Go Big or Go Home!

Guys... it's my last transfer. It's actually here. And I'm staying in Chesapeake for another transfer. I'll be in Baltimore for 6 months! AND my next companion, Sister Hale, is super awesome. 

This will be the best transfer of my mission.

AAAAHHHH!! I just want to scream! 

I don't want to make this email too long, but we had so many miracles this week! The biggest being LATEAR GOT BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS!! She's officially clean and she can officially access the Atonement :) #BDE. It was a beautiful baptism and she invited so many family members! Many of them came and multiple family members came up to us after the baptism and asked us what they needed to do to be baptized! We're hoping to start teaching them soon! And Tykira and Antonio, her two kids, bore their testimony before Latear at her baptism and they were just crying! It was so cute! Antonio told us that he couldn't wait until they could all be a "baptized family" and Tykira, through her tears, said she couldn't wait to "follow the example of [her mom]" and that she was proud of her mom! It was the cutest thing ever. Not gonna lie, a few tears of my own were shed. It was so great :)

We also had the great privilege of finding 3 new investigators this week! First we met Christie. She was a referral from the Elders. She works on Sunday, but is doing everything she can to get off of work so she can come to church! She has such a desire to learn and build a relationship with Christ. Her life is crazy, but it's been so good to get to know her! SO MUCH POTENTIAL! God just leads us right to the prepared people :) Next we found Angie. Now, that's a funny story. Angie was a referral from other elders and we were driving to contact a HQ referral, Kathy, but I accidentally put Angie's address in my GPS.... so we go up to her on her porch and ask for Kathy and she says she's Angie and we have been trying to get a hold of Angie forever now... so we put the two and two together and figured it out! ha-ha... so, basically the Spirit led us to Angie and we taught her about the Book of Mormon and set up a return appointment, then booked it over to Kathy, our 3rd new investigator, for our actual return appointment! Kathy is this sweet 55 year old who's going through a really hard time. She was describing a church to us that she wanted to find (she's been going to Baptist and catholic churches, but doesn't really like them.) and she literally just described our church ha-ha. So we told her she'd love it, got a return appointment, and gave her a Book of Mormon :) YES!

Aside from that great miracle and our 3 new investigators, here are a few bullet points from my week:

-Sis. Hokafonu got her going home outfit.

- Our District Leader bought us pizza for dinner because we hadn't gotten fed all week.

- I had a little trip to the doctors and Sis. Hokafonu took ridiculous pictures (no worries, I'm fine).

- We saw Tykira all dressed up for homecoming- pictures will be attached.

- A man rolled down his window and started calling me "bae" while we were at a stop light; he asked for my name and I just said, "I'm a SISTER!" and drove away laughing. Super funny.

- We went to B-dubbs (Buffalo Wild Wings) for their 60 cent wings during weekly planning. Why not have fun doing the routine stuff?

- We made the Elders come over to our apartment door and kill a spider that was waiting to kill us...

-A Tongan family in the neighboring ward took us out to Olive Garden because my companion's Tongan... so funny. 

- We had a little "farewell" party for Sis. Hokafonu with cake and everything :) 

And that was my amazing week. I seriously can't wait for all that this next transfer holds in store for us. So many miracles have already come and I know there are more just around the corner! 

I hope you continue to see those miracles and keep the faith! I love you all!

Scripture of the Week: Alma 26:12

Quote of the Week: "My dear brothers and sisters, there will be days and nights when you feel overwhelmed, when your hearts are heavy and your heads hang down. Then, please remember, Jesus Christ, The Redeemer, is the head of this church. It is His gospel. He wants you to succeed. He gave His life for just this purpose." -President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

"Our Joy has Little to do with Our Circumstance and Everything to do with Our Focus."

Subject comes from Elder Nelson. One of my favorite quotes from General Conference. Also one of my sisters faves; it's like we're family or something. 

WASN'T GENERAL CONFERENCE FLIPPING AMAZING!!! I remember counting down for GenConf in April and it's already gone now. I wanted to cry when it ended. No more general conferences as a missionary :( If you wanna know everything I liked about conference just watch the entire thing again and I think that'll cover you. Sound good? 

But really, though. Here are some fave takeaways:

- We've all chosen to follow Christ once before, and we risked our entire souls for to follow Him. That just goes to show our initial faith and trust in Him. Let's not let that faith in the Perfect Being dwindle with doubt. That's how Satan got that 1/3 of the hosts of heaven.

-"Every knee shall bow and tongue confess..." Let that day be today! In show gratitude for this amazing gospel by SHARING IT and LIVING IT!

- We cannot pray away another's agency.

- God is only a prayer away :)

- God believes in you even when you don't believe in yourself.

- Our only help and HOPE come from Jesus Christ. But He asks that you try. REALLY try. 

- Missionary work is group work! Seriously, coming from a full-time missionary, God's work would hasten SO MUCH MORE if we had the help from every single member.

- Some things can only be learned by FAITH

- "Be ambitious for Christ!"

- Sharing the gospel is not a burden but a joy! And this is why missionary work is so joyful. Because our focus is on our Savior. It's where it needs to be. But the truth is, our focus can always be on Him. Whether we're a full-time missionary or not and that's how we find true joy ALWAYS!

- Russell M. Nelson's talk was one of my favorites! I won't share too much from him, but simply put: Joy can be ours as we keep the commandments and keep our Savior as our focus! 

- Jesus knows it was worth it to perform the Atonement. All that pain and suffering was worth it. YOU are worth it. 

- All storms obey Christ; this is His church and He will never leave it. Where else would you go? 

- Our cumulative numbers might not be many, but our cumulative light will be great!

- Generations are affected by the decisions you make today

- REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE! And where you gained your testimony in the first place. 

- GOD WILL WIPE AWAY ALL THE TEARS FROM OUR EYES! What an amazing promise...

- All sisters are angels. Couldn't help but throw that one in there :)

- The Atonement bears NO scars. 

- Don't lose sight of eternity for a simple "toy"

There you go ladies and gentlemen. That was basically my week. Pretty fantastic, right?

Quick update on people: LATEAR IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!!! She's having her interview this week and she's all set! She's even bearing her testimony with her children at her baptism. It's pretty exciting! Such a great way to end this transfer :) 

Monica is also progressing really well! She came to us this last week with her own date to be baptized! She wants to be baptized on December 10th! We're going to see if she'd be willing to get baptized earlier if she's ready, but we're not going to rush anything. She's doing really well! Accepted to live the word of wisdom already and is already sharing the gospel with friends and family! That's how you know if you're really converted :) 

We threw a little birthday party for our dear friend Sandra on Tuesday! Happy birthday! We even had cake and balloons :) She's also found names to take to the temple!!! We're hoping to go with her before Sis. Hokafonu goes home, but we'll see how that goes. 

We had an amazing Zone training this last week as well. The Zone Leaders and us instructed on the fundamental commitments of missionaries: Church, Pray, Read. Super good :) It was the most interesting zone training I've ever been to, let alone instructed it. We made it like a basketball camp :) Super fun. Lily came through this week with dinner and ice cream! 

We also got to go on exchanges with the Jones Falls sisters! I went with Sister Clawson for her first exchange ever! She's so sweet and already a pro missionary! We had a blast and she even jumped out of the car to pick up some litter in the middle of Baltimore. It was hilarious. Oh, and fun fact about Sis. Clawson: She hunts alligators in Alabama. I will definitely be living there one day lol. 

Sister Hokafonu also got her official travel papers. She's now packing and getting ready to go home. I keep teasing her about it, but then she just says, "this'll be you in 6 weeks!" and laughs.... Ouch. 

We also had INTERVIEWS with President! He's just the greatest! It was my last normal interview :( He's super great, though. Always knows what to say and truly cares about the people. I truly love that man! It's super sad, we were talking about transfers and he goes on to tell us that in November, when I go home, about 1/3 of the mission will be going home as well. The transfer before I came out and my transfer were both SUPER big, and most people from my transfer are going home in November for school. Poor president. He joked about going rouge and not allowing any more missionaries to home from here on out haha. I guess that'd take away any school anxieties! 

That was basically my week :) Lots of lessons. I got to pet a cute bunny :) Took a selfie with President. And October is officially here...

Keep up all the good work! Find joy in the little things :) Love you all! 

Scripture of the Week: Matthew 11:28-30

Quote of the Week: "Our joy has little to do with our circumstance and everything to do with our focus." Elder Nelson

P.s. #YouKnowYou'reAMissionary when you get frustrated reading Alma in the Book of Mormon and hearing all of Korihor's anti-Jesus words. I wanted to scream!

Oh, the pictures: that coke bottle was the one Sis. Clawson ran to pick up (the litter) in the road while we were at a stop light. 2. Sis. Clawson and I partying before bed. 3. Bunny named winter. 4. New shirts at Ken's shop. 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

Sweater Weather

Sweater Weather is definitely here! It was crazy; we walked out of our apartment on Saturday morning and it was FREEZING! Fall just came overnight, literally. And I've heard it's been getting pretty cold in Utah, too! I hope you all don't freeze! 

This week was super great for our investigators! Latear has been on fire reading and studying in the Book of Mormon! She's been recognizing the things she wants to change in her life and she's currently doing it! AND, while I was on exchanges, Latear decided to accept the baptismal date of October 8th!! She's getting baptized on October 8th!!! Woo hoo! That's the last Saturday of this transfer :) She's so rock solid, too! She came to the General Women's broadcast (which was amazing!) and to church the next day :) She's counting down the days until her baptism! Her children still want to be baptized, but she wants to be the example for them, and they still have to come to church before they can make that step. Latear is so good, though :) I'm so grateful for her diligence and love. She's told us quite a bit these last few weeks about how grateful she is that we didn't give up on her. People just need others to cheer them on and be there for them. Everyone needs help fighting and eventually their time comes, but it's only those who fight with them and never give up on them that reap the blessings with them. I find so much joy in seeing her happy and it's crazy how physical the change can be when one decides to follow Christ. I truly truly love her. 

We also went on exchanges with the Hermanas this week! Sister Hokafonu stayed in Chesapeake with Hna Hart and I went to the Alameda with Hna Smith! I can still understand quite a lot of Spanish, but speaking it is another story. Luckily Hna Smith is a champ and we were teaching people who knew English, too, so she'd teach in Spanish, I'd follow along and understand the conversation, then I'd just speak in English and everything worked out! Hna Smith is a champ, though! She's from the Pennsylvania mission and doing super well now. She'll be coming home with me! 

It's definitely been the refiner’s fire these last few weeks, and I'm sure it's not the end of it, but I'm grateful that Heavenly Father trusts me enough to help me grow more and more. I've never felt the need for repentance and prayer as much as I have now, and I'm truly grateful that repentance IS the plan and IS the way back to our Father. He didn't have to provide us with a way back, and a million second chances, but He loves us, so He did anyway and that was through His Son. Our Savior. We all have trials and challenges. We are all so imperfect and I'll be the first to tell you how imperfect I am, but despite our imperfections, He still loves us. And He helps us. And I love Him all the more for it. 

We also had amazing lessons with Monica this last week! She's progressing really well and her understanding of the Gospel is phenomenal! She just up and decided to quit drinking this last week since she met with us because she said God was telling her it was bad and He didn't want her doing it anymore, so she hasn't picked up alcohol since and she said God has made her not even want to taste it anymore :) I love miracles like that! We haven't even taught her about the Word of Wisdom yet! These people are just so prepared! We're truly in the work of the Lord and just trying to keep up with Him! 

The General Women's conference was a highlight for me this week! God always knows what I need to hear! And He gave it to me in the very first talk! I hope you were all able to listen, and if not, it's always on LDS.org for you to watch! It truly was amazing and much needed! And Elder Uchtdorf always knows how to end a meeting lol. Some of my favorite takeaways from the session: CHARITY CHARITY CHARITY! Nuff said about that one; everyone is doing their best; We must have a bedrock understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ (that was quoted twice my friends. Must be pretty important); Christ has already taken our pain; We women our refining influences for men; We must be bold in teaching true doctrine to fight off Satan's lies; Faith cannot take away one's agency or change God's will, but it can produce miracles and bring blessings; faith comes to the humble, diligent, and enduring. 

Super great highlights! And there are many many more! 

I hope you have enjoyed this week’s episode of "The Life of Sister Humphrey" tune in for more next week!

I hope and pray you all get the opportunity to listen to general conference. It's seriously the best. No matter what you are struggling with in life, or if you're not struggling at all, General Conference is the place to receive revelation and guidance for what you need in life. I pray you use this opportunity to find God's path for you. It's truly a miraculous experience. And I'd love to hear all that you learn from the sessions! I love you all so very much and pray for you often! XOXO Keep changing lives where you're at! 

Quote of the Week: "What is most important almost always involves the people around us." -President Monson (I can't wait to hear from him this weekend!)

Scripture of the Week: Alma 37:6-7

Pictures: We went to Spirit Halloween last Monday. Enjoy lol. 

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

"...And the Flute Players are Always Cute..."

That is a quote from Elder Oaks my friends. Best day of my life.

But before I get ahead of myself, this week was SO GOOD! Super busy. So, like I said last week, we had MLC on Monday and Preparation Day was Tuesday instead. We played Volleyball with the rest of the Sister Training Leaders and Zone leaders on the east side of the mission. It was the best. Then Lily took us to Panda Express. She's my favorite. She's taking us to Coldstone tonight. I am so spoiled here. Tuesday was also Sister Hokafonu's "One month left mark". We didn't realize it until Lily said something. She almost started crying lol. She'll be okay. I'm trying to convince her to move to Utah ;) HAHA, Oh, and at the end of the night we got the classiest pick up line from this guy at the gas station. He looked at us with a joint in his hand and said, "You want some weed, cuties?" Gross! We gave him a Mormon.org card (seriously, this is what I'll be doing in college) and he started preaching to us about how people need to live their religion more often and how he's Christian and loves Jesus. Oh boy. It was hilarious. Don't do drugs people. It won't help you look good, I promise.

     On Wednesday we got to go on exchanges with the BYSA sisters. I stayed here with Sister Rapier! She is seriously so full of love for everyone around her. It was much needed for me to learn from her this week! She's been a sister that many have had a hard time with, but, I don't know what it is, but God gives me a lot of charity for those people and we got along great! It was a fantastic exchange and super helpful! And we found out that we sang a lot of the same songs in our high school choirs lol. 

Unfortunately our Recent Convert Teresa was in the hospital this week. She's been overworking herself, but luckily she's home now and getting better. We were able to visit her a couple times and I'm forever grateful for that. I've missed her like crazy and she's really needed a little break from work. It was really good to see her. 

Sister Hokafonu got her permanent crowns in, so now she has two white front teeth instead of gold teeth! It's really different, but she really likes it :) Change and repentance is sometimes evident in your appearance! 

We got to visit with our investigator Latear last week! She and Tearra came to church for the second time on Sunday! They're both progressing really well!  Church on Sunday was a special stake conference with Elder Robbins and Elder Calderwood. They LOVED it! Our stake President challenged the stake to read the Book of Mormon and finish it by the end of the year and Latear called us today and said that she's doing it! SO MUCH PROGRESS! And her progress is getting faster and faster. She told us last week that she was super excited to be baptized! We're hoping to put her on date for October 8th right before Sister Hokafonu leaves! Praying for it!

We did get a new investigator this week! Her name is Monica. She was a member referral from the Jones Falls ward right next to us. She has a slight mental disability that we're not quite sure of, and we can tell she used to be addicted to drugs, but her understanding is all there. She read the introduction to the Book of Mormon out loud for us and then told us what that all meant to her and how she loves that it's a record of the ancestors of the Native Americans because she's part Native American! She accepted a soft baptismal invite (meaning, "when you come to know these things are true, will you get baptized by proper authority?") and it went really well! We took Elder Gays suggestion to focus on from last week and invited her to say the closing prayer at the beginning of the lesson before I said the opening prayer. She said yes, opened up about how she didn't know how to pray, and we got to teach her! She said the most fantastic first prayer and LOVED it! I love the instruction we receive from our leaders. It really truly helps! 

Speaking of instruction:

The meeting with Elder Oaks was FANTASTIC! We shook his hand as well as the other leaders present. It was really funny, he basically told our entire mission that he didn't think he needed to talk about being obedient with us, which is what he usually has to talk about with missionaries, but he could tell we were (for the most part) a consecrated mission :). So, instead he decided to talk all about how our missions were just preparing us for marriage and raising a family. Ha-ha, all the Elders said it made them super trunky lol. All of the speakers, Elder Robbins (one of the 7 Presidents of the 70) and Elder Calderwood (one of our Area 70), as well as President and Sister Christiansen all related it back to marriage. Yup. Gross. And I did get to perform the musical number! I played the flute in the background of Sister Stolworthy and Sister Olsen singing "Be Still, My Soul". The flute part is very independent of the song, so it was difficult, but angels definitely helped me. It was the best I'd ever played that song. But Elder Oaks LOVED the musical number. He stood up from his seat and turned around and watched me as I played. I was a flippin' nervous wreck. Playing for an Apostle! But I just pretended like he wasn't watching me ha-ha. Then when I sat down he complimented all of us and went on to tell us that he played the Obo in school. He loved playing the Obo because he got to sit next to the flute players. He loved that because he said flute players are always cute hahaha. I was super red because he was looking at me the entire time he was telling that story and the entire mission was laughing so hard after he said that! A few missionaries came up to me after and said, “What does it feel like to be hit on by an Apostle??" Lol! So embarrassing! But it was really good! Elder Oaks is HILARIOUS! He was cracking jokes the entire time ;) It was truly an inspiring meeting :) And I got a selfie with President Christiansen afterwards, so that was basically the best thing ever. Oh, and I got some Sheetz peanut butter hot chocolate for the first time this year because there's no Sheetz around me. It was the best day of my life :) 

Some other things Elder Oaks talked with us about was revelation. Which was super good! He told us one way to determine whether something was just our own thoughts or whisperings of the Spirit was whether or not we wanted to do it. If we didn't want to do it in the first place it was probably the Spirit. That was SUPER nice for me to hear because I've been praying for continual confirmations that I made the right decision to go home in November. I know it was right, but I want to make sure that doesn't change before I go home ha-ha. And when he said that it was another confirmation that I received that it was the right decision, especially because it was something I didn't want to do. So there's that. We were also told multiple times to teach repentance and baptize converts, which has been something our entire mission is working on. We were reminded that "repentance isn't the backup plan to the Plan of Salvation. It IS the Plan." SO good :) We were also told that we were enrolled in the University of the Lord and taking some pretty difficult classes. It was a really good analogy to missionary work and our future lives. 

To end the week, we got to do service at Bishop's and have yummy Brazilian bbq :) Sis. Hokafonu hadn't had that yet, and it was DELICIOIUS! I love Brazilian food! SO good! I have a food baby now. I won't have to eat for the rest of the week lol. It was such a good, revelatory week. I have loved all I've learned and felt this week! My mission is seriously the best and I am serving in the best mission in the world for me. I couldn't have asked for a better one, and I'm forever grateful for this privilege to serve :)

I want to leave you with a quote I read today that rings true to almost everything I've felt this week: 

"I've long believed that the closer we come to Christ, the more aware we are of what we yet lack in becoming like Him. At the same time, the closer we are, the more we can allow Him to help us become more perfect - more whole and complete, healed and pure. We become more able to have tears for His sorrows and pain at His grief-and to feel what causes Him sorrow and grief. We have more meekness in suffering and more praise for relief. We are increasingly aware of what He notices, what He feels, what He would have us do." -Mary Ellen Edmunds

This work is real. We're here to become like Him. And the way to Him is through His restored Gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Quote of the Week: "Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause." -Spencer W. Kimball

Scripture of the Week: D&C 58:4

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

Pictures..... So, a baby was "thrown" into my arms again. I swear I don't try to hold babies. Then Sis. Hokafonu HAD to take a picture. Enjoy the other random pictures of us with Sister Pratt, sunsets, me driving... Our healthy food... And selfies.

                                          

                                      

Charity and Patience‏

This week has taken a lot of charity and patience. It's funny because just last week I was thinking about where I was when I started my mission and how cold my heart was lol. I didn't like anyone and it was really hard for me to have charity. So, as I was reflecting, I was thinking about the great blessing it has been to have been given some charity for the people I serve. And patience. Just as I thought I had gotten so much better and that God had given me the charity I was asking for, and I thought I was doing good, God humbled me, because that's just what He does to those He loves. Over and over and over again this week I was humbled and reminded by how much further I still have to go. Thank goodness progress doesn't end when a mission does. Now, don't get me wrong, I love people much more than I did when I started my mission, but there's so much more. It was hard not to get down on myself, because it always seems like there's so much more I could be doing. So much more I could be sharing with people and so much more I could be loving people. I just want everyone to know that you never "arrive" on a mission, or in life. I never thought I would, but I was just reminded that I really won't ha-ha. But it's good, because just like Ether 12:27 says, God gives us weaknesses so He can make us stronger. And for that, I'm grateful.

So, I'm emailing today because yesterday I got to go to MLC with Elder Gay! He had a family member pass away last week so his schedule changed, but he's doing well. Many prayers have been said on his behalf. MLC was amazing! It's funny because one of the main topics Elder Gay talked about was how we need to have charity for those in our stewardship. If we want to give correction and help them grow, they have to know we love them, which is a no brainer, but a good reminder. 

My week last week went a little something like this:

Dinner with a super pregnant member who's having her baby today! Exchanges with the Ellicott City sisters! If you remember, about 6 months ago I went on an exchange with Sister Udall for her first exchange; well, now she's here and I exchanged with her and took her to Baltimore! Literally no one answered their door until it was time for dinner and we said to each other, "let's just try one more," and an amazing member answered the door, offered us water (it was flippin' hot outside!) and was so very grateful for our visit. Apparently she hasn't had missionaries over in about a year! And she even referred us to her sister Felicia! Sweet! Then we had a great lesson with the Jones family! They are truly progressing little by little. We've had a couple lessons with them this week and baptism is brought up each time and they are currently praying about a date in October!! WOOT WOOT! We also taught Tearra about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in 2 Nephi 31; we had another amazing dinner with my favorite Wood family :) And Tykira, one of our investigators, came to church Volleyball Thursday with her friend Happiness, so we got to go and watch! :) Like I said, step by step we are seeing progression. 

We also contacted a few headquarter referrals (self-referrals) this week. One of them, Raquel, was questioning everything we believed and then said, "we'll have lunch sometime. I want to talk more." YES! AND, Ally, another HQ referral was actually referred by a member in Arkansas and Ally went to church lots of times as a teenager (you youth, listen up! You make a difference!); we got to talk to Ally on the phone and she kept saying how she just kept feeling drawn to this church and she currently has a fiancé and a little baby, and she wants to raise her family in a good church that will help them! SO, they reached out to us to come and teach her entire family a little bit more so they can join the church! WOOT WOOT! I LOVE FAMILIES! PRAYERS WORK! And it's really cool because this entire experience she's having all started with her friend who invited her to church when she was a teenager! 

On Saturday (my 15 month mark!) we had our zone conference with Elder Gay all about how we can help our investigators progress, which is exactly what I needed! We're teaching so many people, but most of them aren't yet progressing, which is a struggle our entire mission is having. So that was an extremely spiritual experience, as was MLC yesterday. Elder Gay truly teaches with the power and authority from God. 

Unfortunately we weren't able to go to another meeting with him and our Recent Converts because they were busy, which made us a little depressed, but it was for the best and God knew what He was doing because we were able to pick up a new investigator we street contacted named Khapre (pronounced Capri, like the juice). She's 18 and wants to come back to a church; she said she'd been thinking about it for a while now, but didn't know where to start! Ta da! That's why there's missionaries :) We introduced her to the Book of Mormon and we'll be coming back tonight :) And that was my week.

Thank you all again for all your love and support. I truly feel that strength every single week. Missionary work would be much harder without you. Love you all!

Shout-out to Kaitlyn, Wyatt, and Whitney for all having birthdays this week and last :) Happy Birthday!

Scripture of the Week: Alma 36:3

Quote of the Week: "None of us should be defined by the worst thing we've ever done." - Kevin R. Duncan

Love, 

Sister Humphrey

Oh, all that cat stuff? Let's just say I found my favorite store...