YAYAYAYAYAYAYA!!! We finally have a legit on-date. We were walking through a trailer park down in Dryden last Thursday just checking on some potentials (we'd already knocked the whole park) and a big young guy walked out of the druggy trailer and we started to talk to him. His name is David, he's 19 and when he was in foster care in Oregon he lived with an LDS family that took him to church every week. We invited him on a Church Tour for Saturday and when we went he basically asked us if he could get baptized! It was so awesome! So he is on-date for September 29th and he even came to church yesterday! It was so exciting. The whole ward was super great at fellowshipping him and so we basically didn't have to do anything and he already had someone to sit by, got invited over to Dinner yesterday and FHE tonight and the ward party on Saturday. I love when that happens.

Church was awesome yesterday. We had David and Chris at church with the whole recent convert Emmons family, a less-active single mom and our less-active Spanish couple. We were super busy running around trying to make sure everyone had someone to sit by and was being helped. It was awesome! I love Sundays like that. The rest of the week was spent tracting basically. We're working really hard on finding right now so hopefully some things come up soon. Chris should be going to New Mexico soon for his big fight. We might try teaching him again soon, but we'll see how it goes.

So we got transfer calls last night. Guess what?! I'm staying in Leavenworth! Haha I have been in Wenatchee zone forever! I now get to see Leavenworth in the fall and the leaves are already starting to change. It's so pretty! That means I get to see the Monitor building open house! Yay! and next week is Ward Conference so we get to hear from the awesome President Hunsaker! I'm so excited. Sister Donaldson is going senior companion to Othello with Sister Collins. Sister Ziegler is coming to Leavenworth with me. Hah! How funny is that! We were in the MTC together. All of Wenatchee got switched up and now there are two completely Spanish areas and all the rest are only English. Sad day :( But I guess it's inspired.

Welp I don't know much more to report. I hope all is well down in Utah! I love you all and I love this work! It's so great!

Keep the faith and love the Lord!

I love you all!

Sister Probst

Haha so I bet you're all thinking that we had an amazing baptism with Chris and that he's the newest member of the Leavenworth ward. Nope. Unfortunately we're not teaching him or anybody for that matter anymore. It's really sad, but none of them are ready yet :( The baptism was actually a baptism that we took Chris to. It was for a lady named Theresa in a different ward. There weren't really any sisters to help her out and she was older so it was actually a really good thing that we were there. We got to help her in the dressing room and explain was she was going to do. The best part was we also got to help her out of the font and as soon as she got out of the water she said "I feel like I was floating. I still feel like I am floating. This is the best feeling I've ever had! I feel so good!" As she came up the stairs she was starting to weep she was so happy. Sis. D. and I both started to cry as we helped her into the next room. We were so happy for her. I realized that this is what it feels like! This is what it feels like to have someone accept the gospel and understand what they're doing! I've never felt that way before and it was so amazing! I really enjoy living vicariously through other missionaries baptisms :) Hopefully I'll be able to do that for myself someday.

We've spent a ton of time tracting this week. I think my feet are in a permanent state of soreness. I almost wish there was a video recording of me and Sis D. when we wake up in the morning and start walking around. We both hobble around and laugh at each other. A fun adventure we had though was that we found a bear! It was just walking along the side of the road minding its own business. I think I'll take bears over mice any day at least you can tell when they're crawling around your feet.

I also had the awesome experience of being able to talk to the Bishop from my old ward. We had a less-active we were working with that he had worked a lot with so we were asking him how we could help her best. It was so cool because he had remembered exactly how long I had been in Wenatchee and knew how long I had been in Leavenworth for. Then he said he had it all planned out so that we could sweep back into E. Wenatchee and I could end my mission there. I wish! That would be so cool. It was mostly a nice experience to realize that even though we may not have had any baptisms in his ward that somehow we made a difference and they remembered us. Cool experience. And there are several baptisms that are going to happen there. Yay!

The amazing recent convert family that just moved in is still amazing! Every visit they just amaze us with how prepared they were to hear the Gospel. That's what it's supposed to be like. The ward is really doing a great job of fellowshipping them. Also we got a new Elders Quorum President and Relief Society President. We introduced Focus 5 to them and they're super excited about it! I'm so excited for the ward to latch on to it because it truly is a divinely inspired program. It works miracles.

Fun scripture we found this week Proverbs 15:10. We have it written on sticky notes all over. Next week is transfers and we know that one of us is going to leave, most likely Sis. D. because all the other senior companions just changed up and so nobody has been in their areas very long except for the junior companions. They've been slowly shutting down sisters areas lately and it's kind of scary. We haven't got any new sisters in for 4 transfers! President Palmer spent 3 years tripling the sister effort here and now it's being downsized. Sad day :( We really want to make this the best week we can and so Proverbs 15:10 has become our motto. It's going to be a great week. We're going to find those that are truly seeking!

I love you all! This church is so true and Christ loves every single one of us. We're never alone because of that!

Love
Sister Probst

Can I just say that I love the temple! It was the most amazing experience ever! It has been so long since I last got to go and it was a super early morning with tons of driving, but it was so worth it. That is the reason why we're even here on missions. To help people learn what eternal life is and that our whole purpose is to have joy and the only way to have complete joy is through Jesus Christ. I'm on such a spiritual high right now it's awesome! It filled my tank and now I'm ready to go :)

Okay so not much time to write, tons of things to write about. So last week we had to "temporarily discontinue teaching" most of our investigators. It was really hard, but they weren't really progressing and so we felt it would help them the best. After every single one we found an awesome potential that is so ready to learn. We haven't been able to teach any of them yet, but we know the Lord is blessing us for our faith. We're also "temporarily discontinuing teaching" Chris. That was such a hard decision to make, but he really knows everything he just has to choose to live it or not. We still see him everywhere and he's still coming to church and we'll probably try again in a week or so, but he needs some time to decide some things.

We had an amazing referral text from mormon.org. There's a family that has lived here in Peshastin for many years. Dad lost his job and went to North Dakota to work in January. His family joined him at the beginning of the summer and he said he wanted to be baptized. They all took the lessons and were baptized last weekend. Then mom and the kids moved back to Leavenworth for school. They're awesome! We're so excited for them and they were so prepared! they're going to the temple this weekend to do baptisms. Miracles!

Less active work has been going awesome! Larry Stoltz the cowboy guy that I had an amazing experience with called us up and wanted to feed us dinner. So we brought another less-active sister and had an awesome lesson with him. He even said he thinks he'll come to church soon. That's huge progress from where he was at before. Another Less Active named Brian actually called us asking for help finding a new home and after he gets it he will invite us up and we can teach about God all we want. We're so excited, we've been working hard with these two and they're finally making progress!

Crazy stories: I HATE MICE!!! I'm sure there is some purpose to having them here on the earth, but I really don't understand what their purpose is in our living quarters. We chased one around the kitchen the other day and found a rotting one in our basement (we followed our noses eww). Our apartment inspection missionaries actually came by 2 days later and gave us some suggestions to get rid of them. Hopefully they'll work. Then we'll just have to conquer the massive spiders. They're winning the battles lately, but we'll win the war (if I can get Sis. Donaldson to stop screaming every time she sees one ;). Story 2: I recently got a rubber chicken in a package. Yes, I love it. I have since started hiding it around the basement for Sis. Donaldson. I hid it in her bag Saturday night thinking she would find it in the morning. Well she definitely found it in the morning, but a little later than I had hoped. We had just finished ward council and she opened her bag. Oops. Luckily the Bishopric has a good sense of humor so when she chucked it at me they just laughed. Then I had little kids coming up to me all day asking to see the chicken in my bag. Good times :)

Sorry not super spiritual, but now time to write. I love you all! The Church is so true!

Love
Sister Probst

Hello all. Before I forget I will not be emailing on Monday next week, but on Tuesday. We get to go to the Temple!!!! I'm so excited! I haven't been since January. It's a 4 hour drive to get there, but it will be well worth it. We're so spoiled to have a temple in our mission and actually be able to go to it.

So this week was good. We made some realizations about our investigators. Most of them are not really progressing. Some are doing their reading assignments, but nothing else. They're making little changes in their lives, but not true repentance. So we'll probably be giving them some time to ponder for themselves. It could be a rough week.

We had a zone conference on Friday and it was in Wenatchee. Yay! My favorite part was listening to our stake president. He's so missionary minded and is really an amazing leader. I have learned so much from him and am so grateful to be able to serve with him. He talked to us about how one of his favorite parts of his job is setting apart and releasing missionaries. He said he has yet to release a missionary that did not weep when they took off their badge. He said that this is the only time we'll be able to be here doing this. Our jobs are so precious and our time so short, we need to cherish every moment. It made all of us tear up a little at even the thought of having to put down our badges. I don't think a single person in the room of 50 missionaries does not love their mission. It definitely gave us greater drive to find the elect because they are out there. We have to make the most of every single moment. We're on the Lord's time.

We had exchanges with the Moses Lake sisters. I stayed in Leavenworth and got to serve with a visa waiter to Argentina, Sister Cahoon. It's always so fun to serve with the younger missionaries and just see their excitement and nervousness. She was so genuine and natural it was like she had been out here forever.

Chris is doing great. I feel like every day he has some new realization of something that can help him get closer to baptism. We had fasted with him last Sunday and we were teaching him Tuesday and he said that after the fast he felt the most overwhelming peaceful feeling he has ever felt. We were jumping with joy (inside of course) and told him that this was his answer! This was God answering his question of should I be baptized. He said he recognized that and that he also wants to be a part of the church. Apparently his major set back is he knows he'll be making a promise with the Lord and he does not want to mess up after he has done that. He feels like he has yet be able to control one of his passions perfectly. We shared with him about the Atonement and how all of us are sinners and that's why we have the sacrament so we can repent. He's so close! He knows it's true and he is now texting us Book of Mormon scriptures that talk about faith and how it always precedes the miracles. We keep expecting that any day he will call us saying he wants to be baptized. So close!

Another miracle was that one of our less-actives that we've been trying to work with lost our number, called the bishopric and said he hoped we hadn't been transferred yet because he wants to meet with us and he wants to do it with all the rules attached. We were literally bouncing up and down. He's the one that I had the amazing experience with and could feel Heavenly Father's love for him so strongly. He's going to come back to church I just know it!

This gospel is truly the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love it with my whole soul! I don't feel like my mortal body can even contain all the joy I have!

I love you all so much! Love the Lord!

Love
Sister Probst

I had a silly realization this week. I love snow! It just makes everything feel so much more like Christmas. It has finally snowed. There's only a few inches, but I'm hoping for more.

 

We had an amazing week full of miracles! We were able to teach so much and invite so many people to baptism. Nobody has yet to accept, but they will. We even had 5 people in church and 4 less active families! That's a miracle! I had to speak yesterday in one of the sacrament meeting on the Restoration. It was fun. Next week I get to speak on the Atonement. Man that will be fun!.

 

I had my first exchange and it was slightly exhausting. It's like I'm the designated counselor that everyone wants to tell all their problems. That's why I love the scriptures and the words of the prophets. They have all the answers. We're getting ready for Christmas and are so excited. We get to go carolling Christmas eve with the other missionaries and skype home on Christmas. Sweet!

 

Spiritual Experience: So I've had a lot of people asking me what I'll be doing after my mission. When I talk about possibly grad school they all say I have to apply. I wasn't going to because it would be super difficult from the mission field. Then one morning I was listening to a conference talk and I got the overwhelming feeling that I needed to apply to grad school. So I called up President Mullen and he said that absolutely I needed to. So I have permission to send emails to who I need and to get online. But I only have 90 minutes on Mondays to do that and to email home so my emails may be a little short for a while. Sorry :(

 

I love you all! The Gospel is so true check out mormon.org/christmas it's so cool!

 

Love

Sister Probst

Do you think I'm excited? BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It actually happened! Oh me of little faith! My second baptism and to another 13-year old! Woohoo! I've decided that if they came too frequently I wouldn't fully appreciate every moment so God keeps me humble by only letting me be a part of one every so often. It's working. Everything worked out just perfectly and she was so excited. The spirit was so strong! She does not have a lot of support from her family, but some of them were there so that was huge. She's going to be a light for everyone else.

 

This last week was absolutely phenomenal! It was so great. We saw so many miracles and were able to find so many new investigators and called so many to repentance. That's like my favorite new word now "Repent!" This area is just waiting for us to come in and teach. It's so fun. We just have to prepare ourselves to make sure we're ready to receive all the blessings. So I had to go to a training in Spokane to learn about my new responsibilities. It was so fun! There was only one other sister there from the Spanish side and she is awesome! She filled me in on all that is happening on that side of the mission, it made me slightly homesick for it, but that's okay. Basically I get to do trainings with all the other sisters. Fun stuff. English side is so different.

 

A YSA sister who is preparing for her mission stayed with Sis. Tekanene while I was gone and then wanted to spend the rest of the day with us. She was awesome! It was so much fun. These new 19-year old sisters are going to do amazing! I'm so excited for what's going to happen with them filling the earth. We found out that our mission is going to have 150 Elders and 100 Sister! That's huge! They're going to have to have Sister zone leaders and other positions. It's so exciting.

 

We're getting all geared up for Christmas and practicing our caroling. I hope it works :) I've never seen so many Christmas lights in my life! It's like a major competition or something, but it looks pretty. Now we just need some snow to make it complete. I hope we have a white Christmas, last Christmas was so weird without it. If nothing else we'll definitely have a wet one because it never seems to stop raining.

 

I love this work! It's so amazing! I love seeing it change others' lives and to be able to see it change my life even more. I love repentance. All it is is change. It's so amazing and we have so many blessings!

 

I love you all so much!

 

Love Sister Probst

Transfers! So it was rather interesting. I put Leavenworth in the subject line because my beloved area has been closed! That's it! No missionaries at all! I thought that I would probably go back Spanish side because they didn't have enough sisters but instead they shut down Leavenworth to any missionaries and so now we have less sisters areas. So sad :( But what happened with me was rather interesting. Sis. Tekanene and I will stay the same and I am now Travelling Sister. That means I travel to 5 or 6 other sister areas every week and do exchanges with them. The idea is to teach and see what the areas are like and the companionships and report back to president. Rather interesting because I just got here, don't know any areas or sisters. This also means that I will probably be staying in Post Falls for a little while because the Travelling Sister ususally stays for a while, but who knows. I guess I"m going to learn a lot.

 

Thanksgiving was good. We got to eat with members and "hang out" which was kind of weird. We were allowed to proselyte and so we just visited members. We're definitely not used to just hanging out. We also discovered every hill in our area several times that night. Not too exciting on a bike and a full stomach.

 

We discovered a lighted Christmas tree in our apartment! I was so excited! For some reason I am ridiculously excited about anything Christmas so decorations and lights are awesome! Our apartment is actually quite nice. Missionaries have had it for years and luckily the sisters cleaned it out after the Elders had it so we find interesting things all the time. I also discovered trees in Post Falls! I was so excited. Part of our area is in some hills that have huge pine trees (everyone here calls them mountains, but they're really not). It made me feel right at home. I'm not used to huge open places with just houses everywhere so some kind of tree life that is not way out in the distance was nice to be in :)

 

Spiritual news: So it rained a lot this week and one night we were tracting in a trailer park and it was particularly wet. We left and went to an appointment right afterwards and discovered that our phone was missing. This was really bad because all our contacts are in that phone and it's kind of irreplaceable that way. We frantically looked everywhere for it and then decided to pray (should have been the first thing we did). We decided to go back to the trailer park and while I shone the headlights (we had the car this night) Sis. Tekanene would walk down the road and look for the phone. Miracle! She found it in a mud puddle and it was blinking! It still worked! That was a huge answer to prayers! It definitely reminded us that we need to humble ourselves and seek for the Lord early.

 

Second spiritual story: We were teaching Sam our 13 year old on-date for baptism this Saturday! We had a ton we had to teach her so we were going to cover obedience, prophets, Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, and obey and honor the law all in one shot. Her house is not the best teaching environment because there's a whole bunch of people walking in and out drinking smoking and who knows what else, but her grandma won't let us teach her anywhere else. So we commenced to teach and were a little aprehensive of how the bystanders might react. Much to our astonishment and joy they actually started to stand around the table and listen. As we shared testimony of how we are all divine in nature because we are children of God and that's why we have these commandments the spirit filled the room. Beers were put down, cigarettes extinguished, immodest clothing covered up with tee-shirts, and foul language ceased. Everyone was listening and the spirit was testifying. The power of God really overcame all wickedness in that room. I know that hearts were touched and truth was felt. I don't know what the longer effects will be of that lesson, but I know it changed my life. Seeing people in sin being drawn to the truth and light of the Gospel was incredible. Right in front of us they started to repent and change their actions. I know that the power of God is real! I know that the study of this Gospel truly changes behavior more quickly than the study of behavior changes behavior. With the Lord all things are possible. I love repentance!

 

I love you all! Thank you so much for all your love and support! Don't forget to repent and let the Lord into your live more!

 

Love

Sister Probst

Hello! Can I just say I am super excited to spend Thanksgiving out in the field. Not that the MTC dinner wasn't great and all, it just is nice to be with families. We are not allowed to Proselyte so we'll be with members all day. It should be fun :)

 

Transfer calls are on Sunday so we'll see what happens. My address is 1806 N. Spokane St. # D11, Post Falls, Idaho 83854 but I wouldn't send anything there unless it is sent today or tomorrow because it might not get here before tranfers.

 

I don't even know what to say about this week. Every day felt like a week and was so different from the day before. The beginning of the week was crazy hard and we spent a ton of time doing comp inventory, but by the end after many phone calls and a visit to Spokane I think the week ended fairly well. We taught our 4 on-dates and now we only have 1 on-date. It's so hard because all of them want to get baptized, but one is not accountable, 2 just want to get wet and have no idea what commitment means and the last is 13-year old awesomeness. But with faith and a ton of work I know it will all work out.

 

I've decided that I definitely have taken cars for granted. Riding a bike in the rain in a skirt is just a little different than riding in a car. But I figure every missionary at least has to ride a bike for a little while to be a true missionary right? Speaking of being a missionary the missionary forces are surging! It's so exciting! Everyone we talk to has someone submitting their papers or we hear about miracles every day of new missionaries coming out. It's so exciting. This truly is the Lord's work.

 

Funny Stories: So yesterday I was supposed to give a talk in one of the wards. It was on the restoration and I wasn't too nervous because we teach that every day and I've had to give a bunch of talks as a missionary. Unfortunatly the brother speaking with me was pretty nervous because he's from Brazil and his english isn't super great. A member of the stake presidency was there to make a change in the bishopric and decided to change the whole program as well and started inviting members by name from the congregation up to come and share their testimony. Then he turned around and told us speakers to go back to our seats we wouldn't be speaking that day. It was awesome! I thought the Brazillian guy was going to jump for joy. It was pretty fun. Then he talked about how we all need to step it up and do better because the Lord wants more from His members. It was awesome!

 

Second funny Story: So a veces hay una problema con la communicacion con mi compenera. Basically sometimes my companion doesn't really understand what is going on all the times because she's still learning English and I definitely do not speak Kettipus (I think thats how you spell it). She was being nice and wanted to make a sack lunch for both of us. She asked what I wanted and I said a bagel with cream cheese (I should have just said whatever she wanted to make because she was being so nice). We were sitting in the car about to eat and I bite into a bagel and cheese curds start falling out. I ask what in the world is this! She said a bagel with sour cheese! Luckily it was just cottage cheese! I died laughing! She didn't know what I meant when I said cream cheese so she just put some kind of cheese on there. I'm learning to speak more clearly and more specifically :)

 

Spiritual moment: We were at a less-actives who was having some major health problems. She had taken in a homeless couple and it didn't end so well for her (she has the biggest heart in the world). We invited her hometeacher over to give her a blessing. It may have been the greatest example of hometeaching I have ever seen. He had been her hometeacher for years and obviously knew her and loved her. The way he spoke to her was like a beloved grandson talking to his favorite relative in the world. As he put his hands on her head the whole room was just filled with the spirit. As he pronounced a blessing on her I knew that I was witnessing the power of God in action. The priesthood was in that room and I knew it truly was from God. I knew that this man was a worthy priesthood holder and that he was acting for God in that moment. It was so powerful to know that the power of God was there and that it is still on the earth today. After he left the sister shared how she always loved priesthood blessings because she felt like God had his hands on her head and was filling up her whole body with His love. I told her it was because He was. I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to the earth today! I know that Heavenly Father's priesthood power is on the earth! I know that we have a living prophet who is the servant of the Lord! I know it! I love it! I live it!

 

I love you all! Thank you so much for being a part of my life. Count your many blessing. The prophet of God admonished us to do so the last time he taught us. Let us do it.

 

Love

Sister Probst

 

P.S. KJ WRITE ME!!!!

So the fire and smoke persists. More fires keep breaking out everywhere and the ones that are going are just growing and growing. The schools in Cashmere are still shut down. Pres. Hunsaker has limited the hours we can be outside and we have to wear masks all the time. Everyone is leaving. Our ward is about 1/3 of it's regular size. Everyone is sick. It's so hard to breathe and do anything. It's been over 2 weeks now of just fire and smoke. Several more canyons have been evacuated. We're praying for rain like crazy. We went to a zone conference in Moses Lake and there was even smoke out there. We're hoping it will let up soon, but they're saying that they may not be able to get them under control and so we'll have to wait for rain or snow. I sure hope not.

The Elders gave David back to us because it was to hard to keep in communication with him while he was so far away. Yay! He's so awesome and wants to be baptized so bad. It's so exciting! Chris is leaving this week to fight in New Mexico and then for a few fights in Canada and then possibly down to Brazil :(  He will be gone for at least a month and possibly 4. He said he would go to church wherever he goes so hopefully he'll be able to. It's so hard to see him go especially when he's so close. He's our best member (non-member) missionary. After his trip downtown inviting everyone he met to come to church we gave him a huge stack of mormon.org cards to hand out. After 3 days he asked for more. He said that he has met a ton of people that we've already talked to and he just challenged them to learn for themselves and not just believe other people. He actually got some people to listen to him! I wonder if we start working out and try to bulk up more if people will listen to us like that :)

At the Zone conference we had Elder Foster of the 70 come to do a mission tour. It was so awesome! He talked about working with members and how member work and missionary work are supposed to be the same. He asked us to imagine what our last prayer as a missionary would sound like. What would we tell God? It was so motivating and really made us want to be better. He taught about the universe and how tiny we really are in the grand scheme of things, but how God still knows who we are. It was so awesome to hear. Awesome, awesome experience. Elder Foster really made me think about how I have been serving my mission and how I could do better. I feel like I have been giving my all and have no regrets thus far. However, I also know there are so many ways to improve. We decided that on Sunday we would fast to discover anything we may be doing or thinking that is keeping us from completely focusing everything on the work. It was an incredible experience. There weren't too many things that I thought of, but I could feel the spirit so much more strongly. I felt like I was overwhelmed by the spirit most of the day and could feel the Savior's love so strongly. I felt so much love for every member and I felt truly devastated for the members that weren't there. We had a lesson with Chris in the afternoon and we taught about the Savior. It was hard to contain the feelings I had of just intense love for the Savior. I could feel so strongly the love He has for Chris and for all of us. As I invited to Chris to be baptized, again, I knew he knew it was true and I knew he wanted it so bad. He said yes! He has a few things he wants to work out, but he says he wants to be baptized! I know the Holy Ghost was there. I know that that God hears our prayers and answers them. I know that He loves us even more than we can comprehend. I am so grateful to be a part of this great work. I feel so unworthy to be able to bear His name, but I know that he knows who I am. I have been so incredibly blessed.

Thank you so much for everything! I love you all and can truly feel your prayers! Please pray that the fires will go out soon so we can breathe :)

Love
Sister Probst

Hello! So it was so nice to hear from ya'll today :) We went to the temple and it was great. So I had all these things I was super excited to write about, but now I really don't remember because of recent events. I only have a few minutes to write so hopefully I get it all in. We got a call yesterday morning from President Mullen telling us that a sister in Post Falls Idaho had been sent home medical leave and that I was to be with her companion and a sister from Quincy would come up and be in Leavenworth. The transfer is to happen today. So basically I'm going to Post Falls/ Coeur d'Alene Idaho English speaking to be with a sister who is from the islands, has been out longer than me and I am senior companion. Crazy! I'm not even joking this time. So I'm just waiting for my ride to come. It's a good thing we went to the temple this morning for the extra support.

 

I will miss Leavenworth so much! I love it! It's kind of hard to leave right in the middle of a transfer with such short notice, but I definitely know it is of the Lord. Leavenworth is finally picking up. The golden lady that was on-date for baptism keeps missing appointments so we'll see what happens. We found two other couples and they seem awesome so hopefully it will work out for the sisters. We got to help chop wood and stack it for a less-active family and it was so fun. I missed doing that. We had exchanges with Moses sisters and it was so good! It was so fun to speak Spanish and teach again. We had zone conference and it was way fun. We had a scripture chase and I almost won. So close :)

 

So I'm still kind of in shock and don't really know what's going on so hopefully next week I'll remember more.

 

I love you all!

 

Sister Probst

The English speaking Idahonian missionary

So it was a little weird not hearing from anyone in email this week, but hopefully all is well.

So I decided to describe this last week by way of song and I may have changed some of the lyrics and added some: "The Sister Missionaries sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and walked and knocked and walked and walked and knocked and walked and walked and walked and knocked and talked and walked and walked and walked and walked....and walked!"

Yep that was about the extent of our week. Unfortunately it was also combined with a ton of rain...every day. But I decided to make some spiritual comparisons to it. So last Monday we spent a considerable amount of time waterproofing our shoes, coats and everything we could find. The first day out my feet are soaked and my boots are squishing out water. Later that night with a cup of hot cocoa I examine my boots and find holes in the bottom and a separation between the soles and boot. No matter how much waterproof spray I put on, the holes let everything in. Then I switched to the new boots and waterproofed them! Amazingly enough my feet have now been dry for days. This can be compared to repentance. We can try to prepare ourselves for the future and eternal life, but if we have holes in our souls then it doesn't matter how much preparation we have made all the bad stuff will still leak in. When we prepare ourselves to make promises with the Lord and for Eternal Life if we haven't fully repented we cannot enjoy the full warmth of the Gospel and Eternal Life. I love dry boots.

Sister Ziegler and I had our year mark this past week! Crazy! We've already been out a year! To celebrate we . . . (drum role please) . . . walked and knocked! I knew you would guess it. It's scary to think we only have a short amount of time left before we go back to normal life. I love my mission. I also received amazing news (long-awaited for might I add) from Alexis the now married one! Yay so good to hear from an old friend. Alexi is going to Singapore?! That's so awesome! I have a referral for her. What's going on with Kage?

I started reading in Moses this last week and I really loved it. In the very first chapter Moses describes how he had an amazing visitation by God and how much he learned from it. Afterwards he was so exhausted he couldn't do anything. This is when Satan came to visit him. Satan tried to convince Moses that he was merely a man and was nothing. Moses actually became afraid and cried unto the Lord and was able to get Satan hence. This experience made me think of Joseph Smith and how right before he prayed he was overwhelmed by darkness. It made me realize that around almost every good spiritual experience that happens Satan is also present. He wants to discourage us and weaken us, but he truly has no power if we call upon the Lord. This realization helped me to put into better perspective my mission and my time here in Leavenworth.  Learning of Moses and focusing on the more Eternal perspective made me realize how truly short this time as a missionary is. We have hardly no time to do a great work that will have eternal consequences. Even though I may not see the immediate consequences of my mission I know that someday there will be fruit and it will be eternal. I am so grateful to be able to serve my Lord. I know He knows us and loves us.

In other news this also relates to my work with Bro. Stoltz the cowboy less-active. I have worked for 6 months now to try and get him to church and he has yet to do so. We went and did service for him this last week in taking down a horse shed in the muddy remains of the horses digested supper. Yes it was lovely, but I did get to use power tools which was a blast! I miss using those. Apparently our work that day really helped Bro. Stoltz to feel a greater desire to come back to church and be with the members! Yay! Service really does change hearts!

I received my absentee ballot so I now will be able to vote. Thanks! and I may not be emailing on Monday next week,but probably Tuesday because hopefully we're going to the temple.

I love you all so much! Thank you for all you do! Go forth and serve!

Love
Sister Probst

So guess what?! We had transfer calls last night and the unthinkable happened! I'm going to the Washington Leavenworth Mission German speaking with Sis. Ziegler. Hahahaha! That's what I feel like sometimes. I think I've learned more about the German language and culture since coming here than I have about Spanish. I can't help but laugh because that will be 5 transfers which is 7 1/2 months in the same spot. Oh well obviously there's a reason. Luckily there are more sisters that will be coming in.

So this last week was pretty good. We had a huge miracle happen in that it rained! and rained! and rained! I sure hope it put out all the fires. The smoke in Leavenworth is now gone, but I don't know about Wenatchee. Hopefully. And fall has finally come. It is amazing! All the orchards are starting to turn colors and so the sea of green is changing to a sea of orange, red, and yellow. It's really incredible


We had an amazing lesson with Annette again. She is so prepared. We didn't get to see her for a week because I got sick for a day so we had to reschedule and it was a bummer, but when we saw her it was so great. She had read and she wanted to know if we ever felt like there was something missing in our lives or if there was emptiness at all. We said no we feel full to overflowing! It was so great. She was so excited and we taught her about the Atonement and she said "I definitely need to be baptized." The whole lesson was just amazing. I have never had such a teaching experience to anyone so prepared.

We're still searching for more investigators, but that's a constant process. Oktoberfest will be over after this weekend so we'll finally be able to go downtown again. It's insane how crazy it gets.

Life is amazing and being a missionary is the best! I love this work with all my heart. I feel like I learn so much every day and the more I learn the more I realize I don't have enough time to learn everything! Reading the Book of Mormon is like a wealth of constant knowledge. It really does answer every question.

I love you all and pray for you daily!

Keep the faith and go brighten someone else's day :)

Love
Sister Probst

Sister Probst's new definition for Drunk Driving: (verb) strategically maneuvering a vehicle to avoid coming in contact with the bodies of intoxicated persons during Oktoberfest in Leavenworth. Verdad! To say the least we are very glad Oktoberfest is finally over! We weren't allowed to go down town while it was going on, but there was no way to get out of town except down the main road and so it really became slow, strategic maneuvering to avoid all the people randomly falling into the road. It reminded me of so many scriptures. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. I feel like on a daily basis we are reminded of how the natural man truly is an enemy to God, unless he yields to the enticings of the spirit. I have seen people yield to the spirit and be able to witness the happiness it gives them and I have also seen the opposite happen. There truly is no joy in sin.

On the flip side the weather is beautiful! It's starting to rain and so there is snow in the tops of the hills. I have a feeling it won't be too long until we are hiking in it. I love the beauty of it all, but the idea of actually working in it is a little daunting. It just makes me appreciate all the nice days even more. The harvest is now coming to a close so hopefully we'll be able to teach in Spanish again. I'm so rusty I don't even know if I'll be able to say anything. Oh well, I'll just talk to them in German :)

Miracle! We were  coming home from District Meeting and had just received a message from our investigator Annette that she would not be able to make the appointment that day due to errands. We were rather disappointed because we had had difficulty in meeting with her recently and needed to see her to keep her on-date. We were starting to head to our back-ups and Sister Ziegler said that she felt very strongly that we needed to go see Annette. I asked her more about her feeling trying to understand how strongly she felt because we didn't have the miles to go all the way out and see her and then try our back-ups if she wasn't there. She said she didn't know why but that we really needed to go see Annette right then. So we did. When we pulled up, still being the Doubting Thomas that I am, I asked what the plan was. She said she didn't know, but that we could teach the Plan of Salvation as originally planned or just leave a note saying we missed her. We went and knocked on the door and she answered! My first thought was one of frustration because she told us she wouldn't be there. But then I realized we really were there for a reason. As she let us in she started to share how she almost had told us not to come back because she had a concern and was embarrassed to bring it up. We were able to talk to her for a while and address and resolve her concern. By the time we left she said she was very glad we had come by and was willing to set another appointment with us. I know the spirit was prompting us to go to her house at that time. I don't always understand why we're told to do what we are, but I know that when the Spirit speaks we should listen.

I love you all so much! Thank you for all of your love and support!

Love
Sister Probst

ELI!!! GOOOOO!!!! Don't put it off! Come join the ranks! Being a missionary is the best ever!!! I was so excited when I heard they changed the ages. It's so great! If I hadn't have been in the chapel I would have been jumping for joy! Conference was so amazing! Submit your papers as soon as you can so you can go!

This last week was absolutely amazing! It definitely reminded me of Ether 12:6 "you receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." The week before last was probably one of the hardest I've had. It was definitely heart-wrenching for a number of different reasons. It was the trial before the witness. But then this last week was absolutely amazing! We had interviews and an additional training down in Wenatchee. President Mullen taught about General Conference and invited us to come up with 5 personal questions to be answered through General Conference. They were answered! It was easily one of the greatest spiritual experiences I've been able to have. I wrote my 5 questions and within the first session almost every single one was answered. In the second session a 6th question that I was too scared to write was also answered. I know that Heavenly Father answers our prayers. He knows the intents of our hearts and knows our inner most desires. I learned so much at conference. All the talks were so bold and so loving. We HAVE to be converted. There is no other way!

Another amazing miracle happened Thursday night. We were trying this lady named Annette. Sister Donaldson and I contacted her on the street several months ago and had been trying her back ever since. She finally let us in because she was so impressed that we would keep trying back. She started asking all these questions about the church and we taught the restoration. She said that this is exactly what she had been praying for. She felt like we had been sent to show her the way. We invited her to be baptized on November 3 and she said yes! It was such a miracle! She was so excited to read the Book of Mormon. Ah!! I'm so excited for her!

There were just so many amazing experiences this week I couldn't possibly write them all!

I love you all! This Gospel is so true!

Love
Sister Probst

P.S. I need an absentee ballott soon please :)

September 17 2012

Yep the fires are still burning. It's horrible. We're completely surrounded by fires and they just keep burning. The smoke is so thick we can't even see the mountains. We're all safe so far, but there have been a ton of evacuations. Apparently the mission office tried to email mom and dad about it, but the email address was wrong? We've been limited to  how much time we're allowed to be outside. It feels like a battleground because there are helicopters flying overhead constantly and any field that doesn't have trees in it is being used as a fire base. The national guard came in later last week and so there are huge trucks driving around and tons of official looking people. Signs are constantly posted telling us of the latest evacuations. School and all outside activities have been canceled. It kind of feels like a ghost town at times. Sometimes a breeze will come through and blow away some of the smoke so we can actually see the blue sky and people will come out for a time, but that's it. The sun is a constant glowing red ball and so everything has a red-orangish tinge to it. It's kind of eery. It got a little better on Saturday and we could actually see most of the valley, but then another fire started somewhere and everything was covered in black smoke again.

Unfortunately all the being indoors has really limited our teaching and finding time. We're in a huge finding stage right now and we can't tract for more than 20 minutes without getting a head-ache. So the week was a little rough. We moved out of our house and into the Bishop's old house down in Dryden. No more mice! I'm so excited! The house is adorable and we have it all to ourselves. it's in the middle of an orchard and so we have more fruit than we know what to do with. Mom - the house was built in the 1920s and has a ton of antique furniture in it, you'd love it! I think the best thing is that the Spirit is there. It feels so good.

We have started teaching Chris again and he's basically our only investigator. However, he is also our best missionary. He has invited several friends to church, he walks up and down Main and talks to everyone he meets and invites all of them to church, he mailed a Book of Mormon to a struggling friend and has been handing out mormon.org cards and pamphlets. Now all he has to do is get baptized. We had to pass David off to the Young Single Adult Elders, but he's still on-date for September 29 so we're excited for him. We have 2 other awesome potentials that we're trying to teach, but haven't been able to yet.

We had the Monitor building open house and dedication and it was so awesome! I watched the thing built from start to finish and it was so exciting to be there.  I got to see some of my old E. Wenatchee peeps and it was so good to see them. We got to spend a bit of time talking to President Hunsaker about the ward and Chris and he was very encouraging. He's so fired up about missionary work it's awesome! Good things are going to happen in Wenatchee. We're going to get a senior couple that is completely devoted to the Spanish work and they should be here soon. We had a training last week on invitations to baptism. Our commitment was to invite one person a day to baptism. Unfortunately we didn't get any, but the area next to ours exploded! They found several families and they're all on-date! It's so exciting!

One of the neatest experiences I had was at the Dedication. The stake presidency had asked us to sit basically front and center with Chris and we were singing The Spirit of God. All I could think about was how this great work is truly filling the earth. It is rolling forth and picking up speed. I thought of when that song was sung at the Kirtland Temple and how long ago that was and the amazing growth that has happened since. It is growing so fast because it is true! Feeling the power of all those people and the spirit burning within that room was overwhelming. That's why we're here! That's what we're doing. It was purity and power all in the same. We have that! Chris felt it and I know it. He loves it! he came from such darkness and now he is drawn to the light just like the rest of the world. I love this Gospel so much. The Church is true. There is nothing more that needs to be said. It is truth and everyone wants the truth. Live it. Love it. Share it.

I love you all so much!

Sister Probst

ps Sister Haws is engaged!

September 10 2012

Can I just say that I loved the emails! I wish I could have gone up to Heber for the farewells and homecoming talks they sound like they were amazing! I'm so excited for Hans and Caleb. Serving a mission is the best thing ever!

So Fire. Wenatchee is on fire! It's so sad, but the whole mountainside is black and the sky is full of smoke. In Leavenworth we can even see the flames the fires are so big. Saturday night we were out tracting and there was a big lightning storm and it caused a ton of fires. I hate to see my Wenatchee burn :( Mice. Yes they are back and are in force. They seem to be trap savvy and we have no idea how to catch them. They're getting into everything! Our bedroom is the only place untouched. We safe-guard it. We hopefully will be moving soon.

Funny/not-so-funny (but you'll probably laugh) story: Last p-day I was all excited to get my hairs trimmed. I just wanted the lady to trim up my bangs a little because they were driving me nuts. Well she may have taken a little more than a little off and then attempted to fix it by chopping one side way shorter than the other. When we left and Sis. Donaldson saw she didn't even laugh it was so bad. She taught me how to pin them up so they're not so noticeable. Luckily there's a lady in our ward that cuts hair (wish we knew that before-hand) and she evened them all up so that now all of my bangs are really short, but at least they're even. I now will have permantly pinned up hair for the next month or two. Yay. I look like those people from the 80s who have the super short hair in front and short in back. But enough with my own vainess and now to the spiritual.

We had exchanges with Moses Lake and Sis. Sanchez came up here. We had an awesome exchange. We saw a less-active named Misti and almost committed her to come to church. She actually finally felt the spirit! So great. Then we had an interesting lesson with a less-active named Jack. We were teaching him the Gospel and all he could tell us was that he hasn't had to repent for years because he hasn't done anything wrong. We tried to teach him that we all have to repent every day. We all do things wrong and need our Lord's forgiveness daily. He didn't like that idea too much. It made me realize how often we as members may just feel complacent and comfortable with where we are and maybe feel like we don't need to change much. I know I've felt that way before. I found a scripture that really exemplifies this 2 Nephi 28: 24. I learned that no matter who we are we can always change and we have to. On Sunday we had Ward Conference and the amazing President Hunsaker expounded this idea to our ward. He explained that all too often he has a member in his office with a serious problem and they ask him what to do. Before he even addresses their problem he starts with the simple small questions. Are you reading your scriptures daily personally and with your family? Are you praying morning and night? Do you attend every meeting you're supposed to on Sunday? Do you attend the temple regularly? Almost every single one of these is answered with a no. It really is that simple. Sometimes we feel like we have enormous problems that cannot be solved, but if we're doing the small, simple, daily acts then they can be avoided. It's all those little things that truly matter.

He also expounded to the ward about missionary work! Yay!!!! He told them that because of a shortage of missionaries in our mission they had been pulled out of certain areas in Wenatchee. He said that they were super lucky to have missionaries and that they better use us or else we would be pulled out. He then told them that they had to talk about the church with everyone because we can't do it alone no matter how hard we work. It was so awesome! We had a whole bunch of members come up to us afterwards and ask what they could do to help. It was so great. He also talked about how now is the perfect time to bring up the Gospel. Everyone is asking about it. All we have to do is open our mouths. It's so exciting. President Hunsaker also interviewed Chris for like an hour and almost got him on-date. So great. I had to translate for Sacrament meeting and it was crazy! Everyone wanted to talk about sailing! Who does that?!

So our one on-date, David, we have to give to the young single adult Elders. It's best for him, but it is so hard to give up someone that you have grown to love and want to walk with to the end. He'll do well with the Elders though.

I love you all so much. I love this Gospel more than anything I can imagine. The more I learn about the Savior the more I learn to love. Everything we do truly has to be centered on Jesus Christ, if not we will not find true joy. I'm so glad I could have the great blessing of serving. I love it!

Love
Sister Probst