Sunday, November 28, 2010

Pictures before the storm

A rainy day on the Square.
Hugs
The besties.
Special visitors.
BEAUTIFUL
Sister Rathgaber and Sister Mettra.
The dad and the daughter.
Sister Mettra goes to Lizzy's wedding or something like that .
Missionary power of course.
7am-9:30pm in class, dig it.
District love with color coordinating outfits.

Missionary glow or just really bright colors.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I'm Thankful-Nov 23

Dearest Family and Friends!

This has been an amazing week and I'm so grateful that I am here at this time on the square! So many things happened this week and because of the white out coming in about 3 hours everything is closing down so I only have a very short time to write everything! Sister Sanders and i have felt the love of the Savior this week in many different ways and I'm so happy to be a part of this work.

Lets start in the RC shall we:
I called a man by the name of Jr and talked to him about how the Gospel of Jesus Christ has changed my life. He is a less active and the spirit was so strong during that phone call. Both of us cried as we talked about the trials of life and how they can be overcome if we are but faithful! He was such an angel i was honored to talk to him and I'm so grateful that I was a missionary again. He told me the words i spoke were inspiring and that it was exactly what he needed to hear. He commit ed to go back to church and i will call again and follow up.

Chris the marine:
This girl came to temple square to give us a potential..... Let me explain how we even met her. she was from Hawaii and she had such a sweet spirit. Sister Sanders invited for us to take them through Gods Plan. They were touched by the spirit so much. And at the end were in tears sharing how this had answered their prayers. Then the spirit told me so strongly to sing be still my soul.... As i started they both started crying. And at the end said that was what they needed. The girl looked at me and said, God answers prayers i know now because of your testimony I need to serve a mission! I was so humbled by this! Well i called Chris he was in north Carolina at boot camp getting ready to go to Afghanistan. He was touched by the spirit and I told him he needs this gospel to comfort him through the dark months ahead! he accepted missionaries :)!!

Nigeria :
These very important people from Nigeria came and we ran into them so we were able to take them on a tour! I will never forget this tour because the spirit was so strong and it was filling the room. There is more to this story but i will write about it in a letter...... But the man looked at me and put his hand on my shoulder and said, you could be my daughter! Tears in his eyes he said, I know that this gospel is true. I told him what i had given up to be a missionary and we all just cried and i bore powerful testimony that this is the most important thing in the world! 2 of them want missionaries.

I cant close this letter without telling you about the amazing once in a life time chance that i had.....

We had a mission conference in the conference center to end our zone conferences. President made arrangements for our testimony meeting to be in the conference center.... And then a moment i will never forget. He said we would have a testimony meeting on the stage right where the prophet speaks! As i walked up when it was my turn looking over the conference center at 21,000 seats i felt the spirit so strong it overcame me and words couldn't express my gratitude for this moment. I stood where the prophet stands and testified that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph Smith did restore the fullness of the gospel back to the earth. As i walked down from the stage I felt an overwhelming power that this is the only true church. Then president had something bigger in store..... he took us to the back of the stage and up the stairs. He said he had gotten permission to have us sit where the choir sits. I couldn't help but cry as we sang called to serve in the conference center! That has always been my dream. I know the lord hears our prayers there were so many miracles this week but here were just a couple. I love my mission and i know that I'm suppose to be right here right now!
I love all of you and thank you for all the love and support.

Happy Thanksgiving!!! We have lots of fun things planned for Thanksgiving!
Funny thoughts...
We were all walking into the SVC and all of the sudden a huge avalanche drops on my head! No one else just me, out of 60 of us haha, President was laughing really hard!

Also.... I got asked to sing in December!!!! More details to come!

Be thankful for everything the Lord has given us at this time! We are living at the best time in the WORLD!!

Love you all
Love Sister Mettra

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

I'm back

Dearest family and friends whom I Love!

I'm back on the square and it feels so good!!! My goodness this has been quite the journey but one that i am so grateful i went on. First day back was hard to say goodbye to Kira and Owen! They are my best friends and I will miss them so much. But sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!
I got to the square about 1:45 and unloaded my stuff for about 10 min and then bam we were back on the square!

On Saturday my companions Sister Sanders from Germany and Sister kuo from Korea were so loving and welcoming me back! I had a sign on my bed saying Welcome home we missed you Sister Mettra!! It made the transition a little easier for me because I have separation anxiety a little bit ha!! I ate a banana and said lets get out there!! I took a moment to look at myself and who I had become over this month. I saw myself as i hadn't really seen before, As a true Daughter of God. Tears came to my eyes and the spirit said, " your ready Jenna you have done well." I humbly smiled, looked in the mirror and put my tag across my heart and said a prayer in gratitude for all i had been through. i know that there are moments in our lives when we can't walk another step alone, i know the Lord has carried me and will continue to do so until i finish my mission for him. I am not alone and i have grown to have so much faith.

We walked onto the square and i had a different spirit about me i felt like I could truly relate to every guest even more then before! We only had 1 tour and it was pretty short and I remembered everything!! It was like I never left. As I walked around in my bright yellow cardigan ha sisters eyes just lit up as they saw me! One by one they came over and gave me a big hug and said welcome back sister Mettra EVERYONE missed you. You are just glowing you look amazing. I saw sister Rathgeber and we shared some tears as she welcomed me back. I miss being her companion we had a lot of fun together and taught very well together! Ha i am now with a German, Korean and then me the crazy American! haha LOTS of culture! We took a korean tour and I tried to introduce myself in korean..... aka didn't quite work out they just laughed and so did I! ahhaha

The most amazing feeling so far were the 2 miracles we had :)
First night we went into the RC and i called a guy from my list that I had on there since conference! I said a prayer the spirit would be with me. I called this guy mike and he literally laughed at me when I said I was a missionary. And i said, " oh really tell me everything you know about the church" and he knew quite a bit! But the spirit came as I told him about the Book of Mormon. I said, " Mike do you think God loves his ALL of his children? he said I know he does! " Well mike God loved the people in America just as he loved the people in Jerusalem. And he goes i guess your right. And i said, I would love to send you a Book of Mormon for yourself so you can have one and find out. He said, you know I always said if I was given the opportunity I would accept it. And I said well I'm happy I called then, he said me too... he refers for missionaries to come teach him more and receive the book of Mormon. I called his friend that refers him and she just cried! She said thank you so much. I know that I needed to be back today to Call mike!

I'm ROMAN CATHOLIC...THANKS
ha lady from new york with a very strong belief in the roman catholic Faith comes and we start talking about Jesus Christ. Sister S and K were talking to someone else and we were walking upstairs to the Christus. I bore my testimony to her about when Jesus Christ came to the Americas and read 3Nephi 11:15... she said I have a lot to think about when I go home. She didn't want a Book of Mormon quite yet but I know she felt the spirit.

Muslim ...and from Malaysia
Sister Sanders and I took this man from Malaysia around he spoke some English but was a very devote Muslim! The spirit was so strong the whole tour! Especially in the Assembly hall when the light came in through the window and I was baring my testimony on the power of prayer. We took him to Scripture and Revelations and taught him about Joseph Smith. He was just silent and said that was a very powerful experience that boy had. And we said yes because God restored his church back on the earth through Joseph smith!.... sister Sanders told him more about why this was so powerful. And then I took a moment gathered my thoughts and bore powerful testimony that his was not just another Book and that through this book he would see how much God loved him! I said :) We would love to send a Book of Mormon back home to you in your own language with missionaries to explain more! Because its that important!.... he said he would love that!

Even though its only been a couple of days and my companion is now just Sister Sanders! I love this mission and all the change that constantly happens! I know the Lord needs me here now and I'm so humbled by that! Thank you for all the love and support through all of this i have felt Gods love so strong! Its starting to get COLD!! and I'm wearing my coat and gloves daily!!

ps. We were about to go for a mission activity to the art museum at BYU... it was so touching and just what i needed to see. There was one painting by Carl Bloch that I loved when the savior is in the garden of Gethsemane and there is a an angel holding him! I know that Jesus Christ really has felt everything we would ever go through!

i love you all MISS YOU!!

Love Sister Mettra

Monday, November 15, 2010

But for a small moment

Hello everyone,
The next email that I write will be from the square. Many of you know that I was sent home early in October, right after conference. I was trying to keep it a secret so I could stay in my mission "bubble." Mission Medical didn't cover the problem that I had, so President Holmes saw no other way to treat me, other than to send me home. From the beginning my leg started going numb while standing all day on the square. Soon after dragging around my left leg, I began to have shooting pains up my leg. At that point I decided to just casually mention it to my president, although he didn't think it was a casual problem. I was sent home pretty soon thereafter. I went to my sister, Kira's house. While I was depressed to be home, I did my very best to study, get better, and do missionary work. I studied with my sister and did more roll plays than I wanted to. I watched conference talks and read, Our Heritage and The Book of Mormon. One of my favorite parts was going to the temple daily. Going to the temple helped me KNOW that this was all going to work out. Also seeing little baby Owen put a smile on my face:) I went to Dr. Smith at Elite Chiropractic care, where I was put on the DRX machine DAILY. I wanted to punch someone in the knee cap, it hurt so bad. The decompression machine pulled my spine apart, to allow my L4 and L5 discs from pinching my nerves (hence the numbness and shooting pains in my leg.) Later a VERY kind lady in Kira's ward named Anne White, gave me massages daily with her essential oils to help alleviate some of the pain. I call her "Mad dame butterfly." I was treated so well and was so excited when my treatments were coming to a close and my president said I could go back and THEN THE MIRACLE HAPPENED.

There is a great scripture in The Book of Mormon, Ether 12:6: ... "I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen.; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. " This scripture is comforting and even more comforting if you actually have those trials of your faith. STORY: On fast Sunday I got up to share my testimony in Kira's ward. There had been a baby blessing and there were tons of people. It was great to share what I knew to be true with such a large group of people. I had already had an extra week added on to my treatment so I was VERY READY for it to be my last Sunday as "Jenna." After the meeting, a man by the name of Dr. Campbell came up to me and said, " I need to talk to you." I was a little nervous but he told me that he was from the Missionary Medical department and that he was at church that day because his son blessed his baby. He proceeded to tell me that I was just the person that he needed to talk to! He said that he is collecting names of Doctors to present to the brethren, a, proposal to get chiropractic care accepted in the mission field. He talked to my doctor and told me that towards the end of my mission, chiropractic care would be approved!!!!! WOW! I felt so blessed to be part of the Lords process in helping other future missionaries not have to be sent home like I was. It was truly a miracle and I know that God loves and REALLY KNOWS our hearts and hears our prayers. I will be going to Dr. Smith just a few more times which is also a blessing. I get to go back on Saturday and I have a companion from Korea and Germany. I have been dreaming and thinking about this return everyday since I left. I love my mission and everyone that is supporting me. This Church is SOOOOO true and I can't wait to be back!
-Sister Mettra