Sisters' Conference and Head Colds

Hello, hello!! :)

 

Once again, thanks for the love this week via emails and letters and packages. I say this all the time, but I am a spoiled missionary. I am grateful each day for the support I receive so thank you, thank you!

 

How was your week? It sounds like all is well. Thanks for the BYU update. Luckily I am surrounded by enough BYU fans, so they can sneak in an update every once in a while. At least they didn't flounder. I don't hear much about the Utes and Rebels out here. Should I just not ask how they are doing with football? Maybe I will just ask you once basketball season comes around... :)

 

Anyways, I hope you are loving fall. It is BEAUTIFUL here (once again, caps lock necessary). The fall colors are amazing. We really miss out on that being in the desert. I still need to get a picture for you, but I don't think I can capture it. Just google fall leaves and then that is probably what it looks like. It really is so nice here. The weather has been up and down. One day it is freezing, then it is warm, then tornado warnings, then sunshine. It always changes. Kind of exciting, but kind of not. I hope you are getting excited for Halloween! Any plans? Our trunk or treat is next week and I am excited. I don't have plans except being a missionary. Maybe my companion and I can switch name tags so I can be her for Halloween.

 

So this has been a good week with ups and downs as usual. On Tuesday we left for Sisters' Conference in Tulsa. President Shumway picked up all the sisters in Arkansas. So there were 6 of us with him on our little road trip. It was so fun to see Sister Hanshew again and get to know the other sisters. When we got there we ate a delicious lunch and then went to a service project at the food bank. We all got mormon helping hands shirts...I have always wanted one. My dream came true! I even get to keep it haha. Anyways, we packaged pasta. Sounds boring but it was actually pretty interesting. They said Oklahoma is ranked the 4th state in the country with the most that go hungry. Did that make sense? You get what I am trying to say. But yeah, it was cool to help out. The director was really interested in what we do and she asked us a lot of questions. I got to wear a sweet hair net too.

 

After that we went back to the mission home and had dinner/prepared for the fireside. Sister Shumway and I practiced the song she wanted me to sing too. I saw the song once before I actually sang it haha. Her schedule was a tad busy, but it turned out! I sang "Come Unto Jesus." We had all the sisters sing a few verses with me too, so that was nice for me. Then we just had instruction from President and Sister Shumway which was amazing as always. These kind of meetings are necessary on the mission. They help you stay motivated and help you recognize that you can keep going!

He talked a lot about the Book of Mormon. He emphasized Mormon chapter 8 and how he mentions multiple times that his father had died, and that he remained alone. He was very hopeless, but did not quit because he knew what his mission was. I gained a greater appreciation for Moroni. For the sacrifice he gave and the grief he must have felt, but he just kept going. President Shumway focuses on the Book of Mormon in all of his instruction and challenges us to use it in every single lesson whether with investigators, members, less actives, etc.

He also said how much he loves us. He explained how we will never know the soft spot a dad has in his heart for his daughters. He said we are all his daughters now. I thought of my Heavenly Father and you too dad. It was a really cool evening.

 

The next morning we had more great instruction from the Shumway's, stake leaders, and some elders. Then we came back for a nice meal and had to part ways. It was really fun being with all of the sisters because we don't see each other that often. Transfer calls are this Saturday so while we were there I was scoping out who my next companion could be haha. I am pretty sure I will stay in Bella Vista. Sister Knutson leaves for home next Thursday!! So crazy. Anyways, after the conference Sister Shumway drove all of us back to Arkansas. It was fun to be able to just chat with her. We stopped at a gas station and witnessed her awesome missionary schools. She was just sharing the gospel all over the place...such a good example.

 

Well, the rest of the week has been a little rough. I have been really sick and unfortunately spread it to my poor companion. But we have wonderful members and a lot of Vitamin C so we are on the mend. It is definitely hard finding a balance of resting but still getting work done. We still managed to get quite a few lessons in with the conference and being sick. I think the highlight of the week would be our lessons with Rex and Julianne. They are just the best!! He is set for baptism this Saturday and we are so excited. He is ready and it is evident. It is neat because Sister Knutson and I have been the ones to teach him the whole time. That doesn't happen a whole lot because of transfers and everything. I am glad this is happening before she leaves.

 

This morning one of our progressing investigators dropped us. It was a bummer, like always, but then right after that happened this guy just came up to us and started asking us all these questions. We were at Chick Fil A with our whole district and he talked with all of us for about an hour about the gospel. He is young single adult age and so we told him about the branch and everything. We got his number and were able to give him a Book of Mormon. It is amazing to see the miracles God gives us. Right after we were bummed about being dropped, then we see someone who is interested. Very blessed.

 

So random but before I go I have to tell you a cool thing we did with our ward mission leader's family! The mom ordered lanterns on ebay just like in Tangled. We lit them on Saturday night over one of the lakes here in Bella Vista. We got to let them fly off and watch them in the sky. It was so cool. Totally doing that when I get home, so put it on your calendar in a year :)

 

Well, that is my week in a nutshell. This week will be great like always, hopefully with a few less tissues and medicine involved. I am really trying to learn as much as I can about the area before Sister K leaves, so hopefully that goes well. I can't belive another transfer is almost up!

I love you all so much. Have a wonderful week and know that I love you and am praying for you always!!

 

Love from AR,

Sister Magness

 

P.S. For those who have written me and haven't gotten a letter in a few weeks...know that I love you and have you on a list ready to write :) my pdays have just been very busy, but I haven't forgotten about you!!! Thanks for the love! 

Pictures :)

The first one is of me and the Evans family. They are just amazing.

The rest are from Sisters' Conference in Tulsa. A few with Sister Hanshew...others with Sister Meredith who was my companion in the MTC! Also with Sister Pulu, Sister Cook.

Then I have a picture of just a freaky face, but I thought it was fun.

Then a picture with the Shumway's daughter whom I love!!

Then last but not least, a picture with Sister Shumway.

 

Picture Explosion

Dear loved ones :)

 

Hello!! I hope you enjoy all of the pictures. The thing that stinks is that when I upload them it only says picture 1, 2, etc. so I don't know which one that is. So I will briefly explain them and you can easily match them up. The first couple are of me having too much fun during weekly planning. I wanted to say Happy Halloween through a picture, therefore the fangs and freaky face. We also were really excited about the Magness cookies that came our way. They were very well kept. Nice job on the bubble wrap. Other pictures are of my district eating a big Tongan feast...I'll explain that in a little bit. We had to master self timer that's why we have so many tries. Other pic is of me and Elder Bednar (President Bednar back then). He was the first Stake President in the Rogers Stake. Pretty neat. The picture with the most people is the Hughes family (to the right of me) and then Sara and her kiddos to the left of me. The Hughes are AMAZING. Caps lock necessary to explain how amazing they are. A ton of people in the ward and stake always get me and Sister Hughes mixed up. People think we are sisters even though she is blonde and also I am a missionary. I don't know if I really see it, but anyways fun fact. Sara is an investigator, working towards baptism!! I have mentioned her in a few emails. She is amazing and so in tune. We taught her daughter last night too. I will get to that in a bit. Sorry for the longest paragraph ever but I figured the pictures needed some explanations. So, enjoy.

 

Okay so usually I come to the library all prepared with a little outline (nerdy? yes) of what I will write to you but this week has been so busy that I didn't have time for that. So, if this email seems scattered I am sorry! I think I will just go by the days of the week and tell you some highlights.

 

Monday

Great preparation day like always. We taught the Jones family and had dinner with them. Our investigators put themselves on the dinner calendar here. Awesome right? They are doing well, but sometimes seem just a tad stuck. We pray about how we can help them continue to progress. They weren't able to come to church Sunday, and they both missed it a lot so that's a good sign :) We also met with the Weed family. They are less active. It is a mom, her daughter and her two grandkids that live in her home. I finally met her grandson and he is the sweetest thing. He has some special needs, but has so much love. He was my little buddy. They haven't been to church in a very long time, but they are in such a right place in their lives to come back. Blessed to see this transition for them so hopefully it continues to go well.

 

Tuesday

We went to the old folks home again. They are so sweet!! They always pray for us and say the best prayers.

Met with the Kelly's again. It went great!! Still working on the 12 step program with them and working on getting them to church. We have a lot of fun with this family. Their daughter drew a picture of me and my eyebrow. Apparently they think my eyebrow is expressive as I talk and I didn't get what she was saying so she drew a picture for me that "shows" it. It is too funny. I will have to send it to you so you can see people's perception of your daughter. Good times with the Kelly's.

 

Wednesday

We went to lunch with a member of the singles branch. She is so fun! She heard the talk from conference about "just ask the missionaries" and interpreted for herself as "Just ask the missionaries to lunch!" Haha nice huh? So we were able to chat with her and possibly seeing about a mission for her. A lot of young girls in the branch are expressing wanting to go which is awesome! We are teaching a recent convert who really wants to, so we are going to start role playing with her with the PMG lessons. Should be fun.

We had District Meeting. Good times like always, nothing too exciting there. Our district is just great!

We went with Rex and Julianne to PF Changs. She wanted to treat us to a good dinner and I was really excited. We had to drive into Rogers to meet them. The restaurant is in a similar Town Square sort of set up. I was so happy to see stores again! I freaked out when I saw a Target. I am not a big shopper but it just felt like home so it was good. I also forgot how delicious their lettuce wraps were. Anyways, we had a lesson with them about the Word of Wisdom and it was amazing to hear his experiences with quitting. He is just so prepared and everytime we meet I just see more and more of God's hand in his life even before he met us and Julianne. His baptism is in 2 weeks!! We are pretty excited for that.

 

Thursday/Friday

I am going to do a combo of these days simply because they aren't too exciting. We had a few lessons and such. We also had our MCM meeting where we coordinate with the mission leader. I always think of you dad! We have had crazy thunderstorms too. So we had a lot of cancellations on Friday because we were supposed to stay inside/people didn't want to drive. So we did a lot of planning and catching up.

 

Saturday

Saturday was a great day. One of the companionships in our district had a wedding and a baptism. It was cool to be there for this special event for this family. We invited our investigators to come watch, and Rex decided that he really wanted to be there. Turned out he had to deal with certain errands that morning but was trying to make it. I was praying the whole time that he would make it on time. Heavenly Father definitely needed him to be there because the wedding started late, little kids kept interrupting, it took longer for the bride to change, etc. He came just in time and afterwards he said that he needed to be there. So that was awesome to have him witness a baptism.

Then we had our Tongan feast! 2 Elders in my district are tongan, so they knew what they were doing. It was really, really good. Our whole district has been feeling a tad stressed lately and so he decided to take an afternoon to relax and just eat. Nothing better! We had a lot of of fun and it was definitely needed.

That night was the craziest lightning storm!! Dad, you would've loved it. It is pretty cool to see. We did have a tornado watch too, but nothing came about.

Oh, mom we had dinner with the Hansen family. We got talking about where they grew up and they said Salt Lake. I asked what high school and she said Skyline. I was like oh yeah my parents went there. She asked what your maiden name was and freaked out. She ran off and pulled the yearbook out and was like, "yep you look like your mom." Crazy right? Her name is Teri Rodgers Hansen and her sister is Laurie Rodgers (don't know her married name). She said her sister Laurie is your age and they were in your ward. So, let me know if that rings a bell. It should due to the excitement she showed haha.

 

Sunday

Another long, long Sunday but it was a great one. We were blessed to have 4 potential investigators there! 2 just showed up on their own, and the other 2 were brought by friends in the branch. We are meeting with them this week, so we hope it goes well. We are so grateful to be in an area where the members just open their mouth and talk to their friends about the gospel. It definitely helps the work!

We had an amazing lesson with Sara at the Hughes' home (goes with the pic). So we have been teaching Sara for a while, but she wants her children to be a part of this journey with her. So we had our first lesson with her kids last night. We taught the Restoration using a visual and it was so amazing. Her daughter is so prepared and so spiritual. I could not believe that we were teaching an 8 year old because of how in tune she was. Like mother, like daughter I guess. I just felt so blessed to be a part of that lesson and see this little girl exercise faith. She told me that she wants to go on a mission when she is 19. She is completely serious! She is saying this before she is even baptized haha. So cool.

We also had a jello slurping contest because the jello was really watery. Get some straws and try it some time. It's pretty fun.

 

Anyways, I feel like I just typed out a research paper. For those of you who read through this whole email without skimming, well done! It's a long one. I hope you enjoy the details though. Tomorrow and Wednesday we are headed to Sister's Conference in Tulsa. I am excited!! Sister Shumway called me and asked me to sing at it...meh. I miss singing with choirs, not so much being a soloist. But it should go well.

I am on my way right now to an art museum that is pretty popular here. It's called Crystal Bridges. We are meeting the Fayetteville sisters (one which is Sis Hanshew from Nevada)!

Well, enough rambling from me. I love you all. Thanks for your love and support. It means the world to me. I am grateful each and every day. Have a great week!! I love you!!

 

Much love,

Sister Magness

 

A Beautiful GC Weekend

Hello family and friends!!

 

How are y'all? Guess what? I said "y'all" for the first time this week...yep it just came out with no thought at all. That was kind of fun/shocking. We will see if that sticks around. It sounds like you had a good Conference weekend. I sure did! I will chat more about that later.

How is the weather where you are at? Let's just say I have had to pull out the tights and coats. It is freezing! The humid cold makes things just a bit more chilly. Pretty different than Provo cold. We had little snow flurries on Saturday, but nothing stuck to the ground. It was crazy. It is a little warmer today but we are definitely transitioning to winter. The leaves are barely starting to change. I think of you mom when I see a really pretty tree that is changing. You would love it here with the seasons changing. I will try to get some pictures of it.

Tell the Spring Creek youth thank you!! I got a package from them with letters and pictures. It was awesome. I will have to write a letter to them at some point, but if it takes me a while just let the YW/YM leaders know that I got it and that I am grateful!

Also, go Cougars :)

 

Anyways, This has been a great week once again. I think the best way for me to tell you about it, is by just going through some people we have taught and how it is going with them. I will try not to bore you with this, but it is exciting missionary happenings.

 

The Kelly's - We are doing the 12 step program with them. Not for any real addictions (which it is intended for) but rather to make the Atonement more real. I have started doing it too and it is AMAZING. Every member should do it, in my opinion. It makes the Atonement more understandable and very personal. We have had wonderful experiences going through it with them. Random cool prayers are answered story. It might seem silly but when we got there Carrie Underwood's cd was playing. She immediately started talking about her week and was getting into the 12 step stuff and I was like "I can't focus with this." I just thought how much Ciara and I listened to the cd before I left haha. I said it quick prayer to Heavenly Father along the lines of help me focus/know how to ask her to turn it off/ a good time to do it. No joke....as I said 'Amen' in my head she was like, "Wait, should I turn the cd off?" Amazing Heavenly Father even cares about my concern for a cd playing during a lesson.

 

Stacy - She moved to Arizona this week. She is amazing!! She is a member we were working with. She got an amazing job offer and I know it was an answer to her prayers. I have a picture with her that I will attach. I really will miss her.

 

Hidachi - Yes, that is his name. He is a recent convert in the YSA branch. We taught a lesson on the Priesthood with another member of the branch. We were sitting outside teaching the lesson and a lot of his neighbors were just staring at us. So, the member we went with was just like, "Hey wanna talk about the Priesthood with us?" They were like, "the what?" Haha they were curious though. They went on to say no we are interested in other scripture besides the Bible. I said great well here is a Book of Mormon. So we got to give 3 Book of Mormons out! It was cool. I am grateful for the member we went with. He just got home from his mission so I think he is still in the mission mode and not afraid to say "Hey wanna talk about the Priesthood?"

 

Thompson - part member family. We went over to watch the Restoration video with them. The husband is a non member. It really brought the spirit in their home. As we watched the First Vision segment, the little 4 year old was SO happy! She just kept saying, "It's Jesus, It's Jesus!" She asked us if she could keep the video and watch it every day. Uhh yeah of course! It was really neat to see how much the kids loved it. We are excited to go back.

 

We set two more baptismal dates with some of our progressing investigators...Sara and Jesse! They are both for the beginning of November.

 

So random, but we had dinner at a members house who is actually in the Stake Presidency. He is from Scotland and sounds JUST like Shrek. It is the coolest thing.

 

We had a Zone Meeting this past Friday. Sister Knutson and I had to teach a part of it. It went really well though! I love our zone. A bunch of crazy elders, but it is fun. Oh and we went to Chick Fil A after. Thought you would like to know dad :)

 

Now to Conference. It was amazing! Isn't conference always amazing though? On Saturday we watched it at the church both sessions and Sunday we watched it at the Sperry's. We had a little pre conference drama. Remember how in Nevada I was with our ward missionary who fell and we ran to the ER? Yeah we met a recent convert at the church and she fell too. I think I am just bad luck. We ran to the fire station cause it is right by the Stake Center, just like home, and got some bandages. Turns out she went to the ER later. I think I just make people fall.

Anyways, besides that it was drama free. I bet the age change just exploded on facebook and such. I was really shocked, just like the rest of the church haha.I am so pumped for the lower age because I know a lot more young women will go. I totally would've taken that opportunity if I had it. I had a cool little experience though. After they announced it, into the next talk I said a little prayer to myself about it and I felt two things. 1. A love for the youth who are preparing...weird right? But I just felt that I should keep them in my prayers as this increased missionary force goes out. 2. That I am supposed to be on my mission as a 21 year old. For a second I thought, darn I wish I could've gone earlier I would've gotten home a year ago! But then I felt that I am here for a reason. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I also get to say that I was the last of the oldies who came out! It definitely is exciting though. Heavenly Father is just preparing the world even more for the second coming!

I loved all of the talks. It seems like they talked a lot about repenting and becoming. I am excited to read the talks again and study them! It is cool when you listen as a missionary because you think of your investigators and what talks they need. We had 6 investigators watch conference. Pretty neat.

I loved thinking that you were watching it at the same time!! I missed you, but the Sperry's helped us feel at home on Sunday with good food :)

 

Well, I gotta get going. This will be another great week! Have a good week and know that I love you!!

 

Love,

Sister Magness

 

Pictures: Us with Stacy before she left and me with the Arkansas sign

P.S. Did you watch the press conference thing about the new missionary age? If not check it out. It was really interesting.

Happy Half Birthday

Dearest family,

 

Hello!! Happy October! Can you believe it is October already? It is starting to feel like fall here, and I like it. Your "autumn" package came just in time apparently. Thank you so much!! I loved it. And I am even wearing one of the sweaters you sent, so good timing with that. I also wished myself a happy half birthday in the subject line. Hope that's okay with you! The leaves haven't started to change yet. It still looks like summer here. Everyone says it is really beautiful when the fall colors come though, so I am excited for that!

 

So how was your week? I hope you have all been doing well. Thank you for your letters and emails. I sure am one lucky missionary. I know I seriously say this every week but I just feel so blessed with all the love and support I receive from everyone.

Oh, one more thing about the package. So the family we live with, I mentioned how they have five kids. They have figured out that when we get packages there has to be some good stuff in there. Last night they are like, can we come look at your stuff. They lucked out with a lot of candy and glow sticks (that was from the random package you sent when I first got here). They LOVED it. They had a "glow stick party" and were running around outside for a good hour. So, on behalf of the Sperry children, thanks for the glow sticks and candy.

 

This has been another good week. On Tuesday we volunteer at a place called Concordia. It is a care center for about 12 elderly people. We start off with a Bible study group. We just choose a verse to discuss with them. Last week this woman who came kept raising her hand and saying, "I don't need this, but keep going." Then she would raise her hand again and say, "I disagree, but keep going." She said that probably 8 times. It was just funny cause normally it takes 5 minutes to discuss but took a lot longer with that haha. She was friendly but I think she forgot everytime she told us to keep going. We also do exercises with them. By exercises I mean holding a pool noodle and raising our hands up. It's fun though. Then we serve them their lunch. We also play bingo with them. I get to call the numbers out. Oh how they love their bingo.

 

All the people we are teaching are doing really well. This area just still amazes me. We get referrals constantly and are just trying to keep up with the members here. Rex is doing great. We are so close to having him pray vocally with us. He is getting more comfortable each time we meet. It is cool to see his progression. We also are teaching a kid named Jesse (I think I mentioned him last week?). We taught the Plan of Salvation. It was amazing. He just soaked it all up and wants to know more and more. He offered the closing prayer and it was one of the most sincere, real prayers I have ever heard. Another cool experience this week was teaching a lesson to one of the couples who have been investigating for a while. We planned on teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, but she expressed a concern so it went a whole different direction. It was amazing to see the spirit work through us to teach to their needs. It turned out being nothing we prepared for, but it was what she needed. We also met a less active this week who is awesome. It was a miracle she let us visit with her, and she even said we could come back! Those are just a few of the blessings we have seen this week. Overall, teaching is going well!

 

We had a baptism on Friday!! It was very simple, but very great. He didn't want any talks, just the service and that's it. We tried to get him to have a longer program but he just said nope haha. So we didn't push more. It turned out great though! She has been a member, so now their goal is the temple. Can't wait till they get there :)

 

The Relief Society Broadcast made me even more excited for Conference. I cannot wait for conference this weekend!! We will watch it live with you too. We are just an hour ahead of Utah so it is a little later in the day...nothing wrong with that though! I loved the RS broadcast. It seems like they all focused on the Atonement and our Savior. I love the new presidency. We aren't sure if we will watch it with families or go to the church...it depends where investigators are at. We already have 7 investigators who said they will watch it this weekend. How awesome is that? So happy conference weekend!! Eat some food in pajamas for me...I have to be all missionary dress during it, so have a moment for me.

 

We gave service this week. I tore down a fence with a sledgehammer...that's all I need to say about that. It was definitely not my thing. Oh what I am learning here.

 

Yesterday we were at the church building for....drum roll...10 hours! Is that like bishop status? Or do I still not know what that is like? Anyways, for me, it was rough. From 8 to 6 we were there. And in our family ward it was bring a friend to church sunday, so we were running around like crazy trying to meet all the new faces before they dodged us. We also taught Gospel Principles yesterday so it was busier than usual. It was our Primary Program yesterday too! Anywhere you are, all primary programs are so entertaining. They have a huge primary here. But, we survived church. We were exhausted at the end of the night, but it was a good day overall.

 

Well, we gotta make our weekly Walmart run but I sure love you. Thanks for everything!! Have a wonderful week. Know that I love you!

 

Much love from AR,

Sister Magness

 

Pictures:

A few from the baptism

A few with two of the kiddos enjoying the package treats :)

Another Week...

Hello there!!

 

How is my family doing? I hope all is well for you today! Mondays used to be pretty rough in the real world with school and such, but now Mondays are great! I forgot what it is like to dread Mondays, but I hope today is treating you well.

Thank you for your emails and letters. I say this all the time but I really do have the best support and family out there so thank you!! That goes for my friends too :)

 

Well, I completed another transfer yesterday...woo hoo!! It has been a very good, but very long week. For some reason it seems like I have already been in Arkansas for a month but it has been a week and a half. Weird mission time.

 

The reason this week was good is because of all the lessons we taught and the people we get to work with. This may be boring to read to some, but I am a missionary and this is what my week consists of so here ya go...

 

We are still teaching Rex. I think I mentioned him last week? Yeah I did. Okay so we had two more lessons with him. He is just so prepared, it's amazing to see. We set a baptismal date with him for October 27th. Very exciting!! He is coming to church, all the activities, and even both sessions of Stake Conf that we had this past weekend. So all is good with Rex.

 

We started teaching this guy named Jesse. He is another prepared one. After the first lesson, he was just like, "yep it's right." We are like really? no questions? haha but he is ready and prepared too. We are meeting with him again this week and will hopefully set another baptismal date.

 

Our families are still progressing and doing well. They know it is true, it is just the hesitancy of changing a lifestyle they have known for so long, which makes sense. That is a legitimate concern! But, we just keep reading the Book of Mormon with them and try to point out that they are feeling the Holy Ghost, they just aren't aware of how he speaks to them. I know they will get there, it is just taking some time.

 

Random, but I have tried some interesting things this week at dinner. And by interesting I don't mean possum or squirrel. One of the desserts I had was butterbeer like from Harry Potter. It was amazing. And made me want to go to Harry Potter World even more. One of the families lived in Germany for a while and they were celebrating October Fest. So we had a complete German meal. It was great, but I felt like I was going to die after I ate it cause the food was so heavy. Good thing I am not serving over there. Then, I got to try some Korean food called kimchi. Kinda gross, but still fun. Who knew Arkansas was so diverse right?

 

I am glad you got the picture message from Sister Von Bose!! We were just eating dessert and she was like, "Smile!!" Haha I was like ugh okay but then she asked for your number and I thought that was awesome. I kept saying, "My family is going to be your new best friend." She is so sweet and they have such a fun family! I can't believe that her nephew is serving in Spring Creek. What a small world? She told me on Sunday that you had made that connection. So crazy!

 

We had Stake Conference this past weekend and it was amazing!! Elder Shayne Bowen of the Seventy came and spoke. The adult session on Saturday was my favorite. So he talked for about 10 or 15 minutes on Saturday night and then he just opened it up to a question and answer session for an hour. I was thinking, "He obviously knows a lot to just stand there and be able to answer our questions!" He did give some guidelines though so that people wouldn't ask personal questions or questions about Kolob, etc. One of the questions asked was about missionary work and he got really excited. He used to be a mission president in Spain and so he loves it! He asked all of the full time missionaries to stand up. So me and my district and the senior couple stood up. He asks us some questions (I will get to that in a minute) but then has us sit down. He then asks everyone in the stake to raise their hands if they have lived here for 2 years or more (which mostly everyone did). He then had them stand up. He said, "This is the full time missionary force." He then called us the part time missionaries. He was not downgrading missionary work in any way or what we do, but it was a very powerful point. He was teaching a great lesson on member missionary work and how it should just be a way of life.

 

Now to the funny story about this...so as we were standing up, he handed the mic to one of the elders in my district. He asks him what he is going to go home and do after his mission. He says, "Keep being a missionary." Elder Bowen is like, no what are you really going to do...So the elder says ugh go home and get married. Then Elder Bowen said, "More than that, you will go home, find a righteous young woman, get sealed in the temple to prepare for exaltation, etc. etc." Then he said pass the mic to that sister behind you. Yep that's me. I was freaking out. He says, "So, sister what are you going to do when you get home?" I just repeated everything he said word for word haha. The whole thing about sealings and exaltation. The entire stake was just laughing. It was funny but also really embarrassing. Members of the ward kept coming up to me and saying, "We really liked your talk at Stake Conference." After I said that Elder Bowen said, "That's why we need sisters in the field." Sister Knutson just got to stand there and laugh too...good times.

He also talked a lot about the importance of temples and how this stake was a choice stake. These people really are amazing and I am grateful to serve in such a strong unit of the church.

 

Well, that's about it for this week. It was a great week and this week is looking good too. We have a baptism set for this Friday for a part member couple. It will be wonderful!

 

Thank you for everything. I sure love you all!! Have a great week yourselves. Know that I love you!

 

Love, Sister Magness

 

Pictures: I attached one of the bite thingy. Ciara wanted another one to show Brother Schmutz. I also have a couple in front of the Sperry's home. Enjoy!

Hola from Bella Vista

Hello from Arkansas!!

 

How is my family this week? Thank you once again for your love and support. I always love reading emails from y'all each Monday. It makes me happy :)

Momma, Happy Birthday tomorrow!! I am glad you got my card and classic sign picture. I hope you have a wonderful day and know that I will be thinking of you throughout the day.

So, BYU lost huh? Well, at least it wasn't as bad of a loss as last year. Last season the game against Utah was just terrible and made me pretty sad, so at least we improved. We'll get ya next season dad.

 

Well, let me tell you about my new area. I LOVE it. Arkansas (at least this part of the state) is absolutely beautiful. There are hills (which is as close to mountains as I will get on the mission) and green trees everywhere. We have had a lot of rain this past weekend and I feel like I am in Oregon or Washington (even though I have never been there). I just feel like I am on the coast somewhere. It really is beautiful. I see possums a lot too...they are mostly dead on the side of the road though. It makes me think of that one night we looked up possum pictures for hours at Andrew's house and yep they are really that scary looking. Creepy teeth. Anyways, so there are critters here. It's kinda fun though.

 

I live with the Sperry family. I will take pictures this week of our little place and their house. We live in their basement. They have a beautiful home. They have 5 children too. So, it is a busy household! They wake up around 5:30 am. I wake up to little feet running around, children playing the piano and violin, and singing primary songs together. The first morning I was like, "Is this real life?" Haha I know I was not that cooperative as a little McCall so it is just funny to see. They are amazing though. Sister Sperry is a zumba instructor and so she comes down at 6:30 am and does zumba with us every morning. It is so fun. I am terrible at it because you are supposed to move your hips and stuff, but it's still fun. She has choreographed all the routines to EFY music and other LDS music so that we can do it with her :) Brother Sperry is actually in Vegas right now for a bike convention so he said he will tell my homeland hello for me!

 

The members here are AMAZING. Like, I just watch them do missionary work and am wow'd by them. They love missionary work and I feel so blessed to just be here and learn from them. I feel like I am in a Preach My Gospel video. You might not know what that means. We watch PMG videos of examples of how to do the work, work with members, etc. and I feel like they are just perfect and could totally film "The District 3" here. I may write the missionary department and just tell them that. The dinner calendar is filled for every single night. When we go over most the time they have a non member friend there that we just get to know. If they don't have a friend there, they talk about missionary work most the time and tell us who they gave a Book of Mormon to this week. They are always inviting friends to church and are always giving us referrals. Like I said, I just feel blessed to be here and learn how to be a member missionary for after the mission.

 

We cover 2 units - the Bella Vista Ward and the Rogers YSA branch. So we work with 2 ward mission leaders and 2 bishops, etc. It is awesome. I love the Bella Vista family ward - it reminds me of Utah or GV ward. Very active, very involved,etc. Most everyone is from the west coast who lives here and they work for Walmart. They say that Walmart recruits a ton from BYU so that brings them all out. We have some Walmart CEO's in our ward. Pretty successful people out here. Or if they don't work for Walmart, they work for buyers and supplyers to Walmart. I am learning more than I ever wanted to about Walmart. Next time you eat something from the great value brand, check out the back - it will say Bentonville, AR :)

 

Oh so since we cover the YSA branch we can go anywhere in the zone. So we go to Bentonville and Rogers often too to teach or check referrals, etc. The YSA branch is amazing. In fact, I was lucky enough to witness a baptism on Saturday. I just swooped in and 3 days later got to be a part of a baptism. Her name is Kate and she is wonderful. She has zero support from home, but knows that this is what she needs to be doing so here she is. She got confirmed yesterday too. During the service she leaned over and said, "Man I just wish my family were here." But she knows that she has a new family in the ward and knows that it might just take some time. I am excited to continue teaching her and get to know her better. She is such an example to me and I just loved witnessing a baptism.

 

On Friday night, we had an amazing Restoration lesson with a guy named Rex. He is dating a girl in the ward and is interested in the gospel. At first he was hesitant, but a few Sundays ago all the talks answered all these questions he had on his mind. He leaned over to her and said, "I want to be baptized." Awesome. So we had our first lesson and the spirit was so strong. We watched the Restoration video and discussed it, etc. and when we asked him his thoughts he just said, "This is just right." We are setting a baptism date with him tonight. He had the opportunity to drive up to Independence and the Kansas City temple. Just great things are happening for him and once again, I am blessed to be a part of it.

 

Oh random but even the kids here wow me. For example, we had dinner with the Evans family. Their 12 year old girl was telling me that she has just started studying Isaiah because she felt it was time to start it (Is that even how you spell Isaiah?). Anyways, she showed me this huge study guide she made her parents get here and she is already through a quarter of it. I was like, what's that, what's this and she knew all the answers. Pretty sure the elect are coming haha. Instead of feeling lame cause I haven't cracked open Isaiah, I just figured I can start now and go to the 12 year old with my questions.

 

Let's see...oh we had a zone meeting this Friday. Love my new zone. They are just great! A brother from my ward came and spoke to us about how to respond to anti mormon stuff since people are asking a lot about us with Mitt Romney and such. His name is Brother Tvedtnes. Send me any questions who have about whatever and I can ask him. Seriously he is a genius. He worked at BYU and a research place in Provo where he worked with the apostles and answered some of their questions. Yeah so he is kinda smart. Look up some of his stuff.

 

Sunday was absolutely crazy. We were at the church at 7:15 am for ward council. Then we had church for the Bella Vista ward 9:00 to noon. Oh and they called on me to come up and share my testimony. I guess that comes with being the new missionary. Then after we had a lesson with the Burnetts (one of the TWO families we are teaching). Then we ate lunch in the church kitchen that we brought from home. Then we prepared for a dinner lesson. Then we had church again from 2:30 to 5:30. Then we raced to dinner. Then came home and finally got to study. Exhausting. So Sundays here are just crazy and I will hopefully start getting used to it! Awesome wards though, it is just a lot of church!

 

People are very prepared here. The members are helping us so much and I just feel blessed. I know I said that honestly 3 times already, but this area is amazing. Oh and did you know Elder Bednar was the first stake president in the Rogers stake?? His picture is just hanging up in our church building right across from his picture as apostle haha. I will have to send a picture of the picture for you.

 

Oh wait, I didn't even mention my companion. She is amazing!! Her name is Sister Knutson. She is from NC so this green scenery is pretty much normal to her. She is fun, outgoing, and an amazing teacher. This is her last transfer so we will make it a good one. She needs to teach me all she knows about the area in just a short 6 weeks. Kinda scary but I can do it right? Anyways, we have a lot of fun together and help each other keep going especially with crazy sundays :)

 

I also love being by civilization again. We passed a panera and a firehouse subs...yes they have firehouse! We are going to eat lunch there after I finish this email :) I am pretty excited.

 

Well, that was a lot of information. Just know all is well and I really do love this place. Such a blessing to be here. I love all of you a whole lot. Have a beautiful week!!

 

Much love from AR,

Sister Magness

 

1st two pictures: us eating at the church cause we live there

3rd pic: Us and Kate before her baptism!!

4th pic: A picture of the Rogers Zone from Friday's meeting

Sister Magness Transfer and Funny Stories

Dear Family and Friends,

So, I hit my 3 month mark. It seems like I have been out for a year, but at the same time it has gone quick. Mission time is definitely weird. Seems slow, but then you look back and it has passed you by.

 

 I am transferring to Bella Vista AR. Bella Vista is where I was last week. They live with members in a beautiful home. It is a bigger city and I think it will help a lot. I actually prayed after I went there that I would serve there some day. I guess he is answering my prayer a little quicker than I thought!

 

My new address is:

22 Marionet Dr

Bella Vista, AR 72714

(you can put this on the blog/email it out that i am transferring)

 

Thanks for your emails, love and support. I cant say thank you enough. Thanks for the Orgill reunion note. That was awesome!!

 

Oh, mom I started a gratitude journal this past week. It helps a lot. THanks for the idea.

Thanks for the loan and voting update too dad.

Yes I look at the moon too! Some nights it isn't out though so I just look at the sky.

 

I want to share 2 funny stories with you.

 

1) We were with an older member this past week and she says, "Did you hear about the Vegas temple?" I was like ugh, yes? She said "Yeah I just read about its dedication!" I said Oh I think that was in 1989 though. She said no I really just read about it in the church news. I said can i see it? She handed it to me and yep she was reading the church news from 1989. When I pointed it out to her she still didn't really get it. It was hilarious. She thinks it is a brand new temple!! She is awesome though. She helps a lot with the work :)

 

2) I thought there was a tornado this week but it was just a windstorm which led to embarrassing myself in a lesson. So we were in a lesson and when we started it is nice and sunny outside. 10 minutes in it starts to pour rain. 5 minutes later it is SO windy. I was getting nervous because we had a tornado warning the night before. My comp and the lady we were teaching were as calm as can be so I just took it easy. Then a huge tree branch smacked the window. I literally jumped up and started booking it in her house. I thought it was a tornado and was going who knows where for cover. The lady was laughing so hard. She said its fine just some wind. It was the craziest wind ever though. Vegas did not prepare me for this haha. There were tree branches everywhere all over Nevada. The wind knocked a lot down. We got a warning from our ZL's to stay in for the night cause it was pretty bad. But it cleared out. You would've loved it dad but I realized I am not a fan of this weather.

 

Anyways, I gotta run but I love you all so so much. Thanks for your support. With this change it will get better. Have a wonderful week! Let me know about the football game outcomes :)

 

Love, Sister Magness