St. Pattys Day in Cedar!

Good Morning all!! Happy St. Patricks day... Yes I am wearing Green :P

So I have no clue WHERE the time goes!! This week FLEW by sooo fast. Thank you for all your emails, soory that I cannot reply to them all. 

So this week we found an amazing new investigator, well he has been going to church and he decided to meet with us with help from the members encouragement. We stopped by his house last saturday and he said he didn't need our help or anything. Well we are just glad that we were able to visit with him. So we put him on date for the 29th March!!! Yip a miracle and he is excited and ready to commit. Was crazy so we set up a time with him on saturday afternoon to teach him. So since our mile have been cut we have been trying to walk as much as possible. And so we were walking in the neighborhood in the morning and no one was answering their doors when we walked by this house and so I decide to say hi cause I want to learn to talk to everyone. turns out it was ANDREW! wow well I felt bad cause I didn't recognize him at first then turns out he was at our ward mission leaders house helping them out shoveling gravel.... WOW well we spoke to him a bit confirming that we will be coming at 3.... then the ward mission leader says oh and did you know it's Andrews birthday today. "WHAT? No! Did you know it's Sister Allred's Birthday today!!!?" Haha so luckily it was Pi day on Friday (March, 14 = 3,14 = Pi) so they invited us in and treated us to some apple crumble. Then the fellow-shipper who also lives down the street called our ward mission leader and asked him to go to the lesson which we had set up for later cause his baby sitter fell through. Well we looked around and were like well... could we just have it right now? lol So we taught him the restoration and it was good! A bit confusing cause he believes that Pres Monson is a prophet but he does not know for himself that the book of mormon is true. anyway we are working on that. So sister allred had this great idea that we "balloon attach his door" And so during our lunch we made this awesome surprise for him... well did I mention that Cedar city is also known for the wind! haha ok so we our awesome creation involves string... sounds absolutely crazy I know. well we were going to use double sided tape, and it wanted to stick too well to his car, so got hold of some other tape and our plans changed a few times of where we were going to stick it anyway, in the process of untangling... HE CAUGHT US!!!! AHHHHHH sooooo close we just needed 10 more minutes... Well it was good fun we stood talking to him for a good 30min outside. 

And we eventually put it up!

Look amazing right??? WORTH IT!

Oh and I am sorry you did not get the pictures I intended on sending last week... I think I may have closed the browser too sooon... these computers are a bit slow...

On other news we had Zone conference this week and wow there are alot of changes to how we should be teaching and planning:

Our nightly planning sessions now take an hour to and hour and a half as we use the "planning guides" in our planners/weekly planning points, it IS most effective in helping us to remember ALL our investigators during the week, especially those on date. They have also encouraged us to use our pamphlets more and more and literally use them as we teach with the pictures - short powerful lessons! That is the key! SHORT... lol still trying to get out of that habbit but I will get there. There are many changes... Change is good right? 

Oh an Sister Allred got her VISA!!!! at least she is going to stay till the end of the transfer and then she is off to Santos! She is Soooooooooooooooo Excited. we really need to work on her Portuguese now.

Oh and Happy birthday to dad for Wednesday last week! I did not forget I promise!! :D 

Well today I plan on doing some clothes shopping at the DI This will be my first experience So excited!

Anyways some of our investigators we are struggling to get them progressing but we are working on them - figuring out their needs.

Running out of time.

Love you all!

All My Best,

Sister Karen Hollander

St. George, Utah Mission

107S. 1470E. Suite 304

St. George Utah 84790

United States

Pictures Part 2

Pictures Part1

Spring up to CEDAR WEST

AS the title implies I am officially in Cedar and Spring time is approaching and we experience loosing an hour of our day :( literally... Time change!!! I'm sorta glad I'm not in Kiabab for that one reason that you would always have to tell people we are doing things at 5UT/4AZ Always had to put t\2 times in there. crazy. But I don't have to worry about that anymore :P Now I just have to worry about my lack of sleep!

Last Monday was just full of tears! I did not want to leave the sisters there that I had gotten close to and something else real special happened. So there is this lady with a non member husband. He grew up in the church sorta but missed the group baptism they would have in those days. well he is not a church going man but he thinks that ALL kids should go on a mission after school. Well he is a great guy and the best way that we get to talk with him is at dinner but he seems to be picky with who he likes cause last time he did not eat with the missionaries. and we went there for dinner on monday to kinda say goodbye, now I had only seen him on 3 occasions prior. but he is such a great man! I love him. And her! She surprised me with making MILKTART!!! Man I miss the taste of that stuff! It was not perfect, it was a bit lumpy and graham crackers are a bit more sweet than tennis biscuits but it tastes like home. And I cried it was just too awesome. then he was crying. It was just too special! I will never forget him!

I LOVE Cedar, Maybe not as much as Kaibab but I think it will come. It was so fun I was able to go on the transfer VAN!!! Whoohoo!!! Was so much fun! My trainer was also transferred outbound (Which normally does not happen) but she went up to Moroni! (Land of the Turkeys) lol So that should be fun for her haha so I will include pictures seperately.

So I sent the day with Sister Massengale and Sister Allred (my new comp) till the transfer van came back to pick Sister Massengale up. We had a jam packed day as sister M was saying goodbye to everyone. But it was good, I got to meet alot of poeple they were  working with and now I am working with. But we found out that our car would be taking away from us for a week cause some elders needed it more than we do... so I drove for a total of 5min then it was walking. and wow that was an experience. Though it does help to get to know the area a bit. it does not however help when we have dinner in Hamilton Fort (the far out area that justifies us having a car) EVERY NIGHT. Thank goodness the elders called us on thursday and said we could have our car back. But our car needs to go in and be fixed cause there are a lot of issues with it. But we will see what happens. But I love driving!!! I thought that it would be a shelp to drive cause I have been passenger this whole time. But its good! I love driving! Utah drivers are crazy though, and it was a bit of a shock coming from lil kanab to driving in Big Cedar. We went on a tour of Hamilton fort last week, we were trying to find this one house but we just kept on going and going, it was getting draker and darker and the roads would not make any sense. (cause it all works on co ordinates... or the grid system) well it is strating to make more sense now that it is everywhere and I am starting to catch where N E S W are. But these roads would just end... anyway was an adventure... still don't know where the house is though. will try from the other end.

So my new companion!!! Sister Allerd!!! No not from the polygimst Allreds. She is originally from Utah, Moved to New York!!! How cool!! So that is where she is originally from but just before she went to the MTC her family moved to Southern Utah!!! What? Well her call is originally to Santos, Brazil! she is an amazing missionary! I love her to bits! But she found out last week that her visa has been approved now they are just waiting for delivery/collection or something. Well that kinda means that she will be shipped off to brazil probably next transfer. Well we get along real great! We are trying to work on her Portuguse this transfer to get her ready to go to brazil. So you may be thinking what about her parents being only like 2 hours from where she is currently serving??? Well she got reassigned here after they had moved so I think she is needed in this part of the world for a reason!

Well its crazy here. I cover one more ward than in Kiabab (7+1). The Cedar west family stake. well with one Single Adult ward (31-45). Its really fun. We don't teach YSA but, we had a YSA girl who wanted to be taught by sisters and so sisters have been teaching her. She is so great Her name is Mayra (Said Myda) And so she had her baptism this last sunday. She was so prepared! the spirit was SUPER strong at the baptism, even before she was in tears the whole time. We managed to get some pictures in. And like the whole track team came to support her.

Well the work is a bit slow in these parts, but we have a solid investigator that we are going to pick up this week!!! We are super excited!

Well unfortunately its that time again. Time is up. Hope I can say more next week about Zone Conference that we are having :) 

Love you all! 

Challenge: Read and Apply Elder S Gifford Nielsons talk - Hastening the Lords Game plan! 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/hastening-the-lords-game-plan?lang=eng

And see what you can do to help the work progress!

All My Best,

Sister Karen Hollander

St. George, Utah Mission

107S. 1470E. Suite 304

St. George Utah 84790

United States

"Snot en Trane"

Well we got transfer calls on Saturday.. Aaaaaaand I LEAVING :'( And yes there was much tissue used for my "snot en trane" But it was the perfect way to end my time out here! So I will be heading to CEDAR CITY WEST!!!! And I will be trading places with Sister Massengale who came out with me.

And I need to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures as I have left it at home. Been packing ALL morning and all evening so things are being misplaced all over!

So this week was great! Monday we went shopping at the Thrift store again and I got a few cute skirts and a cute top!! (Don't ask me where I am going to fit it all) I have accumulated way too much stuff in the space of 6 months at least I have bought a duffel bag to help out.

Otherwise we have been pretty busy. Tuesday was a bit of a disaster though! All our apts fell through before dinner (actually dinner fell through too), and we were stressing what we should do for the evening cause we were teaching in moccassin and there was a ward activity happening so a member invited one of our investigators to that and thats cool, she is on date for baptism and its good for her to be with the ward. Well she was told that the activity started at 6... But NO it only started at 6 30 and she was there a bit early. she was also told that it was a dinner. But NO it was just a talk about letting go. So like everything went wrong. But we were able to speak to her a bit before the activity (we were not able to stay cause we had some other apts) But we were in shock cause she was reading from this book she found at the thrift store about the second coming and the millennium. She also had read to ch 7 in the book of mormon. One thing that stood out to her in the book she bought was that she needed to pay tithing in order to obtain the celestial kingdom. So we gave her a tithing pamphlet. We should have committed her to live the law of tithing, but we were too scared. But anyway then we rescheduled a time for friday (which she did not go to... But then she was At CHURCH for all 3 HOURS!!! WHAT?? She surprises me EVERY DAY!) Well the rest of the evening was less stressful but we were able to teach Yvette and her brothers and Judith! Judith is so amazing!! she has many great questions. Deep questions!!! But she needs to start coming to church more regularly. I will truly miss her though. She gets so excited and just wants to learn more. but it is all in the Book of Mormon but she is not reading that either.... Sigh I know sister Hee will work hard with her though! She is ready just need to take that step of faith sometimes.

Well the rest of the week was less eventful in a way, except we had Zone training and we found out that our mission will probably not get facebook or iPads anytime soon cause we need to use the rescourses at our fingertips. Like the Members - we have sooo many members we need to use them MORE. We also have Preach my gospel and The District and They are really encouraging us to use it more and more in our teaching. rumour has it that the way we teach is going to change a bit - they want the lessons to be shorter and more powerful. I LOVE PMG but I know I have to repent and use it more and more! After Zone training we had exchanges again and it really was well worth it! I stayed in my area and Sister Hee went to Washinington feilds. I had sister sordes again. I love her so much!!! We have alot in common. Though she had to wait 10 MONTHS before she could come out on her mission!!! took her THAT long to get her Visa. (And I complained about the 6 months I had to wait)

Well It was crazy this week. On Wednesday we taught Sue and Jim the Word of Wisdom. we were a bit late because Jim had just recently quit coffee and alcohol and he quit smoking a long time ago. Sue on the other hand has NEVER had a problem with any of these things!!! She even is drinking ROOIBOS TEA!!!!! She is importing them from Swanson. But seriously!!!! I know I was meant to meet SUE!! we swapped tea to taste and things... she says mine tastes fresher lol I love Red Bush Tea!!!! But I miss Rusks and Green Cream Soda and Lichi Juice and Indian Curry... And really missing rice. All Potatoes....

Ahh there is still sooo much that I wanna say about Melissa and But time is almost up and I have to get packing so I can still say goodbye to some people. But know that Kiabab is a WONDERFUL Place with many many GREAT and marvelous people I wish all could experience what I have experienced.

All My Best,

Sister Karen Hollander

St. George, Utah Mission

107S. 1470E. Suite 304

St. George Utah 84790

United States

Fwd: Transfer #4 Week #5 Part 1

Oh my goodness!!! What a wonderful week (even though I had a sore throat and stuffy nose) But there is sooo much to tell and I might not get through it all so bare with me.

First off ZIONS was AWESOME!!! We had sooo much fun there!!!

We went with two familys luckily it was free to go to zions because of presidents day :)

Two young families, the kids really did keep us entertained the whole way there and back lol we had such a good time. But I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

All My Best,

Sister Karen Hollander

St. George, Utah Mission

107S. 1470E. Suite 304

St. George Utah 84790

United States

Transfer #4 Week#5 Part 2

So after the hike we had a few lessons at less actives :) Mondays are hard to get lessons cause we are encouraged to not go to members homes. Think we are sorted tonight.

So tuesday all our apt fell through before dinner time but after dinner everything went right. well sorta. We were able to visit with the native americans that we are teaching and what an experience, so our first lesson the lady we were teaching had a huge migraine the days prior to our meeting with her and she was kinda recovering i guess and but she still wanted to hear what we had to say - so this is the lady who we both felt prompted to invite to be baptized but didn't and so we were able to speak to her about the restoration and watched the restoration DVD and then we invited her to be baptized!!! and before we could finish the invite she said yes, before we could give her a date she said yes... well we are hoping that she really does truely  understand but we will check on how she is doing this coming week and explain things more to her :) But we are excited for her!!!

Then we taught a 13 year old girl and her brother and wow, we asked a few questions to get to know them and things, to get them to open up and then all of a sudden we could not get them to keep quiet!! lol it was quite the experience. So we were late to our next apt with Judith, who is so prepared! but needs to make some changes in her life and she knows it. Her work colleagues are reallly preparing her so much they taught her the plan of salvation before we could but she had so many great questions!! But her mom seems to be a bit of a hindrance. Reading all this anti mormon things on the net and trying to get her to not meet with us and things. And even while we were there she called and wanted to speak to us giving us all scriptures (from the internet) from the bible to try get us to doubt our words and things. But it did NOT That was the second time we have been bible bashed in a week and the second time we were able to stand firm and immovable. Judith also stood up for the church and she wants to get baptized. I love her courage and her conviction. I hope it stays with her. she loves meeting with us and we love meeting with her.

Well Wednesday was the beginning of another miracle. So I don't know if I mentioned before, but when sister Hee had to go to the doctor last time we were able to meet this young medical student, she is pretty and great! Catholic. And super cool. Sister Hee and her were able to make an immediate connection since It was Sister Hee and Doctor See, Her parents are both from the Philippines. The both interested in medical field and both love art. (it was love at first sight lol JK) Anyway so we met Dr See at a restaurant for a casual meeting to kinda get to know her and she did not want any members to be there for it (cause the doctors that she works for has really been pushing her a bit to meet with us and she has many Mormon friends at the hospital) so she was kinda doing it in secret. Well turns out we must have done something good because that night she went to her one close friends house and they were talking about it and then we got a phone call saying that she wants to meet with us every night before she leaves!!!! (cause she was only here for a month and this is her last week here) so she studies in Salt Lake, originally from Cali, but LOVES KANAB. And she has not been approached about meeting with missionaries in salt lake or before she came to kanab, and she likes church but thinks its a bit noisy. She said she decided to listen to us here with the people she loves and we have also really gotten to love her soooo much!!! We would really like to see her baptized, and it would really be a miracle if we could have the baptism here before she leaves but that might not happen just yet - she is not ready to commit. But we really do love her and hope she is able to find what ever she is looking for. One of the things that she loves about the church is that we are very family orientated.

Well we were able to put another of our investigators on date for baptism but we realized that we did it for the weekend of general conference so that might not work out too well. But we are just so excited that things are making more sense to hima nd that he is ready to commit.

Well transfer calls are coming up this week saturday, so we will know next week who goes and who stays. hopefully we both stay. We are finally getting our investigators to where they need to be and we love them so much. But I have been here almost 6 months so its almost time I go to a new area.

Yesterday we spoke in 2 wards back to back. luckily both times we were the final speaker and the speakers before us took up most of the time we only had 5min each to speak and I love being able to rely on the spirit to know what to speak about.

Well my spiritual thought comes from the first thing that our mission is memorizing

THE STANDARD OF TRUTH - Joseph Smith (Wentworth letter)
The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent , till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.

All My Best,

Sister Karen Hollander

St. George, Utah Mission

107S. 1470E. Suite 304

St. George Utah 84790

United States

Presidents day in ZIONS

Well Just as normal I do not have much time today - we are cutting it short so we can go to ZIONS national park :)

We are going with some members here. it's a public holiday and so they are taking the kids and we are hitch hiking.

We had a GREAT week!!! Wow really feels like forever ago but we got 2 NEW investigators this week! One that the Kanab sisters have been working with and the other is a native american that I feel is pretty golden! When we were visiting with her Sister Hee and I BOTH felt impressed to put her on date for baptism but unfortunately the conversation took a turn and we were not able to. Our Fellowshipper likes to talk ALOT. But it is good fun. But I think thanks to her we did have one of our Native American Investigators at church. We are teaching 3 and 2 were at church!! we are SUPER Excited!!! We hope to get more and more and eventually have a native american branch out there. but we also wasnt to have a branch in Co city and there are just not enough whites who live in Mocciassin itself to have their own ward without cane beds and co city so we may need to make some sacrifices. But I am really excited!!!

We had 5 investigators at CHURCH yesterday!!! And Wow we are excited that they are showing some commitment! Hopefully the others will soon follow. 

Well as for Sue (who I tried putting on date twice) she is definitely progressing!! I love her sooo much!!! Bishop has been able to work really well with her and Jim. He spoke to her about  baptism and how important that authority is. They have finally found Jims church records and he is a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood. Bishop has told Jim that after they meet that that they can speak about setting him apart as a priest and then he could baptize Sue. and now this idea has been mentioned a few times by the members around them and well I hope that they do not push her away. BUT she is still going to church so I guess not :) Holding thumbs for this week!!

So we had exchanges this week and we ended up having all 4 of us in the kaibab area, good thing we have two places where we could sleep otherwise we would not all fit in our lil apt. So Sister Sordes (From Tulus France) and I went to Cane beds and Sister Hee and Sister Davila stayed in Kanab.

Sis Sordes is AWESOME!!! I love her so much and well she does not have a licence at all and so I was the designated driver for the day! Ahhhh it was so scary to be driving again it has been so long! almost 6 months! But it was good! I only tried to put the clutch in once! haha :D It is strange driving on the other side of the road though.

All My Best,

Sister Karen Hollander

St. George, Utah Mission

107S. 1470E. Suite 304

St. George Utah 84790

United States

Life on the Kaibab Part 3

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

All My Best,

Sister Karen Hollander

St. George, Utah Mission

107S. 1470E. Suite 304

St. George Utah 84790

United States

Hiking in Co City

Good Morning!!!!

It Snowed last night!!!! There was a fast for "moisture" this weekend and we got it! yay! Miracles!

Well Dont have much time today as we are heading out to Colorado city to hike and celebrate our District leaders Birthday! And cause we can. Hope it is not too snowy out there but should be good fun! Cannot wait!

This week was interesting. Alot of what we planned again fell through. But it is ok.

We had some real spiritual experiences with some of our 'gators and less actives we teach. one especially was last night when we watched the testaments with a less active. it was great to see him in tears as Christ speaks to Helman by name and heals him. 

I love this work.

The Church is TRUE!!!

All My Best,

Sister Karen Hollander

St. George, Utah Mission

107S. 1470E. Suite 304

St. George Utah 84790

United States