Well tomorrow I lose my trainer and my title as a "greenie" SAD! It's been a fast 2 transfers and I got gipped a week because of the mission split :( But my trainer is so good she trained me in 11 weeks easy! I'm going to miss her so much, she's taught me so much and is such an example to me. I've learned so much be the small things she does every day, she has so many attributes of Christ that makes her such an amazing missionary. I want to be like her when I grow up! :D 

Missionary work is so amazing. There is so many changes being made to allow us to more fully help the Lord hasten His work. It's such an exciting time to be a missionary, I'm so blessed to be out here to watch everything change! In the Guia of the Spanish BOM it says so simply that missionary work is by word AND example. Never forget how much you can influence someone by your actions. Strive every day to develop attributes of Christ: Faith, Hope, Charity & Love, Virtue, Patience, Humility, Diligence, and Obedience. Pray for them as they are gifts from God that He will help you develop as you pray and try every day to develop these attributes. Member missionary work is SO important. If you lead by example, others will notice and desire what you possess. Full-time missionaries are here to assist YOU in helping YOUR friends learn the Gospel. This is so much more useful than us knocking door after door. So Members, get involved! Get excited about helping the Lord gather the harvest. Even if you don't think someone is interested, lead by example, open your mouth and invite! You have a responsibility as a member of the church to share the Gospel. You know how happy you are with the Gospel in your life, you know the joy this knowledge brings, why not share it with everyone? 

Also, I know I can't even talk about this because I was a failure at it, but as a missionary I now see the HUGE importance of Home and Visiting teaching! We're having a very hard time in our ward right now. We have the highest baptizing ward but awful retention! Missionaries can't do it all. We need the members help in fellowshipping new members and visiting inactives to help them remember what they're missing. GO VISIT YOUR FAMILIES! Right now! :D

Man, I love serving the Lord everyday! I've come to realize that we're really not teaching anything new. We are all literally spirit children of God, and because of this the Holy Ghost can testify to our spirits of truth. Before this life we all heard our Heavenly Father explain this beautiful plan He has for us, at the veil we forgot all these things so we have to walk by faith in this life. Our Spirits haven't forgotten though, as missionaries we're actually just teaching our brothers and sisters things they have already heard before this life, and the Holy Ghost can testify to them, through us, that it is of God. Amazing, right?! 

We have been finding a lot of people to teach but none are progressing towards baptism right now. We continue working with them but they have to be ready to hear and accept our message. We've had to drop a few beautiful families but we know in our hearts, one day another set of missionaries will find them again at a time that they are ready to accept the Gospel. We're planting seeds so no worries. :) 

The church is true! I see a witness of that every single day! 

Times flying!

Well I'm almost not a Greenie anymore! Time issssss FLYING! 

We are finally done with all the exchanges this transfer. SEVEN. Sheesh. I'm worn out! But we had companionship inventory this week and Hna Schwegler told me that she knows God put me with her because He knew she needed someone who knew how to do missionary work and wouldn't break under pressure and she's thankful for me and how much I've helped her this transfer. She said she's learned a lot from me and my diligence as a missionary and that I've changed and grown so much she can already see. She said I'm going to do great things in this mission if I keep working as hard as I do. :) d'awwww 

We had a huge Spanish conference the other week and went on a mission wide exchange, just the Spanish missionaries. I went with Hna Lithgoe who used to be comps with my trainer. She said she learned a lot from me about obeying promptings from the Holy Ghost. Because in a contact a guy seemed a bit iffy about us but he brought up family and I felt prompted to talk about FHE and then he said we could come back and teach him more about how he can have his family closer together. :) And We contacted these two Mexican men they were crazy haha but one was really sincere and when we were about to walk away I felt the prompting to give him a BOM so I went back and told him I wanted to give this to him and explained a little about it, told him it was free and testified that if he reads and prays about it he will feel Gods love and spirit stronger than ever. He asked me to write our number in it in case he has any questions, because he's always working and doesn't live in his area so we couldnt schedule and appointment to see him. I handed it to him and I will never forget the look on his face. It was as if I had given him the most precious gift in the world, and in reality I did. He was so thankful, it was a beautiful moment in my mission to see a change in someone within 5 mins of talking. Also on this exchange we got to help push a lady's car out of the road when it broke down because she recognized us and knew we would help. :) Pushing a car in a skirt with a BOM in one hand, what a sight!

R, the guy who chased us down for a BOM, has come to a baptism, all 3 hours of church, and the Fathers day activity! We haven't even taught him a whole lesson yet! haha The ward is doing so great welcoming him in. We have an apt with him tomorrow so we can finally teach him! 

C, the first person I comitted to be baptized came to a baptism WITH HER ENTIRE FAMILY! :D She got a new side job of tailoring clothes, not a lot but maybe it can help her be able to come to church so she can be baptized. Shes so ready! We had a lesson with her the other day and my Spanish was flowing really well. When I was teaching, her and Hna S just looked at eachother and smiled like proud parents hahahaha IM LEARNINGGGGG

We've picked up SEVEN new investigators this week! SEVEN!

I contacted a man named L on exchanges and he let us come in but there wasn't another woman so we couldn't. But 5 mins later his wife came so we were able to go in and teach him. He has let us come back 3 times, we taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized and he said he will when he knows it's true but wants us to talk to his wife first who is super Catholic. Theyre a sweet family! In one of our lessons his 5 year old son was eating watermelon and lost his first tooth, in the watermelon! ....Right between prophets and Jesus Christ, hahahahahha!

We got two solid referrals from the English elders, C and C, theyve already been to the English ward a few times and the first lesson we hadn't even started with a prayer yet when they said they want to be baptized HA! YUS! 

We got another SWEET referral a mother of 3 little girls 7,6, and 2. She's been to church a lot, been to General COnference, knows everything about the church, has been taught everything like 5 times, so we comitted her to pray about baptism to be that example for her daughters.

We've had a few interesting contacts lately....

Us: "Hi we're missionaries, we help people come closer to Christ"

Teens: "We help people come closer to bud"

Us: -_________-

bahahahahahaha

We contacted some drunk men in their garage who offered us beer and asked us if we were cross dressing Mormons because we're girls and apparently only Elders are missionaries. Then they told us we're brave for talking to them... I agree lol

And the best, my most favorite: Apparently we worship a god of death named Mormo which is the root word of Mormon and thats why we're called Mormons! Did anyone else know that? haha This guy was NUTS! He was like "yeah I googled it and looked on wikipedia.. but then I looked on your website and it didn't say anything about it, and I asked you two and some other missionaries and none of you have heard of it... maybe you should google it..." and again the face -____-

It's been a fun week needless to say hahaha

Love and miss you all!

C

Crystal Gutknecht

to Richard, Gutknecht,, me
1 day ago

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 forgot, we were driving and saw people walking their sheep.... SHEEP! 3 of them!

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I'm growing up!

Being a greenie with an STL (Sister Training Leader) makes me grow up fast! This week has been a week of growth and taking the lead. My DL (District Leader) told me "There's no growth in your comfort zone and no comfort in your growing zone." Sooooo true!

Well my trainer had a superrrrr long leadership meeting on Friday with Pres Cook. This was when i was able to go to the Marine base to renew my ID but when i got back I still had hours to wait. Not wanting to waste any of the Lord's time I was about to study for all our lessons for the day, finish weekly planning, call our investigatoors, reschedule appointments, make sure my DL could still give our investigator a blessing, everything! All by myself! My trainer was so proud that she had a greenie that could take care of things all day while she was busy. It felt good that I could take responsibility and my trainer could just focus on her STL calling for the day. Along with her calling she has to go on exchanges with 6 other sisters. So I get to have the car keys and take the lead in my area. It's been great and I can see how well my trainer has trained me because I know how to do everything without depending on her. My Spanish is better than I thought! I went on an exchange with a Sister who is a transfer older than me and my Spanish miiiiight be better, not to toot my own horn but TOOT TOOT. My trainer said it's because I pray for the gift of tongues every day and I study diligently. She always tells me I'm one of the most diligent hard working missionaries. That's what I know I have to do for Heavenly Father to bless me to learn the language. I know I wouldn't be doing so well without the Lord's help, without hard work, and without diligent studies. I'm trying so hard, sometimes too hard. That's my perfectionist kicking in. My trainer is helping me with that. I always think even when I'm working myself as hard as I can and doing my best I feel like it's still not enough. She reminds me that it is and the Lord doesn't require me to run faster than i have strength. So I'm working on finding that balance and being happy with my best work.

Tuesday we had a beautiful blessing. J took us out to dinner because he's an RM and knows we don't get fed much. This old couple stopped at our table on the way out and asked us where we were from and said that it's good to see so many Sisters choosing to serve. When we were done with our meal J went to pay and they told us that couple had paid our ticket and left this note: heavenly Father loves His missionaries. Enjoy. SOOOOOO SWEET! I prayed for them that night that they would be blessed for that kind secret act of service. When we were heading out J opened up to us and told us he's been struggling a lot. We had a long talk and comitted him to read the BOM. He texted us that night and said "Thank you, your words brought comfort. You are the best Sister Missionaries I've met." :)

The work is going well, trying to help our investigators prepare for baptism. Missionary work is the best! I love the little miracles we see every day!