Prepared People‏

To Everyone!!

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BROSKI!!!

Seriously cannot believe you turn 16 on Saturday... Where did the time go??? Happy 16th Birthday Michael!! I love you little bro!! Oh, fyi, a piece of advice from your older and wiser sister, now that you turn 16 it doesn't mean you have to have a girlfriend and that you automatically have all of these perks. Hey look at me, I didn't get into my first relationship till I was 18, so yah! Anyways, I love you and so wish I could be there for your birthday!! Hey ask mom to send me a slice of birthday cake for me please.... jkjk!

Family, I'm so glad you are doing well and that everything is okay. Glad the house didn't burn down and that none of you were injured with the gas situation last week. Brandon, next time I think it would be a good idea to turn off the stove... haha... love you stinker! I read the letter in District Meeting since I got it right before and their jaws just dropped. Heavenly Father was definitely watching over you guys, especially you Brandon. Cause 3 hours of gas leaking is not good at all.

Dad so do you know an Elder Tafala (idk how to spell his name)? He came up to me the other day and was like "Did you have a brother or uncle serve in Billings, Montana back in like the 80's?" I was like, "Umm yah. My dad did." He was like, "Did he love playing basketball??" I replied with, "Was it the 50/50 guy? Yah my dad is the basketball guy and still is." He says you were both in the same zone etc. He says Hi and asked what you were up to.

Well this week was a great week!! As is any other week!

 

BUSY SEASON:

 

These next 3 weeks are our busy weeks and then we will be completely dead for 2 months and then it will be COMPLETE CHAOS for a month. Yesterday we had the Ogden Temple dedication which means ALL of Utah had no church so what does that mean??? Well if you have a family with young kids you came to Temple Square! Haha it wasn't that bad but we did have more people than usual. And then this Saturday we have the Women's General Meeting which I'm sooo excited for and then we have the Grand Finale of all weeks.

Sister Skaggs on top of the
Conference Center

Which you know what I'm talking about... GENERAL CONFERENCE!! Picture this 100,000 people in 48 hours... Yup that's how many people I will see next Saturday and Sunday. It's a BIG DEAL here. We are on the square from about 7:30am to 9:00pm and we get two 20 minute breaks for lunch and dinner. And that's it and I'm not exaggerating at all! That's how it has been in the past. It's so funny.....General Conference is like Prom for the Sisters. Planning their outfits and hair, makeup has to be done etc. Why?? Well we have to look our best since it's our biggest weekend of the year and well pictures will be taken. But besides that I'm soo excited for Conference! It is one of my FAVORITE weekends because I love hearing what it is that our Heavenly Father needs us to hear at that given moment. If you have never heard of or have never seen general conference before I STRONGLY encourage you to watch it!! You wont regret it. On the plus side you wont be clueless when all the 'Mormons' start talking about Conference and you will blow them away when you mention something to them. It won't kill you to just watch one talk, or one session or maybe just one weekend worth of General Conference. For all of you that have the opportunity to watch conference please don't take for granted the opportunity you have to watch all 4 sessions. I would LOVE to be in your shoes to be able to sit down and watch all of the sessions. Here on Temple Square they need us to be on the Square so we only get to go to one session and then after General Conference weekend we have to make time to listen to them or read them. Which is really hard to do!! So take advantage of it pleaseee!! Cause some people would love to have time to watch it! (cough cough) ME!!! Why are YOU excited for General Conference???

 

Ogden Temple Dedication:

 

Can you believe that temple was finally dedicated! I had the opportunity to watch a temple dedication for the first time in my life! It was absolutely AMAZING! My appreciation for having Temples grew so much. We had the privilege of going to the little Theatre in the Conference Center to see the 10 am viewing of the dedication. I just can't describe to you how amazing Temples are and what a blessing it is to have them in our lives. President Monson spoke in the first viewing and the thing that I loved so much about what he said was, "We need to Love the Temple, Appreciate the Temple, and Attend the Temple," which is sooo true!! How often do we as members of the Church [Mormons] take for granted this opportunity to love the Temple? Cause if you truly love the Temple you would actually attend the Temple as frequently as possible. I miss not being able to go every week. And I look forward to being able to go to the Temple once a week when I go back up to school. The Temple is the House of The Lord, how are we setting aside time to enter into his house?? Several of my favorite comments from the dedication were "In the Temple we see clearly who we really are." "When we dedicate the Temple we are dedicating our lives." "The Temple is a point of intercession between earth and Heaven." President Monson at the end of his talk promised amazing blessings as we attend the Temple. I want to invite each of you to strive to attend the Temple AT LEAST once a month. And if you can't attend the Temple for any number of reasons prepare yourselves to be able to attend, ask questions as to how I can prepare myself to be able to enter. Anyone is welcome as long as we have prepared ourselves spiritually.

 

MY COMPANION:

 

Sister Ferguson is AMAZING! She just returned back from Outbound from the Columbus, Ohio mission. She is 21 and is from Tuscon, AZ. It's funny how similar we both are. First off we LOVE food! And she loves unhealthy food, chocolate etc...

 

Sister Ryan - someone Sister Skaggs met before her mission!

We get along so well. It's exactly what I needed! She is pushing me to new levels of boldness. Oh and she brings many miracles to the companionship. Thursday morning we had Teaching Center time. The VERY FIRST phone call she took a man came on asking about the "Finding Faith in Christ" DVD. He said it was okay if we called back and then he referred his mom. But it just amazed me at what she was doing! I was like "wait that's even possible?... ummm yah it is." The one thing I'm learning from her is don't be afraid to take a step of faith. We are doing great and I feel beyond blessed to have her as a companion this transfer. It's funny just how much Heavenly Father knows us, His children. I will have so much to share when I get home!! Sooo much to share!!

 

Joelle= MIRACLE!

 

Last Thursday Sister Ferguson took this call from this lady asking about how she can meet with missionaries. Well when you get asked that question as a missionary your ears perk up and your like, "Wait did I just hear those words?" Joelle has been trying to contact the local bishop to get in touch with the missionaries because she really wants to be baptized, but the bishop never answers so she called through mormon.org to see if there was another way. She already started reading the Book of Mormon and knew it was true and wanted to be baptized. Within 10 minutes of being on the phone with her Sister Ferguson set a baptismal date with her for Oct. 11th. The only problem is it's taking forever for the local missionaries and her area to work with her so it may be pushed back. We told her to go to church yesterday and to talk to the missionaries but she ended up getting really sick. She is AMAZING! It's amazing just how prepared people actually are. She already does everything. We taught her about the Restoration Saturday over the phone and she was like, "I totally agree with all of it, I know it's true." She had several questions but we were able to answer them for her. Now we just have to wait a couple more days to see if the missionaries will go see her. And if they don't then we will have to go to our next line of authority. I never knew people could be so prepared to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ in their lives. I'm finding more that there are sooo many people out there who are prepared they just don't know where to find it, are too timid to ask, or just don't know they are prepared until we give them a little push. Hopefully, fingers crossed, the missionaries will go see her this week so she can be baptized on Oct. 11th!!!

 

Denise!

 

Celestial room of the Washington, DC temple

This actually happened this morning. We were at the TC desk (Temple Construction) and I saw this lady walk in and decided to talk to her. She mentioned she was from Morristown, NJ and was out on a road trip to bring her son out here. She just felt like she needed to be here before she got on a plane to fly home. We got talking and boy is she prepared. I taught her about Temples and the pioneers building it etc.

I mentioned that she should go see the model replica of the inside of the Temple but if she had questions to please come back and talk to me. I would be here for another 30 minutes. I NEVER say that to people, not to that extent. People never come back so I figured she won't be back so, yah. As she walked away I just had this uncomfortable feeling that I didn't do what I was supposed to do. I just said a quite prayer pleading that if its Heavenly Fathers will that I will be able to talk to her again and I will say what she needs to hear. Well guess who came back around the corner 15 minutes later??? It was Denise. She came over asking the most simplest question (idk what it was). After I explained several points of doctrine she was like, "I don't understand why all these churches have parts of the truth. It's like different pieces to a puzzle." HAHA! I was like,

"Did you realllly just ask a missionary that question??" (thought it in my head). I went into full blown missionary mode!! I was like, "Well let me tell you why we have so many churches today. Have you ever heard of the Restoration??" At the end, after I taught her the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation I said, "You know Denise, I have shared with you a lot of things just now and I want to invite you to find out for yourself if the things I have shared with you are actually true. It's through the Book of Mormon that you can find out if this is all true. Will you read the Book of Mormon to see for yourself?" Guess what her answer was?? "Yes I have a lot of time since I will be flying back home to New Jersey today." HeeHee. Well guess what my next question was... "Denise do you mind if I stay in contact with you and call you in a couple of days to see how it is going reading the Book of Mormon?" "Yah, that would be totally fine." I will call her on Thursday. I don't know what will come of this whole experience but I do know that the seed has been planted. I hope it works out. Why?? Because she is a Daughter of God and her Heavenly Father wants her to return home again.

 

My District

 

You will NEVER guess who is in my district this transfer????? SISTER SUGHROUE!! Yup! She is in my district this transfer which means on top of seeing her ALL THE TIME I will see her EVEN MORE because we will have District AND Zone activities together. I love having her here now. It's so weird seeing her EVERYDAY but I LOVE it so I'm not complaining at all!!! Since we have the same P-Day we are going to bake cookies tonight, eat popcorn and hopefully watch the Best Two Years! Oh and did I mention she lives like 2 doors down from me... [note from Sis. Skaggs mom - Sister Sughroue is a good friend from home, here in Temecula. Also, the Best Two Years is a missionary movie. A really good one, too! P-Day is like a "day off". The Temple Square Sisters are on the Square in the morning so their P-Day begins in the afternoon - hence why Sis. Skaggs mentioned eating popcorn and watching a 'movie'.]

The Gospel is TRUE everyone, it really is! And if you don't know for yourself that it is please read the Book of Mormon and ask like Joseph Smith did if it is true (James 1:5). Honestly, if the Gospel of Jesus Christ wasn't true and it wasn't restored in it's entirety then 88,000 young men and women wouldn't be out dedicating 18 months to 2 years of their lives. I love this work so much!! I love the people I meet, I love the Sisters I work with, and I love more than anything my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. There is nothing more that I want than to be able to return to live with them both again someday!! I hope you are doing well! Please hold tight to the Iron Rod! [The Iron Rod is the word of God]. I love you ALL!! And I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!

Scripture of the Week: 2 Nephi 31:20 Love this scripture so much!!

God be with you till we meet again!

 

Sister Skaggs

Heavenly Father is Aware... Miracles Do Happen‏

I truly do love you all!!!

Boy oh boy, sooo much happened this week!! Can I first start off by saying I love being a Missionary! So you ask "Why does she LOVE being a Missionary??" Well, let me share with you an example!

Giving tours on Temple Square!

 

JULIO!!!!

 

I just LOVE Julio to death! I really hope I get to meet him someday. I hope he flies out here next September to go through the Salt Lake Temple because then I would be able to meet him! I have no idea what he looks like except he is 35 years old and from Puerto Rico but lives in Pennsylvania right now.

 

About a month ago this man called in through Mormon.org and he was just telling me about how he was super distraught about being baptized in a month. He wanted to become a member but he was just feeling really discouraged about everything and he didn't want to interrupt his missionaries planning time so he decided to call us through mormon.org (the people on the other side of the phone are missionaries). As I was talking to him I really had this desire to stay in contact to see how things ended up going. I talked to him occasionally but I couldn't be in consistent contact because he was already being taught by local missionaries. Well, a week and a half ago I was talking to him about his baptism, which was going to be the following day, when he informed me that some sisters from Temple Square had been teaching him as well. We have a rule here that only one companionship is allowed to teach someone. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are, only one companionship is allowed to teach an investigator. So when he told me other sisters were in contact with him it was upsetting because I knew the next time I called to see how his baptism was I would have to 'drop him'.

Feast at the Lion House
for passing off tours!

 

Well, MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!! This past Friday Sister Casagrande and I tried calling him and it was really weird because he wasn't answering the phone. That is so unusual for him. About 5 minutes later I overheard some other sisters saying, "Well Julio, this is the last time we can talk with you because we are going home on Wednesday." That seemed a little odd that 2 other sisters were talking with a man with the same name as the person I couldn't get a hold of. Long story short, these sisters were the Temple Square Sisters that were in contact with Julio....and get this, they are BOTH going home tomorrow which means they weren't going to be able to stay in contact with him. They said they didn't know who they were going to transfer him to because nobody knew him. They ended up transferring him to me and so I will be able to continue to teach him and now help prepare him for the temple and help him share the Gospel with his family and friends. Here I thought I was going to have to drop him when reality was Heavenly Father had a whole different plan in store.

 

But that's not why I love being a missionary! I love being a missionary because of the change I get to see in people. The converts I'm working with right now are such AMAZING examples to me. I have NEVER in my life met such converted people when it comes to the gospel than I have like Julio and other recent converts. We asked Julio the other day if he had anybody in mind that he would love to share the gospel with. He was soo excited to share with us all the people he had in mind. So we will start working with him in a couple of days with those people.

 

I feel so bad now. Because back home when the missionaries asked "is there anyone who you feel would be open to hearing about this message?" I was always so hesitant, and just not interested in giving them names of people that may be interested. As members we should be setting this example for these recent converts instead of them being the example. Why deprive all of those around us of the blessings the gospel brings to each of our lives? The moment we are baptized we become missionaries. How are we fulfilling our purpose as missionaries? Are we being like Julio, so converted to the gospel and so willing to share it with those we love? Or are we hesitant and afraid?

 

TRANSFERS!

 

Soooo what happened??? I bet you are ALL wondering! ;) Well, for starters my p-day has changed!! I will now have P-DAY on MONDAY!! So family and friends look for my emails on Monday now! My new companion is Sister Ferguseon from Arizona. I'm so excited to be with her. She is American which means I get to have my FULL 2 hours of weekly planning!! I never knew just how much you would love to plan when you don't get to plan. The only time that is 'sacred time' here is studies. Other than that, if we get a text to take a tour you have to take it. And so Sister Casagrande and I always seemed to get texts for French Tours during weekly planning, which meant weekly planning was always nonexistent it seemed like. So, I'm sooo EXCITED to be able to sit down and actually, in depth, plan for my investigators and not be interrupted. Don't get me wrong, I love FRENCH PEOPLE and I also really LOVE my investigators!! Anyways, I won't meet her till tomorrow evening because she is coming back from Outbound. So that will be really neat! Everyone FREAKS OUT when they find out she is my new companion. Apparently she is just AMAZING! So I'm really excited! She has 4 transfers left so she is coming to the end of her mission.

We received an assignment this transfer!! We will be assigned to the Humanitarian Center this transfer. We will be there several days a week. I haven't received my new schedule yet so I don't know what days I will be there. A unique thing about this mission is we cover the Humanitarian Center as well as Welfare Square. So if you ever want to know a thing or two about the Humanitarian Center just ask and I'm sure I will be able to help you out by the end of this transfer! I'm also changing apartments this transfer. I'm just moving across the hall so it's not that bad. But guess what Dad??? You will NEVER guess who my roommates are!!! Sister Hansen and Sister Asay!! I'm soo excited!

I'm trying to think if any other changes have occurred... Oh, Sister Sughroue comes here tomorrow!! I saw her last Wednesday and Saturday when they had Visitor Center Training here. I'm so excited to see her EVERYDAY!! Here on Temple Square you see each other EVERYDAY. I have 180 new best friends/sisters and I LOVE IT!!

 

ANNOUNCING

"Announcing" for the first time!

Tours by Sis. Skaggs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Sunday after the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings in "Music and the Spoken Word" about 15 of us sisters stand outside and ask if people want tours, etc. And so I was picked this past Sunday to announce. It's a little scary when you have a couple hundred people staring at you. And to make it more nervewracking, it was my first time and I was FIRST! But all went well! We had about 30 people in our tour in the end.

Sis. Skaggs expression looks like
she's trying to understand what
Sis. Morales is saying in Spanish

Check out Sis. Skaggs facial expression in the
background....Priceless!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its weird to think this transfer as of tomorrow is officially over. The one thing I notice myself doing a lot, haha, is "reflecting". Thank you Great Oak, aka Dad, for drilling reflection into me. But as I truly look back at this transfer I'm amazed at what all has happened. It most definitely wasn't an easy transfer!!! But I wouldn't have had it any other way. The things I learned from Sister Casagrande, my investigators and the many trials, are things I would never trade. I look forward to what Heavenly Father has in store for me next transfer!

 

It's also weird to think that as of today I have been out officially for 2 months and its even weirder to think that exactly one year ago today I started my first semester at BYU-I. Its amazing how fast time flies! It's crazy to think about what all has happened within this past year!!!

 

I hope you all know just how much I love this Gospel. It's true, it most definitely is true!!!! I love the blessings that come from living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I love my Heavenly Father, I love ALL of my trials, I love my family, I love my friends, and I love whoever is reading this right now! Stay true to the things you know to be true!!

I love you and pray for you ALL often!!!

 

God be with you till we meet again!!

Sister Skaggs

 

DON'T FORGET MY P-DAY IS NOW ON MONDAY!!!!!!! :D

Heavenly Father's Children‏

I love you all!!



Can I just say I LOVE IT HERE! I love the people I get to meet everyday, the sisters I get to work with, the schedule I have, the opportunities I'm given and I love the fact that I am a Missionary!



Sister Casagrande and Sister Skaggs

A gift from Sis. Casagrande to Sis. Skaggs

The hardest part about writing these e-mails is I have no idea where to start.

 

Hmmm, I will start with my companion! So Sister Casagrande has 4 transfers remaining and she hasn't gone 'Outbound' yet. Every Sister here goes on what is called Outbound during their time here. 

Some of the Sisters from Temple Square

 

Since we don't have the opportunity to work with members, ward councils etc. The Leaders of the church and our Mission Presidency have asked that all Temple Square sisters be given the opportunity to go to a different mission for 2 transfers (3 months). At the start of the transfer President Poulsen said, "If you're training and your class goes Outbound you will go outbound after 

you finish training." Then he mentioned that the leaders of the church would like the sisters to finish at least their last 2 transfers here. Well, here is the dilemma. If she finishes training me she will only have 3 transfers remaining which would mean she would only be back here for one transfer. But if she only trains me for one transfer she would be back for 2 transfers. This whole transfer I felt strongly that she would go Outbound. She has been joking that she wouldn't be going Outbound etc. We find out usually the Thursday before transfers - so this upcoming Thursday, 9/11/14. These past couple of days she keeps telling me, "I want to go to New York! I want to go outbound to New York!" Funny story.....So she just logged onto her e-mail and you will never guess what happened... Her first two emails said "New Jersey Morristown Mission". Her Outbound mission e-mailed her and the new sisters coming in a list of things they need to have for next week. So she accidentally found out 3 days early. Two things with this is her mission borders New York and she is going to Hannah Harris's mission!!!! Yah I about clobbered her when I read she was going to Hannah's mission. So Hannah look out for Sister Casagrande from France!!!!!! I told her to find you and say hi and then give you a massive hug!!! So what does this mean?!?! I will be getting a follow-up trainer. I will find out next Monday who my new trainer is. Gotta love Temple Square/Transfer life!

The work here is going amazing! I'm loving every moment of it! The thing I love most about being here is ALL the different people I get to meet everyday from all corners of the world. This past week alone I met many people from China, France, America, New Zealand, Turkey, Israel, Moldovia, Russia, Mexico, Chile, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, England, Singapore etc. And it's so neat to see that all of these different people from all corners of the world are all Heavenly Father's children! That no matter what trials we have had in life we all have one thing in common and that is we have a Father in Heaven who loves us all equally.

 

Scott:

 

I love Scott!! So last week Sister Casagrande and I were just sitting down to eat lunch when we receive a text that said "1 Eng and he is golden." Well when you hear that your ears perk up and you drop what you are doing and go. We went up and met this man who started telling us about how he dropped everything and came here to Salt Lake to be baptized. He mentioned that he always had this draw to Salt Lake and to the Mormon church but for certain reasons couldn't come. We began talking to him and he was accepting everything we were telling him and had this strong desire to be baptized etc. Well I was in shock that anything like this could happen, but I didn't let it go to my head because I figured there is no way, this is too good to be true. He didn't have anything with him really because he had left everything he owned. We taught him about Joseph Smith and showed him the Priesthood Statues. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to begin reading it that night. He was truly excited to read it. Well, we met with him the following day and I was still very skeptical about all of this. We re-established his expectations for us and told him of what would be happening and was really excited. But then reality started to set in. He didn't have any place to live and didn't have a job here and so all of the practical things started to interfere with his ability to learn (not having a ward, a bishop, a house, a job, local missionaries etc.). We set a baptismal date though with him for October and told him we would be here as guides to help him prepare and to learn all that he needed to learn to be ready to be baptized next month. The following day we met with him and he told us that he couldn't handle being here and that he needed to go home and that he would come back when he could establish himself. At first I was completely heart broken because I was thinking about how much this was affecting me and I knew that if he left who knows what would happen with him. I truly developed this love for him as I started to see him as a Son of God. I knew just how much the gospel would help him. We invited him to take the time that night to truly pray to ask if that's what was supposed to happen. I prayed that night that I would be at peace the next day with whatever decision was made. I really wanted him to stay but I knew that it was whatever heavenly Father needed done. The next day we met with him again and he informed us that he was going home. I wasn't happy about it but I knew that the choice he had made was correct. We gave him our contact info and so we will see what happens. It was hard to see him walk away out of the visitors center knowing that I, more than likely, wasn't going to talk to him again. I wanted so badly to be the missionary to teach him. But I realized that its not what we want, it's about what the Lord wants. I know that I did what I was supposed to do, I did all that was required of me.

 

That's the hardest part about this mission. We meet all these different people from all across the world, we talk or come in contact with a couple hundred people a day. And it breaks my heart because on the inside I'm like "I know this gospel is true, your Heavenly Father wants you to come home. Ughhh I just wish you would accept this." It's hard to see all these people as children of God and to see them not accept this. Sometimes I love agency and sometimes I just don't like it. Giving tours is the hardest especially when people question you about what you believe or they don't want to stay in contact. Your heart just goes out to them. But you know the seed was planted and someday it will eventually begin to grow.

 

Tours:

 

Temple Square - my "home"

I FINALLY passed off on tours!! Yay!! Here on Temple Square we have to give a tour to your Zone Leaders and they will see how well you can use "How to begin teaching", be balanced with your companion, bridge the history to the gospel, use your resources, etc. Depending on how well you do all of that depends on if they pass you off or if they ask you to work on something and then try again later. Really it's just a way for them to show you things you could do better. The first time we didn't pass and they asked us to work on "How To Begin Teaching" more. So we did and well, Saturday I finally passed! And the neat thing is when you pass you and your companion get a free meal at the Lion House!

The Conference Center

Hmmmm, sooo I never really understood just how BIG the Catholic church was!! On about 98% of my tours the people are Catholic or I have 1 or 2 people in the Tour who are Catholic. The one question I'm ALWAYS asked is "What is the difference between your church and the Catholic church?" My response, "Well, first off, we believe we have a living Prophet upon the earth today..." I love the people here. I love the questions I'm asked on any given day. We have been asked some pretty interesting questions. But most of all I love the people even if they sometimes strongly disagree with us or ask us some of the hardest questions in my life. But hey, that's why I love having the Holy Ghost by my side!! Why?? Because when I'm asked a really hard question/deep doctrine question I just plead to know what to say and things tend to be okay. But I have only been here for 6 weeks...

Sister McConkie:

 

Sunday, as we were walking to the North Visitors Center, we saw this elderly lady who literally looked like an angel! We started talking to her and everything she shared with us was just amazing. She said, "I'm Sister McConkie." I'm like wait, don't we have a former apostle by that name. When we had to go I asked her if she was related to a former apostle and she said "Yes. Bruce R. McConkie is my brother-in-law. I married his brother." I love her, she is the sweetest!





Todd and Robin Cecil (friends from O.C.) with Sister Skaggs

I love being here! I love the fact that I have 180 new sisters/best friends who will remain lifelong friends. I love that I get to see them EVERYDAY! I love being a missionary! I love my Heavenly Father, my Savior and this gospel more than life itself! And I would never in a million years deny the things I know to be true. I feel so blessed to have this gospel in my life and to know that I can return home to my Heavenly Father. I look forward to the day when I get to embrace my Heavenly Father and hear Him say, "Jennifer, you're home."

 

 I want you all to know that I know with out a shadow of doubt that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored in its fullness to the earth again and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can testify that the Book of Mormon was written for us for our day. I can testify that as we read the Book of Mormon, truly read it, that we will know what our purpose is here. If you haven't read it before I would invite you to read it and then take Moroni's challenge [in Moroni chapter 10]!

 

I love you all!!! Hope everyone is doing well!!!!!

 

Till we meet again!!

 

Sister Skaggs

 

Shoutouts: To seeing Bubba and the Cecils this week!! It was good to see you!

 

 

I Just Love Heavenly Father!‏

I love you all!

So my goal is to try an make these letters shorter. Why? Well first off, I doubt any of my missionary friends get to read them because they can be pretty lengthy, but then I have to remember all the people back home. So my goal is to keep this letter shorter... haha yah, that's not going to happen.

I get to see this gem every day!

This week was an AMAZING week! Being a missionary is one of the greatest opportunities you can ever have! You know, it's honestly one of the only times when all of the distractions can be put a side and your full focus is on the Lord. And I mean ALL distractions! If you're debating to go on a mission JUST GO. These 18 months are the only months where I don't have anything 'clouding' my mind. It's the only time when the Lord can take me and mold me and eventually allow me to blossom into the Daughter of God He has always envisioned me to be. And I LOVE it! Is it hard? Oh yes, but you know, what a blessing it is to have this time where the Lord can take everything He has and mold us into who He needs us to be. Not only for the mission but for the future spouses and parents He needs us to be. When you're on a mission you have your choice to give Him your undivided attention and so with that He can go to work. He can go to work at refining us into a more effective tool in His eyes! Sometimes I wish a mission would never end and that I could just delete all my distractions for the rest of my life. But then I realize that's not a part of the plan. I just love my Heavenly Father!

 

 

Listen to The Spirit:
 

Yesterday was one of the neatest experiences I have had. We were late getting to the TC (which is the Teaching Center) where we call our investigators etc. As we were walking in I saw this girl about my age walking down from the Christus. She seemed happy but her countenance showed otherwise. In passing I just said "I really like your scarf" and then kept walking. As we were getting closer to the TC I had this nagging feeling I needed to go back and talk to her. But I kept saying to myself, "That's awkward to go back and talk to her. We are already late for the TC, we don't have time. She's fine." I finally looked at my companion and said, "I think we need to talk to her. I know we are late but we just need to talk to her." We ended up tracking her down outside. As we started to talk to her she started to cry and out of nowhere said, "Why did you serve a mission?" I mentioned to her why I chose to serve a mission. That my Savior was willing to give up His life for me the least I can do to repay just a fragment of what He did was by dedicating 18 months of my life to Him. We continued to talk. She is going through a lot right now. When the age changed [from 21 to 19 for girls to serve missions] she didn't feel she should go. She decided to wait for her boyfriend to come home. Things haven't moved forward since he has been back. She just doesn't know what to do with anything. It was neat to see the Spirit work. I pleaded to know what I was supposed to say to her at that moment. I just bore my testimony to her. By the end we both were just sobbing. The one thing I learned from that moment was just how much our Father in Heaven loves each of His children. He puts certain people in our path for a reason. I thought after, what would've happened if I didn't listen to the Spirit? What would've happened to Heather if I continued on with my day? Don't ignore the spirit. Heavenly Father uses each of us to be an instrument in His hands. He uses us to talk to His children. At that moment He needed to talk to Heather and He trusted me that I would listen to the spirit, that I would go back and talk to her, and that I would listen to Him and share with her the things she needed to hear at that given moment. Don't ignore those subtle feelings you have!!

 

Elijah:

Elijah is a less active [member of the church] we met several weeks ago on the Square. He has a history with a lot of things. He mentioned that he wanted to get back with the church and to turn his life around. I was skeptical at first because well, you just never know if people are true. But last Sunday, so a week and a half ago, he came to church with us and he even brought another one of his less active friends. Sister Casagrande and I were really shocked they showed up, especially since they didn't sleep the night before, apparently. During Sacrament meeting they ended up falling asleep and so they left during the musical number. We were bummed becuase we didn't really know where to go from there, we didn't know what it was we were supposed to do to help him. He texted us apologizing for falling asleep, but would love to meet with us later on during the week. We met with him again Sunday and he mentioned that he went to his local ward and that he met with his Bishop. He expressed to us his sincere desire he has to be able to go to the Temple someday. It's a perfect example of how it's never too late for anybody. I love how he has this desire to change and he knows that despite his past he can change and can become worthy to enter the Temple soon. We invited him to start taking those baby steps again of reading the scriptures and praying everyday. I'm excited to see his progression and I look forward to the day when he will come by and tell me he just went through the Temple. Our Heavenly Father loves ALL of his children. It's NEVER to late to change! He wants all of his children home. It reminded me of that 100 year old lady you baptized on your mission, dad!

 

Security:

 

Being on Temple Square we have ALOT of things we can't say or do. Why? Well we have to be professional at all times and it's for security reasons. One of my favorite things is when people come up to us and ask "How long have you been out?" For security reasons we can't divulge how long we have been out, we can only say "Under a year or over a year." It's really funny because I always reply back "Under a year" and a lot of the time people are like "Oh wow so you are almost done. What? About 6 months left?" I just have to say "umm yah kind of." And then I start laughing hysterically inside because well, I'm not even done with my first transfer and these people think I'm almost done with my WHOLE MISSION. It's funny too, because we have all of these little rules since we have to look professional at all times when you're within mission boundaries (Temple Square, Lion House, JSMB, Conference Center etc.).   

The view from on top of the Church Office Building

We can't eat whatsoever when we are in mission boundaries [in public areas], but the second we cross the street we can eat. When it comes to P-day we can't say anything about when our p-day is because apparently there have been members, and nonmembers in the past as well, who have stalked Temple Square sisters.  So we have to keep everything on the down low. We can't say where we live, period. Even when we leave the mission. When it comes to taking pictures, we cant take pictures when we are on the square after a certain time because again we have to look professional and if we pull the camera out it doesn't look professional. There are just a bunch of little things here that we can't say or do because of security reasons. It's kind of funny, but you know every rule we have is put there for a reason. The Lord wouldn't have asked for these rules to be put in place if He didn't see it necessary.

 

Zone Activity/Sisters:

 

Gotta love Sis. Chen!

Zone activity at the park!

Last p-day we had our zone activity. We ended up going to a park somewhere around Salt Lake. Imagine 20 sisters blasting church music, during football practice, in the rain while roasting hot dogs and smores. 

Yup, that was us! It was a blast though! I love these sisters to death! They are all so unique in their own special way! It was funny, one of my favorite Asian sisters kept coming up to us while we were roasting hot dogs and would feed us Cheetos. She also is the one who took all the selfies on my camera and every other sister who brought her camera.

Oh something really neat too, while we were driving to the park we drove by the High School where High School Musical apparently was filmed. 

Sis. Ranama from Fuji - My District Leader



High School Musical!

I love miracles! One of my favorite miracles this

week happened at our Zone Activity. You would think "Oh it's p-day. Missionaries don't work." Well that's definitely not true!

 

We were all just mingling when this man named Israel came over to us and started talking. Long story short, he used to meet with the missionaries but stopped because he didn't see the need to being baptized again. He knew the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet. Several of the sisters invited him to our ward on Sunday and then I felt I needed to read 3 Nephi 27 with him. Small problem...nobody had a Book of Mormon on them. But then I remembered this random Book of Mormon that we found just sitting in the car earlier that day. We ended up reading it together and then before he left I invited him to pray to know if it was his Heavenly Father's will for him to be baptized again.  He said he would. Guess who came to church on Sunday?? I don't know what will happen with him because another sister talked with him first and so she will be in contact with him. Only one companionship is allowed to teach someone here. I bump into that problem A LOT where you meet someone but another companionship is already teaching them or talking to them and so at that point we can't talk to them [in a missionary teaching sort of way]. But it's all good! 

 

Uncle Rich, Aunt Nancy, & Lauren:

 

Me with my Uncle Rich, cousin Lauren and Aunt Nancy!

Friday was a bit of a rough day and so I just prayed that I would see a miracle. We decided that we were going to go get ice cream to lift my spirits back up, but at the last moment I decided we should go get fries. As we were walking down the stairs to the City Creek Food Court this young man my age with his girlfriend yelled down "You sisters are doing such great work.  Thank you for everything." I looked to my companion and said "That totally made my day. I found my miracle. I just love Heavenly Father!" We were going to go to McDonalds but at that last moment I saw Temple Square sisters getting Chick-Fil-A and so I decided we should just go there. As we're standing there all I hear is "Jennifer". I turned around and there was Aunt Nancy, Uncle Rich and Lauren just sitting there waiting for their order. I almost started crying. Heavenly Father knew EXACTLY what I needed. Thank you for being there when you did! Thanks again for everything! It was more than a miracle seeing you when I did.

My awesome companion and me!

All is well!

Life is great! The Mission is great! The work is great!

I wouldn't trade these 18 months for the world. I love ALL the different people I meet everyday. I meet sooo many different people! I wish I could talk about them all but I just can't! I will have hundreds of stories to share though when I go home, that's for sure.  Keep working hard! Don't forget the Lord loves you! Allow the Lord to mold you into who He has always envisioned you to be! Good Luck this week!!

 

 

 

Until we meet again!

I LOVE YOU!!                          

 

Sister Skaggs

 

Me and Sister Tiritilli from home!!!