An amazing week full of Miracles!!

October 28, 2013 -Sister Gillett

Hey Family!!!

It was so good to hear from all of you today! Pdays are THE BEST!!! I sent Flat Stanley home to you today with some letters.  Sounds like it has been another week in the real world for you guys. Good luck with football and everything. That is so awesome that the Panguitch Cross Country team did so awesome again this year.

Well, I agree with Jaelyn. This week has been amazing and so full of miracles!! I guess that is what comes from attending the temple! The day after we attended the temple we had a busy day ahead of us with 5 appointments lined up. Usually half of our appointments fall through and we have to resort to our backup plans instead but that day NONE of our appointments fell through! WOW!!! What an amazing blessing!! We were able to teach all that we had prepared and it went really well. Our last appointment was my first golden appointment and it was SO AMAZING!!!! We had been teaching a lady named M and she has stage 4 liver cancer. They did surgery on it but there is cancer by her artery so they were not able to remove all of it. We went over to visit her while she was recovering and we met her son and grandson who are both the same age. As we shared Alma 26:11-12 with them we asked the boys if they would like to learn more. They both agreed and we set up and appointment for Wednesday. As we began teaching them we asked them what their expectations were for learning from us. They said that they just want to build a relationship with God and find comfort in Him as they go through this hard time with their family. Holy cow!! What teenager boys have the desire to do that?!? I was so shocked and I knew that was an answer to our prayers that we would be able to find the people that God has prepared for us. What a tender mercy!! We are so excited to continue teaching them and help them build that relationship with God because the Gospel can really bring them so much comfort into their lives!! They are so ready!

On friday we had zone conference and Elder Ellis of the 70 came with his wife and spoke to us. It was so powerful and so amazing. We talked a lot about the different levels of faith and how we can increase our faith by exercising it. We also watched a clip on the atonement that was so powerful!! It talked a lot about how Jesus Christ was the only perfect missionary that will ever walk upon the earth. Missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Why should missionary work be easy for us if it was hard for the Savior. The Savior was rejected and despised of man and eventually killed to fulfill the plan. He feels the pain we feel when we have to drop an investigator that isn't progressing. He feels our pain when we get doors slammed in our faces. He feels all of that because He experienced them all for himself! However, he was diligent and faithful to the end. He drank the bitter cup for us. They said in conference "in life when the bitter cup comes and it does not pass, drink it."

I was asked to speak in church on Sunday and I chose to speak on Christlike attributes and Missionary Work. The only way that we can obtain the Christlike attributes is through the grace of Christ. We all know that we can do better at being more Christlike but we also realize that we will never be perfect at it. That is where Christ's grace comes to fill in the gaps and help us to become more like Him. What an amazing blessing the enabling power the atonement of Jesus Christ is in our lives. I am so grateful for it and for the opportunity that we have to strive to become more like Christ. I love my Savior and his great sacrifice on behalf of all mankind. What a great message of comfort and peace we have to share with His children that through him all that is unfair about life will be made right!

Well I love all you guys and I hope this email finds you well!! Have a great week!! Love ya!!

Love, Sister Gillett :)

BEST WEEK YET!!! - Hermana Gillett

October 28, 2013

Buonos Dias!

Esperamos que todo esta bien con ustedes y que estan feliz :)

This has officially been the BEST week of my mission! This whole transfer has been such an amazing one and Hermana D and I have loved every second of it! There are days when we are so happy that we feel like our hearts are going to EXPLODE with all the joy and excitement we feel each and every day as we share the gospel and have the opportunity to work with such wonderful people here in Largo.   

   We started off the week with a GREAT start and had 2 member present dinner lessons on Monday in the course of 3 hours. We were SO full, but it was SO worth it! :) We average 2 member presents a week usually, so it was definitely a MIRACLE! By the end of the week we came out with 6!!!!!!!!!!!! That probably doesn't mean a whole lot to you all, but it means the world to us! :) The best part was-the members invited our investigators to there homes. We didn't have to coordinate anything, we were just invited. That is just how the work is supposed to be, and THAT is how people become CONVERTED members, THROUGH the members! I have SUCH a strong testimony of the power of members in missionary work. The past 8 months that I have been in this area we have been trying to get our members involved in the work. Now they are! First we had to start with showing them that if they don't have "friends" that we can teach (which is a lie-EVERYONE knows someone who doesn't have the gospel in their lives, or who is less-active and needs to be brought back into the fold. Remember as was said in Conference over and over again "It's not our place to judge if someone is ready to receive the gospel, but it's our job to invite EVERYONE") we told them we had investigators that we needed them to fellowship. As they have done that their confidence in themselves as "member missionaries" grew, they helped our investigators to progress to baptism and feel like they have a part in the church (this is HUGE in conversion), and they themselves had the courage to invite their friends over and they trusted us enough with their friends that we are now teaching them. Our investigator pool skyrocketed! Even better than that, on  Tuesday we had my favorite family N and J invite us over for dinner. They also invited her 2 best friends and their families. We had a great time with them and shared what we do as missionaries and what we believe. Then on Friday they all came to the ward Halloween Party with their families, and now want to learn more and start coming to church! We had more investigators than members from our branch at that party, and we had 5 investigators at church compared to our usual 1. We also had a less-active we have been working with for months come back to church on Sunday as well. Our other less-active couple just found out that she is pregnant!!! :) And we are still teaching both of their best friends-one of which we should set a baptismal date with this week. He is already sharing the gospel with his family and just found out that his roommate is a less-active member, so they are going to start coming back together! YAY!
On top of that, J was baptized on Sunday and they were all able to come and see how we do baptisms in the church. The spirit was wonderful, and all were edified.

Between the members and our investigators, the work is progressing so well here! It has been such a blessing for me to be able to see this area grow and really catch the spirit of missionary work.

Yesterday during sacrament meeting, our branch president stood to give his talk and thanked me specifically for all of our hard work and dedication in the area. That is SO unusual for him to do, and really meant a lot to me to hear that from him. His sweet words brought me to tears (and I haven't cried yet this transfer! ;) hehe ) He continued his talk and compared our work as missionaries to stories in the Book of Mormon and how we need to be humble and not stiff-necked. I really appreciated all of his kind words. After the meeting, he told me he was sad to see me go, but that he wasn't because he knew I would be back sometime soon- he was going to send in his requests to President Cusick. Honestly, I know that this work here didn't progress because of me. I had a great trainer who taught me to work hard and never give up. When people try to stop your work from progressing,  you just "look up" and keep on pushing through. She taught me to be strong, physically, mentally, and spiritually. My companion now taught me how to truly love people and to see everyone as Christ see's them, PERFECT! And to love them through anything. The Lord has blessed us so much in this area as we have been diligent and sought to do His will "at all times, in all things, and in all places". Hermana D and I find ourselves looking and each other while laughing and saying "Yeah! The mission really IS supposed to be this fun!" We have been so blessed each and every day!

It is such a privilege to have the Lord's hand in our lives guiding us and directing our every step. It's very humbling to know that he trusts me with his precious children here in this area, with the little spanish I know.  I can testify that the Lord truly does love each and every one of us, and he has a work for each of us to do. If the missionaries there haven't reached out to you, reach out to them and give them  your hands to love and support the investigators/less-actives that they have. There is NO greater happiness to be found than in sharing the gospel with those you love. You help them grow and you grow so much yourself. It IS the work of the Lord, and we are promised numerous times in the scriptures- more blessings in sharing the gospel than by any other means. AH! The work of the Lord is SO wonderful and it is indeed being hastened!!!

Oh, I almost forgot, lol. I am being transferred! :( I don't' know where I'm going until tomorrow, so if you need to send me anything, send it to the office and they will fwd it to me. The girls here in my apt will also fwd anything to me as well Hermana D is staying here and training 2 new people. She will have her hands full, but will be wonderful! They are opening up another Spanish area here again-Sisters too. YEAH! I kinda have a feeling that I might stay in the area as they are opening that and also a Z in H (all within our stake on the peninsula), but they didn't say I was opening, so who knows. Maybe that's cause it's already my area. That's be super funny if I ended up just moving north or south of here though, especially cause we took SO many pictures and said SO many goodbyes (well, not goodbyes cause I don't believe in that, only "see ya laters") with everyone yesterday. I will attach some. It was so fun! I LOVE it here and I am SO sad to leave, but I know I am leaving the area in great hands, and I can't wait to hear how things continue to progress.

I love you all and hope you have a GREAT week! Remember to get in daily scripture study and prayer. Without those 2 strings, every thing else comes unwoven. They bring such strength and power to our everyday lives and help prepare us for the opportunity that the Lord WILL provide us to share the gospel each day. I love you!!!

Hermana  Gillett

October 22, 2013 - From Sister Gillett

Hey Family!!!

Sorry I am a day late to emailing. I really didn’t mean to make you wait!! Today is our pday because we got to go to the Newport Beach Temple this morning for the 7 am session. Early morning, but it was 100% worth it!!! It is really only 15 minutes from here but just outside of the mission. The temple is so gorgeous and hopefully I will be able to send you some pics in the mail this week. Sorry my pics were so large last week. I don’t know how i did that!!

This week has been awesome!! We did service at a members house and we were helping a lady clean out her garage...Guess what we came across?!? A POGO STICK!!!! I still got the skill, no hands and all. haha It was way fun!!

Have I ever told y'all how weird the grass is here? It is not real grass no matter how many times the California people want to tell me otherwise. It is like a mixture of golf course grass and real grass and it feels spongy to walk on. So weird, but maybe I just really like my Utah grass!!

Teaching is going pretty great here. I am starting to get the hang of it. Tracting is a little difficult for me because you never know who is going to be behind the door or what they are going to say. Yesterday while we were out doing "5-alive" because if our appointment isn’t home we knock on 5 doors in their area before we leave. Anyway... we had stopped at 2 houses and no one wanted to listen to our message and we started to talk to a guy who was working on something in his garage. He said he wasn't interested either but as I walked away from his home I couldn't help but think I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! And it wasn’t even sarcastic at all. I just felt so much love for the people we had just met and I didn't even know them and they didn't want to listen. I know that that was my Heavenly Father helping me to realize that the work I do is important to him and he loves me just as much as he loves all those people who have turned down listening to our message. It really is so true that someone has to come in contact with missionaries or members at least 7 times before they are ready to listen.

The ward here is small yet strong and I love all the members here and I am so grateful for their sacrifices to feed us even if they don’t have a lot. I know that they are blessed from this sacrifice. Some families we teach here really make me grateful for my own. There are a lot of problems with drugs, single parents, and contention. Thanks so much for raising us in the Gospel and for helping us to realize the blessings the gospel brings us. Thanks for teaching me the power of prayer and for all the many fundamentals you taught me to help me build my faith. Thanks for the spirit of love that made home a place i wanted to be and not a place of contention. I am so grateful that our family can enjoy the blessings that come from the gospel, especially that we can all be together for all eternity. What a tender mercy from our Heavenly Father!!

The work here is slow but Sister Jensen and I have faith to find and the faith to act. The Lord will bless us for our efforts very soon!! Sister Jensen says that Heavenly Father is testing our faith right now and since we are working hard he will bless us with so many people to teach. She helped me apply Ether 12:14 to our companionship. "Behold, it was the faith of Sister Jensen and Sister Gillett that wrought the change upon the people of the Garden Grove 4th ward South, that they were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost." It is through our faith that we will be able to find, teach, and convert. But we have to exercise our faith and work hard in order to reap the reward. No work will ever be done if we just sit in our apartment.

One of my favorite Book of Mormon messages we have shared this week is about the life of Nephi. Just like Nephi we have many trials and afflictions. In 1 Nephi 1:1 he says "having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless, having been highly favored of the Lord." Right at the beginning he tells us of his hard times yet he realized that those hard times are blessings from God that have helped him to be the person he is today. His family leaves and wanders in the wilderness for 8 years!! I wouldn't be a happy camper about that one. Especially leaving their nice home and all their riches to go live in a tent somewhere. They starved and Nephi had a broken bow. Their wives had children in the wilderness. His brothers sought his life. He was asked by God to kill a man and he obeyed. He was mocked by his brothers when he was building a ship. He was tied up by his brothers and their ship almost sank. His afflictions could go on forever, but what amazing faith Nephi had!!! I love in 1 Nephi 1: 20 where he says I, Nephi will show unto you that the tender mercies of the lord are over all those whom he hath chosen because of their faith. I wish I could have the faith of Nephi. I guess that can be something to work for!

I love my companion so much and she is such an awesome example to me. Sometimes she gets so excited to go to appointments we literally run to them. She has a great light about her and you can tell that her heart is full of love for everyone!! She has really helped me to learn and study according to my investigators needs which has really been a struggle for me so far but I will get the hang of it. She has been out for 9 months and she says she thinks she saw Jae in the MTC. Who knows :)

California is so beautiful. I love watching fireworks whenever we want!! I love the sunshine and the warmth here!! It is just so gorgeous. I don’t miss the cold at all!!

I love y'all and I hope you have a great week!! It is so good to hear that things are all going well at home. Have a great week and I will talk to you on Monday!!!

Love, Sister Gillett :) :)

October 21, 2013 - from Hermana Gillett

Oct 21, 2013 (from Hermana Jaelyn Gillett)

Hey family!

It was so fun to get so many great emails from you all this week! I need to figure out a way to be more organized in replying to all so I can get it done in a more timely manner, but oh well. I enjoy hearing from you all SO much! Thanks for all the updates! :)

Dad, Jack and JoLee, I wrote you in your own emails.

Jenson: I LOVE YOU! What have you been up to? I miss hearing from you. You be good and have fun, alright? P.S. How tall are you now? I keep meeting all these kids that are your age here and they are HUGE!  Stop growing so fast!!! :)

Jacie: Yeah, I heard Hermana Vargas is engaged to Elder Vasher. I don't even know his first name, but it's been the talk of the mission. So funny! So excited for them. How fun to be so close to Disneyland! It makes me laugh to hear your stories, because I am in the same situations, but yet so different all at the same time. It brings back good memories of starting out on the mission and I hope you continue to have wonderful experiences! I hope you say Hi to Austin for me! :) I miss that kid! I just got a letter from Brendan too! Hm... I should probably find that and respond, huh? lol I stink at that, there just isn't enough time in the day! Right now my companion and I are working on making some AWESOME leather scripture cases before the end of the transfer-next Tuesday. There is SO much to do, but we are so excited to make them! We have a list a mile long of things to do, but for some reason our "missionary"  priorities always come first... ;) hehe I hope you are using those member dinners to your advantage and getting them out to work! :) We don't have member dinners anymore unless there is a PMF, LA, or investigator there. So, Hermana Duong and I have become GREAT cooks! I make some GOOOOOD rice and beans! And we are perfecting the Arrepas and collecting more fun Hispanic recipes :) We have lots of Chinese food too. She is a great cook! WE have too much fun cooking together.  However, our members have been AWESOME and in order to "claim their blessings" that they think come from feeding the missionaries (we don't need their food, we need their FRIENDS!) they have been inviting friends and neighbors and investigators over. It has been successful so far and we average about 2 meals a week which is great! It's so neat to see the members testimonies grow as they share the gospel. We actually have 2 dinner appointments tonight with our investigators: Jose who is getting baptized on Sunday!!! and Noemi and Julio and their family all at investigator's homes. We are going to be SO full, and rushed for time (we always wish there was more time in the day!) but we can hardly wait! The most important thing we have seen here is that we as missionaries need to help the members see and understand how powerful they are in their examples in everyday life. We are also striving to "get out among them" so when the members say they are too busy with this sports game or that, we say "Will you let us come along and introduce us to your friends?" People notice something different about them, and about us. We shouldn't be afraid to o pen our mouths about what's different about us. We don't have to shove doctrine down their throats, but as we build that friendship as members, it comes naturally because they want that happiness that we have. Remember, missionary work is and should be FUN! That Ensign you are looking for we have at our apt too! I think it is from Oct. a year or two ago. It is SUCH a good one! I want to have a copy of that for each of my investigators!!! :) Good luck and keep up the good work! I LOVE YOU!!! P.S. I 'm still hoping you get switched over to Spanish speaking, esp being right by Disneyland. Here in our mission we have a lot of people that work for Disney World-mainly hispanics as seasonal work :) Is it the same there?

Here is another tip (although you get fed well) of how important it is to eat healthy and keep yourself prepared physically too. On exchanges we have had some interesting findings. .Maybe this will be something you can use/share one day. Love you!
 One of the things that Hermana Duong and I have recognized on exchanges (after some interesting meals) that our sisters are not eating very well, which is resulting in unnecessary tiredness, moodiness,sickness, etc.  This is affecting their missionary work in many aspects, so we decided to take some action and get to the root of the problem and better it. We asked the sisters (throughout the zone) the following questions, and these were their responses seemed to be the same across the board: 

1.How member dinners were going? Not the best, but we get 1-2 a week.
2. Do you have enough money to buy the food you need? Yes (Money was not an issue for any of them)
3. Do you eat meals together? No (Hermana Duong and I have saved a lot of money making meals together, but even more than      that, it is a lot of fun to cook together and learn from each other and builds a lot of companionship unity. We also feel more successful and accomplished as we enjoy a nice meal that we cooked ourselves, giving us confidence in ourselves which rolls over to confidence in the work.)
4. Do you feel like you have enough time for meals? No. I like to just eat something quick so I can have time to get other things done (It is very important to take time to relax, accomplish the tasks you need, and prepare yourself for the day-but not at the expense of your overall health.)
5. Do you plan ahead for the week what you need to buy to make meals? No, we usually just go up and down the isles until we find something that sounds good. (Planning meals saves us a lot of money and time at the store and we can prepare our meals as we get ready for the and have them in the oven in the morning during studies to be ready to eat at lunch. Then we can still have that much needed "personal time" to relax and prepare to go out for the day.

We recognized after doing this that all of these concerns were addressed in the "Adjusting to Missionary Life" handbook that we all received. We are working on compiling some simple, easy, non-expensive recipes to give the sisters.(If you have any suggestions PLEASE send them our way :) ) In our upcoming exchanges we are going to focus on the importance of taking care of ourselves physically so we can take care of ourselves and others spiritually. We truly believe that as we implement these things into our lives better that we will be happier and as a result, we will see greater blessings in our missionary work. Hermana Duong and I already have and we want to share that success with others!

Mom: I can't believe it's time for those new cards already! I swear I just got it! haha I was thinking that when we got an email from our President saying we should get a flu shot again. I swear I just did that in Manti, but wow! That was a year ago! CRAZY! This time thing is really freaking me out! This last week went by SO fast! Hermana Duong and I could hardly keep up! There is so much good going on and we are having such a fun time doing it! I am really getting nervous that I will be leaving this transfer. We find out on Saturday... There really isn't a logical reason that I should stay, but I'm still hoping anyway. There is a possibility that I could open the south of this area again. I am keeping my fingers crossed! This is my HOME away from HOME and I don't want to leave... But hey "Come what may and LOVE it" Right? :)

Hermana Birch and I put in our request to serve together President Cusick when we saw him at the last MLC a few weeks ago. We asked him to put us together for Christmas, just to see what he would say. He looked at us, smiled, laughed, and walked away laughing. :) HE LOVES US! :)

Here is a neat miracle for the week. One of MANY!

 This week we had a wonderful Zone meeting. Elders Murry and Willard had a wonderful training set up where we were trained on the importance of our attitudes, companionship unity, how we can see miracles each day, and how we can plan more effectively to receive those blessings and experience miracles. One of the things they encouraged us to do was to send out the miracle that we saw that day via text to the rest of the zone. The Zone has been seeing some wonderful miracles and their attitudes and really improving as a result. I have seen some wonderful miracles in our work this past week and they have given me a lot of strength and energy to go on in the work of the Lord because it is so great! We lost contact with an investigator who we taught at her sister's house when her sister moved unexpectedly. We had her address, but no apartment number. We realized that as we pulled in and wondered what to do. Hermana Duong said "well, i guess we will just pull in anyway." As we did, there she was! Standing outside on her porch. Before we could even jump out of the car she had gone back inside her house. Had we been there just a split second later we would have missed her. But because we were out doing the Lord's work, he guided us to exactly where we needed to be, exactly when we needed to be there. She was so glad to be reconnected with us and has since given us 2 referrals, and we had a wonderful spirit-filled first lesson. Miracle! I have seen so many more this week and they are recorded in my special Miracle Journal. It is such a blessing to have those special experiences recorded (separate from my daily journalings), and brings even greater blessings as we show the Lord we are ready to see the blessings as we do his work.  He truly does pour out his blessings! I LOVE YOU ALL and pray for you always! Have a great week! :)

Hermana Gillett

Pictures from Sister Gillett

Flat Stanley, Sister Gillett, and Sister Jensen

Sister Gillett and Sister Jensen (her trainer in the California Anaheim Mission)

I LOVE MY MISSION!!!! - SISTER GILLETT

Hey Family!!

How are things going at home? It sounds like you got most of everything moved. That is so awesome!!  Congrats to the football team for winning region and the girls tennis team and boys golf team for winning state!! That is so awesome!! Is it going to be another year of champions again? You might need to make some more trophy cases for them!! haha

Jae: Sister Vargas is ENGAGED!!! Crazy huh?!? She is engaged to some guy from your mission. Pretty cool!!

My week here has been SO AWESOME!!! Totally crazy but I have loved every second of it!! I saw Elder Josie at our driving safetly meeting yesterday. He says to tell you hi. Also one of Kelli's friends that pulled me out of the ditch that one time when I was gong to visit Kelli is in my mission too. it was pretty funny!! So i live right on the border of Orange and Anaheim. We literallly live like right across the street from Angels Stadium. It is so cool. And sometimes we take the "happy way home" aka driving past Disneyland as we are on our way home. It is so much fun and it is so gorgeous here. Espeically by Disneyland. Sis Jensen and I got some pics by the disneyland sign with flat stanley so I will try to send him and some pics back to you soon! Our apt complex is SO NICE!! We can even watch Disneyland's fireworks from the parking garage roof top. Oh, and when the Angel's win they do fireworks too. Every night around 930 is my favorite!! We live about 20 minutes out of our area. We work in Garden Grove 4th Ward south and it has a lot of different names like gangster grove, garbage grove, getto grove, golden grove... I think the one that is most fitting is getto grove. That is exactly why we live out of the area! haha There are so many different cultures here I sometimes feel like I am in a foreign country because all of the signs we pass are in another language and every other door we knock on doesnt speak english. haha fun times!! My companion Sister Jensen is SO AWESOME!!! I love her to death!! We will be together through Christmas since she is training me and we will stay in the area too. She has such a powerful testimony and she rocks at teaching. I have learned so much from her already and I can't wait to learn more. She is from Orem, Utah and the girl Meredith from the movie Brave was pretty much created from her. they look so much alike! I couldn't have asked for a more excited and enthusiastic trainer. I love her!! We were both in similar situations where we didnt really get along with our last companions and it kinda dampened our sunshine but now we are shining bright for the whole world to see! She works so hard and so I am right there with her!! I can see such a difference already and I absolutely love it!!

Let's face it, like Sister Jensen said to me on my first day..."I'm not going to sugar coat it, the work is dead here." We don't really have any progressing invesigators so we have been spending a lot of time finding those who the Lord has already prepared and are ready and willing to listen to the gospel. We have decided that the most productive way we will be able to find is through the members. We have been going into member homes and sharing a Book of Mormon story with them and how it realates to sharing the gospel. We then leave the Book of Mormon with them and ask them to mark their favorite verses in it and prayerfully consider who to give it too. If everyone does this I think our work could really increase. I have learned so much about learning how to better apply the Book of Mormon in my life so that i can share it with others. Sister Jensen knows her Book of Mormon SO WELL so that has really helped me a lot to want to not only read it but know where things are at so I can turn to them later. She has studied the Book of Mormon like no other missionary I know. It is so awesome and I hope that I can come to know the Book of Mormon just like her. We have done a lot of tracting so far as well. It is ok but a lot of people speak another language then us so it is kinda hard.

In the Adult Session of stake conference we really focused on Hastening the Work ot the Lord. One point someone brought up is to mingle with the ungathered instead of just the gathered. By so doing we can be the member missionaries that the full time missionaries so crucially need. Members are SO IMPORTANT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love having a member present at lessons and getting referrals from members because it is so helpful!! Do your  missionary work ok?!?

I also met a guy at stake conference named brother hall and he looks exactly like uncle elden. It is so crazy!! the glasses and everything!! I couldnt believe it but he said he didnt know elden.

I got my package. Thanks so much mom!!

Funny story for the week. Everyone here has security gates on their front doors. I have never seen them before and they are kinda interesting. So I guess there is some kind of way to knock on them using what is called the claw. Sister Jensen has it down but i am still working on it. So anyway we were stopping at an investigators house and we rang the doorbell and no one came so I tried to practice my claw skills. Ya...didn't work out so well!! Sister Jensen was laughing so hard because I did it way too hard i guess!! When the investigator came to the door he said Holy Cow!! I thought someone was trying to break into my house!! haha well, I guess i will have to work on my claw skills some more another time!!

Answers to moms questions:

We eat dinner with the members about 3 to 4 nights a week and the rest of the time we just eat at home. It works out pretty well!! My mission president is so awesome and so inspirational. He has taught us a

pattern of teaching where you teach, testify, ask a question and then switch with your companion. He has told us that when we ask questions we have to send the investigators to Heaven for the answers. But when you ask questions that send the investogators to Heaven for the answer they are so powerful and it really gets them thinking about their lives. it is so cool!! The weather here is so beautiful. I love it so much!!! All you really need is a light cardigan and you are good to go the whole day through. there isnt much of a change in temperatures throughout the day. We email either at the garden grove library or at the santa ana college library. the garden grove library was closed today since it was columbus day so we came to the college library. it is pretty fun. our schedule is pretty generic. We wake up at 630 work out for a half an hour and then we get ready and eat breakfast by 8. at 8 we do personal study. at 9 is companionship study. 10 is training time. and then lunch and we are out the door for the rest of the day with appts., tracting, member visits, ya know all that fun jazz. We come back at 9 for our planning session and then from about 930 to 1030 we wind down and i take some time to write in my journal. My health is great. No problem so far. Wanna hear some awesome news?!? The nurst here in my mission use to be a dietician specializing in diabetes. WOOT WOOT!! I met with here my first time here and she will help me with medications and everything i need. She will notify you guys of anything that might come up and she will just take awesome care of me which is such an answer to my prayers!! About the Ensign, I dont know which one it was but it was all gold and it was all about the Book of Mormon. If you can find it great but it might be an old one. I dont know.

Well, I hope you have an awesome week!! i sure love all of you guys. You are all such great examples to me!! Do your missionary work please!! Every member is a missionary. After all, us full time missionaries are really just members choosing to set aside some time in our lives to fully serve the Lord and his children. I love the gospel and I know it is true with all my heart!! I can see the Lord's hand in my life every single day by guiding me to meet people and give simple service to everyone around me. God loves all of his children and so do I!! This is His work and this is His mission not mine! I love you and miss you all so much... We didnt get all of our email time today so we will be coming back tomorrow to finish it up and i will send you a few pics if i can. Love ya!!

love, Sister Gillett :)

 

Monday, October 14, 2013 - Hermana Gillett

BIRTHDAY WEEK!

 

HOLA FAMILIA!!!!

Thank you SO much for all the Birthday wishes and for the wonderful gifts! You are the BEST! It was exactly what I needed to make it the BEST Birthday :) I feel SO SO SO blessed this past week. I got all I could have ever asked for, plus some. It was amazing!

The "partying" began on Friday when we had a Leadership Meeting in Sarasota. Hermana  Duong and I didn't know what to do when we were asked to wear "approved 'other activity' clothing" Aka Jeans and a t-shirt! It was SO weird to see everyone like that, but it was fun for a change. We had part of our meeting at the Sarasota church building, and it was an AMAZING meeting. I learned so much adn teh spirit was so strong. Our responsibilities as leaders in the mission have expanded, but our obedience levels are rising and we are seeing a lot more success. This IS the Lord's work and this is His way. By it, we are receiving His blessings.

     Around 5 we went out to the beach. Oh man, it was gorgeous! There we had Olive Garden on teh picnic tables and then after we enjoyed roasting marshmallows and taking pictures. One of teh Elders had his guitar (I don't think it ever leaves his side) and sat down in the sand and started to play and sing "Nearer My God to Thee". All the other Elders sat down adn joined in, and before we knew it, all of us were singing hymns sitting on teh beach watching teh sunset. THAT was a beautiful moment! We had a little fireside there and the learning through the spirit continued. I was able to see Hermana Birch AND Hermana Rodriguez and Larsen, so that in and of itself made me SO happy! Then being able to spend that time with them, and learn from them as they gave us trainings during the day was even better. Hermana Duong and I had a training that we gave on Planning. On the front of our planners is a Compass. We compared this compass to teh one nephi had and then related our planning to that story. That training again was a witness to me that the Spirit speaks through me because I was uplifted, and others were as well. (I will try to send p ictures adn videos, but I'm not sure if it will work or not. My camera doesn't capture the colors here well, but they are beautiful!!!)

     Saturday was another beautiful day! It was SO hard to get out of bed, as we got home later than usual, but it was so worth it! We exercised and after, I opened my presents. Thank you!!! IT was just what I needed! Hermana Duong made me French Toast for Breakfast, and then we hit the studies and they were GREAT! We went out to start our work for the Day and when we knocked on our investigator's Tachima's door, her little boy opened it and started s inging "HAPPY Birthday! They had a cake and everything Chocolate Tres Leches. YUM! They are SO sweet! Alex, her little boy, helped me blow out the candles. He is too cute! We then went and had a lesson with Jose. HE HAS A BAPTISMAL DATE for October 27th!!!! : )  We are so excited for him! He has been progressing so well and he absolutely loves being a part of the church. We went out to dinner at a Steak house, YUM! Thanks Mom! Some of the Elders in teh area joined us too, so it was even more fun with more people :) We then went to our appointment with the Arguetas (the ones you met on Skype over Mother's Day) and they pulled out this HUGE Tres Leches cake adn whipped out the hispanic Happy Birthday music. They are so awesome!!! So they sang and I blew out the candles. I guess it is a Mexican thing to take a bite of your cake after you  blow out the candles, so they told me to do it. I did it, and as I did, they shoved my face into the cake! We all laughed and had a great time eating that DELICIOUS cake!!! No worries, we still taught them like we were supposed to, just had a a lot of fun along the way. Afterall, missionary work is supposed to be FUN! :)

    After that, we went to my favorite investigator's house, Noemi and Julio and saw their girls. They were having a Halloween party for their girls. Our mission president gave the leaders a special assignment to "get out among the people". We are in testing mode right now, but he is having us get out among the people with members who are too busy being parents adn running from sports game to sports game, and going with them to the games, not to watch the games, but to contact their friends there and to build the kingdom! :) We went to this party and that is exactly what we did! Everyone was all dressed up for halloween and they were all Mexicans at this party. We got the weirdest looks when we walked in! It was really neat experience though, and we were able to contact a lot of their friends and they loved introducing us to them. We were about to leave so we could get home on time, and Noemi asked if we would wait for just 5 more minutes. We still had a few minutes, so we did. A few minutes later, her husband walks in with this huge cake for me, with my  name written on it. I blew out the candles adn again, took a bite. Hermana Duong got me from behind this time, adn all the Mexicans laughed because that was such a mexican thing to do, yet these 2 American girls were there. They definitely had that one planned out before... haha It was so sweet of them! Noemi and their Oldest Daughter Yessenia have birthdays today adn tomorrow too, so it'll be a fun week of celebrating for them. They are the  nicest couple and have such a wonderful family structure. We are working hard with them and preparing them for baptism, adn especially the temple! I LOVE THIS WORK!!!!!

I know it is true with all my heart adn I am SO grateful for the opportunity that I have had to share the great message of happiness, and especially the blessings that come from the temple. WE CAN AND WILL BE TOGETHER FOREVER!!!!

I love you all SO much and pray for you always! Thanks for everything!

XOXO

Hermana Gillett

"Just Kidding! Here is a brief weekly review" Love Hermana Gillett

 Monday, October 7, 2013

We have had another week full of miracles here! We were really praying that we could find answers as to how to address our investigator's concerns, and how to find more investigators and the Lord blessed our lives in so many ways! We were expecting certain answers, but he blessed us in other aspects that lead to the results of having our prayers answered and it was such a humbling experience! This week I was focusing on making my prayers more meaningful as I had fallen into a routine with the little spanish I once knew, but really wanted to expand because I now can. I was studying prayer and recognizing the spirit from Preach My Gospel and thought I was learning it for myself, but little did I know, the Lord had other plans as well. We were able to have a lesson with an investigator I taught with Hermana Turley. She hasn't been able to have an appointment with us do to school for a while, but she finally did. We had planned to read in teh Book of Mormon with her, and we did, but as we talked the subject switched from the history of The Book of Mormon (something I had really been studying last week adn was able to really bear my testimony of as well) into how we can have more sincere prayers and receive answers. I was able to bear my testimony to her of the things that I had learned for myself to be true, and the spirit was really strong. She told us of how she felt she wasn't receiving answers to her prayers, and then a miracle happened. The spirit brought to my remembrance the times that I would go to her home at the first of my mission.Our lessons were always so filled with the spirit and I always felt a special connection with her. I would try so hard to speak to her in spanish and I just never could say what I wanted. I loved those lessons more than any other lessons, but after every lesson I would come out and cry because I wanted so badly to tell her how much The Lord loved her. I knew it would all come with time, and well, 5 months later I have been reconnected with her and I realized what a blessing it was for me to just listen during those first few months. The spirit brought to memory times when she had testified to us of her prayers being answered and I was able to remind her of that. She was humbled and the spirit lingered so strong! After the lesson, she gave me the most grateful hug as tears ran down her face. I can't even explain how neat that experience was, but it is one I will never forget. It is moments like that that make all the hard times so worth it!

Hermana Duong and I also had an amazing first lesson with the best friend of some less-actives we have been working with. The spirit was so strong as we taught the first lesson and it was so neat to see everyone bear their testimonies of the things we taught. When it came time for the first vision, I got scared because although they attend the Spanish Branch, they speak better English, so prefer that in conversation. I don't know the first vision perfectly in English, only in Spanish, but I said a little prayer and the spirit took care of the rest. It was amazing the spirit that I felt and that permeated the whole room. After, I asked them to identify their feelings and our investigators said in shock, "Wow! I have never felt to much peace! I just... I don't even know what to say... I, I got goosebumps and the hair on the back of my neck stood up." I was able to testify that that was the Holy Ghost testifying to him of truth. I then felt very strongly to invite him to baptism, and I was so surprised at how smoothly all the How To Begin Teaching that I have been practicing for months came flowing out of my mouth, transitioning perfectly into the Baptisimal Invitation. I invited him and I got chills as he answered with such a great desire "Yes! Yes, I will." It was such a neat experience and we invited him to pray about a date that we can work towards. We are also working with his best friend, the less-active to help him be ready and worthy that he can baptize him if it will work out in time. Miracles happen when we have the spirit!

I love you all and hope yo uhad a great week and LOVED conference as much as I did! We've heard teh words of the prophet and the new "commandments". We have till Christmas to complete one of the invitations. Who remembers what it was??? We've heard the words, now it's time to execute! :) What are your plans??? I'd love to hear your ideas and if you need some, let me know !

 Love you lots! Have a great week!

Con Amor,

La Hermana Gillett

Hermana Gillett - Oct 7, 2013

I am the WORST! I didn't have time to get out a GOOD email today cause it'd have taken to long and I took to long writing president and Jack and reading emails... Sorry!! I will send a hand-written one this week, promise! Love you all! Things are great and I am SO happy! Hence needing more time to write because things are just SO good! I love you SO much!!! XOXOXO

Hermana Gillett

 

Her mission now has a facebook page with lots of pictures! YEAH!!! It is: "Florida Tampa Mission Cusick". You can't leave comments but you can look at all those amazing missionaries!  Love those amazing missionaries! Especially mine!

I love seeing this smiling face! Love her! Miss her! So happy for her!

WEEK 1 - SISTER GILLETT

Hey Family!!

How are things going at home? How did the move to the 4th house go? All finished unpacking yet... haha jk! What is new with the family?

Well, things have been going pretty great here at the MTC. Definitely a life changing experience for me. I love my district. my teachers, my companion, and my investigators. THe Elders in my district are going to the Iowas Des Moines mission and the 4 sisters are going to the Anaheim mission. Adjusting to the 6 am to 1030 pm has been a challenge for me a little bit but I will survive!! Having class/ study time for 16 hours a day is really rough but I have learned and I have grown so much already. It is crazy to think I have only been here a week and I love it so much but I am ready to head out! Good thing I only have 12 days in the MTC!! Woohoo!!

I will fly out on the 8th at 830 am. They have assigned me to be the travel leader over 6 sisters heading to anaheim. That is kinda a scary thought for me. Hopefully we are all on the plane when it is ready to take off!! haha 

So, the second day Sister Maloy got really sick and so I had to take her up to the health clinic at main campus. They decided to keep her there to let her rest and they gave me a cell phone for a companion for about 8 hours and then told me to come pick her back up around 5. I felt so lonely and everyone was like sister, where is your companion. You do know you aren't suppose to go anywhere without your companion right? It was good to have her back and we spent the night at the apt resting and then the next few days we would do what she felt up to doing. After that it was a roller coaster for her deciding whether or not she wanted to stay. She called he family and met wiht the district president. He told her to stick it out til sunday and she would receive her answer. when she did, she didnt even have to tell me because I could feel it! I knew she was going to stick it out and be the best missionary that she can be from here on out. I sure love her for that. We definitley grew as a companionship through that experience and it really taught me some patience! It was also a tender mercy for me to go to the clinic with her because the sweet nurse talking to me noticed my medical braclet and she gave me some stuff that i needed to take care of my diabetes and who I should talk to at the West Campus cafeteria. It was really nice!! 

So, a little bit about the west campus. We live in the Wyview apts and our classroom is at the raintree apts in an old bedroom. it is really interesting but I absolutely love it here. however I am grateful it was only cold for a few days because walking back and forth between our apt and class it was so cold. All the snow has melted off the mountains and the leaves are changing colors. it is so beautiful. It always makes me sing for the beauty of the earth! Love that song!! 

Dad, I definitly agree that going on a mission is like the roller coaster at lagoon! I absolutely love it now that I am here and I wouldnt change it for anything!! Everyone is so spiritual and everyone shows Christlike love to all they are with. One of our goals is to be the happiest district at the MTC. We have definitely lived up to it and I absolutely love being happy and laughing with others!! The food here is pretty great, i defintitely dont complain! I love the fruit and salad bar they have because that helps me to continue to eat healthy! 

Are you guys ready for conference because I am SO EXCITED!! Last night we had out tuesday night devotional and Elder Baxter of the 70 came and talked to us. He did an amazing job and I love his English accent. We even got to go up to the main campus for it instread of watching the broadcast in the chapel at west campus. It gave me cold chills to sing Called to Serve with all the other missionaries.

Mom, so about that picture that Sister Barton showed you. That is her son Alex and he just coincidentally happened to be subbing for a zone teaching conference we had the other day. I saw that his name was brother barton and so I asked him where he was from. He just said Central Utah in a place called Manti. I said is Audrey your sister? He was so confused because I had never met him before but I had seen pictures of him so I knew who he was. So we got a picture together and I told him to send it to his mom so that she could show it to you. Hope that you enjoyed it. I also met a girl, Sister Gillepsie. She said that her grandpa lives in Manti in the 8th ward. do you know him? There is also a girl here from Paradise Utah named Sister Richman. She said that her brother got his patriarchal blessing from Grandpa. Cool huh? I have also seen Kelsey Mecham, Joe Creery and Jaelyn's old roommate KO. It was really fun to see all of them and make so many different connections. Oh, and today in the cafeteria I met a worker there who had cousin Ryan in her ward last semester. Small world huh? OH and thanks for all your sweet notes in my suitcase. Especially the one from JoLee!!  JoLee, will you please write sister maloy a dear elder cuz she hasnt gotten any mail yet!

Thanks for all the letters and everything. Please keep them coming!! The first night we got mail it was like that scene from the best two years when all the mail is for the one elder. But in this case it was all for me. a few of the other missionaries had one or two letters but I had the most. It was so AWESOME!!! 

Could you please dearelder me Staci's address so that i can write her family. She sent me a package from the BYU bookstore but it didnt have a return address on it. Thanks for giving my address info to Carol. It was great to hear from her. 

 sorry this letter is so scattered I am trying to remember all I have done this week it is so hard to narrow it down to just a few things. 

Thanks for all your love and support. I sent a letter home to you guys this morning so hopefully you will get it soon. I am grateful for the wonderful examples you guys are to me and for the opportunity that I have to share the gospel. I love this gospel and I know that this is the only true church ont he earth today. I cant wait to share it with all the people of California. I love my savior and I am grateful for his atoning sacrifice. I know that this gospel blesses the lives of all who listen. Please remember to share the gospel with every one becuase Heavenly Father loves all his children and wants them to be happy. This gospel brings true happiness!! I know it, I live it and I love it with all my heart might mind and strength!! Love you lots!! 

love, Sister Gillett

TWO THUMBS UP! YEAH!