9/29/14

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER O

October is this week! Isint that crazy. I can't believe it. The time is far spent. And there is little remaining. I need to pick up the pace, do more, be more, work more, then play more. 

O'Neil's  are "HOTROCKS" 

this week i have felt a really big emphasis on the two "O"'s. 

Obedience and Optimism.

During the women's meeting I felt such a focus on covenants, temples and obedience. I have come to really learn that obedience is so important, and I want to become a more consecrated missionary. There is more I want to give, more I want to do, and more I want to be and I just have to do it. I truly felt so much of heavenly fathers love this week. I am so grateful for it. I want to be a better disciple, I want to be a better follower and I want to be more Christlike. "So much time, so little to do... Wait, reverse that!" -willy wonka. Haha anyways, they are so important and I am really grateful to have been taught there things all my life.

Owesomeness - so many things his week were just owesome!  Haha. I had interviews with president and I just loved it. He taught me so much and I felt of the great love he has for us missionaries, and really helped me to remember the love Heavenly Father has for me individually!  He helped me with some of my concerns and fears, and I had a really cool experience having some of my questions answered. Sometimes the questions we have we don't even realize we have until we are receiving the answer. I really had to be paying attention to the spirit to have received those answers. I am really grateful I was.  It was owesome.

Another two things that were Owesome this week were our two conferences. Zone and womens conference, and they were the best. It was amazing. The spirit that filled my heart when the conference started was such a wonderful feeling. I love conference and I feel so grateful this time has finally come. I love #genconf. !! Yay!

Don't worry, be happy. It has been a theme in our companionship this week. I send the same invite for you, don't worry, just be happy. :) there is so much to be grateful for and so much to bring us happiness, allow it to last, let it consume our souls! I loved the umbrella idea from the women's meeting, I have been praying that I would be able to close my umbrella more often, and see the blessings that are falling on me! They are bountiful! I need to pay more of the price to be more consecrated, to be more. 

This week we taught this really cool guy, doug. We hope we can meet with him again. He was very kind to us, and listened to all we had to say, even thought he may not be the most interested, but it was really cool, because I promised him really specific blessings, and I just knew they would come true, I just hope he did his part. 

We had to drop our family investigators, Shaun and her family. Mainly because of the contention that she felt coming from sister Henderson. And Shaun's attitude towards some aspects of the church. She felt that she was always defensive towards her, so we told her to contact us. It has been all so confusing and hard to keep our investigators keeping their commitments. The lord will provide and things will work out.

One of the funniest things that happened this week was we got this text from a random guy: well here is the back story... We were tracting in chili and knocked in this guys door and he seems like he is a little mentally handicapped, anyways we gave him our number because he seemed interested in our message. So at loaves and fish, he talked to us and then later that day he sent us a text that said " is it a sin to call a nun good lookin?" We laughed a lot at that, and then felt a little awkward inside. Haha so we haven't responded and I don't think we will, how do you deal with things like this? He is like 55 yrs old.haha anyways it was funny. 

Well I love you so much. I hope you have a wonderful week, and enjoy general conference. It's going to be the best. Love love love      Sister O'Neil 

9/22/14

HOLA FAMILIA!

Esta semana ha sido tan bueno!

He leido el Libro de Mormon en espanol, y ahora hablo perfecto espanol!

... haha...jajaja (or 555 if your thai) es broma, en realidad no!

(presented to you by google translate!- YAY for technology!)

 Well this week was pretty good. We had some great lessons and some
awesome experiences, that I am so grateful for.

on Monday and Tuesday we had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. they are the best! I always learn so much from them and feel prepared after our time with them!  Sister Doxey is like one of my favorite people and I was so happy to have spent that time with her. we are great friends!

On Friday we had our mission conference! it was one of the greatest experiences of my life! I love mission conferences! I love this time of year, because it is so full of conferences and then those lead into the holidays! it is just so wonderful!

I was able to ride up to Naperville with the lovely Sister Oliphant! I love her so much! She and her companion and the Hermanas that serve in their area, it was a fun trip. I love sister Oliphant so much, she has faced great trials in her time as a missionary and her calm strength is so inspiring to me. she has so much faith and trust in the Lord and knows it will all work out. I quote her so often, when she said "its all ok in the end, if its not ok, its not the end"  but to me that is just a simple example of the great amount of faith that she has. She bore her testimony at the conference, and I was so grateful for it. I love her so much.

So President talked to us about the coming forth of the book of Mormon. It was fitting because just yesterday was the anniversary of the appearance of Moroni to Joseph Smith, and today is the anniversary of when he received the plates. It is such a wonderful time to be alive. I learned so much, and learned from the spirit as well. it was so good! do you know the real purpose of the book of Mormon? most people would say it is to be another testimony of Christ and help us come to know him, well while that is true it is not the full purpose. and there is one greater. it is to teach us of the covenants that God makes with his children. 2 nephi 3 or Mormon 7:8-9 it is to come to a knowledge of the covenants and then to be gathered home. Gathering of the house of Israel! so cool! my mind has been blown since this. and I have learned a lot. hope you do to!

He issued us another Book of Mormon challenge. I am finishing my copy of the book of mormon now and will finish on the 3rd of October, and then I will start my challenge and finish before Christmas, you should all do it with me. Get a new fresh copy of the Book of Mormon and mark the following.  In RED: Mark conversion, qualities of it, stories of lives changed and being born again. In BLUE: teachings on covenants and the house of Israel. Finding examples of covenants God has made with his people and the blessings they receive. And in YELLOW: how to teach others to come unto Christ. Teaching skills and examples of great questions. Qualities of good leaders who taught their people.

I love these topics. I am excited to learn about them as I read. Get a fresh copy and GO! you can start now, you don't have to wait until October 3rd.

And then I got to ride home with sister Oliphant and sister ashby again! and They are both PHENOMENAL singers and very musically talented, so when we got to the church, we had a few minutes to kill, so we sang some songs together. I recorded them! you can listen when I come home! :) #10weeksleft! #Ilovemail #hinthint #iloveyouall! :)

so my mini-mexico experience!... Remember when I had my day in mini-mexico last year, like right before thanksgiving. that was totally preparing me for Saturday! It was so cool. and such a fun experience! Ok, well first I need to preface this story by telling you that I really don't know Spanish, like at all. haha I like to pretend that I do, and try and I feel I work at it when the opportunity presents its self, but in reality I know probably about 20%of what they are saying and I know how to say even less than that. hahaha.  Sister Maribel Castro Ventura was baptized in June, and we she invited us over for dinner. she was taught by the Spanish elders, but she knows perfect English. so we went over there for dinner and she wanted us to eat with her sister and their family who don't speak any English - well hardly any. I FORGET HOW MUCH THEY FEED YOU! it was insane. I was so FULL! side note, anyways, we get to the end of eating, and we told Maribel that we had a lesson for her, but she had to go so she left us with her family.. who don't speak English. and we don't speak Spanish. so it was pretty interesting, from the moment we sat down together I had been praying in my heart that Heavenly Father would help me remember the few things I did know in Spanish and be able to understand one another and deliver our message with the spirit. so I asked Maribel for a copy of El Libro de Mormon, and I read to her sister a few versus from Enos in Spanish. it was pretty good. she had a few questions. she had met with the Spanish elders before and had asked them all her questions. later in the lesson she became a little contentious and her heart was hardened when we tried to explain why we read from the book of Mormon. She kept bringing up so many versus and things from the bible and looking for what we had to say about it, and every time president Fenn would go through my head "the bible is not common ground, it is battle ground." so we would tell her why we believed in the book of Mormon after every question. through out the lesson I was totally speaking Spanglish. haha maybe I shouldn't have, but I would speak English and then when I new a word in Spanish I would say it. haha but she seemed to understand us. at the very end I knew I needed to tell her my testimony, so I did, and I said the whole thing in Spanish! It was so cool! It was very basic, but the spirit was so strong.  this whole experience gave me such an appreciation for all those missionaries who work so hard to learn another language. It is hard work, and I am grateful for all they, and you (my siblings) do to learn that language and use it to teach others about Christ. It is so awesome! I know the gift of tongues is real. for those brief moments I was able to understand and I felt the spirit working with me.  we invited her to put all her questions aside and open her heart to hear the message the elders can share with her. I understand how scary it can be and the faith it can take to learn more about God, especially when you have been taught something your whole life. 

another thing I learned about myself is I really dislike it when people try to make me feel ashamed that I was raised in the gospel. It is so annoying.  a lot of people on my mission have made the comment "oh well that is all you know" or "that is all you know," "you don't know any different, how do you know if it is true or not"  I know its true by the same way you will come to know it is true! I have started telling people who say that to me " I am not ashamed of being raised in the gospel and of being a member of this church, it is the greatest blessing I could ever ask for, and I feel heavenly fathers love to know that he placed me in a family that has these beliefs and taught them to me." In some ways it is a small example of standing for truth and righteousness and it is such a small tactic that Satan uses to make us feel ungrateful or ashamed of the things that are blessings in our lives. to that is say HA! Satan HA! "you are SO dumb! you are really dumb, FOR REAL!"

I know the book of Mormon to be the word of God. I am so grateful that I have been raised in  a home that has taught me in the fullness of the gospel. I am grateful for the priesthood authority and all of the immense blessings I have receive from our Heavenly Father. This church is true! joseph Smith is a Prophet of God! 

love you all!

hope you have a wonderful wonderful week, full of awesome missionary opportunities. - are you praying for them?

General conference is so soon! have you written down your questions?    

love,

Sister O'Neil   

9/15/14

The fall season is here, in its finest. we have had thunderstorms a lot of this week!-- super fun! and the cold comes at night.  about noon everyday till about 3 it is SO beautiful outside. yesterday after church we did our studies outside because It was so beautiful. I learned a lot about Jesus Christ- being the creator and about light.  its all so amazing and wonderful. The church is so true and I love being a member of it. !! YAY!

have you started your "questions for conference" yet? I have! I always make a list of questions, and every session they are all answered! you should all give it a try and be ready to learn.  Because the Lord will be teaching us! YAY I love #genconf  !! :)

well, this week was an ok week, as far as the missionary work of things goes.  we didn't have too many lessons, we did a TON of service for members. it was all for our recent converts and less actives so that was really good.  We are working with one sister, who I really like and get along with, anyways she is a return missionary and just makes up excuses all the time to why she doens come to church or anything, so we felt inspired to call her on Friday and re-invite her to the women's conference for Saturday and I told her if she came we would help her clean out her garage, so she came! and she loved it! she said she felt the spirit and came away uplifted.

So we helped with her garage and there were SO MANY SPIDERS! oh! it was so creepy. I didn't think I had such a fear of them. hahah I even feel funny for typing that.. but I mean there were so many, you would not believe it. so we helped and it looked really good! and then she fed us delish Jimmy johns! ( I thought of Chris).  that was good. she came to church the next day! YAY!

Have I told you that my companion is a beast?  She does martial arts kajukenbo (caujew kenbo) anyways, it is how she lets out a lot of her frustrations and anxieties. so she uses a punching bag - when she can find one to let it all out. our Bishop has one in his basement so we went over there and she just let it all out. it was intense. she taught me some techniques and I just felt really silly... I took video... of her.

They had stake women's conference here this week, it was really wonderful. I learned so much about who I am as a daughter of God and my divine nature and destiny.  It is amazing, and I cant really put into words all that I learned, but I know it to be true. I am so grateful for the many wonderful women in my life who have exemplified great qualities, and have helped me to understand this eternal destiny we all have.  I think the coolest and most thought provoking thing I learned and realized was that where there are holy men, there must be holy women. think of the great prophets and apostles we think and learn about and the promises made to them. we always associate the men, and rarely do we think of the women who are behind supporting those men. It is just so amazing! so over all I am grateful to be a daughter of God. " the crowned jewel of creation."   The Church is true! :)

I also went a class about scripture reading with kids. she gave us a paper with lots of good ideas. I will send it to one of you ( my sisters) and will you send it to the other fams?  or better yet, I will send it to mom, and she can forward it to you! :) thanks mom!  might help if you are looking for fresh ideas to read scriptures together!

This upcoming week we will have a mission conference! I am so excited!!  I will see all my lovely friends-- at least the ones still here in the mission! and we  will be talking about my favorite - JOSEPH SMITH!-  its gonna be great!

This week I also really learned the importance of family history. I have set goals and am planning to be better at that when I get home. I have never really done it. because it is "all done" but really its not. So I am excited to learn more about our family and where I came from. It is such a blessing to have the heritage that we have!

There is so much to learn in this life, It is amazing.

 

Basically this week was a lot of healing, and rejuvenation, ( for some of us...)we worked hard, and the Lord is blessing us. There are many miracles everyday!

the work is great!

I love you all! I love being a missionary!

you can be missionaries too! :)

love,

Sister O'Neil

9/8/14

Superb September

ok I have the most annoying bug bite on my foot. it itches like crazy,
and then it swells and when I walk it feels like I am walking on one
of sheets of bubble wrap. trying to pop it. anyways.. gotta love the
Midwest.

ok, this week has been a real rollercoaster, SO STRESSFUL but so much
fun. And it is all so worth it. now that it is over I am so grateful
for it, and I learned a lot about myself, how to work with others,
being humble, working hard, how to communicate better and be a
peacemaker and the list goes on...

I don't remember if I told you about Shaun and Tarus and their family
or not, but we found her as we were walking to our car one night, and
she and her family were a sincere answer to my prayers. I have been
praying we would be able to find and teach a family and get them into
the gospel. this ward needs more families to support the ward.
anyways, we taught them twice this week, they were both really
excellent lessons. Carmella (9 yr old) is so close to the spirit, she
was so happy when she heard about the plan of salvation, and at the
end of our lesson we sang them "Child of God" and she just started to
cry. and Shaun kept saying I need to get my family here, my mom needs
to hear this.  The spirit was strong./
then at our next lesson Tarus (her boyfriend/fiancée) was so engaged
and they all are just so interested and wanting to learn and change.
it is awesome! they had good questions like how do you know a prophet
when they say they are a prophet? and we served them by helping them
put away their groceries. ( the profiles are correct, all black people
love fried chicken, and they are proud of it.) haha so we put away a
LOt of chicken. we taught them about the power of fasting and invited
them to join us on sunday.  they agreed and we floated out of that
lesson, and was so grateful for those experiences.. AWESOME!!

Tuesday was transfers.. so we didn't have as much planned because we
were unsure when we were planning.. anyways. It was a stretching day.
Basically what happened, is that there was a member in our ward
(African American) , who feels offended and is still hurt because of a
mistake my companion made.  Well, lovely Sister Henderson is so sweet,
but can sometimes be very brash and bold and come off as not very
loving, and she knows it, and so she is working on this weakness and
is doing her very best.  Well, we go to this members home and she
thought we were there to resolve things that happened a month ago,
(that I thought had already been resolved) and so she went off on us.
she didn't yell, but her words were not very kind, and there were a
lot of confusing things she brought up. She expressed to us a lot of
her frustrations, and after pondering about it I have come to realize
it is a weak spot in her testimony. She pointed everything at us (I am
sure it is because we are an easy target as missionaries) - that all
the weight of her problems was because of what WE had done, when in
reality it is because she doesn't understand and is somewhat hard
hearted. her pointing things at us didn't help sister Henderson feel
any better about her self with her self confidence and anxieties, and
so she became defensive. Needless to say, CONTENTION was present...
and I just sat there as they went back and forth, with everything to
Joseph Smith, to the infamous "blacks and the priesthood" to "why
don't you preach Jesus Christ?!"  and everything in between. I
immediately pulled out the Book of Mormon and held it in my hands just
for the strength and power that come from it,.. it is like a security
blanket for me now.. haha seriously.  I played mediator, and felt like
a judge in a court room, saying "its her turn to talk," "ok now its
her turn to talk" finally I just gave up. I had been praying the whole
time the lord would tell me and lead me what to do, and so I just sat
there in silence as they bickered. finally I had had enough, so I
opened the Book of Mormon to a random page and just started reading.
just happened to be  Mosiah 2:9-12 and then I skipped to 15-17.  The
spirit I know quieted them, it flooded the room, and taught them each.
I closed the book and said a prayer, the scariest part was right in
the middle of the prayer, her son (who was in the other room) yelled
out SUPER LOUD in a deep deep voice the F word, and it made my whole
body jump. it was like a bomb going off. There are so many parallels I
have pulled from this experience.  it was so hard.

then on Wednesaday we taught Jennifer. She lives in the south side,
the DEEP south side, where it is dangerous.. kinda exciting if you ask
me. We have to tell the zone leaders when we are going and when we
leave and we are not supposed to go there after 4:00 and anyways, we
have pretty good lessons with her. she is something else.. just
imagine for a moment a Queen Bee.  In every sense of what a queen bee
is, she is just that to all the men in the neighborhood. hahaha its
crazy!  people on the south side,(at least the ones we have met) are
very nice and respectful to us. they understand who we are as servants
of The Lord, and are grateful for what we do.  Basically everyone
needs the gospel and she has a desire to change. I don't understand
when people know what they are doing is wrong and they still do it, at
least when it is something that severe. I mean we all do that to some
degree... that is why the atonement is so important and so real. she
is not yet making big changes in her life, but it will be by small and
simple steps for her. It has been great because she has introduced us
to a lot of her friends that we have started to teach and referred to
the elders. its great! I will keep you posted on her and the
adventures in the south side.

Two more stories,

Erica is another investigator we really started to teach this week.
She has quite the past as well. She served 3 years in jail because she
shot a man 5 times and then gave him CPR to keep him alive. He was
breaking into her house and did some other things that I don't need to
mention, so she shot him.... 5 times, she has had a really rough Life
and I am grateful I am not responsible for judging her and all that.
But we had some great lessons, she loves the Book of Mormon and loves
learning with us. We read Enos with her and she identified with his
words, and testified that she knew it was true. She came to church
with us and loved it, participated in class and loved meeting new
people. It was such a good Sunday for her.

Sunday was extremely stressful, Erica was great and taken care of, but
it was Shaun, during sacrament she was talking loudly, and I know
people we looking at her, because they were probably wondering who it
was. she wandered the halls saying she felt a spirit of the devil
there because she felt unwelcome and judged. That people just stared
at her, and didn't say hello.  Her husband loved church and loved the
spirit and kept saying "she will come around."  Anyways she ended up
sitting in the hall and wandering down to the nursery where one of her
daughters was, and the leaders asked her to leave, anyways it was just
super overwhelming and all Sunday I was praying in my heart things
would work out, and sometimes i felt the weight of the world that
everything depended on me, then Those thoughts from the adversary
creeped in and I feared the members would think less of us because we
broth this "crazy lady" to church. Sister Henderson and Shaun got into
a disagreement, so I was the middle man again, and had to resolve
things, and honestly the entire 3 hour block I was on the brink of
tears, faithful everything would workout, but stressed and frustrated
but I didn't want anyone to know I was about to break down because
sister Henderson was already crying. So I silently struggled, until
sister Wynn ( one of my favorite people ever) just gave me a hug, and
I broke down and she just gave me the best motherly hug ever. I was so
grateful, and just an exemplary act of Christlike service, I am so
grateful, makes me cry just thinking about it... Anyways, that was
deep, I usually don't share those things with you, but that was a
really hard day. And as I said before I learned so much and I am so
grateful for it. I have learned a lot about African American culture
and their temperaments and a little insight to their perspective and
trials they face as  blacks in America. I hope that very trial I face
I can face the way I faced this one, while the whole experience was
hard and I don't desire for myself or others, I felt so loved and
strengthened through the whole thing, I really felt the spirit with
me, and a calmness, even when I was faced with the very worst fears
and anxieties. I am grateful for the atonement and that it covers
everything we go through. The Lord loves me. I know it. I know he is
mindful of me and cares deeply and is always there to help us deal
with others and show them love even when it is hard.  And I know the
same is true for each of you. I love being a missionary. I am grateful
that I am on a mission today, in the service of the lord. 78 "todays"
left. I am going to make them count and just enjoy the moment.

This church is true, don't forget it, and do all you can to nurture
your testimonies of Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

Love you all,
Sister O'Neil

I am so excited! This week we have women's conference and zone
training and just so much good stuff!

We held a lot of animals this week and did a lot of service.  Mowing
the lawn, painting, etcetera. I sent pictures. :)

Hope all that makes sense. Let me know if you need clarification. Have
a great week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE!  Hope you have a wonderful day! Love you a butt ton! :)

9/1/14

“When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God.”

Hello my dear family and friends! 

This week has been FULL of service! We have been busy and it has just been fun! :) 

We helped Sister Linda Johnson clear out some trees and brush in her back yard. Us and both sets of Elders went to help for about 3 hours at her home. It was pretty fun! We mowed and cut and dragged and threw logs and branches. It was awesome to look at everything we accomplished.Lots of hard work, and i was sore the next couple of days, but i was so much fun and so worth it! :)  

I have had to remind my self a lot of that doctrine this week.  That even when things are hard and we are sore, they are worth it. because it means we are growing, and being strengthened. simple, yet satisfying...

We also helped sister Millard with her garden. We helped to plant some seeds, she is hoping they will work this late in the season. It was pretty fun. it reminded me of the days that dad and i would plant gardens together and then he would do the rest of the work. hahaha still true sometimes. hahah but funny.  :) so we planted seeds for her to do the rest of the work. 

AND THIS WEEK:  tomorrow actually, I am so excited! one of my goals since coming on my mission has been to mow the lawn! I have just been wanting to mow the lawn, i know it seems weird, but i really do miss it.  So.. TOMORROW is the day!! i am so excited! its going to be awesome! 

oh, transfers.. I am staying here, and staying with sister Henderson for another transfer. Should be great! i love being here. There are a lot of people that we need to find and teach. 

we have been talking to a lot of people this week actually. it has been really cool just to see how we have been placed in the right places at the right times. It feels good to just be talking to everyone about the gospel. We have met with a few of those people and have another appointment tonight with this girl named shaun.  It is exciting. we are just trying to get our teaching pool rebuilt, and get the ball rolling. 

We are still working with Linda and Patricia. THey are doing well, linda received a calling and we are working to help Patricia get to Nauvoo!  woot! 

We had dinner with Maribel this week, she is a recent convert in this ward, and from Mexico. she fed us so much good food! I felt like i was at Tacos Manuel. It was delish! but as in that culture, right as i was filling extrmely full, she pulled out more food for us to eat.. i about died. we didnt eat the next day. haha 

We had a really fun activity with the relief society this week. they had "learn a new skill" night. It was really fun to be there and talked to a few non-members who came. It was great to see members invite their freinds to church activities. So we had some good conversations with them. 

Moments of darkness and depression or fear and pain, are some of the worst. some of the pains and worries we have can seem to great to handle. That we are not up for the job, or that they are too overwhelming. That frustrations will never leave and we don't know how to do things differently to resolve problems. i have loved looking at this quote from Harold B. Lee " happiness does not depend on what happens outside of you, but on what happens inside of you; it is measured by the spirit with which you meet the problems of life." 

I know Heavenly Father is mindful of us and that he loves us. I know that He is aware of us on a very personal level. and loves us. trust in the lord. That is all he asks of us. even when he requires that we do things that are hard. I know it is a growing experience and i know we are blessed as we do all that we can to follow the trusting advice and direction he gives to us. and it will become easier to meet the problems of life with that happy attitude. 

I love the book of mormon. I know its power is real. and I love the feeling i get every time i read.

ok, love you all! 

hope to hear from you soon! 

love,

Sister O'Neil 

summer bug bite count: + 5