Working hard!

Hey y'all!

I am halfway through my fifth transfer- kinda crazy. It's gone by
really slow, but I have a feeling it'll pick up again. Happy Labor
Day! Hope everyone's enjoying the long weekend! It doesn't effect a
missionary schedule.

I got my boxes! Thank you so much!! So very yummy and delicious and
needed! I was especially happy for the contacts and the note. Thank
you! I love the minion picture :)

I'm really sad! And it's sad for our branch too! The VanAntwerps are
moving! They have been my bucket house and adopted family here in
Paragould. They fed me for my birthday and are always the first people
to help the missionaries! He got a job in Missouri, which is going to
be so good for them! But we will also be losing our 2nd counselor,
Relief Society president, Sunday school teachers, and branch organist
:( We are eating with them tonight, so I'll take pictures and send
them next week.

On Friday, we had an interesting Specialized Training. In case I
haven't explained before, Specialized is a training meeting done by
the Wakolo's and the APs. It's done by zones. This time, and future
meetings, we decided to "just do it". Not only were we going to be
learning new and better things, we were actually going to apply what
we learned while there! We broke up in 6 groups- not in our typical
companionships- and were dropped off in an area to practice what we
preached. It was really good. It also gave us the chance to work with
other missionaries. I was with another new sister (similar to my
everyday work with Sister Wright), and we got to learn from  each
other. Really a good meeting!

Also had quarterly interviews with President. I love that man. He and
Sister Wakolo say thank you for your support and all that you do as
parents. Truly a man of God.

We also had exchanges after. This was my second time with Sister Aase.
I love her! I've noticed that I've reached the 'age' where I can have
a really good learning experience and personal insight and growth from
the STLs. (Mission age). I look forward to any opportunity to learn
and have better insight and apply it to help me get better.

Church has been rather fun lately. Because of the smallness of our numbers, the sister are now attending young women’s, primary, and relief society. Wednesday was my first youth activity in 2 years. And Sunday we went to young women's and primary.
I am the substitute Primary pianist! Sorta :) The regular pianist is out of town most weekends because of her dad's health. So I get to play! It's fun to be in Primary again!

I love you all and hope y'all have a great weekend!!

Scripture of the Week: 1 Nephi 8 and Mark 4 they go together! :)

Love,
Sister Pochop

It feels like a minute!

Hey y'all!

For being August in the South, the weather is pretty nice. We have been really lucky with weather that hasn't been too hot thank goodness! :) I'm on walk week again. For those who missed it the past many times I've had, its when we have an entire week out of the month that we walk. We don't have the use of a car. The situation is a little different from before because we are now sharing two cars with three sets of missionaries. But it's for the best! By the way, it's done tomorrow :)

Tuesday was District meeting. It's always pretty fun. We talked/ learned about the importance of listening to the Spirit and our investigators as we teach. It is so important! And not just the listening to them verbally but also physically. Body language is often more telling. Every time I read about it in Preach My Gospel or hear about it in meetings, I always think back to ASL, and how dependent the language is on that. It's really interesting, and I feel lucky that I have that step up on others :)

For some reason or other I, along with a dozen other missionaries scattered in the mission, were invited to attend the Mission Leadership Council meeting. Typically it is only for the Wakolo's, Assistants, Zone Leaders, and Sister Training Leaders. This meeting is for the leaders to discuss the monthly focus, how to increase the focus, what the missionaries need, and other things like that. This time, they decided to invite other missionaries that typically wouldn't attend. But it ended up being another type of training meeting. It was very good though! I was grateful to have been able to attend.

We had two brethren from Church Headquarters attend. One was the head of the Proselyting Department, and he allowed questions to direct his part. Naturally the questions were about the best finding ways, effective use of certain times, good scriptures to use in certain situations, things like that. The best way to find people is through the members. Because you know people and are friends and have opportunities to talk about the Gospel and what you believe in a way that is less threatening than "we're representatives of Jesus Christ with a message for you..." Y'all have already done the scary part :) So to all my loverly family and friends reading this: will you think of people that you can share the Gospel with and people you can give to the missionaries to meet? I promise that it won't offend them. It actually shows that you care about them in another way. 

 Renea is still doing good. She missed her date because she "wants to know everything". She has a lot of questions about all aspects of what we believe, but she has a testimony and knows that what we are sharing is true. The thing is to help her see that. Something that came to me while planning for her was Alma 32:21: "And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." She has faith which doesn't require a perfect knowledge! I think that will help, but ultimately it is her timeframe. But I'll keep y'all updated!

 We also finally met with a family that was referred to us. We had met them in the past, but plans fell through or it was just visiting and trying to set up another time. We actually got to sit down and teach them on Saturday. It was such a good lesson! It was the Restoration- can I just say that I love the message of the Restoration? It is my favorite thing to teach. And I always feel the Spirit so strong with the First Vision. It so happens that the last few times of teaching it I have the part with it to teach. (We switch on points so that our teaching is 50/50.) I love being able to recite it because I know it is true! It isn't just words that I memorized- it is the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith! And as I have recites it more and more, it has become my testimony as well! It was a miraculous event that changes my life! I know it is true and am so grateful that I can share it with so many others. And the wife came to church on Sunday! So very exciting!!

Scripture of the week: Psalms 27:14

Love,

Sister Pochop

Brithday Week

Hey y'all!

This has been a fun week! First of all, I got my new companion! Her

name is Sister Wright. She is from Mesa, Arizona but doesn't know the

Hinman's or Ross's. I already tried :) She is doing really good so

far. She is a fast learner, which makes it easier for me.

 

Thank you so much for the package and goodies! I love the case- so

cute!! I'll probably get the See's today or tomorrow, so thank you!!!!

I got all the videos- they made me trunky :( I can't believe y'all

bought a cake for me that you couldn't even eat! So silly, but was

just like y'all.

 

It was actually one of my favorite birthdays because it wasn't about

me. We still went out and did work. We harvested an apartment complex

that I have felt prompted to stop by for a week now. We hadn't earlier

because the hectic schedule of transfers and I had the excuse that we

were too busy to stop by. I am so glad that we did though! Our first

door was Sister Wright's choice. He was really nice and still new to

the area. He is looking for a church, and we taught him about the

Restoration and the Book of Mormon and invited him to read. He said he

would, and we are going to see him next week! I can't wait!

 

The other person we met is golden! We had felt as though there was

someone else that needed to hear our message, so we walked upstairs

and I stopped at her apartment. Christine let us in. We started with

the Restoration of Christ's church, but then she told us about her

brother that had passed away. We were able to teach the Plan of

Salvation, and answer her questions of the soul: where did I come

from, why am I here, and where am I going? I was able to bear my

testimony of Jesus Christ's atonement and the knowledge I have that

our families CAN be together forever. I am so grateful that I was able

to give the best gift I could on my birthday. It is definitely an

experience that I will cherish and plan to repeat.

 

Not a whole lot of new stuff, since it's mostly getting Sister Wright

to meet everyone. This week will be more "productive" story wise.

 

May I make a request for pictures? People can email pictures, because

I can save them and it's cheaper for all parties. PLEASE????? This

sister misses seeing people she loves!

 

Scripture of the Week: 2 Kings (story of Elijah and his servant being

surrounded by chariots of Fire. I just can't remember the reference.)

 

Love,

Sister Pochop

 

Training again

Hello again!

Sorry for the confusion, but I wasn't on yesterday because I was at
the temple. So I get to email today.

This is going to be an interesting transfer! No, I'm not leaving
Paragould. I was called as a trainer again! Sister Wood is getting
transferred, and she will have another trainer to finish her 12 week
training. Life just got real interesting! But the Lord knows what He
is doing, even if I don't yet. But I'll have the low down on it next
week when I get her!

The temple was amazing! It has been 6 months since I've been to the
temple, and it was so very welcome. There is a spirit there that you
can't get in any other place. I don't know if I explained last week,
but they way it goes in my mission is that you get to attend the
temple during your birthday month. It's always the Monday of
transfers. All the birthday missionaries and the departing
missionaries get to go one last time. That part was sad because you
get to know these missionaries and serve with them. Then you have to
say good bye. But it was still an amazing experience, and I can't wait
until next year!

We had stake conference this weekend. It was really good. It was
greatly focused on temples and family history work and keeping the
Sabbath day holy. It was fun to realize that as a missionary I teach
those principles often. Any time I have a chance to better understand
a principle or doctrine, I am very appreciative. It helps so much
because it's a new way to explain and over time I've been able to
discover more succinct ways to explain and teach.

We haven't been able to see Renea this week- she was taking her son to
college. But we'll be up and at it teaching her and helping her along
the way for baptism.

Sorry about not responding to it. Service is good- it's just finding
the opportunities here. It's going to happen soon though. I'm so happy
that y'all could do that for the Ronald McDonald house! I didn't know
any of that, but I will most definitely drop some change into the
boxes more often.

Sorry it's kind of short today, but next week will be better. There's
just been a lot of planning and organizing going on. I got my bday
package!!! Thank you!!! The memes have been so fun!

I love you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis
much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,
Sister Pochop

Pleasant Surprises!

Hey y'all!
>
> Business first: in this mission, we get to go to the temple in our
> birthday month. For me it's this month :) So next week, I will be
> emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday. So don't stress out. I am alive
> and being spiritually uplifted. :)
>
> This week was really good! Our branch had two baptisms! One was a
> member and the other was her dad. It was so good! She got baptized
> Saturday, and him on Sunday morning. Baptisms are amazing. The spirit
> present is so incredibly strong. I am so grateful to have been able to
> witness them. To top that off, his daughter (previous marriage, not a
> member) wants to learn more! Her name is Ashton and is 13. We taught
> the Restoration and the Spirit was powerful. What made it even more
> special was that Tom was there and could bear testimony as well. It
> couldn't have been better! The church is true!
>
> Renea is doing great! We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That
> is about faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the
> Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. We focused on baptism. She is
> excited and ready! Not sure if I said this before, but her date is for
> August 16. We plan on seeing her tomorrow, so I'll keep y'all updated.
>
> So yes, we had a 40th anniversary reunion for the Arkansas Little Rock
> Mission. Someone had the grand idea to have RMs and past mission
> presidents come back and visit and see the growth. We also got to hear
> from some about how they had been changed. It was a very incredible
> experience. We had a choir of currently serving missionaries,
> including yours truly :). So good! The Spirit is intense! I hope you
> get to see it, because my favorite songs were sung. Called to Serve
> and our mission song. It is truly an incredible anthem.
>
> I think the work here is Paragould is starting to lift off. And it is
> definitely making a difference. I just sent you a letter that goes
> into this more. I don't remember all of it, but it's good! :)
>
> The work is hard, but the work is good. There have been tears and
> heartache and stress and frustration. There have also been tears and
> peace and calmness and joy. We offer salvation, but it comes through
> work. Work on all our parts. Regardless of when we see it, a
> difference is being made. I know I'm here for a reason. I make a
> difference, but it is through the Spirit and the love of my Savior.
>
> Scripture of the Week: Moroni 9:6

6 And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God.
(Book of Mormon | Moroni 9:6)

>
> Love,
> Sister Pochop

 

 

 

 

Safety for the Soul

Hello world!! 

It's me again! This is our walk week, but the weather has actually been better this week!! Funny how a little more clouds or a few degrees can make such a difference.

This week has been better. After the advice and counsel from my amazing friends and family and prayer, I talked to Sister Wood and we came up with a new focus along with finding. As our branch is very small and not very strong, we decided that we were going to ask the priesthood and auxiliary leaders what families and individuals we could focus on this week. We were able to get a few names and will talk to them this week and help them re-find that desire to come back. Hopefully we'll be able to see progress.

I love priesthood blessings! I was able to strengthen my testimony of them this week. I had asked for one earlier for comfort and strength to know that I am doing something here. And yesterday our branch president gave all of us a blessing. None of the four currently serving there had received one from him yet. It is something that President Wakolo had asked us to get when we first got into our new areas. I didn't get one in my last area- I'm not really sure why. Anyway, I was the last to receive one, so I was able to listen to the words used and the theme of the other three. They were specifically about setting apart for the work and how we all work together for the success and goodness for the branch. The first words of my actual blessing were that it was a blessing of comfort. I hadn't said anything to him, and it was just going to be a regular setting apart like the other three. But I know that the Father knows me and that I needed to know that He is always there for me. --I am doing fine, so no worries! :)

This week we were able to set a baptismal date! Her name is Renea, and she committed for August 16th! Not the best day ever, but pretty close :) She is very sweet and ready to learn and join. She heard about the church, and was actually referred to us, by her friend who is coming back to the church. We had a very good lesson with her, and the Spirit was so strong! I am excited to meet with her again this week. We are also slowly working with a few other families and people, but there isn't a whole lot of progress yet. I do know that our efforts aren't in vain. Something is showing from it- we just might not be the ones to see it though.

Thought of the Week: "Safety for the Soul" Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Safety For Your Soul

Love you all!! Please don't forget about me!!

Sister Pochop

 

Growth!

July 20, 2015

Oh my goodness! You always know just what meme to send don't you? :) it made me laugh real hard again. Thank you for the box mommy. Thanks also for the snackie snacks and pictures and the love. It always helps to finally not see an empty mailbox. :) Also, thank you for the socks and piano paper.  Thank you for the emails during the week. Thank you to the CTR 6B class for the letters and pictures!! Y'all made my day! Love and miss you!

This week was fun and full of new/exciting stuff! On Tuesday we had exchanges. It was Sister Wood's first one. I was fortunate enough to be with a sister I had not yet worked with or gotten to know very well. She was in my zone back in Little Rock, but she transferred to the Searcy Zone this past transfer and became one of our STLs. Her name is Sister Aase. She is a sweetheart! I love exchanges for many reasons. One, I have a chance to learn from another missionaries example. Two, I get to meet another missionary. Three, it's for a whole 24-hour period! It's one-on-one guidance with a leader for a whole day! It helps a lot. I think it helped Sister Wood too. It gives you a chance to look at the work with fresh eyes.

Wednesday was our specialized training. It took all day plus 2 and a half hour drive time both ways but it was good. We were officially trained on using the area book planner app. It didn't make a whole lot of sense in the beginning, but now that it's been a couple days I understand it. It helps with the work a lot! It actually makes everything more concise and accurate.

The rest of the week has been filled with adjusting to the new tools and putting all the information from our book into the iPads. I'm so thankful we have two to get twice the work done! We haven't been able to get it with Max or Amie again. He works crazy hours, and she isn't always home. But we are going to keep pushing. We had taught the restoration to them and it went really well. I know that our message and the Gospel will help them and change their lives. That's something he had said after we taught them. He knew we weren't going to give up.

Guess what?! My little girl gave her first talk yesterday! Actually, both of them did. Sister Wood gave her first as a missionary, and Jalynn gave her very first. I am so proud of them. I knew Sister Wood would do great. Jalynn was nervous, but she did amazing! It was about prayer. It's a great feeling to see someone you've grown to love continue to find success in the church and the gospel. Even though she is still 8, I've been able to see that change.

Some of my studies this week have been on faith and hope, 2 Christ-like attributes. They are so important and connect each other too. I think Alma 32:21 sums it up nicely "And now as I said concerning faith--faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."

You need to have that hope to have faith. You need to have faith in order to hope. And hope is an anchor that we can rely on always for our souls. BUT, it needs to be hope in Christ just like Helaman 5:12 says.

12  And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Thanks again for the love and support. Love you all!

Scripture of the Week: Alma 23:5-6
And thousands were brought to the knowledge of the Lord, yea, thousands were brought to believe in the traditions of the Nephites; and they were taught the records and prophecies which were handed down even to the present time.

6  And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.

Love,

Love,

Love,
Sister Pochop