I love being a missionary! This last week was amazing! We are getting lots of help from the members now and we're kind of guiding the way for them to use Focus 5. One of our wards actually leads the mission with Focus 5! Amazing! We found several new investigators this week and one of course was by accident. We were late for an appointment, went to the wrong apartment, and a girl named Cristal let us right in and wanted us to come right back after our appointment. We taught her and she has tons of questions and is great! We got to have interviews with President Palmer and they were awesome. He's so amazing. He and sister Palmer love us so much and it's so obvious to tell that all we want to do is do everything we can to earn their respect. They're pretty amazing. Yesterday in Church we actually had 7 investigators show up! That's amazing! That never happens! And we taught the Lopez family the Word of Wisdom and they're actually living it! Maria stopped drinking coffee and Eutiquio doesn't drink anymore! We know they're going to be baptized they just need a little boost to get them going. Awkward experience: a former we had called us, James, and wanted to meet right away. We had to go to a members house because we cannot be alone with a man there has to be at least 1 other female in the room. He had just been separated and we were teaching him about hope and how the Gospel can bless his life and how the Book of Mormon changes lives and then the sister member said "I stil have a problem with the Book of Mormon." AGH! We about died. Luckily I think we salvaged the situation, but needless to say we will not be teaching in her home again. Our happily married couple Alberto y Marie are doing great. They actually call us with questions about who is Israel? None of our investigators do that! They're amazing. Highlight of the week and the year. . .

ELDER HOLLAND!!! It was so amazing! We rode to Spokane with Bishop and Sister Shurtz. The entire mission was there and he let all of us shake his hand. It was so incredible being able to look into his eyes. Apostles' eyes look different and it feels like they're looking right into your soul, which they are. He told us that he didn't shake each of our hands because he cared what our names were or where we were from, but because he wanted to have a personal interview with every single one of us and look into our eyes to know if we were doing our very best. He said that almost all of us are. Wow! When I felt like he was looking into my soul he really was! Sister Haws and I sat front and center. There was no way we could be any closer, we were close enought he could spit on us. He was look down at us and look right into our eyes again while he was speaking. I still can't get over what it felt like. He is the missionaries apostle. We've seen videos and heard stories of what he's like and it is so true. He started by yelling at us and shaking his finger at all of us yelling "DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE THIS CHURCH!" He said that the prophet and quorum of the 12 do not want us to be perfect, but they want us to be believers. He said that our missions will be a complete success if we only bring one convert to the Church. All the time, money, effort, tears, work, countless people working to help us, will all be worth if we are the only person we convert on our whole mission. He said that if we remain true and active in this church for the rest of our lives and practice what we preach then it will all be worth it. He then started crying saying that he cannot stand to meet with Return Missionaries who leave the Church. He said he just can't do it, it's too hard for him. To know what we do every single day and what we are able to witness and what we have to learn to teach this glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ there is no excuse and no reason for us to leave to Church.

He then told us how Preach My Gospel was started. President Hinckley came into a meeting saying "We're doing something wrong with the way we teach the Gospel." He had just come out of an interview with an inactive Returned Missionary. This is how Preach My Gospel was born. PMG is not for the investigators, it is for the missionaries. He said that before PMG when there was the discussions it was a memorized lesson that was taught to everyone. There was no adapting it to the needs of the investigator and no need to know the scriptures very well because everything was memorized. He said no wonder not many people accepted the Gospel. Now with PMG the missionaries are taught how to teach, they are required to know the scriptures and know the Gospel because we can't teach memorized lessons. We have to teach to members needs and bring them to the Gospel not force the Gospel upon them. We are so blessed to be able to have PMG.

He told us that we are not perfect. He said our families think we're perfect, our friends think we're perfect, that everybody thinks missionaries are perfect. He knows we're not, but he said "DON'T YOU DARE DO ANYTHING TO DAMAGE THAT IMAGE!" Don't talk about stupid things that you do. Teach the Gospel and testify of it and be Believers. Don't do anything to make others think we are not perfect. He ended by teaching about the Book of Mormon. How nothing in the restoration could happen until we had the Book of Mormon. We need to be bold when teaching about it because it will change lives and people's lives are at stake. We cannot be shy or timid because we can help make the difference in people's salvation. It was so incredible to hear everything he had to say. He said that our mission and mission president are famous in the mission world. We don't know why, but aparently they are. He ended by giving us all an apostolic blessing. That our troubles would disappear, we would have health and our health concerns would go away, and that our family members would all be blessed. I know that this Gospel is true with every fiber of my being. Jesus Christ is our savior, Lord, Redeemer. He is everything! The Book of Mormon is the word of God and will/does change lives. I cannot testify enough of the power of the Book of Mormon. I will never leave this Church and I will do my best to be the absolute best missionary I can. Hold me to it and don't let me every forget it.

I love you all so very much!

Hermana Eliza Probst

Thank you all so much for the package! It was so great and perfect. I especially loved hearing about the van. I hope it all worked out for ya'll. I love the pictures, they're great! So have you been doing your Book of Mormon reading?

Can you believe I'm starting my fourth week here? Crazy! It's been so warm here I've had to downsize in coats and go with the lighter one. I'm starting to feel like a normal person again. So this week was much better than last week. On Monday I got to go to Leavenworth for P-day and it was so cool. It's like a little German-Swiss town in the middle of the mountains. Such a fun thing to do and a nice change for a day. Our goal of focusing on members to get referrals is really paying off. It has been prety hard to get a hold of some, but we've gotten a lot of referrals and really motivated some of the members. In fact in Church yesterday we had several people come up to us saying they had someone to teach. That has never happened! It was great. So we did a ton of member visitis and most of our investigator lessons fell through, but this week looks good. Thursday and Friday we had a training for new missionaries and trainers in Moses Lake. It was fun to get out of Wenatchee for a day. President and Sister Palmer were there and they were so awesome. They're way good at giving us encouragement and just showing us how much they love us. Sister Haws had training all of Friday and I didn't so I was paired with the other greenie Sister Mierow in Wenatchee. Since we had to car I was authorized to drive and it was crazy! I felt like I was 16 again and driving for the first time. The day went okay, but it made me very grateful that Sister Haws is my companion.

BIG NEWS ELDER HOLLAND IS COMING!!! We found out at training that Elder Jeffery R. Holland is coming this Saturday to create a new stake in Spokane and President Palmer asked him to talk to us and he will! I'm so excited! So we get to go see him this Saturday.

Funny investigator story: so most of our investigators are falling through on everything and don't have a lot of potential. We have one named Alberto who we really didn't think he would really do much because he's totally the gang-banger type with tattoos all over and baggy pants and everything. But somehow he is the only investigator we have that has gone to see several baptisms, comes to church regularly, does his reading, and even calls us if he can't make an appointment. Crazy! Nobody does that. He gave us a call this last week asking if he could get married in our church by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of God. So on Saturday night Sister Haws and I served as witnesses as President Villalobs married him and his girlfriend in the branch president's office. We haven't even taught the Law of Chastity yet! He and his wife even came to church yesterday and had tons of good questions. Her family didn't even come to the wedding becaus they're staunch Catholic and think we're of the devil. So they already have a ton of oppostion and yet they're still coming! That's amazing and we're super excited. She's going to start coming to the lessons with him now. It definitely taught us that we can't judge anyone or any situation.

Awesome story: Remember our awesome investigator that we met on Christmas Eve named Miguel who is the fisherman in Alaska? Well we went by his house even though we knew he was gone just to talk to his wife, Deane, and see if she was interested. When she saw us she got really excited and told us that she was hoping we would come back. She said they're getting a divorce, but he doesn't know it yet. She came in and out of our lessons with him because she couldn't stand being around him, but she apologzed if we thought it was rude. She said she really liked what she heard and wants to learn more because she really doesn't like her church, but she wants to worship God the correct way and teach her two little kids all about it. Amazing I know. So we invited her to church and set up an appointment and she was super excited, but then she got really sick and couldn't make it but she actually texted us to let us know. We're super excited about her.

Well I love you all and I miss you. I love being a missionary and this Church is so amazing. It really does change lives and I know it.

Love,

Lizer/Herman Probst

I love being a missionary! This last week was amazing! We are getting lots of help from the members now and we're kind of guiding the way for them to use Focus 5. One of our wards actually leads the mission with Focus 5! Amazing! We found several new investigators this week and one of course was by accident. We were late for an appointment, went to the wrong apartment, and a girl named Cristal let us right in and wanted us to come right back after our appointment. We taught her and she has tons of questions and is great! We got to have interviews with President Palmer and they were awesome. He's so amazing. He and sister Palmer love us so much and it's so obvious to tell that all we want to do is do everything we can to earn their respect. They're pretty amazing. Yesterday in Church we actually had 7 investigators show up! That's amazing! That never happens! And we taught the Lopez family the Word of Wisdom and they're actually living it! Maria stopped drinking coffee and Eutiquio doesn't drink anymore! We know they're going to be baptized they just need a little boost to get them going. Awkward experience: a former we had called us, James, and wanted to meet right away. We had to go to a members house because we cannot be alone with a man there has to be at least 1 other female in the room. He had just been separated and we were teaching him about hope and how the Gospel can bless his life and how the Book of Mormon changes lives and then the sister member said "I stil have a problem with the Book of Mormon." AGH! We about died. Luckily I think we salvaged the situation, but needless to say we will not be teaching in her home again. Our happily married couple Alberto y Marie are doing great. They actually call us with questions about who is Israel? None of our investigators do that! They're amazing. Highlight of the week and the year. . .

ELDER HOLLAND!!! It was so amazing! We rode to Spokane with Bishop and Sister Shurtz. The entire mission was there and he let all of us shake his hand. It was so incredible being able to look into his eyes. Apostles' eyes look different and it feels like they're looking right into your soul, which they are. He told us that he didn't shake each of our hands because he cared what our names were or where we were from, but because he wanted to have a personal interview with every single one of us and look into our eyes to know if we were doing our very best. He said that almost all of us are. Wow! When I felt like he was looking into my soul he really was! Sister Haws and I sat front and center. There was no way we could be any closer, we were close enought he could spit on us. He was look down at us and look right into our eyes again while he was speaking. I still can't get over what it felt like. He is the missionaries apostle. We've seen videos and heard stories of what he's like and it is so true. He started by yelling at us and shaking his finger at all of us yelling "DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE THIS CHURCH!" He said that the prophet and quorum of the 12 do not want us to be perfect, but they want us to be believers. He said that our missions will be a complete success if we only bring one convert to the Church. All the time, money, effort, tears, work, countless people working to help us, will all be worth if we are the only person we convert on our whole mission. He said that if we remain true and active in this church for the rest of our lives and practice what we preach then it will all be worth it. He then started crying saying that he cannot stand to meet with Return Missionaries who leave the Church. He said he just can't do it, it's too hard for him. To know what we do every single day and what we are able to witness and what we have to learn to teach this glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ there is no excuse and no reason for us to leave to Church.

He then told us how Preach My Gospel was started. President Hinckley came into a meeting saying "We're doing something wrong with the way we teach the Gospel." He had just come out of an interview with an inactive Returned Missionary. This is how Preach My Gospel was born. PMG is not for the investigators, it is for the missionaries. He said that before PMG when there was the discussions it was a memorized lesson that was taught to everyone. There was no adapting it to the needs of the investigator and no need to know the scriptures very well because everything was memorized. He said no wonder not many people accepted the Gospel. Now with PMG the missionaries are taught how to teach, they are required to know the scriptures and know the Gospel because we can't teach memorized lessons. We have to teach to members needs and bring them to the Gospel not force the Gospel upon them. We are so blessed to be able to have PMG.

He told us that we are not perfect. He said our families think we're perfect, our friends think we're perfect, that everybody thinks missionaries are perfect. He knows we're not, but he said "DON'T YOU DARE DO ANYTHING TO DAMAGE THAT IMAGE!" Don't talk about stupid things that you do. Teach the Gospel and testify of it and be Believers. Don't do anything to make others think we are not perfect. He ended by teaching about the Book of Mormon. How nothing in the restoration could happen until we had the Book of Mormon. We need to be bold when teaching about it because it will change lives and people's lives are at stake. We cannot be shy or timid because we can help make the difference in people's salvation. It was so incredible to hear everything he had to say. He said that our mission and mission president are famous in the mission world. We don't know why, but aparently they are. He ended by giving us all an apostolic blessing. That our troubles would disappear, we would have health and our health concerns would go away, and that our family members would all be blessed. I know that this Gospel is true with every fiber of my being. Jesus Christ is our savior, Lord, Redeemer. He is everything! The Book of Mormon is the word of God and will/does change lives. I cannot testify enough of the power of the Book of Mormon. I will never leave this Church and I will do my best to be the absolute best missionary I can. Hold me to it and don't let me every forget it.

I love you all so very much!

Hermana Eliza Probst

Happy New Year! Can you believe I've already been here for 2 weeks! Crazy! Who would have known. The days go by really slow sometimes, but this last week seemed to fly by. Is Grandpa Dinsdale in a rest home now? How is he?

So this week was kinda rough. Our only investigator that was on-date for baptism won't call us back or come to the door when we go over. Pretty much all our other progressing investigators fell through on the their appointments or don't answer our calls. We spent a ton of time tracting and it was rough. I don't think I care for tracting that much. We literally went to dozens of doors and only had one person say he might go on a Church tour with us, but he's not interested in the Church. It's a good thing God is patient with His children, because I definitely lose patience with them sometimes. We came up with a new finding plan though. We've visited pretty much all the inactives already and so we're going to start visiting all the auxillary presidencies and try to get them motivated for mission work. It's so hard when only a few of the members really actively partcipate in the ward and in missionary work, but hopefully we'll change that this week. Plan Motivate the Members and Have Them Invite Their Friends to Church is now Activated. Funny story though: we tracted this one lady in a trailor who for almost 15 minutes would not put down the frying pan she had to protect herself. She was really crazy, but it made for a good story. I now have a fear of dogs and frying pans.

It's funny because I think I spoke and heard more Spanish in the MTC than I do now. Most of the people we teach are English speakers so when we transition over to Spanish is gets really hard for me to remember what to say. Sister Haws, my companion who is still awesome, and I talk mostly in Spanish, but I struggle a lot with it. She's so patient and helps me with the same word over and over again. The Latino culture is so funny though. Their doors are the only ones we ever get invited into and they're the only ones that say they'll come to Church, but unfortunately they're not the only ones who don't follow through. They really do just say yes just to be polite and it's crazy!

So we visited a ton of members and recent converts this last week and I get one of two responses every time. Either: "Where's Sister Hicks?" or "They were all right, you are very tall." It's pretty funny because Sister Hicks was who I replaced and she was here forever so everyone knows her and is sad she's gone, but then my reputation for tallness overwhelms that fact. It's pretty funny especially in Latino homes. Usually with Latinos the old grandma will come and kiss us and then come up to me wrap her arms around my waste and then start rattling offto her family in Spanish and then laughing. They think it's hilarious the height difference.

Our one golden investigator from last week went back to Alaska to fish for several months. That was hard to see him go because he could have been baptized right away. Our only other family we're really working with is la famila Lopez. They've had several baptism dates already, but they just need time. We have to teach them really slowly but they're so amazing. They could be the most active members in the Spanish branch if they'd only get baptized. Maria Lopez even had a dream about baptism. I'll write more about it when I have more time.

Well I love you all and am so grateful for all our support. Keep the people of E. Wenatchee in your praryers so that we can invite more to Christ and be protected from frying pans ;)

Hermana Probst