Am I Really A Sister Missionary!!!

DAD and MOM, thank you so much for sending that "Healthy Snack Package". Everything in there was so delicious and it has kept me full and not just eating oatmeal or PB&J's all the time.

I attached a picture of my companion and my health goals. Our mission president's wife asked us to drink a gallon of water a day so we are doing our best. I guess because of the heat and the amount of water we drink people's blood thins when the stay in AZ for a long time... I clearly have too much blood insulation so hopefully it will thin soon and I won't die every time I go outside.

A woman in one of our wards holds cross-fit classes every Tuesday and Thursday at a track near our apartment complex and let's just say it's brutal!  Austin, I know how you feel now :/

There is a church here in Mesa called "Living Word" church... the building itself has two huge domes so we call it the dome church. It has a sign that says "NO RELIGION. NO RULES. JUST BE YOU."  We laugh every time we see it. It is just so funny and yet so many people love that church for exactly that reason, they don't want religion or rules. How sad! They have no religion or rules and therefore receive no blessings or protection. We'll help them find the truth though... you can count on it!

I NEED SEASONS... people keep telling me that Arizona is so beautiful in the winter-time but I don't like waiting for my happiness or having to endure 5 months of death for 6 months of a little less death. I'll just have to wait it out and see if the rumors I have heard are true. I keep dreaming of OHIO winters and fall trees, and snow, and cold nights, and blustery days, and campfires, and rain... oh how I miss the rain. Arizona has great sunsets and clouds and lightning... but I miss all the rain. As much as I love cactus and never having to mow the lawn (rock garden) it lacks diversity here. 

We went thrift shopping and I saw some pretty crazy things (I'll attach pictures)

My companion has these 5 CD's from a group called the "Lower Lights" they are soooooooo amazing and MOM you must check them out. Cherie Call sings in the group and I love it!  We have been listening to their Christmas albums (by lower lights)... because I can't help myself from loving Christmas music... and It brings me so much joy!  On the lower lights Christmas album look up the songs called "Holly and Ivy" ,"Still Still Still" and "I Will Give My Heart' <--- it's not actually called that but I can't remember the real title. All those songs fill my heart with Joy and gratitude for the birth of my Savior.

I LOVE holidays... especially Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas! I love them so much because I have so many great memories of the traditions and time spent with my family. Actually a lot of those things are linked to OHIO... like snow and pine trees and pumpkins and leaves that change color and cold nights, and SNOW and snuggling by the fire and mom's amazing seasonal food and soup and such! Oh I really need to not think so much about it because I miss it so much... but it will be interesting to see how all of these holidays go in Arizona... I'll keep you posted and try to have a positive attitude even though there won't be snow on Christmas. Yesterday in sacrament meeting I was thumbing through the Hymn book and looked at the lyrics of the song, 'Oh Come All ye Faithful" and was touched by the line "Oh come let us adore HIM". I felt my heart fill with the spirit as I thought of Christ being born in such humble circumstances. I think I was there that night singing praises to him. I am so grateful for the sacrifice that was made by the Messiah so that I can change and be clean, and return to live with Him again. I just don't have words to describe my gratitude... but I will come unto Him and adore Him with all my time and talents and effort. I will come unto Christ!

We went to the Mesa, Az Temple Visitors Center and it was so beautiful. I remember going a few years ago with my family.. NEVER DID I EVER THINK I WOULD BE SERVING A MISSION HERE!!! But here I am and God is Great!  President Jenkins gave us a Book of Mormon and asked us to come up with a question and write it in the front of the copy and then read the book of Mormon in 6 weeks ( a transfer) and look for your answer as you read. That is going to be my question: Why did God send me to Mesa, AZ? 

As we drove to meet up with some of the other Sister Missionaries we drove past Julie and Steves house!  So fun!

Here are some painting I thought Mom would like!!!

So my companion introduced me to something called "Nighttime Revelation" and it goes like this: Lehi, Nephi, and various other prophets in The Book of Mormon received revelation in dreams, at night, or somehow while they were sleeping. So since we are living so close to the spirit and have power in our calling, we are serving God in the day and at night and therefore... any dream or thought that comes to you at night is revelation. Now obviously most of this is just in joking, however some of the things I have dreamed or the thoughts that have come to me as I wake up have been answers to prayers... so every morning we talk about our dreams and say "nighttime revelation"... and if you receive night time revelation frequently you are a "nighttime revelation-er' ha ha ha anyways, I think it is a fun way to see your dreams and such.

Me and my companion were wondering which prophets could interpret dreams... we remembered Joseph and then we couldn't remember whether Daniel interpreted dreams too. A few minutes passed and then we both looked at each other and said "you're thinking of the Veggie Tales episode aren't you?" We both said yes and laughed because Veggie Tales has such an evil way of replacing any memory you have of Bible stories with little vegetable stories... but I guess it helps when you want to know who interprets dreams.

I actually had a few challenging days.  One day we taught a lesson to a young boy who has so much faith and is progressing so much! My companion taught most of the lesson and when she would turn it over to me I would open my mouth and nothing good would come out. I felt like such a goof. I have never been that bad with words but suddenly when someones salvation is on the line I just can't speak. aaaahhhh, it is so frustraiting.  I have so little experience with teaching the lessons, I don't have any of the teaching points memorized and can't relay them or transition well so my companion is helping me. 

A tender mercy occurred that night when we went to a families home for dinner and they were serving breakfast for dinner which is one of my all time favorites. God knew I needed a little pick me up so I offered a prayer of gratitude that my Father in Heaven blessed me with my favorite dinner. 

On a particularly difficult day I was in the chapel pondering and my companion said, look at the empty chapel in front of you and picture angels... I pictured all the ancestors and people I know that have passed on that were watching out for me. She asked me if I wanted to have a blessing and I said yes. So we called Brother Boran who is one of my favorite ward members. He is amazing, and has a great family, and such a good friend to us.  He wasn't going to be home for a little bit so my companion drove me to the temple. As we walked around the temple grounds I felt a discernible change in my spirit. I felt peace. I felt watched over.

Finally we went to Brother Boran's house and he gave me a blessing after telling me about a time when his son felt this same way (his son is serving in in south America right now). In the blessing he told me that my Heavenly Father knows my desires and concerns and fears and thoughts. He began to cry as he told me that there are people who are waiting to hear the gospel from my lips. He said some other things that were very personal to me and were similar to things in my patriarchal blessing. We thanked him and left and went home. I felt much better and knew that the Lord wanted me to receive that blessing that night (Friday night).

I know that God knows better than I and will help me as I learn.

As I try so hard to feel like a missionary and have patience, humility, and be easily teachable I pray that I can find JOY and know that all these things will give me experience and shall be for my good. D&C 122:7 

I am trying so hard to be a missionary! Someday I will feel like one too!

Love, 

Sister Zimmerman