The Infinite Atonement

SISTER CEDEÑO CAME TO VISIT!

Yesterday 8 of our investigators were supposed to come to church and not one showed up.

It was hard.

I felt a little defeated and destroyed. We had done everything we could to get them there. We had texted, begged, invited, showed up in the morning, promised blessings and.... nothing. I asked a lot of questions as I sat there in the chapel.

I asked myself "Why am I here right now?" And then I looked down at the book I was holding.

I've recently started reading "The Infinite Atonement", a book which explains more about what exactly Jesus Christ went through and why it is essential on an eternal scale.

Without the atonement there would be no hope. There would be no point to this beautiful, merciful plan our Father created for us. We would be lost in a very dark world.

But there is an atonement. There is hope and light in this world because Christ took upon Him our pains and our sins and our sicknesses.

As Alma 7:11-12 says:

"11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."

Christ knows us. He knows what we need. He is merciful and loving and the only perfect person to walk the earth. And He died and rose again, having taken upon Himself our sins, so that we may gain a remission of them and be brought to stand before God in the end.

So yesterday as I partook of the sacrament, I received my answer to why I was there.

It wasn't necessarily to welcome anyone to the church or to learn more or to build relationships with members. It wasn't to sing hymns or pray together or see my investigators there.

I was there to apply the infinite atonement to my life and change. To renew my covenants and receive a remission of my sins.

With that perspective a lot changed. I've always know the importance of these things but yesterday I came to know them at my core.

I am grateful for a plan of redemption that a loving Father in Heaven created for me. I'm grateful that I have the chance every week to think more deeply about the sacrifices of my Savior as I partake of the sacrament. I am grateful for an infinite and enduring atonement that makes it possible for me to return to my Heavenly home.

I'm grateful for this week because it truly was a great week. Sister Neahusen and I invited every investigator to be baptized, almost all accepted, lost some, found others, saw miracles and felt the Holy Ghost guiding us every step of the way. It was awesome (well except for Thanksgiving when we had four dinners and I almost died...that was a rough day) and I am so, so grateful for my Savior who made it all possible.

To the Moon and Back:

Hermana Showalter

1. Dinner #4 with the Lopez clan - I sneeze in every photo I swear
2. Mija y yo
3. Sister Barlow repping the awesome Christmas sweaters my mom got us!

Blessed Up

This cactus is approximately? Sister Showalter is alittle over 5 ft tall

 Jose came to the new member fireside yesterday!

Nohelia at the New Member Fireside!

Played the pie face game for FHE and it hit me 4/4 times.....

Tamales

Zone conference two weeks ago!

FHA (family home afternoon) with the zone ft. Sister Barlow my fav

3. IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS

God blesses his missionaries.

Last p day we made 100+ cinnamon rolls for investigators, members and less active members. It took almost all day and drained our bank accounts but we were happy to do it. But we were seriously food broke.

But then throughout the week people kept giving us food!! We got tamales on two separate occasions! The first time we got the tamales we were like "wow these are good. We would love more tamales." And then LITERALLY the next day a less active gave us bags of food and told us to stop by tomorrow because they were making tamales.

I know it's just a little thing but it meant a ton to us. I know God provides for and watches over us in small ways and that these small ways are sometimes the greatest expression of His love.

This is a work of love and miracles. This week had its highs and lows and we had to make some tough decisions but through it all Sister Neahusen and I felt overwhelming love from our Heavenly Father and saw some crazy miracles.

In the scriptures we are given so many different examples of His love - the greatest one being sending His son, Jesus Christ, to the earth to redeem all mankind.

Recently I've been reflecting a lot on this topic - especially on the atonement of Jesus Christ and what exactly it means to me. The atonement is something highly personal and individual. It was suffering not only on a physical level but also on a mental, spiritual and emotional one for each and every one of us here on the earth.

I can't truly explain how I feel about my Savior. I have made so many mistakes, I have left the path more than I would care to admit and yet my Savior has never left me alone once. When Peter lacked the faith sufficient and began to sink "he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him".

We all have moments in our life when we begin to sink, when our faith is insufficient and we doubt, but it is in our weaknesses that we are made strong AS we reach and call out to Christ. The moment we do so He is there lifting us up. "Immediately" in that moment we find the strength to walk again on the water with our Savior at our side.

I love my Savior and the more I have come to know Him the more grateful I am that "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief".

Have a blessed week and don't forget to think about all that you have to be thankful for!

To the Moon and back!

Hermana Showalter

LIT (cuz Mesa Lights haha)

Posterity pic. Your looking at one PROUD mama

Me and mija

Biking in the Boonies take 2

Crashed a party of some of our investigators/recent converts/potentials. Our new best friends: Valerie and Mariah. We have a secret handshake. It's lit.

All the Gilbert Mesa light sisters

Possibly the funniest, busiest, MOST AWESOME week of my mission/life but I say that every week basically. But really IT WAS AMAZING!

I'll do my best to sum it up in short points.

Funny moments include:

-Sister Neahusen's split leaving her at the house and her being left alone for an hour as she frantically called everyone (I meanwhile had an awesome split and we found 3 new potentials and a less active we didn't know about)

-us getting really lost in the Boonies and driving on roads that actually weren't roads and getting really lost. At one point google tried to take us through a ditch full of giant broken rocks. We were already on a very questionable steep path and a Chevy Cruise can only take so much #ThereIsNoWayGoogleMaps

- so I was kind of really sick and had this moment when I was drinking some orange juice and thought it was talking/making noise. Turns out the window was open and it was birds....lol @ my life

Miracles include:

- We picked up two new investigators! We talked with this guy as he was getting into a car and he invited us to come back the next day. We stopped by and he wasn't there but his two kids were. Recently they've started going to a church and praying and have seen Christ change their lives. They invited us in and invited us back. One of the most powerful lessons of my life as we talked about our savior and the power of prayer.

- 9 months! I'm halfway through my mission! I'm actually going to extend forever though so not actually halfway through....sorry mom

- winning 1st place in car maintenance at zone conference (it's a miracle because it's a cruise and we spent all of 15 minutes cleaning it...not going to lie I shed a tear or two)

- We picked up another investigator named Lidia this week. She is awesome and after we said the first prayer she was just like "do you feel that?! It just feels so warm inside!" We had a powerful lesson with her on the love our Father in Heaven had for us.

- We got picked to help host the Mesa lights! That means during Christmas this year we get to go down to Mesa and help out with the Christmas Lights they put on there. We had a training this week and got to drive down to Mesa...so weird leaving the mission!

A lot more happened this week but Sister Neahusen and I can't remember much! We were basically running from appointment to appointment and collapsing at home exhausted! There is no feeling i love more!

I know God answers our prayers because He loves us. We are His children and He knows us perfectly. Sometimes I just ponder the immensity of it all. The most powerful, great being in the universe loves us, wants us to be like Him, desires to give us all that He has. And all we have to do is ask - to reach out and trust in His plan. It's humbling. I am so grateful for this knowledge I have and even more grateful for the opportunity to share it. It is a message of joy and peace I want to shout from the rooftops!

(For now though I guess I'll just have to be content with sharing it from the dirt roads of the Boonies)

To the Moon and Back!

Hermana Showalter

Ps  Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEST FRIEND EVER AND SISTER MADDIE. You may be old and married but I still love you #Feeling22

The Boonies, some Biking, slightly Broken and super BLESSED

What an awesome, awesome week! Sister Neahusen and I have really started to dig in and figure out this area and it is awesome. I've never been so busy my entire mission and we get referrals almost every day. The Lord is truly blessing us and we are doing our best to qualify for them!

Our car I fondly refer to as Satan has this slight issue of the car alarm going off all the time. It also always thinks the door is open so beeps nonstop when we are driving. So we had to take it in to the dealership to get it fixed which unfortunately meant that we were car-less for a time. BUT we refuse to let pesky things like that stop the Lord's work so we have biked MUCHO this week.

There is this part in our area we call the Boonies. Miles of cacti and dirt roads and Spanish people. I love it. But we thought it would be a good idea to bike there forgetting about the GIANT hill that lies between us and the Boonies. My bike literally stopped halfway up the hill and I made us walk the rest of the way up. Hills are from the devil.

In exciting news Josesito is on date to be baptized on his birthday in December! He is so excited and his dad, Jose, who just got baptized 3 weeks ago is so pumped to baptize him.

Jose is an amazing example to me. He just wants to share the gospel with everyone and because of him we have 3 new investigators. He has started coming with us to lessons and his testimony is so powerful. I've never met a more converted man and he told us his plan is to baptize all his family. We like Jose's plan.

We also had the privilege to go to the temple twice this week! Once as a mission and the other to see Gloria be baptized for her family! I love the special spirit the temple brings and being able to feel the peace and love from my Heavenly Father.

We also had interviews this week with president and for the first time we had hardly anything to talk about! It has been an amazing few weeks full of miracles and hard work. We ended talking about President' s plans and how he was doing. It was so nice to just see him and get even more pumped up to work hard! 

I hit nine months this week which is my halfway mark and I can hardly believe it. 18 months seems like hardly enough time to serve my God and my Savior. I owe them everything, even more now, and the thought of leaving breaks my heart. Being a missionary is the best thing I could have ever done for my life. I've had life changing experiences, met amazing people and come to know my Savior more perfectly. No one says it more perfectly than Alma:

" O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth."

To the Moon and Back!!

Hermana Showalter

Us with Jose and Josesito (I have been slightly sick...veryish actually but I refuse to admit it so I'm fine and sneezing in this photo)

Classic AZ sunset

WITH HERMANA TERESA DE LOS REYES MY FAV (straight up just like Grandma Diane but Hispanic)

All the Miracles

 modeling the PINEAPPLE necklace from mija

Well I finally said goodbye to my area and it was definitely a mix of feelings. Before I left I had been praying to leave it better than I had come into it. We had been struggling finding people and I wanted to give it everything I had. In the last two days there we found 3 new investigators with at least 3 solid potentials. It made me a little sad to finally leave but happy I could pass it off as it grows. Luckily I still see everyone so that is definitely a plus.

But this past week has been BOMB with Sister Neahusen. She's ridiculously full of greenie fire and we've been working a ton. Also between the two of us the poor Hispanics have just given up on saying our names right. Haha that darn German heritage kicking in..

And I just love LOVE training. This transfer is really bringing me back to my second one when I was whitewash training (the glory days with Hermana Shaffer). Sister Neahusen has only been in the area a transfer and doesn't know it that well so it's kind of like starting from scratch for both of us. We have no biases and no clue which direction is which. I LOVE IT. We also saw a pretty cool miracle Our first day together we got crazy lost (RIP @ our miles) and just when we got ourselves oriented I looked at her and was like "do you feel like we are supposed to be here?". So we prayed and decided to knock a certain door. As we approached the spirit was so strong and we just knew it was where we needed to be. A Hispanic lady opened the door, we taught her how to pray and got a return appointment. IT WAS AWESOME. And that is just one of the many we have seen so far together. I love being a missionary.

I really am jealous of elders because they get an extra 6 months to serve. My time on the mission has helped me grow in so many ways. It's the best thing I could have done with these 18 months of my life and I will never be able to thank God enough for these experiences or this gospel.

Also the gospel truly is one eternal round because after a lot of confusion last transfer they ended moving me into a different house and I inherited 4 new roommates...one of which is my old college roommate Sister Norgrant aka Emily! So weird but so fun. Our house is the size of a small peanut so we have 3 bunk beds literally in one room. Its been very... cozy. Another miracle we saw was, as we are VERY food broke and real broke (@theMissionLife), a member literally gifted us a whole fridge of food. Mom go feed the elders a lot because we need to spread the food miracles around or maybe just give them some food. Trust me it is appreciated.

I would also like to shoutout Elder Romero and Sister Baggaley because we have now served 6 transfers together aka half my mission. It will be weird when we get split up eventually.

I truly love being a missionary and teaching others about my Savior. He has changed my life. I love that this is a gospel of second chances. We have a recent convert here who has come from a pretty dark past but as he has turned to Christ he literally glows. Every moment he has to share the gospel he does and even though Satan is doing everything in his power he has refused to turn from the light. He has been such an example to me in the little time I have known him and I am so grateful for the blessings the gospel of Jesus Christ brings into our lives. I know it is the power to change.

To the Moon and Back!

Hermana Showalter

awkward family photo with the Bleas (I love them)

last pic with Veronica and Ruby

One last district photo (fixing my hair awk)

our bunk bed set up ft. Sister Barlow (we've served together 5 transfers)

New Zone another hike

A WHOLE NEW WORLD!!!!!.....kind of :)

Fiesta de la Hispanidad

Well folks transfer calls are in and after a solid 5 transfers (1 transfer = 6 weeks) in the good old Bella Vista Zone I am getting transferred...TO THE BELLA VISTA ZONE! You see there are 2 sister areas in our ward so I will be going over to the other one. I am so pumped as it is part of my old greenie area. After my first transfer my area got split in two so I am so excited to go back and work with some of my old investigators and see how they have progressed :) Also I still get to see all of the people from my current area as I am still in the ward!

Although we technically won't know until Wednesday there is a 99% (re: basically 100% chance) that I will be with Sister Neahusen finishing up her training. I can't wait because her Spanish is fire and she is so ready to work. We've lived together the past transfer and it will be fun to just skip the intros and get to work.

But this week WAS SO FUN! We had our wards Fiesta de la Hispanidad and it was (to put it mildly) LITTTT. Hermana Fuimaono invited some of her Samoan friends and I've decided it can't be a party unless there are Samoans there. She told us all her family parties are like that and we've decided to go to them when we are all in Utah. We also were taught how to dance the Baile de la piña for the ward talent show and it was well... interesting. If the gringas are the best dancers you have a problem.

Anyways another great week here in Gilbert and Queen Creek. I love being a missionary and serving the Lord. It truly is the best calling in the world :)


To the Moon and Back
-
Hermana Showalter

Early morning hike because Hermana Anderson is leaving us (Look at how Adorable my HIJA is)

 

I miss Wegmans.

Celebrated our Elder Romero's Bday with a taco pinata (we've served 6 transfers together now)

"No puedo negarlo"

Something I've done throughout my mission is stop by English members that speak Spanish to see if they know anyone. So this week when we stopped by a English member, I didn't think much of it. I thought it would be pretty much like every other member we had stopped by and that hopefully she would have a referral for us.

The moment we walked through the door of her tiny apartment though, I knew this time would be different. The spirit hit us like a wall walking in. She radiated with light and before we could hardly blink, we were sitting at her table eating as she danced around her kitchen and told us her story and gave us more referrals than I've ever gotten before in my life.

Her husband had divorced her and taken away her 4 kids who were everything to her. She was living out of her car. Yet in the midst of this she never once questioned God. She told us that no matter what, she knew He loved her and that the Church was true.

She told us of how she prayed every night and not once doubted that He would provide a way. She prayed for a lawyer and judge that spoke her language and that wouldn't charge anything. It was an impossible wish that she asked for with faith and God provided. She ran into a friend and after recounting her story, her friend told her that her dad was a judge and knew a lawyer who had served a mission in her home country.

He took on her case for free and won her kids back.

Later, another friend called her and offered to buy her a house for her and her family. She gratefully accepted and they selected a beautiful house. As she picked her kids up from school that day she told them excitedly that they were going to their house. As they were on the way her friend called and said that the house was ready on one condition: They leave the church.

As she told us this part she started to cry and said "I told her 'no puedo negarlo'" - I cannot deny it. But she left the choice up to her kids. With tears in their eyes they told their mom that they would not leave the church. They too knew it was true and would not deny it.

That simple phrase "no puedo negarlo" changed me.

There comes a time in everyone's life when we have to choose. Sometimes the choice will appear hard but is it really?

In 2 Nephi 2:27 we are told "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself"

Regardless of the earthly circumstances, as we choose Christ our eternal reward will be so much greater. Our heavenly mansions are being prepared as we give up our earthly ones. It is a choice but in the grand scheme of things it really shouldn't be that hard of one.

I love all of you and invite you to choose Christ.

To the Moon and Back

Hermana Mallory Showalter

Ps. ANA MARIA WENT THROUGH THE TEMPLE AND IT WAS AWESOME

Mesa Temple

Ps. We are going to be dancing in our wards talent show " el baile de la piña" and it's going about as well as that one photo