Week #61 - October 30th, 2015

Hello!

  

Sister Rodriquez &
Sister Sughroue at the
SLC Temple Square Mission 5K

Its been an interesting week on temple Square thats for sure! Saturday we had our "More Fit for the Kingdom" Mission 5k! It was awesome! All the sisters and couples participated! President and Sister Poulsen did it too! We all got matching shirts, socks and had a big breakfast bash at the end! We started at the SLC capitol and then ran through the canyon it was beautiful! So much fun! I was so proud of my self for accomplishing it! Its not easy to breathe in utah hahaha.

     On Saturday Griffin and Lauren texted us saying they were at Temple Square! What a great surprise! They just drove down from rexburg for the day and I got to see him 2 days after he was baptized! It was good to visit, they are coming back in 2 weeks to do baptisms for his first time in SLC temple, we get to go with them!

President & Sister Poulson ran too!

    Sunday wasn't as good as saturday thats for sure. We were in the Assembly Hall talking with people, we have a desk in the back where we all put our stuff down, and no one touches it. But a homeless guy came in, got lucky and took my ipad. Its long gone. I was devastated.... even though we are sure he took it, we looked everywhere and did everything to find it. After a horrible afternoon I got over it and realized its just a "thing" and Im not gonna die. haha. sooooo now I have a loaner Ipad to borrow till i go home and it never leaves my hand. This was a lesson in forgiveness. I hated all the hobos for a few hours and wanted to interrogate all of them outside the gates of the square, don't worry I didn't. haaha  I just had to let it go, so that i could continue to work hard and serve the Lord with a clear mind and full heart. Who knows maybe the hobo will read the gospel Library and join the church.

  

The entire SLC Temple Square Mission 5K!

Tuesday  late night we got a call from the AP's asking me to go with Sister Rajah (from Australia-same class from the MTC)  to speak at a meeting on Wednesday afternoon. It is a meeting they have with  representatives from the different deparments on Temple Square, to report and present the work they are doing. We went with President Loos (counselor in our mission Presidency) to the meeting in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. So many dedicated people, such a wide spectrum too... someone from the missionary department, garden tours, church history museum, main organist from the MO-TAB,and Elder Clarke from the Seventy. He is awesome, we see him pretty often around here and he always talks with the sisters! They asked us to share about our experience at Temple Square the past year and some miracles! So I shared about Carlos and his family! It was a great experience to hear about all the different things that make Temple Square such a special place! All the simple things done by these people make a world wide impact for the church!

The work is progressing!!! Especially when you have a Spanish companion! Even though I may not speak the same

Our attempt at a cake of
Lehi's vision!

language, my companion is awesome at giving me oppurtunities to share my testimony and teach, then she translates haha. But I love these people and pray for them! Salud and Oscar are on date for baptism Nov. 7th. A mother and 2 daughters were baptized last week and now we are teaching the father! Spanish people are so chosen. haha!

Mom got to stop by for a
few minutes to say hi after taking
Tyler had surgery.

Spiritual food for thought. "It is our duty to be better today than we were yesterday, and better tomorrow than we are today." - Teachings of Lorenzo Snow.  God does not expect perfection, even though a lot of us would like to be perfect. We are too hard on our selves.  It has been a goal on my mission to become better each and everyday, through little steps I have changed. No I am not perfect, so don't expect that when I get home, but I am so grateful that everyday I have the ability to repent and to "Try a little harder to be a little better." - Gordon B. Hinckley. Life is real good.

Much love,

Sister Sughroue

Week #60 - October 23rd, 2015 - Personal Interview With Elder Holland

Sister Sughroue's view everyday!

Hello!!!! 

Griffin at his baptism
Sister Eging & Sister Sughroue
Skyping in for it!

   It seems that every week just gets better. Griffin was baptized last night! Sister Eging and I were reunited, because we taught him together and skyped in! Funny because he is in Karlie and Mauris ward two of my best friends.... small world. Anyways Griffin has an amazing story, he was introduced to the church long before he met us by his amazing girlfriend Lauren who is a recent convert. He said she tried unsuccessfully to convert him because he was so closed off too it. haha He was on his way up to BYU I with Lauren... with no intentions to join this church, or being open to it. They stopped by Temple Square on their way up.... to put it simply, he felt the spirit. It tugged at his heart and it was softened. He met us, right before they left the visitor center and we asked him to read the Book of Mormon and we would give him a call to share more he accepted!... he kept feeling the desire to read the Book of Mormon and learn more, which led to his desire to be baptized as he truly felt this is what God wanted him to do. Griffin has an amazing testimony of the restored Gospel and his Savior Jesus Christ. The lessons we had with him, strengthened us, and he just soaked everything in. The Spirit was his true teacher and the one who converted him. Such a special experience, I was full of Joy as we watched his baptism! God is so aware of all us, his timing is perfect. 

Carlos and his family went to baptisms at the Temple yesterday for the first time!! They were so excited! 

    Yes, I had a personal interview with Elder Holland.... but its not what you think. He came and spoke to our whole mission

Sister Rodriquez shaking
Elder Holland's hand!
Sister Sughroue is next!

on wednesday morning. We each got up and got to shake his hand.... he said the reason he wanted to do that was so he could have a personal interview with us... man its true. He held my hand tight and looked into my soul, he has the spirit so strong with him, I didn't want to let go! I was in the second row and whenever he looked over at us I felt he was doing it again! haha. He told President Poulsen after shaking all our hands he could tell our mission was doing great! This transfer is our keystone transfer as a mission, we are focusing on the Book of Mormon. Elder Holland wanted to build off of that and blew our minds at a great way to help our investigators read the Book of Mormon.  He focused on how before all else was restored in the church on earth (temples, ordinances, Quorum of the 12, Relief Society church league basketball), God needed Joseph Smith to complete the translation of the Book of Mormon... because it is that important! It is the keystone. Hearing him bear witness and testify of the restoration, was so powerful. I know he is an apostle called of God, and witness of our Savior. He said that his mission changed his life, and there isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't think about it or is grateful for it. I don't have my notebook with me, but It is filled with so much revelation! Words can't really describe what the spirit taught me during that meeting. At the end he literally ran out before the closing song and prayer because he was late to a meeting with the other apostles. hahaha. Such a special experience! 

Carving pumpkins with my District!

Miracle of the week.... we met Oscar last monday on chat, he lives in Paraguay. We taught him, got his information. Got

My district! first time
carving pumpkins for all of them...
they wanted to eat it instead ahahaha

him in contact with the missionaries there, the same week we met him, he had 3 lessons with the local missionaries, went to church and is on date  to be baptized November 7th!  

Our Mission 5k is tomorrow, super stoked! 

This week was a life changer thats for sure.

Much love, 

Sister Sughroue

Sister Sughroue's cat with messed up teeth!

Week #59 - October 16th, 2015

Hello (:

Well amazing things happened this week. I introduced my companion to rubios fish tacos... she fell in love..But best of all we found family to teach!!!! On Tuesday we were walking by the reflection pool and saw this family, I asked if I could take a

I asked President Poulson
if I could be in a trio with
two shortest Sister Missionaries
on Temple Square. He just laughed!

picture of them in front of the temple. After we started talking and found out the Dad is an inactive member is whole life, and the Mom and kids aren't members. He has a strong testimony and knows this church is true, but personally struggles with feeling judged for mistakes in his past.... he wants it for his family so they came to temple square to share more with his wife. She grew up religious, has strong faith, and is super open to learning more. I asked if we could show them around and we ended up having a very spiritual tour! We took them to the Statue of Christ and focused on the atonement to help the Dad, then we went to Gods plan for his family presentation because the Mom was very interested in Temples and eternal families.... after this we tied it all back to the restoration by taking them to the church history museum and watching the Joseph Smith 1st vision experience. It was so amazing. The spirit was so strong and we were able to share so much as they asked questions, and expressed concerns. At the end I was talking to the Dad, he shared with me his testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and how he knows this is all true. I asked him he wants to go to the temple one day with his family... he said yes, but it will be hard and can only do it with Gods helped. I smiled and promised he will make it there. God will help him. And we want to help them too. We are so excited to share the gospel with this amazing family. They are so very prepared! The new house they moved into is right across from an LDS church.... I told them perfect! Thats no coincidence, God is leading you back. 

This week I have barely seen Sister Rodriguez, I have been on 4 exchanges! we are reunited for pday... then exchange with the zone leaders tomorrow. hahah. I miss her! I love going on exchange with the sisters in my district though. I get to know them so personally. They all come from different countries, with such amazing conversion stories, I was strengthened this week by them! 

We gave Sione and his family a tour on Saturday, then went out to eat! I will send pictures, they are so awesome! He has a

Sione &his cute family!

beautiful wife and daughter! 

BIG NEWS. President Poulsen announced that Elder Holland is coming to speak to our mission next Wednesday morning! We all freaked out! I am so excited!!!! Sister Rodriguez and I already decided we are gonna go an hour early without telling anyone so we can get front row seats! hahah. perks of Temple Square... so blessed. 

This morning while studying I read Mosiah 24:13-15. God loves and is aware of our needs, our trials, and will help us. He will always remember the covenants we have made, and will do his part. So comforting knowing we have his promise, his love and his strength.  We just need to submit patiently to his will, and he will make our burdens light. I love the Story of Alma and his brethren as they are persecuted by Amulon... so much to learn from their experience! Give chapter 24 a read this week!

13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

 14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up theirburdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

Much love, 

Sister Sughroue 

Sione & his family!

Week #58 - October 9th, 2015

Hello!

Sending prayers & love
to Graham Lowe!

Sister Rodriquez, Sister Sughroue,
Sister Worthen & Sister Polanco

      Its kind of been a crazy week! First with General Conference, then moving out of our apartment because it was the third time the carbon monoxide alarm went off and the fire department had to come... don't worry we are safe and can breathe in our new apartment right next door! 

    Sister Rodriguez and I survived a week of General Conference! Thousands of members, many confused tourists in jeans, and lots of miracles! Ran into some friends which was fun! We were able to attend the Saturday morning session, it was amazing! Friday night our investigator Griffin texted us and told us he got last minute tickets to saturday morning too, so we got to meet up with him after! Such a special experience for him! The rest of the weekend we literally spent the whole day from 8am- 9pm walking and contacting people, even though most were members we tried to uplift all that we met and encouraged them to get involved with missionary work. Lets just say my legs were dead....luckily we got to sleep in on tuesday till 9! ahhhhh perks of working so hard at conference! this conference was so powerful, they all are, maybe I was just more spiritually prepared to learn this time! I can't pick a favorite talk, partially because I only really saw one session and am currently tryig to catch up during studies, but I loved "The Joy of Living a Christ Centered Life" by Elder Richard G. Maynes! I thought it was funny on how he related it to molding clay... I was terrible at ceramics in highschool because I could never get the clay perfectly centered on the wheel.... luckily I am better on the spiritual side of putting Christ in the center of my life. hahaha. 

Griffin & Laur

On Sunday night President Poulsen wanted to treat all the sisters for an exhausting weekend, so we got to have a fireside from John Smchidt, one of The Piano Guys! He brought his whole family and they performed and sang all night it was awesome! Former temple  Square sisters covered the square for the last two hours so it was fun to see them too! Pictures from this are on slctemplesquaremission.blogspot.com

This conference one of the biggest miracles came in a very unexpected way. Sister Rodriguez and I were up at the Christus and started talking to two Tongan men who were members. I told them about Grandma and Grandpa Pulsipher served a mission and worked in Liahonna highschool! They recognized a picture of them and said they went to Liahonna

Sione today!

too! Without even thinking I randomly asked, "Do you know Sione? He has scars from a very bad burn when he was younger" One of them said, "Yes! He is my cousin!" (All polys are "cousins", but this this time it was legit!) I explained to him how my grandparents helped Sione come to America, to receive better medical treatment as for his very severe condition, and use to live with us when I was 6 years old! Since then my Grandparents have lost contact with him, and have always wanted to see how he was doing! I know he has been in their prayers..He told me Sione lived in Utah, and he had his number! So he tried to call him, but the number was bad. kind of bummed but  I gave him my number and told him to call me when he gets in touch with him! 20 min later, we got a phone call from a random number! When I answered it was Sione, he was at Temple Square and we met up with him! He told us he came over to pick up the Elders to take them home and when they were walking he felt that they should walk through temple square a certain way... where he ended up seeing his cousin I just met and his cousin told him about me and to call me!!!! Sione and I were so happy to see each other, it was funny because the last time he saw me I was a kid! He said he had been trying to get a hold of my grandparents for years, even called Liahonna highschool back in Tonga to try to find their contact info, this was

answer to his prayers. About 12 years later, our paths were led to each other! He is now married with a baby girl! He is coming back with his family tomorrow to come meet me, get a tour and go out to lunch! I am so excited! Truly this was all orchestrated by God, and we were luckily all in tune with the spirit! God always answers prayers. He knows us, perfectly and his timing is perfect. I knew there were many reasons I was called to serve at Temple Square, the people I have taught, the lessons I learned, my companions, and now this. The Lord never ceases to amaze me! Something I have learned on my mission is to expect miracles, because God will make it happen. (This is Lindsey's mom. I received a phone call about 45 minutes after the last session of Conference on Sunday. It was Sione! He wanted to know how to get ahold of my parents. Well, they were there! My parents were able to talk to Sione, get an update about his life, exchange phone numbers and addresses-- there were tears-- Miracles happen! The picture above is of Tyler and Sione before his surgeries.

This past weekend we were richly fed by the words of the living prophet, apostles and leaders of our church. We received revelation, took lots of notes and probably came up with a million things we need to do.... President Poulsen shared with us that we need to take the notes we wrote down and then ACT on it! Because of this.... I want too.... It can be overwhelming, but don't let it stay on the piece of paper... pick just a few things and work on them for the next 6 months until we are able to feast on their words again! I know

Pondering my scriptures!

Thomas S. Monson is a prophet under the direction of our Savior leads and guides the church. We are so blessed with the revelation he receives! 

I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Sister Sughroue

Online chat!

Lela Hill!

  

Sister Armstrong!

Week #57 (Part 2) - October 2nd, 2015

Hola! 

Sister Sughroue &
Sister Rodriquez

Thats right I'm back to learning spanish... wishing I would have paid more attention in spanish class in high school year with Michael and Tanner. hahaha. 

Almost made it
home before the rain!

Well nothing big has really happened the last couple of days.... double Pday during the week is weird because I don't have much to say. My new companion is awesome! Sister Rodriguez from Argentina, she has been out for 6 months, is 23 years old, loves to have a good time, laugh and is an amazing missionary! She is teaching me to be Latina, because Latinas are way cooler than Americans. I feel so blessed to be with her. We have already made some spanish people cry from the spirit..... thats when you know you got em. . I am working on my spanish, when in doubt I just say "Soy Bonita pero no hablo espanol" that should get me through conference weekend.   I am so excited to hear from all the leaders of our church, going with questions is the best way to receive revelation and I am ready! Last conference on Temple Square.... wow time flies :( yikes! 

Sister Sughroue &
Sister Eging

Serving at Temple Square is a special experience because I have gotten so close to the Sisters because I am with them everyday, and now I have friends from all over the world, and a bigger reason to travel and go back packing in Guatemala with Sister Polanco. hahaha. I am driving sister Polanco and Worthen to the airport on Monday, these two have become life long friends. They have changed me as a missionary and person, it has been such a privilege to serve with them. Sister Polanco was my companion in my 5th transfer.... one of my best! ahhhh love her.... I've already cried because she is leaving. Hoping I ran out of tears, but I know I'll see her again.... even if its on facebook. hahaha 

Sister Worthen from New Zealand (my roommate)
and Sister Polanco from Guatemala (former companion)

My favorite Russian
is going home....
Sister Bryuzgina

I hope you all enjoy conference! Go seeking for answers and you will find them! We must let our heart, mind, and ears be open! I would love to hear back what your favorite talks were and why! Such an amazing  historical moment to witness as they will be calling 3 new apostles! 

MUCHO LOVE, 

Sister Sughroue

Best Mission in the World!

Working on the Square!

On the Square!
Brother Moore likes taking pictures of us working!