The empty tomb

Happy Easter Everyone!

What a beautiful morning I had yesterday reflecting on truly what the Savior did for all of us. The night before I read the easter story from start to finish and was overwhelmed with gratitude for my Savior. I thought about myself there with the Savior and what I would do. To truly understand who Jesus Christ is, we have to sacrifice the pride in our hearts for the things we want instead of the things he does. Easter Morning meant so much to me as I walked to church and saw the sunrise behind the temple, I knew I wasnt walking alone. Because he is Risen! Jesus Christ overcame death so that we would be able together forever and return to him one day. One of my favorite passages of scripture is in Matthew the account of the Savior in the Garden... Think of it.

And he went a little further, and fell on his face and prayed saying, " O my father if it be possible let this cup pass from me ;NEVERTHELESS not as i will but as thou wilt.

What always stands out to me in that verse is as soon as he asks for relief he also understands how important the Father's will is. He didn't hesitate for a couple verses and think about all he was going through, he trusted his father and I wonder sometimes do we? Because my companion was sick I spent many hours home this week and took that time to really... well pontificate as my dad would say ha with myself. I read more into faith and trusting God. In Matthew 9:20-22 ... " If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole." " Be of good comfort; thy faith has made thee whole" The faith of this women is an example to all of us, what one step of faith can do. I just thought, wow if i had that faith when I prayed so many miracles would happen, or when bad things happen just having faith all would be well because you are holding up your end of the promise. I appreciate my Savior so much more since I've been on my mission, words can express my love for him. I know that Jesus is the Christ the son of the Living God and that he truly is the Savior of the World. I have gained a testimony of how important prayer truly is. As I've kneeled down to cry unto God I know he really hears us and he loves us so much. I love you all and thank you for your prayers on my behalf. Reflect this week on really who the Savior is to you :)

I feel ashamed...

I had the privillage again teaching with Sister Gunter! We taught Nolan about how much God loved him. When he answered the phone he seemed VERY depressed and sad, we asked him why he was so upset and i guess life just took the best of him. He had lost all hope, and then we called. He said he didn't pray but God knew his thoughts cause he was looking for help that day. We tesified to him of how this gospel will change his life forever. He started to cry as we asked him about what he thought of himself. We could tell that he had very low self esteem and that he was in a dark hole stuck for a very long time. I'll never forget the tone of his voice quivering and saying I don't think I'm important really. My heart just went out to him for the many times in my life I felt the same way. Sister gunter helped him recieve comfort through some scriptures, and the spirit whispered to me, he needs to draw near to me. I knew exactly what that meant, I told Nolan to listen to the words of the song and understand God is always there. I know kinda strange singing on the phone to a stranger, but its normal for me now ha. Tears filled my eyes as i sang the hymn so reverantly and thoughtfully. He paused and just said... I stopped crying. I nthat moment I could feel the love the Lord had for this lost soul because, I was feeling the same way.

Ya I know you mormons..

I talked to Tommy this week and he actually grew up in Utah so knows quite a bit about the church ha. He lives in tampa ( yay z) and now is going to college not really worring about religion and everything. As I was trying to figure out what he really needed at this time but it wasn't coming right away. We started talking about prayer and if he prayed he said ehh sure ha. Well the conversation went on and I opened the book of mormon imediately I felt a power in my voice I didn't have a second earlier. I read him Moronis promise and all he said after was ... Wow I've never heard anything like that before. Sometimes I doubt the scriptures and then i have a moment like that and remember NEVER DO THAT AGAIN sister Mettra you crazy ha. I'm excited to talk to Tommy again and share more he can find out for himeself!

Elder Porter

So we had mission conference with Elder Porter of the 70 it was amazing! I was wondering if anyone would ever come to our mission!! Here are some highlights I learned..

1. Your mission, Sisters takes great faith because you never seen the end result, the brotheren thank you for your faith.

2. Always study the scriptures, that's where you will find the power you need.

3. Personal prayers is how you draw nearer to God ( this was after the expierence with nolan so wow i just realized the spirit said the same thing to Elder Porter! )

4. All the strength we need comes from prayer

5. You are the face of the church so SMILE :)

Crazy children

So we were walking outside ha and there were like thousands of little mexican kids aka I love them haha .... Well there was this young guy with them and i smiled and he goes excuse me... " I've never seen someone as beautiful as you before. Really wow your very pretty. Your eyes sparkel when you smile..." Uhhhh hahaha I didn't really know what to say other then smile and thank him haha... Come to find out he was a guest and I told him about the light of christ and the spirit... we gave him our number so he could learn more about the light in my smile. Semi awk haha but I tried to bridge to the gospel ha

Love you all Have a wonderful week!!

Sister Mettra

Falling into transfers

Dear Loves...

Well this week has been semi eventful/ not really ha I've come to know my apartment very well staring at the walls, talking to myself, role playing teaching with the chairs in my apt really cool. I'll tell you what my ghost investigators are GOLDEN!.. In other words my companion sprained her ankle and cant walk for 4-6 weeks... I have now become a mom! She cant move its a really bad sprain so i do everything for her cook, clean, bathroom, icing... I am being humbled :)! We are loving each other well cause ha there is no other way really. I've been able to go on exchanges with the zone leaders and some other sisters and really have been learning a lot! I'm grateful for this stumbling block because it makes me want to work even harder ha when i do get to go to the Square! So for the next week for sure she will be home and we will go on exchanges every 3 hours so I will have 5 different companions really. I love my Zone leaders and I have learned so much from them this week while teaching! I think the reason why I'm sister Andersen's companion or at least one of the reasons is, I can empathize big time with being hurt on the mission and feeling helpless ha. But all is well we keep a positive attitude and I try to make the day as funny as possible so there is no suicide attempts ha.

Goin Crabbing...

So when i was on exchanges with Sister Gunter we had the pleasure of teaching Nolan. He is her investigator but I got to help teach and it was truly amazing. When we called him he said he was goin crabbing ha and Sister Gunter is from Germany and has no idea what that means. He tried to explain it and we had to mute the phone cause we were laughing so hard! He is so prepared its not even funny, as we taught him about God's love we all felt the spirit so strong. Sister Gunter taught me the importance of asking good spirit led questions at all times. We found his needs so fast and we were able to address them full of love. I have a testimony of the book of Mormon and the spirit it can really bring to a searching soul. Sometimes we read scriptures over and over so we are use to them after a while, but we forget the way we felt the first time we read them. Well the spirit prompted us to read Nolan Moroni's Promise. I read it slowly and tried to pause while reading in between verses..... after I finished Sister Gunter and i looked at each other and couldn't speak one word. I'm not kidding a minute past and Nolan says... Wow I've never felt this. We testified to him what he was feeling, he said it was a deep feeling he couldn't explain! The scripture had pierced his heart and he was at a lost of words. A moment I will not forget.

Vishnu Round 2

So remember the story from last week about Disneyland. Well i had to do damage control with him this week to help him understand what the real purpose of the church is and that LOVE is the key factor ha. I would NOT let him go. I know with all my heart that Vishnu called into my phone for a reason, and God knew I would NOT give up on him. The poor guy is so lost and I can feel it when he talks even when he is trying to be strong he needs the gospel. He comes from a very wealthy background i secretly think he is like a sultan of India haha. Well we kept playing phone tag and all he was able to do was to text so we started texting. I bore my testimony in the simplest way telling him, God loved him and this was the peace he is looking for. Back and forth i heard his soul's silent plea for help covered in a text message. I straight up told him it wasn't by chance this happened that we were talking, and if he would try God, his life would change. He waited a while to respond and said... " Jenna I feel your going to play a big role in my life somehow i don't know why but I just feel that way. I feel at peace with you right now I'm not worried about anything." I said... " Vishnu I'm not even talking to you on the phone, through a text message you are able to feel the spirit. This is Gods way of helping you see how much he loves you." I told him to read 3 Nephi 11 and pay close attention to how he felt and he asked me to pray for him and of coarse I was already doing that. Then this morning I got a text and he said, Jenna have you been praying for me? I feel different right now, can you call me. Well I was stuck at home so they connected me to the call in the apartment and I sat on the floor in my sweats and taught this man who Jesus is. The spirit was pouring out of that phone call we were miles away but i felt like i was right there with him. I said, " vishnu how do you feel?" And he said I feel different I cant explain it... "Jenna, I want this feeling to stay thank you for all you have done for me, I'll never be able to thank you enough for opening my eyes again to God. I want to go to church on Sunday and try the missionaries again." I just smiled so big :) .... " Jenna i know God sent you in my life for some reason now, thank you thank you." We closed with a prayer and it was so sweet kneeling on my apartment floor and he was kneeling on his marble floor bathroom. The Spirit will testify truth if you let it.

Southern Bell Zach

If you don't know by now... I LOVE people from the south. Zach called in from Kentucky wondering who called him.... Well none of the sisters claimed him so I called him back and talked to him yesterday! He said he had a lot of Mormon friends and always looked up to their morals but didn't really believe in God much. I felt like I needed to tell Zach really simply that God loved him. I didn't speak with him all about the book of Mormon of the restoration because he needed step one. He said you know what Jenna i never thought about that before, I'm open to hearing a little more. And he loves music aka ha I talked about music and testified of the spirit through music. Ah I loved talking to him I'm excited for him to have missionaries in the south!

AAron!

Our investigator Aaron is such and angel. We met him on chat and honestly he isn't quite sure of what he believes but we asked him how his prayers are going and he said he feels like God is there! HUGE STEP... then we asked him what he thought about everything we've been saying and he goes..... you know I'm really starting to like this stuff its really cool. Aaron wants to go to church but is afraid to go alone so we are praying the missionaries will hurry up!! Goodness they stood him up for their appointment LAME!...

Well friends until next week! .... I'll let you know how my Ghost investigators are doing! And hope I can have more time on the square this week!! I love you all

Love Sister Mettra

The One

Dear Friends.....

I have been humbled this week in many ways, most of our investigators didn't answer the phone and we had to pray for patience and understanding why? This week I guess you could say i really had to reflect on what the Lord asks of us, and that sometimes we don't understand the why. I've now been here for about 9 months and have learned more then i ever thought possible. I've realized the Lords plan is greater then we will ever know in this life. Sometimes the events that we go through are for other people to help later on. When reading Luke 15:4...

What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine ^ain the wilderness, and go after that which is ^blost, until he find it?

As missionaries for the Lord we are to go and find that lost sheep. But there are many times in my life that i have felt like the one. Waiting for someone to come find me, rescue me out of the hole i fell into. I asked myself this week, what pulled me out of those times? Well it was a loving family and the promised blessings of this gospel, through these things we are never really alone. We have a Savior that loved us so much he did all that was needed to save us. I am so grateful at this time to not be the one. But look around you, there are many who classify as the one right now. I'm so humbled beyond words that I have been trusted to find the one looking for their way back home. As I pray a little harder, walk a little faster, and trust in Lord greater, I am able to find the one. Have you ever looked into someone's eyes and literally felt pain for them? Or ever talked to someone and although they are smiling you know there is a war inside? I have, on both sides of these examples and there is nothing more i want then to cry out for help, or bring them back to the light. All of us have been on each side before, as we listen to the spirit we can help all around us. Through the eyes you can find the story, thats what i have come to know and as we follow the spirit I've felt the Lords hand.

Waves of the Spirit from Costa Rico.

We met these two men yesterday from Costa Rico here on buisness.. they were so nice and full of life. Ha i was so excited when we met them i could just feel of their love. Well we took them all around the square and juan carlos says, Sister Mettra i watched this thing on TV the other day and that guy was speaking... and pointed at the prophet and I said do you mean general conference? Yes this man was just flipping through the stations and turned to General conference and decided to keep it on cause he felt something. As we took these men to the conference center the spirit just poured through the seats and halls of that building. Words werent really needed only a testimony which we both gave. We felt prompted to take them to the BOM gallery and share a little more about it. They both wanted a copy for themselves to read although Juan said he was very catholic he couldn't deny what he was feeling. The spirit surrounded the painting 3Nephi11... We started to testify when the savior came to the americas and they felt it. Sister Andersen read the passage and i testified. Then out of no where the spirit said sing I stand all amazed..... I've never sung that on a tour.. the light came in through the window and reflected off this painting and the marble floors. I told them this hymn really puts it all into perspective of the Savior. Estebon didn't even blink his eyes, and just smiled. I could barely hold in the tears it was so powerful. What a blessing a simple testimony is when born through music. We will be teaching them in a couple of weeks.

Who is that Dude?

We met this little family from Holland haha and she goes, so who is that yellow dude on the temple? I said ha oh you mean moroni? We started to teach them about temples and they spoke very little english but i could understand what they were saying... We taught about the power of the priestood and the father's mouth just dropped he understood that Joseph Smith really was a prophet but was afraid to act on faith. We read from the book of mormon in Dutch it was beautiful to see their eyes light up with understanding. I love these moments when you can see that it doesn't matter what language you speak ha. Then barbra goes so do chicks have this priesthood stuff haha. And we explained that only men do. Then i couldn't rememeber the dads name so i asked barbara and she goes just call him daddy haha. So at the end when i was inviting him I curled up to him and he was laughing and i said, " Daddy can i send you a book of mormon? " He said now now lets not get ahead of ourselves love. None accepted but they wont forget the spirit they felt

Disneyland.. sharing the happiest message on earth?

Well Vushnue called in and i recieved his call. He is from Chino and he said a women at disneyland had turned around in the middle of waiting in line and said that the spirit had told her to talk to him. Asked him if he was searching for something? And she was a member of the church and wanted him to learn more. I think he was caught so off guard that he called haha. Well i testified that it was a miracle and a sign from God telling him that he was loved. He wanted to meet with missionaires asap. Well although i thought it would be a fairy tale ending..... the elders told him that he couldn't go to the church near him cause that wasnt his assigned ward... SO MADDD... then to topp it off his ex mormon friend told him that we seperate people by race and level of understanding, and gender.... Death to you satan I will KILL YOU... So I'm trying to do damage control with him cause he is no longer interested. I'm praying the spirit will lead my words to touch his heart again.

Why did you come here on a mission?

This girl named Lexie came and we talked about why i chose to come on a mission. She is thinking about serving one herself but i didn't know that till the very end when she was crying. I bore my testimony so strong on how a mission shapes you more then anything else and God will really answer your prayers. We talked about how hard life had been and I shared some insight with her. Tears in my eyes I promised her that if she would trust God and get a blessing that she would get an answer.... She looked up and she said sister Mettra i think i just did... So tender.

"The Furnace of affliction helps purify even the very best of saints by burning away the dross in their lives and leaving behind the PURE GOLD."-Elder Johnson

I love this mission all of it I'm learning so much. Thank you for your prayers they are needed and loved!

i love you all.... Sister Mettra

Conference weekend!!

Good Day!!!

My goodness we made it through another wonderful inspiring conference and I loved every minute of it! I love how President Monson gave a shout out to temple Square, this is the place! Aka Temple Square thanks! ... After 3 days of hard work, seeing over 100,000 people we are all humbled and refined in wanting to be better servants of the Lord. Our days were 14 hours starting at 7 Am and ending about 10Pm.. I think my cheeks are broken from smiling so much ha we never know who is getting in the Ensign right? Well we were so blessed to have inspired members that wanted to share the gospel with their friends. We contacted over 300 members just in our companionship. My feet are still purple and swollen but its a good pain, my back made it i fought it and we received many blessings from it. So last night at 9:00pm we all piled into the Tabernacle to see what our hard work had brought! All tired and exhausted, we sat together and waited for the number. As a mission we made a goal of 6,000 potentials in 2 days. Finally we had all the tallies and the Assistants just started crying and I sat in prayer, praying we made our goal cause it wasn't as busy this conference and I was afraid. We sang the spirit of God and I felt an overwhelming spirit that I've never felt before. I know that the Lord was with us in that room celebrating with us. Well I'll just tell you what the Lord was able to help us achieve, in 2 days with rain, snow, thunder and tired bodies we received........ 6,455 potentials!!!! Tears just came to my eyes, do you understand that's 6,455 children closer to Christ. At least half of them will be baptized from all over the world. Conference brings such a new meaning to me, I want to have this enthusiasm to improve my life always. We are so blessed to have a Prophet today that loves and cares for us. Only through the power of God were we able to achieve that goal.

Just Passing through...

A Mexican man came and was wondering why there were so many people here? We were able to testify that God had called a prophet once again on the earth and that he was speaking now! This man was so curious and wanted to know more about everything we had to say. In my broken Spanish again I testified that Jesus is the Christ and the Book of mormon testifies of that. This man and I were speaking spirit to spirit, how humbling. He referred for missionaries to come teach him more!

A Child's prayer...

So As i told you last week that Travis prayed with the missionaries!.. But this week I was blessed enough to listen to him pray. I cant really express how it felt to hear him pray, to really talk to God. Where as before he didn't even know if he was there. He thanked God for letting him hear about this gospel, and Especially Father thank you for sending me Jenna, and she could help me see how I can be closer to you. I was smiling through the whole prayer, nothing compares to hearing him call on his father. I am so grateful for this moment

No Chinese Food Sister Mettra...

Well i have an announcement to make, I'm not allowed to eat Chinese food anymore ha. Sister Andersen and I went out to eat the other day and I just got some chicken as usual to what I always have. Well about 10 min into eating I started to slur my words and my eye lids became really heavy haha. I felt like gravity was pulling me down to the ground Sister Andersen was laughing so hard and I could barely walk. We were in the middle of the lesson and i literally couldn't even read the scripture ha i had to mute myself cause I was laughing so hard. The zone leaders said i looked drunk ha which is how I felt (even though I don't know how that feels) ha but I can imagine. They said just go home and go to sleep, I'm not kidding i couldn't even walk home my legs were like noodles hahaha... Lesson learned I'm not allowed to eat it.

Naomie..

Cute little black girl comes in and we take her on a little tour around, she asked why we believe in God and I really prayed for the spirit with us in every word we spoke. She was only 14 she was with a group but wanted a one on one tour. She said she feels the love of God when she walks into the Tabernacle. We were able to testify to her that God loves us so much he called a prophet again on the earth she wants to learn more about the Book of Mormon and what we taught her. I love teaching young people because it helps build my testimony cause the gospel really is simple.

Angel

This man named Mike came to the square and stopped us as we were walking and said i just have to say thank you. And I said for what? And he said anytime I meet sister missionaries i just thank them. Because of you I'm now a member of Jesus Christs church. He had tears in his eyes and just looked at me and said, God is so proud of you and the choice you've made to come here on a mission. He knows how much you have sacrificed and no matter what anyone says, you are doing amazing! it was so good to hear that cause you know everyone gets down sometimes and needs to hear it. I was so humbled to be a missionary and wear his name.

I learned so much this week and am so grateful to be here now, to know that God is our loving Heavenly Father and that Thomas s Monson really is a prophet. When I was sitting in conference I prayed that God would tell me what I needed to hear, and the first talk in my answer was given. We are so blessed to have this in our lives and I'm grateful to teach the whole world this exciting message! There is more to say but I'm running out of time! I love you all and thank you for your prayers, keep being amazing and listen to the Spirit in all you do

Love Sister Mettra