Alright.. This week. I'm not even really sure what happened. It been a crazy week. Probably more downs then ups BUT the ups always make up for the downs.. R is so over meeting with us which has been rough. We watched him change so much and the gospel was really helping him but I guess he's not totally ready and committed yet. So we are just focusing on J and finding new gators. We met this one girl tracting and it was awesome. Of course we have to tract the neighborhood with the street "Yorkshire" in it, right?! Well the first lady we knocked on was really not happy that we knocked on her door. Ohhhhh boy. Sometimes people are just not very nice. And it's always annoying when it's the first door. But a few houses later we met C!!! She talked to us for 15 minutes and seemed to have a lot of faith in Jesus Christ and she was interested in the Book of Mormon. We introduced it a little bit and prayed with her and went on our way. We have an appt with her in a few hours so hopefully that works out. She seems really solid. Then we tracted this little side road and met F! We'll see what the Book of Mormon can do for him. He also seemed really interested in reading it :]

It was snowing for a bit a few days ago and we definitely tracted in it. It was so cold and we just laughed the whole time at how ridiculous it was that we were outside walking in the snow for hours. But it was fun. I think that I will definitely be over snow by the time I get home.. And I'm currently the driver so pray for us that I can learn how to drive in the snow super fast. I have a few times so far but it hasn't been bad.

Thanksgiving was awesome. We loved every minute of it! We spent time with the S's and then went to the P's and had a great time there and then we headed off to Kirtland to spend time with the missionaries. We watched Emma and I just love that movie! It was so good! Emma was such an incredible woman. I love being able to learn about her so much at the sites. She went through a lot but she knew that Joseph was called of God to be the prophet and she fully supported him.

Our Nativity display at sites also started. It's so beautiful. I have never appreciated Nativies more in my life then I do now. So many people come in from around the area to see them and they just love it. It's the perfect opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Man, He really is the center of everything. NONE of this would be possible without Him. We wouldn't be able to change and become better people, we wouldn't be able to be with our families forever, or return to Heavenly Father.. It wouldn't be possible! But Heavenly Father loves us so He sent His Son for us.. Isn't that incredible?! It makes me think of when King Benjamin is talking to the people about how we aren't even as much as the dust of the earth (Mosiah2:25) and yet, Heavenly Father has a perfect love for us. The holiday season is amazing. I know that it's not even December yet but Christmas begins early in Kirtland haha. And we get to dress up in nativity costumes with the little kids that come in :] I'll see if I can get some pictures because it's AWESOME! 

 Oh, another cool story.. We have been going through our former gator pile to find people to teach and we called this lady a few weeks ago but didn't get in touch with her or something.. But we're tracting a few days ago and this man opened the door and says, "My wife isn't home right now.. She should be home in 20, but do you want to come in wait until she gets back?" We were like uhhh... We'll just stay out here :] so we talked to him for a bit and he told us his name and we realized this was the house of the woman we called a few weeks ago!!!! They were taught a few years ago and we're going to try to pick them back up.  

Kay, one last thing. Yesterday was just aboslutely amazing. We had zone conference with a few other zones. We started off in the Kirtland Temple and sang Christmas songs and some people in the mission leadership bore their testimonies. Then we sang more Christmas songs. Then we split up into zones and we all had the opportunity to bear witness of our Savoir in a place where he has shown His face more than 4 times that we know of. Probably a lot more.. So many incredible things happened in the Kirtlnad Temple and of course we got to sing The Spirit of God. But bearing my testimony is something I don't like doing when it's not teaching. I just get all nervous and stuff and don't know what to say so I just avoid it. But I had to yesterday. So I just prayed that my words would be guided by the spirit and I just went for it. It's not very often that I feel my words are guided by the spirit but I really felt that yesterday as I was sharing with others that I know that Christ is my Savoir and that He loves us so much. This is all true.. What an amazing work that we're doing. Not just full time missionaries but everybody who shares their testimonies of the Savoir with others. When it truly comes from the heart the spirit will always be there to bear witness of the truthfulness of your words. I. Love. It.  I love this gospel. I love Heavenly Father's perfect plan for us. HE LOVES US!!!!!!

Sister Maynard.

Ps. Check out Ness. mormon.org/vanessa I love her as well. And check out mormon.org/christmas. There's lots of fun things going on with church media!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Hey!!!

Soooo this week.. Hm. Not the best but still okay. Our gators dropped us which is always hard so now we're just tracting which is even harder. But I'm doing my best to stay positive. P and I talked about it this morning and I just really feel like Heavenly Father has something in store for us. We have to go through the bad to get to the good, right? So if we just stay positive and keep working then something will come out of this, right?? I am really hoping Heavenly Father leads us to someone who is prepared. I don't know how long I can stay positive for :P But tracting is a lot better/easier when you're positive about it. I know that we'll find someone. Just have to be diligent..

And this week is Thanksgiving so that's like the best!!! We will be spending Thanksgiving with the S's :] K's mom is coming in from Utah so it will be a party. Then we have plans to make an appearance at some more members homes :] Then off to Kirtland! It will be an awesome day/week. Our sites schedule was changed so we're there Thurs & Fri. It's different but I love it. We get maybe 2 tours a day total so it's really slowing down. This past week Sister M asked if we wanted to go on a spanish tour with her. It was so cool!!!! I could only understand a few things but I loved it. I love hearing people's testimonies in other languages. I feel like it's more powerful because you can't get caught up in the words. You really have to rely on the spirit and you can feel it even when you don't understand what they're saying! It's so cool!!! And we have a lot of calls to make in the call center. We have been going through our online system and cleaning it out. We talk to a lot of voicemails so hopefully something comes from it!! Lots of tedious work but miracles will come. I just know it!

Have a great week and Thanksgiving! We really do have a lot to be grateful for :]

Love you!

Sister Maynard

One Year!

Hello!!!!!

The District

Oh! We have seen so many miracles these last few weeks. Especially with our gators.

Z and F had their little baby yesterday!!!! He's so cute! She called us an hour after she gave birth and asked us to come over haha. We had to wait until after church but he was such a cute little guy!!!! We're so happy for them :] 

In one of their lessons they had their friend, J, come too and we have been meeting with him ever since. He's 20 and way cool. He's very open to learning and finding out if the church is true for himself. Which he's doing. He came to church yesterday and loved it!!! He's going through a rough time right now and he said that he was so glad to go to church because he felt so much better afterwards. It's so neat because everything we teach him he just gets so excited!! The gospel is amazing! 

R came to church as well! He has made so much progress from when I first met him. My first lesson with him he was asking random questions about whether or not Mormon's can have guns.. Haha but now his questions are very focused on the lessons and his desire to find truth has grown a ton. Seriously. The gospel just makes people happier. You can see it in the people we meet with. They look lighter and want more and more. It really is a miracle. 

We also had an amazing lesson with the R and A. They're a part member family and I just love them so much!!!!! R has so much desire to find truth and in our lessons they have questions about whatever and we're able to answer them through the scriptures and every time they get so excited about reading! I have never loved the Book of Mormon so much in my life. Before my mission I knew absolutely nothing about the Book of Mormon and I'm learning everyday that it really does contain all the answers we're searching for. 

Every week we have a Book of Mormon club and we're focusing on chapters that testify of Christ. Last week I was having a really hard time because I felt like I needed to be perfect and know everything. Which I know isn't even possible but I was feeling really down because of it. In BoM Club we were reading 1 Nephi 11 about Nephi seeing the tree of life and one verse in there stuck out to me so much. Like a verse might not have stuck out to me so much ever... but it was verse 17 which says, "And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things." It just hit me that I don't need to know everything or be perfect! Which is such a relief. But all that matters is that Heavenly Father loves me and that I know that. He's the one who helps us through everything and gives us everything. All I have to do is just try my hardest and He'll make up the rest because He loves me :] I love the Book of Mormon and the wonderful things it teaches. I learn something new everyday from it!

Love you,

Sister Maynard.

Ps. I was trying to do this yoga pose that Palmer taught me and I might have fallen on my chin and my jaw seems a little messed up :/

Pps. I have been on my mission for a year now!!!! Can you even believe it?! Because I can't. Mind. Blown. 

Lock Down

Sooo because of Hurricane Sandy we were on lock down for a few days. It was just a constant light drizzle for ever. But we were stuck inside. So what do you do?? Build a fort :] Our fort was AWESOME! 

The Fort

Guess what's happening this week for transfers.. P and I are staying together!!!!!!!! Nobody thought it would happen. For some reason people think you can't have fun on top of that or something so they want to split us up. Look out Ravenna! P and M are here for 6 more weeks!!!!

Z and F brought their friend J to one of our lessons and he is so solid. He was so into the lesson and wants so much what the gospel has to offer. It was such a neat lesson. He accepted baptism and is excited to read the Book of Mormon :]

R is getting baptized on 14 Dec :] :] :] 

This week has been different because of the hurricane. We didn't go to sites which was extra strange. But we had a really good week nonetheless :]

I hope you have a great week! Love you!!
Sister Maynard.

Isn't it pretty

View From Apartment

Church Parking Lot

What do you mean Halloween isn't on Halloween???

Seriously, Ohio is so weird. We had Halloween on Sat and yesterday.. Now that there's a huge storm coming idk if we'll actually have Halloween on Halloween this year. Sooooo weird. Especially tracting  with all of the trick or treaters.. Everybody is all cheerful until they know why we're there. Gahhhh. and we don't even get candy out of it!!!!! Probably a good thing. 

We had a gator, R, at church on sun! It was sweet. He had a good time :]  we're meeting with Z and F and they are doing awesome!! They even had a friend come to one of our lessons and he said he would be baptized!!!!! We're looking forward to meeting with him.  We are in major finding mode so hopefully we get some new potentials/gators here soon :] 

The Johnson Farm has been amazing. Ahhhhh I love serving there so much. We took this family on tour and they had grandchildren from NP! The Cameron's. I don't know them but I think I've heard of them. It was a sweet tour. They were so prepared to feel the spirit and we all had tears in our eyes at the end as we were bearing our testimonies of the plan of salvation. I LOVE HISTORIC SITES!!!!!!!! 

And I totes love all of you.. 

Sister Maynard. 

BIRTHDAY!!!!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAYYYY!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited :] I don't really want to be older but I love birthdays so it's fine.

 

This past week has been awesome. Z and F came to church again and had a great experience! It seemed like everything that was talked about in church was totally applicable to them and they love it so much. They're really excited to be baptized. We taught them the plan of salvation last night at the S's and as we taught about the spirit world, F said that a huge burden had been lifted that she had been carrying for a few years now. She told us how her mom was in a coma and the preacher came and told her that her mom was saved but it didn't sit well with her. She didn't understand how someone who was unconscious could make that decision for themselves. When we told her that after we die and our spirits go to the spirit world and they have an opportunity to learn about Christ there and accept His gospel she felt so much peace and knew that her mom would have that opportunity. And it's so true!!!!! I love feeling the spirit in lessons because it not only confirms to them that these things are true but it confirms it to me as well. My testimony has been strengthened more than I thought possible out here. I am learning so much and meeting some of the most amazing people.

 

The Lord blesses us so much when we try our hardest. We have been praying and praying to find someone who's prepared to accept our message. We had an appointment with these two 17 year old boys, D and R, who we've been trying to meet with for a while now but we keep missing each other. So we go to meet them at the library and one of the guys was there but the other guy was new. I was a little nervous at first because I didn't know why he was there! Turns out he's D's uncle and new to the whole religion thing and just searching for truth.. He was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and we had an awesome lesson with them. D is a little hesitant about religion but we know Heavenly Father is going to bless him so much. I have never promised so many blessings before than to D and R. We ran into them last week at Subway and sat with them and read the intro with them and I just promised them over and over again that this will change their lives and make them so much happier. At first they weren't serious and had no interest but by the end they both took a copy and said they would read it. Missionary work is the best.

 

And so many people are preparing/going on missions right now!!!!!! I can't even believe how much the missionary world is booming. It's crazy! EVERYBODY needs to go on a mission. There are things you learn on a mission that you can't learn anywhere else. It's awesome :]

 

I love this gospel so much. It really does bring so much happiness and I can promise that!!!!! Heavenly Father loves us. I hope you have a great week!!!

Sister Maynard.

I love Tender Mercies

Johnson Farm was awesome. It was actually really hard. I've never looked at the guide book before and I had only been on 2 tours before so I didn't know a lot of the information. But we ended up taking like 10 tours that day!!!!!! So by the end I was kind of getting the hang of it. It's an amazing place.. So sacred. That's where Joseph was tarred and feathered and also where D&C 76 was received all about the after life. People didn't like that very much so that's why he was tarred and feathered. Hopefully I can get a guide book tomorrow so I don't have to stumble through anymore. 

I'm so excited that younger girls are taking this serious and deciding to go on missions. This is something you can't experience anywhere else and I'm learning so much from being out here. It's something that I wouldn't trade for anything.

We have these 2 gators, right?? Well, they were really excited to come to church yesterday and we found them a ride and everything was going perfect. But of course nothing can be perfect so the ride got lost and couldn't find them. So church has started and we get a call from the guy and he just said he was really looking forward to coming but the ride never showed up but they were sitting there waiting. To add to it, they don't have a phone so when we called the number back it was the neighbor and the guy had already left. I started crying because I'm dramatic like that and a member came up to us and asked us what was going on. We explained the situation and he asked where the gators lived and said he could go pick them up really quick. It felt like eternity sitting there waiting for them but they eventually made it!!! Sacrament was over but they got to hear all of the testimonies and by the end of church they just loved it so much!!! They're looking forward to coming next week and they have a date set for Dec 1 :] YAYYYYY! We're so excited. We have a lot of work to do before then but we know that Heavenly Father will make it happen. It's always in His hands.

 

We also had a really amazing lesson with these members last night. We taught them about the Restoration and the spirit was so strong! We just all bore our testimonies of how much Heavenly Father loves us and by the end we all had tears in our eyes. I don't have a lot of lessons like that but last night's lesson is something I'll never forget.

 

I love missionary work. I love feeling the spirit and helping others feel the spirit as well. There's nothing like having the spirit speak through you to others. It's the most amazing feeling in the world. I know that this gospel is true.. I learn that more and more everyday as I'm out here and it really does bring peace and happiness as promised in the Book of Mormon. I love it so much!!!!!

 

And I love you.

Sister Maynard.