What a Week 10.26.15

I feel as if this week wasn't the most amazing week but that's okay. I know that we did plant a lot of seeds in people's hearts and that one day those seeds will grow.

I guess I can start out by saying how awful today and yesterday was.

Saturday I woke up with a sore throat and it bothered me all day..I didn't think much about it until all night I was awake due to really bad pain. I was super sick all Sunday and it was more than just a sore throat; it was to the point where I was in tears. We had Sister Uptegraft, Brother Uptegraft, and Brother Dean come over and I ended up getting a priesthood blessing. I cant begin to explain how thankful I am for worthy priesthood holders. After the brethren gave me a priesthood blessing, Sister Uptegraft stayed to make me herbal tea and pulled out her essential oils....(She also proceeded to do our dishes).

Sister Wolf and I stayed home until our dinner appointment at the Rossi's. while were at our dinner appointment, Sister Uptegraft text us and told us she had made us homemade chicken noodle soup. (That woman is just incredible). Brother Rossi is a nurse and so he checked my throat. He told me I should think about going to the doctors because it may be possible that I have strep throat. I woke up this morning super sick still and we are sorta unsure what I have but I'm just taking it easy. I haven't gone to the doctors because I don't want to get there and be told that I'm just sick and that I need to rest and take it easy. BUT I am so incredibly grateful for my ward who is so loving and willing to do anything to help me feel better. It's so nice to have people who feel like family while I'm away from home.

We started a "fitness" challenge on Monday with our district. We get points if we don't eat passed 9:30 pm, get to bed by 10:30, get up by 6:30, exercise for 30 mins, get to personal study by 8 am, and get to companion study by 9. We also get extra points of we exercise extra mins before 8 am or after 9:30 pm. It's helped me a lot with being more obedient to our schedule and "exact obedience bring miracles while select obedience brings select blessings". Also Monday, we had elders call us serving in Alaska and one of the Elders is from Dayton, Ohio. He called us to refer us over to his mom and step dad who live in Yellow Springs. His mom had been inactive for years and his step dad was a nonmember. He asked us if we would go over the their house on Tuesday and share with them what he was sharing in Alaska. I knew that this was a small tender mercy for his mom the moment she opened the door and we said that we had been called by his son in Alaska.

Unfortunately, yellow springs is in the Elders area but helpfully they will work with them.

Adam said that his daughter was too young to be baptized so we asked him to pray to know that the age of accountability was 8. When we went over to their house Tuesday, we asked if he had prayed to know and he said "you know, if being baptized is what she wants to do then she can be baptized!" We are so excited for C. We are going to extend a baptismal date to her tonight and I'm so happy that she can choose this decision for herself.

So Wednesday, we went to teach B who has a baptismal date and before I could get out the car she gave me the plan of salvation pamphlet and Book of Mormon back. She said we were moving to fast for her (which I don't understand because she tried to move up her baptismal date last week) and asking her to make changes in her life that she wasn't ready for. It was really sad but I bore my testimony to her about the importance of baptism and the blessings that come from it. We weren't expecting her to drop us but maybe one day she'll come to realize the truthfulness of our message.

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges this week with the sister training leaders. I went with Sister Crandell to her area, Urbana. She is from Springfield, Utah and has been out for 16 months! We mostly did contacting the whole Day. One older man we went to was D. He had told Sister Crandell about two weeks ago not to come back until she had an answer about a certain question. She found scriptures that answered his question but he still wasn't happy. His wife recently passed and he wasn't happy with God. This guy sorta scared me but I continued to talk to him and bear my testimony to him. All of the sudden, his heart began to soft...maybe not on the subject of the gospel but he went from bashing certain beliefs to sitting with us and talking about his family and life. At first he scared me but throughout our conversation I began to love the man and I knew that at some point in life he would accept the gospel. He reminded me a lot of Mr. Fredtrickson (or however you spell it) from the movie Up. An old man super bitter about his wife dying, a boy (or two sister missionaries) comes along to serve him, and by the end of the movie his heart had soften. I literally watched his heart completely soften..it was incredible. He even gave me tomatoes and everyone knows how much I LOVE TOMATOES. He is even letting Sister Crandell and her companion come back to do service for him. I know that this man is going to continually soften up and will begin to see the light of Christ in missionaries. It's so incredibly how the spirit works on people and how people can truly see the Light of Christ in our eyes.

Friday we had our ward Halloween Trunk-or-Treat.... It was so much fun and I love the ward I am serving in so much. Sister and Brother Ward brought nonmembers to it and we talked a little to them. As we were talking to them, I had a strong impression to talk about the Plan of Salvation. We were talking about God and his hand in our daily lives...and it led me right into the Plan of Salvation. I know that the spirit was guiding me as I was talking to them. The spirit is so important when it comes to missionary work and it should always guide us. I like to compare it this way: missionaries speak to the body/mind and the spirit speaks to the soul. Without the Holy Ghost, missionary work would be impossible.

We had 3 investigators come to church yesterday and I was so incredibly happy. Even though I was super sick, I had the opportunity to go to church and sit by 1 of our investigators. We are going to continue teaching all of our investigators the importance of attending church, why it's important personally, and how it will bless their lives.

There will never be a general apostasy again but we are in danger of falling into a personal apostasy. We need to continually strengthen our testimony and deepen our conversion. Here are safeguards to help

you:

1. Keep covenants

2. Obey the commandments

3. Follow church leaders

4. Partake of the sacrament each week

5. Daily scripture study

6. Daily prayer

7. Service

I can testify to you all that this gospel is true and the fully restored gospel on the earth today. We have a loving Heavenly Father and Savior who know us individually and love us deeply. I promise you that if you follow the 7 steps above, that you will become closer to our Heavenly Father and Savior and you will come to know how true this gospel is. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life. I know that I can be with my family forever and that I've been blessed with such an amazing family. There are so many ups and downs as a missionary but everyday I'm reminded that this is exactly where I should be. I love you all and I'm so grateful for all the support. Look to Christ, build a foundation on Christ, and press forward with faith in Christ.

XOXO,

Sister Detamore

 

A Complete Blur 10.19.15

This week is a complete blur..no like really, I swear I blinked and it was Monday again haha. I'm not even sure what to talk about because we had so much happen. OH GUESS WHAT? I hit the MTC one month ago 3 days ago and let me tell you I have no idea where that month went. I've had my ups and downs but being a missionary is incredible. Happy 1 Month to me ☺️
I guess I'll start with the depressing news because then it'll force you all to read the whole email to get to the GOOD stuff. And plus, I've realized that I haven't really wrote about stuff that does go wrong. Let me tell you, there are going to be ups and downs as a missionary. What I have realized is you can either focus on the negative or focus more on the positive. I've unconsciously decided to focus on the positive so I want to apologize for not writing a lot about the negative stuff. There are downs almost every single day but the good weighs out the bad.
So three of our investigators (A, R, and M) are not going to be ready to be baptized on October 31st..and it makes me so sad. Two of them were progressing pretty well but this week we sort of hit a stump in the path. all three of them have begun to struggle and I know that Satan is trying to work really hard on them because they are moving to such an incredible spiritual experience. I pray for them every single day and hope that we can help them feel the spirit strongly once again.
Another struggle that I've seen while being out is getting investigators to come to church. We have so many of them we contact/visit Saturday night that say they are going to come but when church comes around, they aren't there. I am going to really try hard this week to help people understand the importance of church attendance and that they can receive personal revelation through church attendance
Oh man, we taught this lady the other day and she was craaaazy. She said how we all had a third eye in our brain and the government was polluting our tap water so that it would dull our third eye. #WHAT Then she went off about this secret organization taking over the government...yeah, I wasn't sure what to say the entire time. Haha But she is going through a hard time right now and I know the gospel can bless her life so we will see where that goes.
We had an amazing lesson with our investigator T on Saturday.
She is probably our strongest investigator BUT she won't set a baptismal date yet. She likes to work in baby steps so we are making steps towards setting a date. Our lesson Saturday was on Faith and it was absolutely amazing. We listened to the talk "Lord, I Believe" by Jeffery R. Holland. EVERYONE PLEASE GO READ IT.
The other day Sister Wolf and I read the talk "The Miracle of a Mission" by Jeffery R. Holland. Let me tell you...that talk brought tears to my eyes. I love Holland so much and that talk pierced my soul. No lie. Please read that talk as well.
We had the opportunity to help an elderly woman garden and it made me think of my dad. He cares so much our yard and always plants the prettiest flowers. #lovemydad
My favorite day of the week had to be Saturday. We had a pumpkin carving activity that was put on by our ward mission leader. Man, did I have the time of my LIFE. It was so much fun. I'll definitely send pictures from that activity. We talked to a 12 year old there and wow, she had such strong faith. She isn't a member so we talked about the plan of salvation with her and she was extremely interested to know more about Gods plan for her. We told her we could teach her more but we wanted it to be okayed through her parents..out of respect you know? Well I don't think her parents were too interested but I hope someday Grace can have the chance to her more about the gospel.
Yesterday we went to check on investigators that haven't been visited in awhile. They weren't home so we decided to knock on the door next to them. We met S and she had thee cutest little 2 yr old boy. The moment he saw us, he looked up and said, "I wanna hold you." (Meaning he wanted to be held). It made my heart ache and made me miss my nieces and nephews so so much. We got to talking to her and before I knew it we were in her house teaching her the restoration. After I recited the first vision to her she said, "that's amazing that God and Jesus Christ appeared to him." Yes, S, it is! We have another appointment with her Wednesday and I can't wait to teach her again.
My favorite lesson of the entire week was probably at dinner last night. We had an awesome dinner at a part-member families home. We shared the Mormon message "The Hope of Gods Light" and then Sister Wolf and I shared our personal "conversion" (not really converts but gaining our own testimonies) stories. It was so powerful and the spirit was so strong. There wasn't a dry eye in the room and I KNEW walking out that we had strengthened their testimonies and helped them come closer to Christ. It wasn't because of me but because of the spirit in the room. I told them that if they had a question, had a desire to receive an answer, went humbly before the Lord in pray, with real intent, that they would receive an answer. I told them that I was called of God and set apart as a representative of Jesus Christ and I had the authority to promise them this. I can honestly say that this has been the most powerful moment as a missionary. God is there for us and He knows us individually. I challenge you all to watch "The Hope of Gods Light" and then pray to our a Heavenly Father having a desire to know the answer to a question you want to ask Him. I PROMISE YOU that you WILL receive an answer if you are humble enough to receive it.
Since my sister is so amazing, she sent me a thing that allows me to transfer pictures from my camera to my iPad. I got it Saturday so I didn't take too many photos on my camera but from now on I will have better quality photos then the lame iPad ones. Lol thanks Jen!
Being a missionary is incredible. As I have said before, there are ups and downs. I have times when I wonder what in the world am I doing out here but I have moments where I know exactly what I'm doing out here!
I am so grateful I have the opportunity to be a sister missionary. I have grown so much in the past month and I know I'll continue to grow the next 17. I love this gospel so much. I've never loved it so much until now. I KNOW I have a loving Savior who is there for us. I KNOW we have a prophet on the earth to lead and guide us. I KNOW that I have a loving Heavenly Father who cares so deeply about each one of us. It's incredibly amazing how much we as indicates can grow in the gospel if we allow ourselves to grow. I love you all so much and I am so grateful for the support!
With lots of love..XOXO,
Sister Detamore
Highlights:
1 Month
First haircut on her mission
Pumpkin carving activity
Fall in Ohio
Halloween Packages

So much to say, so little time 10.12.15

 It's so hard trying to think about what I'm going to write because so much happens in a week. Hopefully I write about everything that I want to write about and my emails will probably be long all the time cause there is so much to write about. (ps; I'm writing this sentence after I finished my email...be prepared for a long email...it's so good though)
So last Monday in my email I talked about a 9 yr old we were going to teach that night who had less active parents. We taught their family the restoration to them and we all drew out of each point of the restoration. I'll send the picture of mine. holy goodness, They know so much... They are the Campbell's and they have 4 kids. It's like they taught the kids the gospel but just never go to church. When we were talking about Joseph Smith, “E” (the 9 yr old) goes, "oh, God and Jesus came to him and told him to not join any of the churches cause they were all wrong." I was like YES! Haha so long story we got to the end of the lesson and I extended baptism to “E” with the date of Nov. 14. Her mom starts talking (and I was like oh no...) and she proceeds to say that “C” turns 8 on the 18th so they'd like them to be baptized the same day..so I asked if November 21st would work.
Sister Wolf and I had talked about asking if their dad, “R” would prepare himself to baptize the kids and before I could ask.... “C” (the 7 yr old) goes "And daddy can baptize us!" It was the greatest thing EVER. So we have another baptism coming up!
So another cool story. We had a lesson set up with “M” who has a baptismal date but when we got there she wasn't there. We decided to talk to “K”:, her mother-in-law who is a less active that we've been teaching. “K” has been going through stuff tough stuff and so we taught her about trials and relying on God. At the end of the lesson, we asked her if she wanted to receive a priesthood blessing. The next day we got a member and his wife (which happened to be “K’s” visiting teacher) to go over to “K's” to give her a blessing. We were unable to go because we had a lesson during that time. The next day after she got the blessing we went over to teach the family and “K” was totally different. She literally was glowing. #BEAMING we asked her how it was and she said "as soon as he put his hands on my head, I could feel it.
I could feel the power of the priesthood. I felt so comforted and peaceful afterwards. People kept asking me after what I was on or what I drank but I kept telling them I didn't take anything. I've been like this ever since I got the blessing. I can't stop smiling." PEOPLE THE POWER OF THE PRIESTHOOD IS INCREDIBLE. MEN BE WORTH TO USE YOUR PRIESTHOOD. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT IT IS.
Okay, funny story to this story. We started our lesson and while I'm pouring out my testimony about keeping the Sabbath day holy and such...I look in the kitchen and I see a mouse run across the kitchen floor. #WHAT. hah I tried so hard not to freak out and to not laugh...but I go through my testimony and they still to this day have no idea I saw that haha.
Okay ANOTHER COOL STORY. We were tracting this road and as we are walking down it I stopped at a corner and in my heart I said a prayer to Heavenly Father that I could find someone that we could teach and find a new investigator. My companion said "are we turning the corner and going down this street instead?" I said "oh..I don't care." But really I was thinking to myself "we have to turn down this street. I just said a prayer that I would find someone down this street." Sister Wolf said "look there is a guy getting groceries out of his car. Let's go talk to him." We started to talk to him, “T”, and he told us he had a really good friend who was an "Elder" who taught him a little about Mormons. He said it was weird to see us cause he has only seen men in white shirts, riding bikes. He said that he loves how Mormons are always so happy no matter what. He asked if we had a church near by and of course, we said yes! He said it was weird because he was thinking about what he should do this weekend and we randomly walked up to him...he asked for the address to our church. So..we left him our number and address to the church. So Sunday came and he wasn't at church but Sister Wolf and I planned to go talk to him if he didn't come to church. Last night we went over to his house and he said he knew he had something to do that day and totally spaced that he was going to go to church. We got talking to Tim and man, what he said...we KNEW God has prepared him. He said that he has had some hard times and one time he went to a field and started to talk out loud..sorta pray out load..and that he felt peaceful and calm. He said he KNEW there is a God out there. We talked to him a little about the Holy Ghost and explained to him that the Holy Ghost comforts us and yeah. He then goes on to explain that he believes there is a reason that we met him. He said that everything was placed the way it was so that we could be walking past his house as he got out of his car to go inside. He said that usually he drives fast but that day he drove slower...he didn't know why he did that but he now realized it was because he needed to be getting out of his car when we were walking down the road. WHAT THE HECK PEOPLE!?! “T” said there is a reason why we met him...we didn't even have to say it. Gosh, it was so cool. So we talked about the Book of Mormon and he said that he had been giving one by his friend years back but he didn't know where it was. I proceeded to tell him that we had one in our bags for him. He then went on and said "you know, Tyler gave me a Book of Mormon and I lost it...I guess this is me getting it back years later." After an hour of being there, we bore a small testimony and set up an appointment to meet with him on Saturday. We also invited him to come to a pumpkin carving social that we have Saturday afternoon. As we were nightly planning, “T” texted us thanking us for the book and giving us his number if we ever needed to contact him. YOU GUYS “T” IS BOMB and God has prepared him. I can't wait to teach him. It's so cool to see that Heavenly Father really prepares people.
Haha okay...so when we were tracting, we were talking to this guy and I asked him what his relationship with God was like and he goes "That of a banana.". He goes on to say that he knows God exists but doesn't want a relationship with him because bad things happen when God is involved. #WHAT?? he also started to ask if we knew how to hack a computer..so we left. Lol, that of a banana? I don't even get what he meant by that?
I have SO much to write about but I'll do one more story. “J” is a less active convert who has a little girl and is going through her second divorce. We planned to teach her the restoration. So Saturday we started to talk about our loving Heavenly Father and as she is talking about God wanting her to reach he full potential she randomly went on to talk about going through the temple and if she wanted to get married to man in the temple what would happen to her little girl because they couldn't be sealed. We explained to her that her little girl could be sealed to her no matter who the man was. We went to explain how important the temple was and the blessing from the temple.
It made me realize how important the temple REALLY is and how important it SHOULD be in all of our lives. We need to make the temple a priority in our lives. It is a piece of heaven on earth giving to us. We committed “J” to start talking the temple prep class and prepare herself to go through the temple. The next day she came to church and her little girl kept bugging her to go up to the microphone. She helped her little girl bare her testimony then she bore her own. She explained that her daughter had no idea what fast and testimony meeting but she knew that it was God way of telling her she needed to be at church with her daughter and this is the right place for her.
I have so so so so much to write but who wants to read 20 pages from me? Lol. But really the gospel is so cool. Being a missionary comes with struggles. I get tired and sometimes feel to tired to do anything but being a missionary comes with rewards so I'll take it. I love helping people feel the spirit and to gain a testimony of their own.
Our Heavenly Father loves us so much. He knows all individually. He wants to be a part of our lives and help us day by day but as a good friend once said to me "God can't guide our feet until we move." I cant begin to tell you how true that is. Our Heavenly Father cares so much about us. He wants a close relationship with us but we have to be the ones to continually strengthen it. This gospel is amazing. I want you all to realize how amazing it is for yourself.
XOXO, Sister Detamore
 

OH…IO 10.6.15

OH....IO.

Well I'm in Ohio now and it is completely crazy that I am actually a REAL missionary. 

First off here are a few moments from my last few days in the MTC:

On my P-Day we were getting ready for the temple and my companion, Sister Nissalke thought her recommend was in the classroom. While we got to the classroom and she realized it was back in the room...as we were walking back to the room my comp was saying she felt horrible and guilty that we had to walk back to the room. I turned to her and said "you know, through the Atonement you can become guilt free." And my sweet comp goes.."don't go all missionary on me." Hahahaha. Love her.

Another time..(as many of you know I sing ALL the time) well I was singing at the top of many lungs and she goes "you know the worst part of having a companion...is when they do things like this...you can run away." Goodness, I loved Sister Nissalke so much. She seriously became my best friend. She is quieter compared to me but we laughed 24/7.

So I obviously had to say goodbye to my best friend Kira aka Sister Kutterer in the MTC. She left a day before me and it was not easy at all. She has been my #1 but we will be okay. She is in Georgia and serving two hrs away from my oldest sister. Love it!

Random facts: Elder Burrup ripped his pants in the MTC, my district called me Sister Delaware, Sister Nissalke and I switched badges without knowing, We kicked butt at volleyball, and I miss the MTC ):

Well I left the MTC at 3:45 AM last Wednesday. GROSS. Ha. My first flight was at 7:30 AM and it was three hrs long. I landed in Detroit at 12:35 pm their time then had a flight 1:35-2:55 to Columbus. So my companion from the MTC had a track phone to call home from and as I was calling my sisters to say I landed my mission president was at the bottom of the escalator. So the first time my mission president and his wife saw me was with a phone to my ear. #AWKWARD. Lol he understands...hopefully (; I spent my first night in the mission home and it was beautiful. I had the opportunity to go contacting at OSU and that was so cool!! Haha.

So my first companion here in OHIO is Sister Wolf. She is from California and is way awesome! She has been out for almost 5 months. We are serving in Fairborn...which I found out where my dad would spend his childhood to spend time with my grandpa Detamore. Also guess what people? We have a car. #BLESSEDBLESSEDBLESSED. But really haha I'm so happy I'm in a car.

I LOVE IT HERE. I have met a lot of members. We get feed by members every single night and have meals for the next week. #blessed The members are so solid here. I have met a lot of them...I especially love the Wards, Masters, and Miledbrants.

HOLY GOODNESS. WE HAVE A MILLION INVESTIGATORS. We have at least 16 so we are always busy, never bored. Seriously we have a hard time planning because we have so much to do. So we have 3 people who will be baptized on October 31st. One of them is “K”..and I love “K” with my whole heart. Like she just progresses every time we teach her and I adore her kids. She tells me all the time that she is counting down the days to baptism. So my first lesson in the field was to this guy (“J”) and the entire time he was blowing cigarette smoke in my face BUT I extended baptism to him for Nov. 1st and he said yes so #swag. But yeah first lesson in Ohio and I got someone to say yes which was a huge tender mercies. We did refer him to the elders along side another guy in his apartment complex who has a baptismal date the dame day. We are hoping to extend baptism to a cute 9 year old tonight. Her parents are less actives so we are so excited to help her get baptized!!! We have two investigators (a mom and daughter) who are little INCHES to bring baptized...like its so crazy. I love them! We have another lady with a baptismal date but I haven't met her..hopefully I will soon. So I have at least 4-5 baptisms... Maybe more by the end of the week. So my first day with my trainer was the only day I've done contacting so far. We were walking up to a door and just felt good. We met a girl named “S” and we were just talking to her and she told us she was trying to fix things from the past and trying to rely on God..we asked if we could come back to share a message and she said yes! We are going back this week and I feel so good about her! Also while we were contacting, we were talking to this girl and her dad asked who we were..we explained who we were and she goes "THEYRE WITH JESUS." Hahahahahahaha.

General conference was so killer. Like I got SOOOOOOO much out of it. My favorite was when “M”, her mom, and her 4 little girls came to watch conference with us. We are hoping to get a baptismal date for one of “M's” daughter. The daughter dad isn't approving of baptism right now but she always tells me that she can't wait to be baptized..her dad will come around I know it.

There is so much work that I could email you about but it would take hours to email because we are doing so much in our area. To sum it all up: when we plan, we have hard time figuring out what to do because we have so much to do and so many people to teach.

So I'm so sad because I took a lot of pictures on my camera but i am emailing from my iPad so can't send those pictures #sad but I do have a few on my iPad!

My first full day I was sitting at dinner at a members house and randomly homesickness just hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought to myself...the next 18 months are going to be like this. Every single day. I can't talk to friends, family, take a nap, do what I want when I want, have alone time, and all of the sudden I was sitting at a dinner table trying to hold back Nigeria Fall of tears. That night I pleaded with my Heavenly Father that I so badly wanted to be serving a full-time mission and that I didn't want to feel this sadness anymore. It then hit me....there is no way I'd be out here if it wasn't for my Heavenly Father and Savior. Because of them I can do hard things. I love this gospel so much. I want to share it with everyone...literally everyone. I'm so grateful I get to be out her serving the Lords children. When you are struggling, rely on our Savior and Heavenly Father. They will be there for you every step of the way.

To end my email I want to share with you a quote I found in "The Missionaries a little Quote Book" the other day. It days: This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it- or use it for good, but what I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it! When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I traded for it. I want it to be a gain, and not loss; good, and not evil; success, and not failure, in order that I shall not regret the price that I have paid for it. - Dr. Hartsell Wilson

God gives us a new day. How will we use the new day we are giving? I love you all so much and so grateful for all the love and support I get! Ohio is beautiful and so so amazing! Can't wait to hear from everyone!

XOXO SISTER DETAMORE

Oh PS; I haven't had put heat on my hair since Sept. 20th so that's a HUGE accomplishment.

A quick ps. A lot of you know how much I HATE running. My comp makes me run every day and if I don't die yay!