Week #30 - Welcome from San Tan Valley!

Monday, August 17, 2020

Sister Griffiths and Me - New Area: SAN TAN VALLEY (Lindsay 3rd Ward)

Holy cow what a week!!!! Last week I told you guys that I was gonna be leaving Casa Grande and going to San Tan Valley and.... I'M HERE IN SAN TAN!!! It was super hard to say goodbye to Casa Grande, my roommates, my companion, the ward, and all our friends that we were teaching. BUT I am so happy to be here. I was super nervous at first because the work here is very different (not many people to teach) but I am ready for the hard. 

My companion is Sister Griffiths and she was originally called to Uruguay, but had to leave the Mexico MTC after being there for only 2 weeks. She has been out here for 9 weeks and has been here in my new area, the Lindsay 3rd Ward!! I LOVE HER!! We always pray in our mission languages (Spanish and Portuguese) and it's crazy how much we can actually understand each other. 

One thing that was hard with leaving Casa Grande was saying goodbye to some of our really progressing friends. Like Shay and Brittney. I told them I was leaving, and they were coming up with excuses of why they needed to come to San Tan haha! We actually taught them about Family Search and they are building their trees. That's one way we have been teaching people, because a lot of people love their families and so that is a great way to help them get interested in learning more about how GOD BLESSES US WITH FAMILIES!! But yeah, it was a bitter sweet goodbye. I have so much love for so many people there!

So me and Sister Griffiths area is pretty different like I said above. We have a bunch of ways that we are trying to find new people: through the members, social media, family history, and service!! We've really been trying hard with members and it isn't easy lol. But we decided one night to call a couple random numbers haha! Anywho we'd ask whoever answered if they would like us to share a bible verse. So this one number didn't answer, so we texted that snippet to them and next thing you know, we are texting a guy named Blake about the family tree app and he's all into it and gives us his Facebook!! MILAGRES! 

The struggle is real with online teaching at times!

One awesome idea that Sister Griffiths had was to post in a bunch of groups on Facebook, like religious groups, local groups, any groups and ask if anyone wanted us to say a prayer with them. AND PEOPLE ACTUALLY RESPONDED!! We even called this one lady today and said a prayer with her and she remembers missionaries from her past and how kind they were. It wad awesome to help her feel loved. We are calling her again on Thursday! And we have about 4 more calls set up for tonight. 

Yesterday was the first day that our stake was able to go back to church! Our ward only gets to go once a month, but there are 3 different sessions we can go to. Yesterday me and Sister Griffiths were able to go to all 3 sessions and wow we were at the church building pretty much the whole day. But it was super awesome to be able to take the sacrament and to be able to see all the members!

This week has definitely been difficult, but so amazing as well. I actually finished the Book of Mormon this week and IT IS TRUE!!! I invite all of you to read it!! Have an amazing rest of your week :)

♡Sister Guilott♡ 

Hurray for cold drinks when it is 118!

Celebrating Arizona with T-Shirts!

Saying Goodbye to Sister Merritt! :)

Week #29 - Last Week in Casa Grande - TRANSFERS

Monday, August 10, 2020 

Love these sisters I have been with for the past transfer and longer!

LETS TALK ABOUT MIRACLES!!! Holy cow this week was fantastic. We saw so many miracles!! We also found out about transfers today and I am leaving good ol' Casa Grande (which is very sad) and I am headed to San Tan, which is in Chandler!! I'll tell y'all more about it next week :) BUT here's some milagres from this week:

So we meet as our districts each week and we all decided on making specific goals, so me and Sister Merritt decided to be more specific with our goals. So we planned on havin 24 lessons... and because we made goals, we were able to have 29!! WOWZA it feels great to be able to talk to that many people about Jesus Christ and how to come closer to Him. But yeah... I guess goals help a lot haha! 

We had a lesson with Shay and Brittney in person again and it is so nice to be able to teach in person. It makes a big difference and you feel a closer connection. But Shay texted us this week having some questions, and we wanted to answer with a scripture so we gave Shay a call and had her read this scripture to help her out, and she had just barely marked that scripture and was feeling the spirit so strongly and couldn't believe that we had chosen that scripture to share with her. The best part is that Sister Merritt had put in her Book of Mormon next to the scripture a couple weeks ago, "Share with Shay." So Shay now knows the Book of Mormon is true. 

We had gotten 2 new referrals last week, and we finally had a lesson with them this week!! We talked all about the plan of salvation with them and they LOVED it!! We even went and dropped off a Book of Mormon to both of them. We have another lesson set up for this next week. But we were super excited to give them a Book of Mormon in person, and then we knock on their door and they come out and we were gonna talk with them for a second, then 2 killer chihuahuas came out so we left... it was pretty funny looking back on it now.

We have someone we are teaching named Jim, I've talked about him before but he kinda fell off of the face of the earth. But now he's interested again! We even had an in person lesson with him at the church building and taught him the plan of Salvation and he wants to be baptized so bad!! He just needs some help with some of the commandments. But Jim cant read too well, so then he can't feel the spirit through reading the Book of Mormon. Well we got him some Book of Mormon CDs and he was so excited and we used those to bribe him to come to church... AND HE DID!! The one speaker we had talked about everything Jim needed to hear. It was great. 

So one thing we do is we ask all the leadership in our ward for people that we should contact, and our Bishop gave us a referral!! We were super stoked about that!

One thing that happened this week that was pretty crazy is that my sister Emily got married. It was definitely sad not being able to be there, but I was able to video chat during the reception!! It was super exciting! Mission blessings indeed. 

I am so grateful to be here in Arizona. I still get sad not being in Brazil, but I know that this is where God needs me. And I am super excited to be going to Chandler!! Love you all so much. The gospel is true.

♡Sister Guilott♡

Love all these missionaries I get to serve with!

I will miss her so much!

Goodbye Casa Grande! You taught me a lot and I will miss you!

Week #28 - Teaching by Phone Calls and Finding New Investigators

 August 3, 2020

WOWZA WHAT A WEEK!!! This week has gone by too fast.... after this week it will be a new transfer CRAZY!!! We saw so many miracles this week. It's crazy how the work is still progressing so much while all we can do is talk to people over the phones... GOD IS GOOD!! Here are some fun things from this week :)

SO we had a couple lessons with Shay and Brittney this week and they were awesome. We taught the plan of salvation and the spirit was just so strong. With Shay and Brittney, we meet in person at our church building and it really does make a difference being able to meet in person... They also came to church and they love doing that. They come more than some members do hahah! They are progressing a lot and love to continue to learn.

This last week we got A LOT of referrals, meaning a lot of new people to teach which is awesome. We started teaching a lot of couples, which is nice that then they have someone to study with and to talk about what they've learned. 

This week we dropped off a Book of Mormon to our friend named Jotina. She works and lives at this fun old motel. Not gonna lie, it was pretty sketchy. But she was so happy when we went and gave her a Book of Mormon. We are trying to teach her some more, but she is super busy... but she is super awesome. 

We have a new friend we are teaching named Yvette and she. Is. AWESOME!! So we've been trying to call her, and she didn't seem too interested at first... but she finally got back to us and we had a lesson with her on Sunday and she was talking all about service and how important service is. So we shared Mosiah 2:17 - "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God." I just love this scripture. And so did Yvette. Anywho, she texted us later and she has read a lot of the Book of Mormon and she really is starting to understand it. Again... GOD IS GOOD!! 

So we've been teaching our friend Esther and she is progressing a lot!! We actually went and did service for her and helped her wash her car. That was super fun!! She is adorable and small and is just super elect. Her and her husband are coming closer to the Savior. Its amazing to watch people strengthen their relationships with Christ. 

This week we had interviews with our mission President and he definitely made it seem like me and Sister Merritt are going to both be training next transfer... so we will see what happens with that... but I love it here and all the fun times in having. But I especially love how my testimony of this gospel has been strengthened. I LOVE MY SAVIOR and all of you!! 

♡Sister Guilott♡ 

Week #27 - Birthdays, Popcorn, and Answered Prayers

Monday, July 27, 2020

Hello!!

This week was so AWESOME!! We saw a lot of miracles this week. This week was also my companions birthday, so we had a blast and a half celebrating with her. 

We found a couple new people to teach, and that was super awesome. Here are some of the main highlights from the week:

So this week we had a couple lessons with Jim. Jim has been pretty distant lately and not answering our calls, so we went to go and pick something up at his neighbors house and he was outside. So we talked to him for a while and helped him remember how happy he was talking to us. Anywho, we ended up calling him and he can never remember what the priesthood is, but this time... HE REMEMBERED and we're having a couple lessons each week with him now. He wants to be baptized and has that desire in his heart, but he's taking small baby steps there and that is OKAY!!

This week we had a lesson with Shay and Brittney and it was a super awesome lesson and very spirit led. We are able to still meet in person and it really helps to talk to people in person, it helps you connect on a more personal level. We shared with them all about families and it made me realize how HAPPY I am with the knowledge that I can be with my family for forever. Also, Shay and Brittney came to church again this week! I am super happy we are able to meet in person. Except with Covid being so bad here in Arizona, we can only have up to 50 people (even though we usually have more than that lol). 

So last week we got a call from some missionaries in a different mission in Arizona and they gave us the number of a guy here in Casa Grande named Fernard, so we went and dropped off a Book of Mormon to him this week. He really wants to learn more. So that'll be exciting!

So... here's a funny story for you all that happened this week. One day I wanted a midday snack, so I ate some popcorn. Well a piece of that popcorn got stuck in my nasal cavity... and it was stuck for a good ol' day and a half.  Finally we all decided it would be best to go to urgent care. It was no fun... unfortunately the doctor couldn't get the popcorn kernel shell out, but it turned out that I have an ear infection?? Now I have some meds for that and I'm still alive. WOOHOO And good news, the popcorn finally is just a distant memory....

This week we also had exchanges with the sisters in our apartment (we are all super close). I was with Sister Wilcox in her area and we had a super fun day. One fun adventure was calling this one guy named Kiko... let's just say Kiko wasn't there all the way haha. He was kinda crazy and telling us that what we were teaching wasn't true, so we were able to boldly share our testimonies with him and hopefully one day he will come around and realized this is the true church of Jesus Christ on earth. But our day was super fun!

We also got another referral named Jotina and we tried calling her and she didn't answer at first, so we called again and she answered and she doesn't have too much of a history of religion. She hasn't read the Bible or the Book of Mormon, so we're going to give one to her this week! We also taught her how to pray and that was super awesome. Praying is the biggest blessing, because it is our opportunity to talk with our Heavenly Father. 

We also went up to ASU campus and did a service project up there and I got to see some old roommates and it was so fun to actually meet other missionaries haha!

This was definitely a better week mentally than last week; I have decided to put all my trust in Lord. One of my favorite scriptures this week was from last week's Come Follow Me and I shared it with lots of people. It is Alma 36:3 and it says, "For I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."

Remember to trust in the Lord because He is always there for you!!

Love you all, 

♡Sister Guilott♡