Hey Family!

This week was a good one!  We were struggling trying to find new people to teach.  And especially people that are ready.  But we are continuing on!  We had training from the zone leaders last week that was amazing!  We were learning to focus on helping those to baptism.  President Eberhardt, the mission president has asked us to make baptism a divine obsession.  So we are praying for miracles and people to find!  We have been teaching a lot of less active and active members.  So we are teaching a lot.  Which is great!  It's been great to get to know more of the people of this area.  I love it.  We just need to remember that we have been sent here to help people to prepare for baptism.  So it's time to dig down deep and get our hands dirty!  And I'm glad that I have Sister Kiser to do it with me!  We have such a great time together.  We laugh a lot!  Which is so good!  She's a hoot!  And she's so good with teaching people and getting to know them.  We were talking to this man and he was kinda rude and hard.  And she totally got to him and he started crying after she was teaching about the Atonement!  She's awesome!  Oh, and if any of you didn't know.  Sister Kiser is from Morganton, North Carolina.  Which is in the Hickory Stake.  The same stake as me!  People are still so shocked when they hear that we are from the same stake.  And then they ask why I don't have an accent!  We gave talks in two wards yesterday and I was like, sorry to disappoint, but no I don't have an accent.  :)  

Mosiah 2:41

   And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

I read this in my personal study today.  I love this scripture.  It promises us as we keep the commandments that we will have all the things that we need.  Whether they are temporal or spiritual needs.  They will be met.  And we can be happy by keeping the commandments.  I know it's hard sometimes.  And sometimes we think that we know better than the Lord.  But He has given us commandments to keep us safe and to protect us.  Because He knows what's out there and He wants us to stay away from things that will destroy us spiritually.  My favorite part is that as we keep the commandments that we will be able to dwell with God and live in never-ending happiness!  I can't wait for that and I know that it will be truly happy because I'll be with my family!  Because families are forever through Heavenly Father's plan of happiness!  I love you all so much!  I know this gospel is true.  That Jesus Christ is my Savior.  If I didn't know, then I wouldn't be out here!  Find out for yourselves the happiness you receive from keeping the commandments!  Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Marlow

Hey Family!!!

So transfers went AH-MAZING!!!!!!  Guess who my companion is?  Just guess........  It's SISTER KISER!!!!!!  Holy cow, what a blessing!!!!  We were so excited to find that we are companions.  And it's so fun to be able to tell people that we are both from the same stake!  And we already know each other a little bit, so it's not awkward or anything like that.  And she's on it!  She's such an awesome missionary and a hard worker.  She's know the area so well, and she's got it!  I love it!  She is amazing.  I am so blessed to be her companion.  And this stake is awesome too!!!  They are all about some missionary work here!  They get us lessons with active members.  And then they will come with us when we go and contact referrals!  It's amazing!  I've never had an area that the members are so involved in the missionary work.  It's the best.  And guess what?  We had about 22 lessons this week!  That includes lessons with non members, less active and recent converts and active members!  I've never hit that ever in my mission.  I guess we Carolina girls know how to get it done!  I will say, it's been a little hard to get used to going back to full proselyting.  But it's been good.  Sunday was a full and busy day.  I love it.  We actually have appointments!  Sister Kiser and I have so much fun together.  We laugh and laugh about stuff all the time!  So the other day we went with the Bishop to go visit a less active family.  And it was dark, so you couldn't see very well.  And I tripped on the sidewalk leading up to the house.  I was about to catch myself, but I was already down and fell.  It was hilarious.  I got bruises.  But ya know, I'm pretty clumsy.  We were laughing so hard later after the visit.  And then we tried to get the elderly man, who is a member to come with us to visit his neighbors and introduce us. And he wouldn't come.  We thought he was teasing us, but he wasn't!!!!  And we go to visit his neighbor, and this man barely opened the door and it was dark inside.  We said hi, and then he said something in broken english and was going to shut the door.  Sister Kiser, said, wait, time-out!  And the man shut the door and walked away.  So funny!  Poor man, he wouldn't even let us talk to him!  Oh, well.  We did have an amazing experience singing together for this lady named Pam.  Her health isn't good, so she isn't always able to come to church.  We shared a message and sang hymns to her.  Then Sister Kiser said she knew the alto to "Walk Tall, You're a Daughter".  So we sang that and it was gorgeous!  Our voices sound so good together!  And you could feel the Spirit there.  I know that hymns can teach us and we can feel the Spirit.  I am grateful that the Lord has blessed me with the talent of music, so that I can share it with others.  I love it!  I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  And that the priesthood power is real.  And that without it we wouldn't be able to receive the ordinances that we need for our salvation.  I am so grateful the Lord gave me this opportunity to serve him here, now, and with Sister Kiser!  I'm so excited for this transfer.  Love you all!!!

Love,

Sister Marlow

Alma 17:2-3  Do this, it helps with missionary work!!!!

Hey Family,

So I'm getting transferred.  I don't know where I'm going or who my companion will be.  We find out tomorrow at the transfer meeting.  When our zone leader called us I screamed NOOOOOOO!!!!!!  And then the tears came.  And I was crying hard to.  This is the first time I've ever cried about being transferred.  I love Park City.  It's become my home.  I love the people and the area and the Family Tree Center.  I have loved meeting people from all over the world.  We even had a great week this week!  Our investigator, Julieta came to church with her family!  And we went to ward council in her ward and told her that she was coming.  They said they were going to invite the members that spoke Spanish to come and bear their testimony.  So that she could feel welcomed and understand better what the people were saying.  5 people got up and bore their testimony in Spanish!  It was so awesome!  Julieta speaks and understands English, but she feels more comfortable in Spanish.  It was so great to have the ward be so supportive!  And then another lady in a different ward that is less active came to church as well!  And she said to us, girls, I don't know how you did it, but you got me to come to church.  She said, the Lord knew that she couldn't turn us cute sister missionaries away, especially because she and Sister Alvarez are both from Guatemala!  The Lord works in amazing ways!  I have loved seeing all the progress that has happened in this area.  Going from nothing, to working more with the members and the leadership and helping people come back to church.  I really don't know why the Lord is taking me away.  I just felt like things were just starting to get going.  But I am grateful for the time that I have had to serve up here in Park City.  And to especially be able to learn and do family history work.  I have loved serving at a visitors' center and serving with Sister Alvarez!  She is the best!  I'll let you know what happens next week.  Please pray for me.  I'm gonna need it.  Love you all.  Have a great week.

Love,

Sister Marlow

Hello my family that is forever!

How was your week?  Mine was pretty great!  I love listening to General Conference and we get to hear from prophets and apostles of God.  And the other leaders that are called to serve!  It's so amazing.  Before conference I love to write down any questions that I have.  And they are all pretty different and specific.  Then I prayed and told Heavenly Father my questions and asked Him that they would be answered in General Conference.  And you know what?  The Lord answers prayers!  My questions were answered.  And it was so specific and the talks gave me the plans and guidance to be able to fix some things that I'm struggling with!  How amazing is that?!?!  I am so grateful that we have access to personal revelation to help us in our lives!  Wasn't it all just amazing?  They were all really good, but I think some of my favorites were.  I don't have all my notes with me, but from what I remember.  I loved Elder Christoffersen talking about the responsibility that women have on moral authority and to teach that and how it is so important the work a wife and mother does in the home.  And then Elder Oaks talking about how important the family is.  That we need to strengthen the family unit.  And how the Plan of Salvation and family is so connected together.  It's so awesome to be able to know that through God's plan, families can be together forever.  And then Elder Soares spoke about how to be meek and humble.  Sister Stephens speaking about being men and women of God.  It was all sososososo good!  I encourage all of you to go back and watch or listen to at least one talk a day.  It just helps to be able to re-listen to the words that they spoke.  I'm going to try to do that while at the Family Tree Center.  :)

It's been snowing on and off these past couple of weeks.  Getting out the boots and winter coats.  But I know that to everything there is a season! :)  I find out next Monday if I'll be staying in Park City.  I don't know what the Lord has in store for me this next transfer.  I would like to stay in Park City with Sister Alvarez.  But I know that I go where the Lord needs me to go.  So I don't think I ever told you guys this.  But we get to do online chat with people that go onto mormon.org and have questions about the church.  Sister Alvarez and I try to do it as much as we can.  We were on last night.  Sometimes people have some outrageous things and just want to argue with us.  But sometimes it is a good experience.  So cool that we can do chat here, because we work at the visitors' center.  Which I love serving at by the way!  It is the best.  Oh, and it was so weird hitting my year mark this past week.  I can't believe it.  I have seen so many blessings come into my life from serving a mission in Utah.  The Lord is so good to me!  Love you lots!

Love,

Sister Marlow      

Hey Family,

A couple of things happened this week.  We got a really cold snap and it snowed!  It didn't stick, but it was way cold.  I pulled out my snow boots and winter coat!  My poor companion Sister Alvarez is so cold!  I told her this is nothing compared to what the winter will bring.  :)  

We had some fun things happen this week.  We picked up a new investigator!  Her name is Julieta.  She is from Mexico.  Her husband is a member and her two daughters have been taught by missionaries, but they didn't get baptized because Julieta wouldn't let them.  And that's been a couple of months.  But we stopped by to see her and asked her if we could meet with her.  She knows English and her family goes to the English ward that we are over, but Sister Alvarez is teaching her in Spanish.  I would teach and Sister Alvarez would translate too.  So no, we are not poaching! :)  But she has a lot of questions.  And invited us back this week!  Yeah!  And we've been able to get more referrals and we are going to start teaching member families.  We've been meeting with leadership as well.  Things are getting better in the wards.  We feel like we are becoming more part of the wards, which is great!  I just hope I don't get transferred!  But that's not for a couple of weeks!  

We went to the Salt Lake City Temple today!  It was so pretty in down town Salt Lake today.  The weather is just perfect!  I love being in the temple.  It's so peaceful and you can just think about life and how blessed I am to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  We are so blessed to have the priesthood authority upon the earth so that we can receive saving ordinances.  It's so awesome!  I love it.  I love being a missionary here in Utah.  I know at first I wasn't too sure about it.  But I know that the Lord knows best and He knows where I need to be and when.  It's amazing how if we just put our trust in Him, what amazing miracles and things can happen.  That's something I'm really learning on my mission.

The best thing about the church of Jesus Christ, is that families can be together forever.  I am so grateful for my family and that we will be together forever.  It's such a blessing to have holy temples around the world that make that possible.  And that power and authority of the priesthood is on the earth so that can be possible for our families.  This new video came out this week!  You should watch it!       

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2700253803001

It makes me think of our family and the amazing times that we've had and will have!  I love my family, even if you do talk about me coming home...... ;)  I love working at the Park City Family Tree Center!  I love being able to help people find their ancestors.  I love being able to work and find my own ancestors and to be able to connect with them, and to get to know who they are.  Here at the center we focus a lot of families.  We show a movie called "God's Plan for the Family".  And one line that I love comes from "The Family: A Proclamation to the World"

 http://www.lds.org/topics/family-proclamation

"Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ."

It is through Jesus Christ that we can live with our families forever.  It is through His teachings that we can have happiness not only in our lives, but with our families, forever.  I love that.  I know He lives!  He wants us to be happy.  We just have to live the commandments that He has set for us to live by.  I know that is true!  Love you all!!!  Have a great week!!!  Oh, and today is a year from when I was set apart as a representative of Jesus Christ.  I can't believe it.  

Love,

Sister Marlow