Welcome to church Greg Warnock!!‏ Tender Mercy

This past Sunday we awoke to an incredible text message from one of our dear friends/family member!!  Greg Warnock has been in Europe on a biking trip and "just happened" to surprise visit Callie in Scotland!!!  He had to get up at the crack of dawn, actually well before dawn, to drive several hours to find her. (Thank you Greg!!)  He surprised her at her ward house.  She happened to be speaking in church that day...she probably couldn't focus! ha.  Such a tender mercy for Callie for Greg to pay her a visit.  The timing of a little bit of "home" couldn't have been more perfect.  He was heaven sent! We love you! Following are text messages we received from Greg about Callie:

  

From Greg:

 

“Sitting in sac mtg with Callie…”Sun. April 27, 3:33 am

 

“She’s happy. Resolved. Committed. I can see changes in her. More calm. More eye contact. More giving. More thoughtful and self aware…”Sun. April 27, 2014  8:16 am

 

“She misses you and the family. You are all so close. She is staying busy. Working hard. Running every day. Studying hard. She has a great spirit about her. I could see it in her talk…”Sun. April 27, 2014 8:17

 

“Being here is very good for her and for those she serves. You are/and should be very proud. She’s very adult now. Poised. If that makes sense…”Sun, April 27, 8:18 am

 

“Callie was super impressive to me. Very determined. To her. It’s hard but good. She seems to be growing up a lot here.  She’s thoughtful about her service. Enjoys studying the gospel and learning to work and love her companions.  She’s solid…”    Mon, April 28, 2:40 am

Unbelievable blessings this week!!  Look who dropped in!!!

Hey family!!

 

okay so before I even talk about missionary stuff, I gotta tell you a story....

 

So I got a call from Bishop Cook on Saturday asking if I'd give a talk on Sunday! Well I said yes. So Sunday rolls around and we go to church. I went up on the stand 5 minutes before church was starting and the elders were out in the hall. Well I'm looking through the window out in the hall and I can see this neon yellow jacket but I couldn't see who it was. The elders opened the door and called my name but then closed the door. Immediately I knew who it was! It was GREG WARNOCK!!! So he went and took of his biker coat and came into the chapel all dressed in biker clothes...classic!! Right when he walked in, I got so excited and had the biggest smile on my face! So I gave my talk, which went pretty good, (I was nervous haha) and then I immediately ran down there and said hi! We gave each other a hug and went out in the hall to talk! Well we talked for 2 hours! It was so good to see someone who was family! Ah I cant even explain how happy and excited I was!! We talked about the mission, home, his family, my family, life, etc.!! It was AWESOME!!!! And then we took some pics, he got on his saweet bike, and then took off to go to Ireland! So ya it was great and I will never forget it! So good to see and talk with Greg.

 

Alright now here's the missionary stuff...

 

So God is truly blessing us....we have 2 new investigators!!

 

CRAIGIES: The Craigies are a FAMILY of 6! Can you believe it. A FAMILY!!! The parents are getting married in 10 weeks and they have 4 little kids under the age of 13. So cute!! We've taught them twice and Fiona (the mom) loves it! Liam (the dad) is back and forth. He doesn't like religion but guess what...after we left the first time after teaching them, he picked up the BOM and read to 1 Nephi 3!! He liked it but said its just a story. We are going back this week so lets hope it goes well!! They are great!!

 

ALISON: She is a former investigator....we picked her up again two weeks ago but wasn't a progressing investigator until this past week! She has been taught all of the lessons and has had about 3 baptism dates! she's just scared to betray her family. We're really working on her though. She knows the church is true and that she needs to get baptized, she's just scared.

 

So cool story....last week, I fasted on Wednesday for 3 things:

 

 -strength

 -comfort

 -new investigators

 

Well Heavenly Father came through once again. We got about 8 potential investigators last week!! Trial of our faith? Yep!!

 

God sure is loving and helped me out a ton. I have truly felt His love this past week and will sure be confiding in Him a lot this week as well. Sometimes peoples agency stinks....I hate it sometimes but trials make us stronger right? I've learned to be grateful for my trials....they make me who I am. If God didn't give us trials, we would never grow or progress in life. I've learned as well that its okay to be sad even as a missionary. Its okay to cry when you are sad or lonely. But I've also learned that when you are done crying and being sad, push it to the back of your mind and get to work because these people need to hear about what makes all of us so happy. I am grateful to be a missionary even when times are hard and I miss my family like crazy. I know without a doubt that God has helped me this week. Even by sending Greg to my ward...it helped me. I'm thankful for my Savior and that I can apply His atonement in my life to ease my pain. I know that God watches out for all of us and that Christ walks with us every step of the way. Missions truly are a test, a growing experience, learning experience, happy experience, and a privilege. I'm thankful I get to be out here helping the people of Scotland and Ireland come unto Christ. What a blessing!

 

Family I love you! I sure miss you all! Tell Greg thanks for coming to church and talking with me!! Thanks for everything fam!!! I love you!!! xoxo :)

 

love,

Sister Firth :)

p.s. me and greg, sis watt and I and sis mills and I at our zone development day!!

Happy Easter!!! :)

We were late hearing from Callie this week due to a holiday in Scotland.   Thanks for your love, support and prayers on Callie's behalf.  We love you all! 

Lisa :)

Hey family!!!

 

Well I hope you all had a great Easter! First off, I'm a bad aunt and forgot to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Brooklyn last week so HAPPY LATE B-DAY BIG GIRL!!!!!!!!!! :) ha ash give her a big hug and kiss for me!! Ash, thanks for the package! those shoes are soo cute!! I've already worn them! and cute Ann Hoole sent me a package as well! So nice of her! tell her thanks for me!!

 

Well as for mission life in EK....it's still the same. We still don't have any investigators but we're still trying and working hard so I hope things start moving soon! This past week was great though! it was a fun week! Yesterday for Easter, my district went and played futbol on a turf field for 3 hours!! Umm...yes I am as sore as can be but it was a blast!! Definitely reminded me of high school and comp soccer!! So fun! :) Then, when we got home, we got a text from a member (the McNally's) and they were having a BBQ and they invited us and the elders! Oh my, it was so fun and I can't even remember the last time I had a BBQ so it was well fun! and yummy!! :)

 

This past week, we've been watching "The Lamb of God" with members and less actives. Wow, my testimony of the Savior has grown so much. I've gained so much respect and appreciation for Him in the past week. I am so grateful that He suffered for me and that I am able to use the atonement in my life everyday. I love Him and I am grateful for His example that I get to follow. He is truly a great man.

 

Well family, I love you all!! I hope you have a good week! I hope you all had fun in mesquite without me! ha oh and guess what...it has been sunny all week and I actually got some sun yesterday! whoop whoop! miss you! love you all!! xoxo :)

 

love,

Sister Firth :)

Moves Call....

Hey family!!

 

Well we got moves call last night and Sister Watt and I are staying together!! We are so stoked!! whoop whoop! par-tay to the max! Hope you are all doing well! I'm pretty dang jealous you are all in Mesquite but soak up some sun for me will ya? K thanks!!

 

Well this week was good! We still have no investigators but we do have loads of potentials so we hope to get some investigators this week! On Monday, we went bowling with some missionaries in our zone! Umm...it was the funnest p-day I've ever had let me tell you! Since all my friends and I would go bowling almost every weekend in high school, I did pretty good! haha k I'm totally kidding, I lost way bad but it was still so fun! And the music was saweet!!! Brings back old memories from high school! love it!

 

So some random and funny stuff that happened this past week was...

-I got pooped on by a bird...nasty!!! haha

-we go running every morning and yes, I die almost every time!

-Us and the EK elders went to KFC for "moves anticipation night" and had a pretty cool experience afterwards....

 

So after dinner at KFC, which was way fun by the way, sister watt and I had to sprint to catch our bus! Well we barely made it. On our way home, we saw a little dog that had gotten hit by a bus...yes, umm saddest moment of my life! We were so depressed. We were walking home after we got off the bus and this big group of ppl walked passed us. They were all dressed up. Then these two men started talking to us. One was drunk and walked ahead but the other kept talking to us. He asked us why we were in Scotland and what we did. Well, he ditched his friends and started talking about how he was interested in religion. We talked to him for about a half hour. It was so neat. We told him about the Plan of Salvation and about God. He kept saying how he felt like he needed to talk to us for some reason but didn't know why. We had a good chat with him but he didn't want to give us contact info so we gave him our card. We haven't heard from him since but he really liked what we talked about. Even if he doesn't call us, maybe he just needed to hear that there is life after this. All I know is that God lead us to him. Its crazy how much my testimony grows each day from experiences and miracles I see. Its lovely!

 

Well family, I love you all!! miss you all like cray cray!! I'll see you in 4 short weeks! oh and I finished the BOM for the second time today!! whoop whoop! xoxo :)

 

Love,

Sister Firth :)

p.s. pics of me getting pooped on, our district, us at KFC.

Back at square one!

Hey family!!!

 

Wow can you believe conference?? Best conference I've ever seen! LOVED IT!!!!!!! Definitely got my questions answered and learned a lot. I truly loved all of the talks. I don't think I have a favorite but I did love Elder Anderson's about the whirlwinds of life and Elder Hales' about how we need to be careful who we follow... umm...wow! Ah I just loved all of them and President Monson's of course about loving our families and others around us. Just gotta say that I love my family a lot. I think you all already knew that though!

 

So this week has been, well, rough. Sister Watt and I are back at square one....we lost all 3 of our investigators this past week. Paul's parents found out he was going to get baptized and his mom called us and told us that we wont be meeting with him anymore. So we have zero investigators right now but we have a couple of potentials. Chapping and street contacting here we come!! Whoop whoop! Its what missionaries do best right? haha

 

So not too much to say about this past week other than I love being a missionary at this time. It is such a blessing. I have learned so much about myself, my Heavenly Father, and my Savior. Yes, it can be hard at times, but just like Elder Holland said..."I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?" It wasn't easy for the Savior. Just like Elder Bednar talked about yesterday how the Savior suffered EVERYTHING for us. Literally every pain, heartache, physical pain, emotional pain, homesickness moment, every disappointment, ect. I think I can give up 18 months of my life to serve Him even if it is hard at times. It will be worth it! So bottom line, even though its hard, I'm so grateful I'm out here serving my Heavenly Father. What better work could I be doing than this? I'm so grateful for my Savior, my Heavenly Father, the atonement, and most importantly, my family.

 

I love you all!! Thanks for all of your support and love. I pray for you all every night and day! Well, maybe not you Roger, haha just kidding!! I pray for you to! :) and whit, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW!!! how old are you now? 35? ha JK! hope you have a fun birthday! and Meg, Bennett just keeps getting cuter and cuter! Love and miss you all!!! :) xoxo

 

love,

Sister Firth :)