One stinkin' whole year! 6/22/2015

Hello people that I love oh, so much!!

This week has been a really great one for me and Sister Hallam.  I am having a blast training Sister Hallam, she is so amazing. She has no fear. Sometimes I feel like she is training me!! Well, this week had brought a lot of reflection...I can't believe its been a year. I still feel like a new missionary at times. I was reading through my journal from when I was in the MTC and it was cool to see how much I have grown though. It sounds cliche but a mission has been the best thing that I could ever do for myself. Its been the best thing for my life. Before the mission I felt like I knew the gospel and I believed it but I didn't really KNOW it was true. It was a good thought and it brought me happiness and hope. On my mission I feel that I have truly come to know of its truthfulness and it is wound into every fiber of my being! I am SO grateful.

I was studying the Plan of Salvation this week and pondering upon the Fall of Adam and Eve. The Fall has always been a hard one for me to fully understand...As I sat there pondering and going through everything that made sense I came to the Fall again and I asked Heavenly Father if he would just help me understand it...to help me feel in the missing peice. And the thought came to my mind clear as day.."They had to sin to be kicked out of God's Presence." And as I continued pondering it finally occurred to me that the only way we could become like Heavenly Father and live with him again was by coming to earth. Heavenly Father wasn't going to just kick us out of Heaven. He couldnt' because we were clean...Adam and Eve had to have a choice. But its that choice that allowed us to come to earth and to progress. Moses 1:39- His work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. That is his only purpose! For us to be like Him and live with Him forever. And the only way we could learn here on earth was be having weaknesses and making mistakes..its a part of life. Thats why Jesus Christ is everything...without Him and without his example to follow we would be completely lost..doomed to misery forever...Oh how grateful I am for my Savior. He is my redeemer. And I know it! I want to be like Him and I want to be the best I can be so that I can return to live with Heavenly Father and continue to progress so I can one day be like Him. Our purpose here is to find joy but also help others to find that joy as well....It all just clicked for me yesterday. Sorry for my rambling but I hope something I said will help someone who's reading this. Yesterday we talked to a young man who said he believed in Science, he said that he found comfort in knowing that he didn't have a purpose in this life..that we as humans weren't really that significant..that we were just part of the science of the earth and when we die we will just decompose and basically just die forever...as He was telling me this my heart was just breaking inside. I respect his beliefs and am in no way criticizing them but it made me very grateful for the knowledge I have. I know that I have a purpose here on Earth, I know that I truly will live forever, and I know that I am a big deal to the man upstairs and that he knows me personally and not just me but everyone that has ever lived, living, or that will live. He loves us, we are His everything!

So in other news...The Lord blessed us with 4 new people to teach about the only true church on the face of the earth! :) Mr. Oliver who we found through tracting...we were walking up his driveway as he was pulling in to his house...so an awkward situation turned into a good one as he let us teach him the restoration and agreed have us come back! SIster Hallam did amazing..she taught him like she had been doing it for years. I love her. We also started teaching our neighbor who lives in the building next to us. She is so sweet! She took us to this cute cafe and we sat outside and taught her. She told us that she stayed at a Marriott a couple of years ago and found Book of Mormon (surprise!) so she took it and started reading it. Well when we invited her to learn she wanted to learn more and how to read the book! So we are going to start reading with her..she is so amazing, I already love her! We met with Mrs Crawford finally this week...we have been trying since the first time we met her 2 weeks ago...She is the one who was having problems with her old pastor. Well we taught her the restoration and she seemed to really be interested. She told us that about 10 years ago when she was switching between churches she prayed that someone would just show up on her door step...well here we are 10 years later! Talk about TIMING. It's always in his timing. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon and we talked to her yesterday and found out that she already ordered a book to help her better understand what she is reading. She is really prepared, its amazing to see. And then Sandy, we don't know her all too well yet but she fed us dinner last night. We will teach her again next weeek! Aww blessings come when you have faith. Me and Sister Hallam have been trying so hard to be obedient and just do everything we can to find people to teach...the Lord has sure blessed us.

Well that's all for this week....I know that Heavenly Father is aware of each of us. He knows us perfectly. And I know that if we rely on Jesus Christ and truly live His gospel we will be so happy and we will one day be with our families forever with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. 

I love you all so much! Thanks for the love and support this far on my Jesus Journey. Have a great week and share the gospel!!! 

Love, Sister Innes

"One year celebration at Olive Garden"

The view from our back patio 

Sis Hallam makes me really good food!

District lunch with our STLS

New missionary and trainers meeting

Peace. 6/15/2015

People who I love:

What a week it has been in Portland, ME!! Did I say that I love this place?!

Well as I was thinking of what I would write home this scripture kept coming to mind. John 14:27 " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Last P-day we went to the Portland mall...lets just talk about the fact that I hadn't been to a mall in a year!! So I was really excited about it but when we got there it was probably one of the most disappointing moments of my life. We went to Forever 21 and I just felt so awful and shopping suddenly didn't have the same fulfillment that it used to have for me. And that's why I love this scripture because it just explains the feelings that I have really been feeling this week.  

Me and Sister Hallam have been working hard. We currently don't have anyone we are teaching but we have been doing alot of finding and seeing alot of miracles with that. Friday we had plans to tract a couple streets, visit some potential investigators, and also some members. Well we were headed to go stop by a potential and then tract her street but on our way there we passed this street and I just felt like we needed to tract it. So I told Sister Hallam and we stopped our car and tracted the street. Well..no one wanted to talk to us on that street but we didn't lose hope because we knew Heavenly Father was working something out. So we proceed with our plans and a couple hours later we tried stopping by a members house who we had planned to see an hour earlier but because we tracted that street we were behind schedule...well the member wasn't home so we decided we would try talking to her neighbors. We had no luck until we got to John's house. Well we talked to John for about 20 minutes and he was talking about how he was just worried for his kids and wanted them to turn out like we were....we were talking about just how awful the world is and how the gospel is what has helped us to get where we are at. Long story short- I know that Heavenly Father wanted us to talk to him. I'm not sure what will happen but I'm so grateful we followed the spirit! 

Heres the thing: I love being a missionary and I am so grateful for this opportunity that I have to share my testimony with others..even if they may not want to join the church. Heavenly Father is teaching me so much and I am creating the foundation for my life. I have found so much PEACE in knowing that He loves me no matter what. And I truly know it now. No matter what the world may say or think if I'm good with Him then everything will turn out how it should.

So 1 Nephi 1 that I was talking about last week. Lehi prayed with all His heart...and in verse 15 it says this, " for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had shown unto him." So when we give the Lord all of our heart then our whole heart is filled!! And it is filled with joy and peace and love. Nothing that the World will ever give us. 

We must be strong people!! Hold fast to the iron rod. I love you all so very much!!

Love, Sister Innes

Portland, ME has my ❤️. 6/8/2015

Hello family and friends! :)

So yes, in case you haven't heard, I am currently in Portland, ME
having a blast training Sister Hallam, who is just as new to Portland
as me! To say the least this week has been unlike anything I have ever
experienced before, BUT I love it so much here! I know Heavenly Father
has put me here so that I could learn to rely on Him more than I
already do. My faith has been tested and strengthened!

This week i have just pleaded with Heavenly Father that He would
strengthen my faith and that He would guide us to where we needed to
go seeing that we had no idea where we were. I'll just share a couple
of neat experiences we had..Heavenly Father is with us and has been
with us from the beginning...this I know, this is His work and we
cannot do it without Him.

So our area covers three towns: South Portland, Cape Elizabeth, and
Scarborough. Wednesday we decided to try out Scarborough. We had a
couple potential investigators there as well as some members we had
planned to stop by so we could get to know the ward. Well we had
planned to see a specific family and then visit a potential
investigator. As we were on our way to visit this family we both felt
like we shouldn't so we decided we would try stopping by the
potentials house. Well when we got there she was getting ready to
leave and if we had come any later we would have missed her! So we
will be meeting with her tomorrow :) soo then we decided we would go
back and visit the family we had originally planned to see. As we
drove up we realized that they were packing everything into their car.
We walked up and talked to them and they said they were literally
getting ready to move...they didn't know where they were going but
Heavenly Father told them to pack up and leave. Talk about FAITH. The
wife said well maybe if you share a message we can receive some
direction...We had just planned to share the restoration but suddenly
the pressure was on! How were we supposed to give them direction?!
Well we followed the spirit and said some things and then I felt
prompted to sing for them...so I sang "How Great Thou Art" and by the
end they were both crying. She said that we were an answer to prayers!
I know that we were sent to them to let them know that God was aware
of them and give them the strength to continue on! What an experience
that was for us!! God is so aware of each of His children.

Friday we went back to Scarborough and we talked to a lady while
tracting who had just stopped going to her church because her pastor
was not a true "Christian" she said. She seemed to be searching and
was very interested in what we had to share. We talked to her about
prophets and how they hold the authority of God so they will never
lead us astray. She was so impressed when she felt our genuine love
for her and when we offered to help her in anyway. I know God sent us
to her!!

I don't have time but like I said the Lord has been guiding us...I
will share more next week!!!

Challenge: study 1 Nephi 1 and tell me what Happened to Lehi's heart
after he prayed with all his heart?? I will share my insights next
week :)

I love you all and hope you have a fabulous week!!!
Love, Sister Innes

Ch-ch-changes!! 6/1/2015

Hello family and friends! What a beautiful day it is. It is raining
and 48 degrees here! It hasn't rained in a while and so it is just
making up for it now. :)

This week just flewwww! We had zone interviews which means I got to do
4 different trainings with Sister Upton. Such a growing experience! It
was amazing to see how well Heavenly Father knows his Children.
Everyone of our trainings were on the same topics but they were so
different. I love love love being a sister training leader, I have
learned so much.

I don't have much time today because I have to pack!!! I have been
called to train a new missionary and open a new area! I am so excited
and a little nervous 😊 I am grateful for this chance to grow and
create a stronger relationship with Heavenly Father!

If there is anything I can tell you this week it is: Trust. Trust in
Heavenly Father with all your heart. He will never let you down.

I love you all and hope you have a fantabulous week!!

Love, Sister Innes

Here are some fun pictures of my week and people I love :)