Be Our Guest!

Dearest family,

How the heck are you? I am fine. Matoury is a pretty challenging area, but I feel that I am growing more and more each day, and because of the trials, I am getting stronger and stronger. This week we finally got to work with President Baksh, and even though he is no longer the branch president, I think we are going to be able to work better with him and his family. The biggest problem remains Church. The people that are humble and ready to recieve the message don't have any transportation. We are going to try our best this week to figure out a way that our members with cars can come and pick up those without. Unfortunatley this week the few members we have were working, but we talked to them yesterday, and they said that they could work with us this week. That is my new goal. Do everything possible to light the fire in the Members. Elder Taerea is doing good. He was made branch president this week. I am excited for that, and we are going to try our best to support the branch here. The Church is true. I am continually amazed at the faith of our active members because Even though the church here is tiny, they remain faithful. Every sunday they bear their testimonies to me by coming and partaking of the sacrament, even though there are only very few people there. I love that the truthfulness of this church is not dependant on its popularity, but the testimony of the Spirit. The coolest thing that happened this week was, we went to a lesson with a lady named Gertude, and there was a guy there we had never met before. He had a lot of questions, and was very eager to show us his knowlege of the Bible. He said that he only trusted the Bible because it was impossible to know which church was true. We tried to explain about the Restoration, but he was firmly set in his opinion. Finally we told him he could know which Church was true, and he challenged us "How?" Then Gertude butted in before we could say anything and said "Do like Joseph Smith did, Ask God!" It was cool. I gotta get going but I love you!

Love,
Elder Ison

After the trial of your faith....

Dear Friends and Family,
This week has turned out to be a really good week, but it's been hard work!
Monday was good. We did some finding and went to Amie N'Jie's in the evening. She gave us some food, so that was great. She's the sweetest lady. She makes me laugh.
Tuesday we also did a lot of finding. Then in the evening we went to see the Mason's. I love that family! It was so great. David "Danger" Mason told us the story of how he came to join the church. He said that he was working at the coast as a surf instructor, and had no interest in religion at all. However there was this one girl that he was working with that seemed so strong in her faith. He was intrigued by how strong she stood in her faith even when surrounded with so much worldliness. He started to ask her questions, and even met her family. He saw that they were all the same! He didn't understand how they could have such faith that would affect every aspect of their lives. He wanted something like that. But he said, that little did he realize that it came with a whole package, like a testimony and the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was great.
Wednesday we had District Meeting. It was supposed to be our last District Meeting with Elder Voneiderhausern, but then he wasn't there! That was sad, but it was a good District Meeting anyway :) Then we got to see Carol Shooter. She was doing well, and we talked a lot about Visiting Teaching. It was cool. We want to get her involved as soon as possible. Then we had a very long bus ride home... oh boy. haha, and then we went finding for the rest of the evening.
Thursday was a busy day. Early in the morning we met with a young man named Felici. He's great. He's honestly trying to look into a lot of churches. Then we went with Elders Hatch and Spekschinder to see Carol so she could have her baptism interview and she passed! :) Then we went to see a woman named Aldjia. She's searching for something, but she's not sure what. Then finally in the evening we went to do some service at Ursula's. We helped a bit in her front garden with some trimming, and with hanging up her washing. It was really nice. And she made us an amazing meal. Then in the evening we went to see Dominique with the Lidders. I don't think she's ready, and not very interested... but maybe someday she'll figure it out.
Friday haha, welllll..... we had a lot of meetings. We did planning all day, and we had correlation. Then in the evening we did some service, in helping set up for a wedding at the chapel. AND it was Jonathan Young and Rebecka Lee's wedding! Jonathan said to tell Micheal that he loves him very much :) I thought that was so much fun, because it was an unexpected service opportunity. Then we went to a barbeque with some of the ward members by the canal. So that was great.
Saturday morning we went with Mr M to the Martins house and watched The Testaments. I love that movie. So that was really nice. Then we did some finding, and we went to see Amie N'Jie again, because she's soooo sweet and she wanted to feed us again. So that was good :) Sunday was an amazing day! We arrived at church and none of our investigators were there. Then we looked out the door and Sylivia Hollands (less active) was standing there with her nonmember friend Sandra. That was sooo cool! And it turns out that Sandra was the one that convinced Sylvia that she should come to church, because she had heard so much about it, and she wanted to come. Awesome, eh? Then as we ran outside to greet Sylvia someone came up and tapped Sister Jensen on the shoulder, and it was Susan, Giovanni, and the boys, Alex and Sam! It was a wonderful surprise because we hadn't been able to see them in a long time. Sacrament meeting was phenomal, the whole thing. Especially when Elder Green spoke about how he found his testimony on his mission. Giovanni was touched by his sincerity, and afterwards said to Sister Jensen, "That's why I invited you back. A lot of people knock on our door, but there was a light about you." It was AMAZING. Also, the boys were about to not go to primary again, but then the ward mission leader's son, Matt, came and asked them if they would come with him, and they did! Giovanni and Susan loved Sunday School, and the boys enjoyed Primary. It was perfect! Sister Jensen and I had to teach the youth Sunday school, and it was so good. The youth here are amazing! They were so well-behaved, and thoughtfully answered every question we asked, and after it was all over Nichola Perry even thanked us for the lesson! :) Then after church Sandra asked for a Priesthood blessing, so she got one and it was great. And we went home with the Lidders, and after church Reginda said that missionary work had never been her thing, and that this week was the first time she had ever been teaching, and in church she interacted with the investigators, and then she said, "I think I like it." haha, it made me so happy. The Lidder's make me so happy. They are a funny couple. Sunday was so perfect. And it doesn't end there. Because even after that, we went finding for the rest of the evening. We got a lot of appointments and even one really cute Muslim young woman who invited us in, let us teach her, and is going to let us come back later in the week! It was a wonderful way to end the week, and I am so grateful for the Lord's tender mercies, because, to be honest, this past week was hard work, and spiritually draining. It seemed like no one wanted to listen, and some people were very anti, but Heavenly Father is in control, and the blessings come after the trial of your faith!
I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't always immediately make sense logically, and it can't be proven by science, but if we test the seed, we will see that it is good. :)

Mom- I can't believe school is started already! Crazy! The trunkiness has set into the ward here, because Elder VonNeiderhausern went home on Saturday and Elder Green and I are preparing to go home. It's so weird, and everyone keeps coming up to say goodbye. I'm going to miss it here. But I still have a week and a half left :)

Nathan- You are so silly! It sounds like you are a very good boy in school. I love you!

Everyone- I love you!

Love,
Sister Ison

That's Inapropriate

Hey guys, Sorry about last weeks email. I always get the crappist computers and something always happens. I have already typed one email this week, and an error erased it. I also have to always type a report to P. Gamiette. My last excuse is I didn't have alot to say because I knoew nothing about the area yet. Now I do! Matoury is a challenging area. The biggest problem is Church. We are trying our very best to find a building close by so our cool investigators can go, but are having little success. Our members with cars are few, and they are full already, but we are still trying to work with them to get our investigators to church. Our branch President is very busy with his job, and we haven't been able to meet with him yet. He has worked the past two sundays, so I haven't even seen him yet. We have planned to do all we can to motivate the members to pray without ceasing for us to have the blessing of a branch building in our own area, and to help us teach, because we feel that it is really up to them. If they pray with faith and show it with their works, I am confident that we could find a building and help the branch to grow. They are all really great members and I know that they could be a real assett to the work. Other than that we have been working hard looking for a building and new investigators with vehicles so we can get them to church, and have found some people that seem really cool. My newest companion, Elder Taerea, is great. He is from Tahiti. He is a barrel of laughs and a good worker. His testimony is rock solid, and he is an excellent teacher. He has been a real example to me in the way that he asks everyone for refferals, and the way he contacts everyone.I love this church and this work. The more time passes by, the sadder it is that its almost over. I know that if I work my hardest to do the will of the lord, we will see miracles here. I can feel it. I love the scriptures, and I love the treasures of knowlege that are in them. I know that Thomas Monson is a prophet of God, and that the Apostles are called of God and will not lead us astray. I love this mission, and I love this people. I can't wait to see the miracles the future holds for this area of the world. I don't got a lot of time, but I am way freaked out that everyone is getting married, and really excited to see what you've done with the house! Have fun with school and seminary, and I love you!

Love,

Elder Ison 

Would a better time be better? no...

Dear Friends and Family,
Being a missionary is so cool.  You just get to know so many different people.  Monday night we stopped by to visit Amy N'Jie.  She is so amazing.  She has her sister visiting, and it's stressful for her because her family doesn't know that she's Christian yet.  But she said that her sister must be suspicious because she doesn't say her Muslim prayers anymore and there are pictures of Christ everywhere.  It made me happy in a way to hear that, because even though she's afraid to tell her family, she's not pretending to be something she's not.  She needs a lot of prayers.
Tuesday morning we went to visit Claudia Honrado.  She really misses Portugual, but she is so sweet.  It was so nice to get to know her and see little Isaac.  He's so funny.  Then in the evening we had a reallly cool lesson with a man named Nathan.  He's a Hindu, and we taught him the message of the restoration.  It was so amazing because he just understood everything we were talking about.  His wife was really sweet as well and gave us muffins and apples and water and coffee (which we had to decline :-P).  At the end she said that she works for a Catholic School and asked if we do set prayers.  When we explained that we don't Nathan said that prayers said from the heart were much better, so that was pretty cool.  The only sad thing is he was moving back to India on Saturday for two months.  But we gave him the website and he's coming back to Birmingham in two months, so he promised to look the church up.   :)   He was so cool.
Wednesday we did a lot of planning and a bit of finding  :)   In the afternoon we went to see Carol Shooter, and are working with her to get her baptized on 1 September  :) .  She's doing well, and working hard to get ready for that day.
Thursday was Zone Conference and it was a really weird day.  I can't believe that was my last Zone Conference.  I had to bear my departing testimony and everyone kept asking me what it was like to be going home and if I was okay and stuff.  Oh my days, I don't think I like it  :-P .  Then in the evening we went to see Dominique again and Sister Butcher came with us.  Dominique had read a little, and is open minded to a point, but she doesn't really understand to importance of Jesus Christ.  She is willing to learn though so that's really good  :)   It was a really nice lesson and great to have Sister Butcher there, as usual.
Friday we did a lot of finding then in the evening we went to visit Kathy Taylor.  She's such a sweet heart.  Then we went and had a marvelous dinner with the Ips.  They are so funny.  It was a lot of fun.
Saturday was a really neat day!  We were tracting before a lunch appointment with the Martins and Mr M, and then they called to say that they were running late.  So we got to keep tracting for a little longer and we met this Hindu man.  We were talking to him on the doorstep and he said, "It's windy, would you like to come inside?"  His wife was upstairs so we went in and started to ask him questions and he told us that he had met Mormons before and that he had a Book of Mormon.  I already thought that was pretty cool, and then as we kept talking we found out that he had actually only met the missionaries 2 weeks previous in Florida when he was staying with his son.  They had taught him about the restoration, and he had wanted to come to church, but with everything being so busy to prepare to come back to England he wasn't able to.  Then we knocked on his door, so we taught him a bit about the Plan of Salvation.  He kept asking us what he could do to find peace of mind.  We talked about God's plan for us, and how following the commandments will bring us peace, and he really liked it.  But, sad day, he is leaving to go to India for 2 months soon, and then he's going back to Florida.  He got all of our information and said he'd be in touch.  I thought it was so cool how the Lord sent missionaries to him in both Florida and here.  He must really want Ramniklal Sangami.  :)   Too bad we keep losing all our cool new investigators to India.  haha.  Then we went to the Martins for Lunch with Mr M, and it was really nice.  We had Tacos, and talked about the Priesthood.  Then in the evening we went finding so that was cool.
Sunday was fun.  I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on Personal Revelation.  So did Elder VonNeiderhausern, because it's his last Sunday!  Crazy.  Then we met with Brother Ip and one of our investigators to discuss some financial stuff in order to enable them to pay tithing.  It was crazy.  They used a lot of big words that I didn't understand, but I did learn one thing.  Stay out of debt! Haha.  Then Sister Jensen and I taught Sharing time.  Then after church we went with the Flandros to their house.  It was so cool.  They have a BEAUTIFUL house, and they are such fun people.  They made me laugh.  Brother Flandro served his mission in Rome, Italy.  He told us some cool stories.  Then we did more finding in the evening.  It was a great Sunday.
So that was my week.  Pretty awesome although it's so strange to have everyone keep telling me I'm so close to going home.  Oh well  :) 

Mom-  I can't believe Brooke is married!  Send her my love!   Oh and Ian!  Tell him congrats as well.   Haha, it made me laugh about Sacrament Meeting.  I love my family  :) 

Dad- Thank-you sooooo much for everything.  Thank-you again, you're a life saver!  P.S. Your e-mails keep getting shorter and shorter as well  :-P 

Elder Ison-  Man, French Guyana sounds so cool.  It'll definitely be an adventure for you!

Nathan-  You are so cool!  I love you!

Love,
Sister Ison

P.S. The subject line is something that Sister Jensen said on the doorstep and it just made me laugh.   Of course a better time would be better, but the person still said no.... oh boy  :-P