father's plan for us. I know that we are all here for a reason, We all have divine gifts and talents that we were bestowed with by a loving Heavenly Father. WE can do so many great things! And all of this time we spend on earth in tribulations, sorrows, joys, and many other experiences are all to give us experience and be for our good, that we can prove to our Heavenly Father, who is God, that we will do all things that He has commanded us so we can have all the blessings, or gifts, that He would give us for our obedience.
I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Love,
Sister Sudweeks
P.s. you can make your own mormon.org cards at mormon.org cool huh? :)

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Be Still and Know that I am God

Dear Whanau,

   Kia Ora! Another Great week here in Rangiora ChristChurch! :) We had a very busy week with lots going on and lots of things happening! First and foremost, I met my mission President and his wife on Friday. They are wonderful! I was asked to play the piano, so I was playing the prelude music as we waited for the Hudson's arrival. It was neat as there was an excited energy throughout the room, every time someone walked in we all looked up to see who it was. It reminded me very much of how all of us will feel as we wait for the Savior to come. We may not know what He looks like, but as soon as we see Him I know we will know who He is and recognize Him without a shadow of a doubt. What an exciting time truly it is that we are awaiting the arrival of our Lord and God. I look forward to that day when we will see Him again, and I know we will all Know Him and Recognize Him as the Lord of Lord and King of Kings. I know He lives and He will come again.
    We had another Great lesson with Tarquin! She is recognizing the spirit in her life! And she knows she feels his presence when we come. This is great progress! My companion and I are looking forward to the continual process of helping her receive all the ordinances the Lord would have her do.
   We read with Rebecca and her boys Mathew Mark and Luke most of this week out of the Book of Mormon! It was such a cool experience to see the change in them as they are really rambunctious and when we would read the Book of Mormon they became really quite and reverent. Truly the Book of Mormon changes people.
     Something that I read out of the Ensign was about Gratitude. WE have been commanded by God to be grateful, and to give thanks. And as we know from D&C that when we obey any law (commandment) we automatically receive the blessings associated with that commandment. I had the thought, that if there was an easy commandment to keep surely that it was that of gratitude, then why not receive those blessings from being as such by showing gratitude and having a spirit of gratitude in our lives?
    The other thing I was thinking about this week is how do we still ourselves and know that Heavenly Father is our God? What do we do that allows this Psalm to emanate deeply in our lives? I know that when we truly our still and feel  God's presences in our lives than we can will see His hands in our lives shaping and allowing those blessings we desire to be brought to pass.
 I love you All! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister Sudweeks

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Happy Fourth of July!

Dear Whanau,
   Hello and good morning! :) I hope you all had a wodnerful Fourth of July Celebration. I certainly did :) I actually almost forgot about it because it is so cold here, but one our members who is American threw a party celebration where we ate soup and apple deserts. Two of our potential investigators came and it was so great! All the members talked to them and visited with them. I didn't get to talk to them after the party because My companion and I had an appointment we had to get to, but I hope to meet up with them soon so we can see how they enjoyed the whole evening.
    We had a great week, lots of miracles! First miracle: we were able to make our goal of Talking with Everyone despite the lack of time we were able to do so, we did lots of service this week. Second: we had another amazing lesson with Tarquin. She is doing so well! She read the ensign and is having questions that I know she is going to fins answers to. I am really excited for her. Third miracle: Rebecca is beginning to progress. she came to church today and we were able to go and read with her from the Book of Mormon. We are so excited for her as she also agreed to a baptismal date for August 30th! I know there are going to be more miracles coming.
    Something I really loved from my studies this week:
From President Eyring's talk "The Priesthood Man" I loved how he counsels us to pray and the blessing that comes to us when we do. "We all pray, but the priesthood holder[or righteous women] you want to be prays often and with real intent. In the evening  you will get on your knees and thank God for the blessings of the day. You will thank Him for parents, for teachers, and for great examples to follow. You will describe in your prayers specifically who has blessed your life and how during that day. That will take more than a few minutes and more than a little thought. It will surprise you and change you. As you pray for forgiveness, you will find yourself forgiving others. AS you thank God for His kindness, you will think of others, by name, who need your kindness. Again, that experience will surprise you everyday, and over time it will change you." I love that promise-- it will change you. How grateful and how blessed is this! How much should we want to change to be more like our Heavenly Father.
I love you all! Keep doing the small things reading the scriptures, praying, and going to church. They may be small but their impact is significant. Of this I testify.
Love,
Sister Sudweeks