The Work is Going Great and I'm Happier Than Ever!!!!

Sister Lautiki and Sister Jarvie

Hello!!! This has been a super busy and crazy week. Mostly because of Fleet stuff. At the end and beginning of the month we have different things do for the cars so it’s a crazy time for a new transfer to start. It has been fun though. Last Thursday when our long transfer day was over, we got to have another sleep day to recharge! I love Sister Wong so much. She is such an awesome missionary! We get along so well. She’s so cool!  She’s really into health food, so I really like that. And we’re always listening to Hawaiian music.  We have been making crazy health food smoothies this week so if anyone has any smoothie recipes send them my way! And Sister Wong is a really good cook!  She just made me a cool chicken-fried thing that’s Japanese!  Yum!  So I think this is going to be a really fun transfer!!  I feel so old now. Haha. Sister Wong is in her 3^rd transfer, and I was just there it seems like!! Next transfer I will be half way done already!

It’s been so fun to have the old Sisters come back for a visit at Temple Square and it’s so weird to see them wearing jeans!!!

We have been having a lot of miracles this week even with our little time out of the office. The Lord sends people here for us to help them. And it is really starting to become obvious at this point in my mission.

This church is true, it’s so fun to be here---I am learning so much and I love to learn more and more!  Honestly, I feel like I never knew very much until I came on my mission!!

Well I am so sorry I don’t have too much to say this week but all the stuff we do for Fleet wouldn’t be too interesting. Office work—so much of it---gas reports, mileage reports, van reports, etc. 

The work is going great and I am more happy than ever!

Love you
xoxoxo
Sister Jarvs
CTR

Mission Meeting in the Tabernacle

I am So Happy to Be a Missionary Here!!

My new zone leader Sister Chen of China

Well, what a week. First of all today we had TRANSFER CONFERENCE! At 6:30am our zone gathered downstairs in the ‘Scriptures and Revelation’ section of the North Visitors Center. I found out that my next companion is SISTER WONG from LANIKAI, HAWAII!! She is so great and this will be her 3rd transfer. We will be in charge of Fleet again which I am so excited about! My favorite Sister Chen from China is one of my zone leaders! We will still have Monday as our p-day. I am so excited to be companions with Sister Wong. She also went to BYU Hawaii but we never knew each other. We were also in the same zone this last transfer. Island time!

So this last week was busy because of the upcoming transfers. They are on Wednesday but fleet has had to set up who will drive, pick up and drop off all the sisters who are going home, going outbound and coming back from outbound! Because we had to schedule everything, we found out who is going outbound a week in advance, which is fun because we totally know what's going on.

We also had Zone Conference last week. Our day was Tuesday and it was at President Gillette’s house! They have the best house ever; so many pictures everywhere and hundreds of knickknacks from all over the world. I took tons of pictures. I love homes in Utah because they all have basements. They have a really cute little closet under the stairs that they painted pink on the inside and it’s a ‘dress up and little princess playroom’ or something. It is the cutest thing ever. They have huge comfy couches downstairs and a big projector screen, ping pong table, air hockey, pinball game, and a pool! In one of the kid’s bedrooms they have a loft that looks like a ship with one of those steering wheel things and a fireman's pole!!! So fun. Seriously, the best house; and I haven’t gone into houses in months so I’m extra appreciative! The Zone Conference was very uplifting and we learned so much to help us be better missionaries. I am so happy to be a missionary here and to have President and Sister Gillette to help us! Wow, this last transfer was really hard but I learned so much. I couldn't have made it through if I had relied on my own self. It was because I relied on and put my trust in the Lord that I could make it through this transfer. I learned so much about myself. I was reading the talk "The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence E. Corbridge again last night and he was saying that the most important thing we can accomplish is to create ourselves, or something like that, I can't remember exactly what it says. It is right in the beginning of the talk.  Here’s an excerpt: “As you entered the mission field you concluded one phase of life and began another. To this point many of you have had the protection and close support of family and church leaders and teachers. Now you have moved into a new phase of life on your own. You are essentially on your own. From this point on, you are wholly responsible for what you do and most importantly for who you become. For the most part, your life is yet ahead of you. What will you do with it? What will be your greatest work? What will be your most important creation? I will tell you. Your greatest work; your most important creation is and will ever be you. What kind of person will you become? What personality will you have; what strengths; what knowledge; what character; what emotional state; what presence; what qualities; what virtues? What will you look like? What will you sound like? What will it be like to be around you? Who will you be? Envision and plan for your greatest work.”

I love that! We are in charge of who we will become. We aren't in charge of what Heavenly Father will put in our path but He gives us the resources to make the best out of every situation that we encounter.

Well I am looking forward to this transfer with summer coming up and everything!  Have a great week!

Love you all!

xoxoxoxo

Steffany Gilbert (released two transfers ago) Sister Bryers (going home this transfer), Sister Jarvie

Ester, aka Lani Got Baptized!!!

A visit from Temple Square Alumni--I love my sisters!!

Hello!!!  Fast week. Not too much to write about this week but one really great thing happened! The lady I have been teaching since December who I think I called Ester when I wrote about her (we use aliases) got BAPTIZED! Her actual name is Lani and she is from Hawaii. A member called in to refer her to the missionaries and that is how I got in contact with her. She is older and is living in California now. She had so many struggles in her life and is so happy to be a member of the Church now. She got baptized on Sunday at 2pm. She said she feels so much change already and is going to prepare to go through the temple next year. I am really excited to be there when she does that! It has been a really great experience to teach her from beginning to end. Since we switch companions so often, it makes it more difficult to stay with one investigator for longer than a transfer. I am so happy for her!

Last weekend our whole zone fasted to reach our goal that we had set for baptisms this transfer. I think we had 4 that same weekend. So cool. So we are pretty close to our goal and have been praying for all the people we teach so much. Please pray for us—the transfer ends April 24^th!

Well, since transfer is almost over it means we are going to be really busy this week. Fleet is in charge of all the cars and arranging the drivers for transfer day. All the trips to and from the airport, sisters flying home or to their outbound, coming back from outbound, etc.

So good to see Jenna Mettra on Saturday night! What a good surprise. And Blythe Beecroft and Steffany Gilbert came too!! Yay!

Hope everyone had a great week! I hope to hear from you (hint hint)

Lovexoxoxo

Sister Jarvie

CTR

"It's Joseph Smith. John Smith Was in Pocahontas"

Well there goes week four of this transfer. I am welcoming week five with open arms. This transfer is almost over! Whew! I made it.

On Tuesday we got to go to another baptism! We had taken a "Sisters Tour" a week ago from the SLC South mission. They brought their investigator and her family too. Her husband had been inactive for many years but now they are married and have kids so they wanted to come back. It was so great! She was so happy to get baptized by her husband! And one of the kids was old enough to get baptized too. So fun.

I just love President Gillette. Since I'm in Fleet this transfer we see him frequently. All of the cars at Temple Square have special names and he really wanted his car to be named POTUS. And then he told us the story behind it. It is short for President of the United States haha

Saturday we were on exchanges for about the whole day. First I was with the Zone leader Sister Barraza (Spain). We took a tour with a couple of Mennonites? I didn’t even know what that was before but the two ladies were wearing something on their head. Anyways, they were pretty cool actually. We had taken them all around and ended up at the Christus. We invited them to learn more from missionaries and they didn't accept. They wanted to think about it. If it had just been the mom I think she would have, but the daughter was preaching to us the whole time. The mom seemed super prepared. So we gave a super short testimony of the Book of Mormon and then I gave her mine. She reached her hand out right away. I asked her if she would read that book and she said that she would. I know she will. It was the Book of Mormon that President Holmes gave us at Christmas and told us to go through and mark with a red pencil every reference to God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. The goal was to have it finished by Easter. I had finished in January so it was all marked for her. And I was able to give her MY Book of Mormon the day before Easter! Cool.

THEN!!!! We did MTC contacting. The visitor’s center sisters in the MTC come to Temple Square just before they go out to their mission. So I had Sister Streeter. She is so cute. She’s going to Nauvoo. Well, I was helping her practice contacting people and just at the end of the night we ran into this cute Hispanic family. I started talking to them and then told them about the presentation “God's Plan for His Family.” They wanted to see it but the two little girls wanted to go downstairs first. So we took them down there and I was talking to the dad. He said he never really read the Bible and then for whatever reason I asked him if he's ever read the Book of Mormon and he said Yes! Woah. Really? “Yes, I am a member of the Church but have been inactive my whole life. Now that I have a wife and two little girls I want to come back.” He started tearing up. Can you help me find missionaries? YES OF COURSE I CAN! OMG. Wow, I just love that family so much. So then we took them up to see the Christus and then the film. When it was over I asked the mom, “What would it mean to you if you could be with your family forever?” And she said “It would mean everything to me.” Then I invited them for missionaries and they accepted! So I will also be able to call them and teach them too. And hopefully the missionaries get to them quick! They are here in Salt Lake. So incredible.

Yesterday was sweet! Not just because it was Easter but I met two awesome people on the Square! One was from Brazil and is now a scientist in London. He wanted to learn more about the Book of Mormon! So he referred to have missionaries come teach him in London!!! Then 5 minutes later we ran into some guys at the Flag Pole. We started chatting with them. They had just moved here for some construction project. One of the guys was super funny so I focused on him. And he was super curious about the Church, in a good way. He wanted to know the story of "John Smith". We had a good relationship by then so I joked, “That’s Joseph Smith. John Smith was in Pocahontas but it’s ok!” Hahah He got a good laugh out of that one. Anyway, so I helped him understand and he referred for missionaries! Yes! What an incredible weekend that was!!! I don’t know why the Lord blessed me to come in contact with such prepared people last weekend. I sure am thankful for it though!

Today was good. We went to the temple then had a Zone meeting. Then had to do tons of errands for President and his car. Then we had a zone activity! We hiked Ensign Peak! It was so fun! I am so glad the weather is warm now!

Love you all!

Have a good week

xoxoxoxo Sister Jarvie

Mission Conference in the Tabernacle

We Got 7,541 Referrals During General Conference!

Sister Jarvie with Bishop and Sister Packer

Well all last week we had been preparing for General Conference.  Last p-day we went shopping at City Creek, the new shopping center right across from Temple Square.  It really is an incredible place. And the Church owns it!  Also, President Seppi of our mission presidency designed the glass roof that covers the center of the mall when it rains! So it goes from an outdoor mall to an indoor mall. So cool.

Wednesday was a great day. Sister Hinton and I have a lot of plans for the Fleet department this transfer. So we ran a few errands for that and we will redesign the board and update everything. I don't think it has been updated for over a year.

On Thursday we had a General Conference Pump-Up meeting!  We went over what our goal will be and all of the logistics. Basically, we get to the Square a little after 7am and don't leave until 9:50pm! We could only be talking to people for around 10 minutes or less to maximize our contacts. They also announced who won the PEN DRIVE. Each six week conference we have a pen drive.  Each zone has to try to collect as many pens as possible in 2 days. We always carry tons of pens around with us so we can give them to people to fill out referral cards.  Then the pens get left all around in couches or in our apartments or President Seppi has them hahaha.  Anyway, we needed to win!  Sister Bryers is in my zone so she had a huge stash of pens in the Assistant’s office that she had collected.  When the other zones saw all those pens they figured most of the pens had been found so they didn’t try as hard. So we won!  We got 236 pens!!! The prize was that we got SUNDAY MORNING conference tickets!! Wow it was so great! I can’t believe we won, we had tough competition. We were super busy too because we needed to get our “received pool” down to zero by making calls so that after conference we wouldn’t be too overwhelmed with the numbers of people to call.

It was already super crowded on Friday but Sister Hinton and I were busy at Welfare Square and doing Fleet stuff. We did see some protesters already though!

Saturday was great!! We started contacting people at 8am. There were already so many people in the standby line, it was crazy. Well, I honestly don’t know what to say about it because it was so ultra busy, it is kind of like an out of body experience to be a missionary at conference. We tried to talk to every person. You have to use your "spiritual eyes" though, because a lot of people do not want you to talk to them.

Sunday was the best. We looked for a while to see who we wanted to sit by because we are supposed to contact members before it started. So we chose some great seats next to young people. I really loved how Russell M. Nelson talked about what a miracle the body is. Ronald A. Rasband mentioned the scripture that is on the front of our referral cards, John 14:27. And the worth of souls! It reminded me how EVERYONE should share the gospel with their friends who are not members. They kept their first estate by choosing to come to earth. Now we need to help them keep their second estate! WE ARE ALL ENLISTED! Julie B. Beck reminded us to save souls and share the gospel! D. Todd Christofferson, teach gospel in all the world. He wanted to clear up false doctrine. Yes!  He talked about the Doctrine of Christ. Invite all to receive it. Oh I really liked how he talked about what Brigham Young said... Something like how Joseph Smith said, “Well that was Brigham Young and now we will hear from the Holy Ghost”. It was something like that, I could be wrong. But I was happy because a lot of Anti's talk to us about the Journal of Discourses. President Thomas S. Monson-- Pause, reflect. What is most precious to us? Lay up treasures in heaven. Divine attitudes. Death is not the end. Well those are just some notes I wrote down. Can’t wait to read those and the other talks.

At 8:30pm on Sunday night, when it was all over, we had a mission meeting in the Tabernacle! So fun to have our meeting in there. We were all cheering and taking photos and having fun. Everyone was frantically adding numbers of souls they had gotten referrals for down to the very last minute! Our goal for member potentials was 7162 BUT we got 7541!!!! We are so thankful for all of the members that came to conference and wanted to share the gospel with their friends. We are participating in the gathering of Israel! And also I want to apologize to all the members who got mad at me for asking to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with their friends! In the mission meeting, when they announced our referrals, at first they tricked us by saying we didn’t reach our goal and everyone was like oh.... then they said 7541 and we all started screaming and crying! It was incredible. The best feeling ever since being a missionary. Then we had gelatto in the South visitor’s center! Yum!

I don’t think I knew the first thing about how to be a missionary until conference... It was the best thing ever.

Love you--xxoo--Sister Jarvie--CTR

Mom's Missionary Calendar