Monday, June 20, 2016

Hawaii Week 3

This week there isn't a letter!!! We will forgive her since last week's was so long! :)


1. look what I found... 
2. With Sister Horne havine a good time hanging out in the bathroom with that huge cockroach at zone meeting. 
3. One of the recent RMs from the ward came out with us and I love her! She actually served her mission with Reuben!!! small world. 
4. This is Zanae. She got baptized last year and so we go and visit her and teache her mom but they are moving to Washington this week! so sad! I'm going to miss her! 
 5. Some of my favorite kids! We go and teach Tina ( the older girl) and all the kids love to come and listen. They are so fun! 
6. More good times. 
7. Check out this cool rainbow. 

 Hey sorry, but I don't have time to send out a group email this week but I'll do better next week! 
I love you all!!! 








Monday, June 13, 2016

Hawaii Week 2

Aloha!!!
This week has been good. Interesting, but good. 
So kinda funny story, We had dinner with one of our investigators on Tuesday. They wanted to take us out because they don't clean. I don't think their house has been cleaned in 40 years. I'm not kidding when I say that. It's so sad but so annoying and they won't let us help them clean. Anywho, that's not the point of the story. So we meet at their house and Kay ( the wife) is in the drive way pacing. So we get out of the car to ask what was wrong and her 125 pound, american bull dog had died like, 20 minutes before we came. So sad. But they are way old and couldn't carry so they went and got a neighbor and tried to carry it out of their back yard to the drive way so the crematory could come pick it up. All these old men couldn't handle this huge dog so Sister Weymouth is a boss and jumps in there and  helps carry this huge dog to the front yard. Obviously I'm in the corner freaking out and trying not to cry hahah but that was something interesting that happened this week. They still came to dinner and acted like they were totally fine. They are very interesting people. I love them though. They didn't have any kids but they always say if they knew they would have kids like us they would have! they are so sweet and funny. 
       Guess who came to speak to us missionaries?!? Elder Renlund! I just heard him speak in the MTC a few weeks ago and I got to hear him speak again this week! He wanted to meet all of us missionaries and it was amazing to shake his hand and get to talk with him for a second. We are basically best friends now. Just sayin. Also, It was so good to see all of the missionaries! This might sound bad but I really miss talking with people my age. I got to see my district from the MTC who I miss so much! It's fun to get to talk to everyone again and see how they are doing. Plus, We get to make new friends! yay! 
        We have seen so many miracles this week! We teach one lady who hasn't been to church in over 40 years! She has been coming the last few weeks and I guess that was a battle to get her to start coming but she mentioned to us that she wants to make it back to the temple! So cool. She has a lot of problems and addictions and we talked to her about the word of wisdom this week and when she came to church on Sunday she told us that she dumped all of her alcohol out and is getting a priesthood blessing to help her get through this. LIKE WHAT!? I did not expect that! It's so amazing to see her make the changes in her life that are necessary to make it back to the temple.
        So we had a rough day on Thursday, It really turned around that evening. We went to visit one of our investigators names Shayna. She is a young mom who works a lot, so she is super busy but she is so sweet! I love her, but we knew she had a smoking and drinking problem so we knew we needed to teach her about the word of wisdom. Scary, but needs to be done. So, guided by the spirit, we brought up the commandments, chastity, and the word of wisdom. The spirit was so strong and she understood and agrees with everything we taught! miracle!! She agreed to try to stop smoking and drinking. Amazing. Then, we got her to pray. Wow. that was something else. It was the first time she had prayed out loud and the spirit was so strong! She was crying and Sister Weymouth and I were both tearing up too. So at the end of the day, It was well worth pushing through
      We have seen so many people progress this week. I am so lucky to be able to be apart of this work. I feel so blessed. I know that none of this could be done without Christ and His Atonement. 
          BTW I found out that if you want to send me any packages that it's best to do the Flat rate thing. I guess it's the same price for any weight! so instead of paying $60.00 it's only $18.00 or something like that. 
        Ok so I'm so afraid of all the freaking dogs here. They all bark at us and try to get us and I get so scared and my companion always tells me I need to relax but I CAN'T!!! and the other day we were going to visit and investigator and her stupid dog starts barking at us so I get nervous and then it charges!! So I take off but it caught up and bit me. It wasn't hard but it gave me more of a reason to be scared! hahah well I love all of you!! 
Stay cool. 
Aloha, 
Sister Sperry 

pic 1: We went bowling!! wohoo. 
pic 2: a horrible pic of my MTC district that's in Hawaii 
pic 3: I know you probs don't care but this is the view from our apartment. Pearl Harbor.
pic 4: Brad and Prissy Erikson, Peter and Falley Tovey, and parents
pic 5: Prissy, Falley, Grandmas Hatch and Sperry

Mom note: This week we had a few couples from her ward in Aiea come to Utah and visit us! We spent an afternoon getting to know them and we know that Jenny is in amazing hands. The Toveys are the ward mission leaders and the Eriksons were the ward mission leaders before that. A quick back story . . . several years ago in Young Women's, they took individual pictures of the young women in princess crowns. They then framed these pictures and gave them to the girls. This picture finds itself in random places through out the house. If a date came to the house to pick Jenny up, the picture was prominently displayed on our piano. She didn't love this, but we found it hilarious! This has gone on for years. So we told the Toveys and the Eriksons this story during their visit and they agreed to take the photo home. Brother Erickson had the idea to enlarge it and we received a text today saying that the picture is prominently displayed in their homes. They both have the missionaries over weekly, so we are so excited to hear how it goes! :) I added a few pics of our afternoon with them. I love them and so grateful for them and their love for the missionaries. We feel so extremely blessed that Jenny is being watched out for. :)
  
 
 


Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Hawaii Week 1

Aloha!!  ( I can say than now cause I'm in Hawaii) 
My first week has been great! I love it here! I don't have a lot of time but my mom sent me some questions so I'll just reply to those! LOL 

1. Who is your new companion? My companion is Sister Weymouth. I don't know her first name... Sorry Mom. She graduated from Westlake  but she moved around a lot. She is awesome though! She has only been out 4 months and is already training! so clearly, she is an awesome missionary! She's cool! She is very obedient so that's good! She is organized and a genius when it comes to the Book of Mormon. I am learning a lot from her!

2. What was the first night like? It was awesome... Really busy though. A lot of training and all that fun stuff. Jet lag is real though. It hit at 6:00 and I thought I was going to die. I was so tired haha I'm such a baby but I need my sleep!! I'm okay now tho so don't worry. lol

3. Mission president and wife? They rock. They take really good care of us! 

4. Where in the world are you? Hawaii.  LOL on Oahu tho.

5.  First area? I am in Aiea! West Honolulu. It is a beautiful area and the ward here is awesome!!

6. What ward are you assigned to? Aeia ward... The best ward

7. Your first experience door knocking? Were you shaking in your boots? kinda. My comp showed me how it was done so I was pretty chill. 


8. What was your first door knock like? they slammed it on our face lol


9. Are you getting to know any of the ward members yet? Yes I am! but it's so hard to remember their names because they are CRAZY!!! I feel bad that I can't remember them but they need to not be so hard... ya feel?

10. Any embarrassing or funny moments? living... we had to eat crab the other night and I don't know how to eat it OBVIOUSLY cause it's nasty...  but I was trying to crack it open and I cut myself on it and I felt like the biggest idiot. 

11. Do you have any investigators that you visit regularly? Yeah! we have a few investigators who are amazing!!! I'm really hopeful that they will get baptized. Sister Weymouth is feeling bad for me cause I'm so pumped and I think everyone will come to church and get baptized but they never do!! So lame.

12. What's the food like? nasty... I really have a hard time with it. we have to eat all this raw fish. I don;t know what it's called and I don't even care. I just know I always say a silent prayer that I won't gag haha. I feel so bad because I know people are feeding us their best and so I try to like it but there are some things that just don't sit well with me. A lot of rice!!! HELLO 40 POUNDS!! :((

13. Have you put on the first ten pounds yet? 😄 Not yet! We get up at 6:00 to work out and we also live on the 11th floor and we take the stairs.... I die every time but it's worth it! Sister Weymouth HATES the weight gain too so we do what we can to keep as much as possible off. 

14. What kinds of things do you plan on doing on your p-days? IDK yet. we are going bowling with the district today. So that'll be fun!!! 

15. Do you ever see the elders? nah. Maybe today tho? idk I haven't been to any meetings or service yet tho so I'm sure I will eventually. 

16. What's your favorite part about being a missionary? Everything!!! I've never been happier. I love when we are in a lesson and you can tell that the investigator is feeling the spirit. It's awesome. They just need to act on it and that's the hard part. 

17. What's your address? 98-402 koauka Lp. #1104 Aiea, HI 96701 If you send a package, send pictures! I always wish I had pictures to show my companion. Also, work out videos would be really nice. We have a gym in our apartment complex but its so nasty and small. We go but it would be nice to do some work outs in the pad.
 
There is a lot to adjust to here but it's so good. I love being a missionary. 
Oh, something pretty chill, There are a million lizards and it's scary but cool. There are so many animals here!!!! The dogs are so scary and I get so nervous hahah everyone has at least 10000 animals. It's crazy. Also, I'm learning pidgin so that's fun! It's hard to understand people here unless you know a little bit of it hahah
I love you all! I pray for you all everyday. 
Love, 
Sister Sperry 

 Still at the MTC
 On our way to the airport
 My girls in Hawaii
 My first companion, Sister Weymouth

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Hawaii, Here I Come!

On Monday, May 30th, we got to speak to Jenny for a few minutes at the airport! She sounded happier than ever and is so excited to finally be able to serve the people of Hawaii. She made a goal to talk to someone on her way to the airport (frontrunner) and she DID IT! She met a nice Tongan man who had just moved here from California. He was baptized along time ago but is currently inactive. She bore her testimony to him and encouraged him to come back! Already a missionary!  The next day we received this letter from the Mission Office. 

May 31, 2016

Dear Brother and Sister Sperry:

We’re pleased to have Sister Sperry serving in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission. Included are several photos of her with President and Sister Warner and the group that arrived with her.
We have found that weekly encouragement from home helps missionaries remain happy and also inspires greater missionary effort. Mail should be sent to:
Missionary Name (First, Middle Initial, and Last)
Hawaii Honolulu Mission
1500 S. Beretania Street, Suite 416
Honolulu, HI 96826

Please be aware that first class and priority mail can be forwarded from the mission office to missionaries without cost. Other services (FedEx, UPS, DHL) do charge to forward mail, which we collect from the missionary.

May the Lord’s blessings be with you and your family as Sister Sperry serves the people here in Hawaii.

Warmest regards,

Sister Tufts
Hawaii Honolulu Mission Secretary

New Arrivals
President and Sister Warner (Current Mission President).
A long day . . . but still as beautiful as ever! :)
More pics from the MTC:

 1. All sisters in the zone
 2. Sister Nellis and I with Presdent and Sister Cannon (Their Branch President in the MTC)
3. Some of my favorite people. Sister Nellis, Me, Elder Murphy, Elder Ebert, Sister Hope, Sister Horne
 4. Well looky here!!! (Jenny and her cousin Sarah missed each other by 8 days. Sarah served in the Texas Fort Worth Mission. They ran into each other at the Provo Temple. :) Two really amazing girls!
5. Zone pic

Week 3

Week 2 from MTC:

HIII!! 

So, I just want to make it known that I am 4 square queen!! I kick trash every day. 
On a more serious note, Elder Renlund came for the Tuesday devotional!! IT WAS SWEET!!!  I wish I could put in words how incredible it was. I was feelin chill because we sing in the choir so we were on the same program as an apostle!!
The elders in our district are little girls haha it's so funny. They complain more and have so much more drama then the sisters... It's hilarious. The other day our teacher asked how we were and all the elders just start complaining about how tired they were and then you just hear Elder Lepule yell "I'M DEAD!!" hahah I've been laughing about it all day everyday. I really do love my district though. They kind of just turn into family. I'm going to miss them when we all head out on Monday
I really am loving being a missionary. I never know how to put it in words, but it's incredible. This past week I have really learned how to rely on Christ. I can't be a good missionary unless I put all of my trust in Him. 
I love this gospel, I love being a missionary. Thanks for all the support. I love you all!! 
Love, 
Sister Sperry
Pics:
#1: IDK Just kickin it
#2: #gurlswillbegurls
#3: Me and Sister Minor. She went to PG and we are chill homies. I love her.