/10/27/14

. Happy People are Spiritual.

Hello family!!

well this week we had a little bit of a pre-Halloween with lots of blood! Sister Sullivan had 3 extremely BAD nose bleeds this week, that lasted for like 40 minutes each, and it was incredible. I was so fascinated by the whole thing because I had never seen someone's nose bleed like hers did. I was also probably really intrigued as well because I have never had one. so it was so weird. anyways, I attached a picture for you all to see..:) hahaha she is a good sport about it all.. I guess It happens a lot to her, so it was nothing new..

We have been working hard, and sometimes, most of the time,  it never feels like it is enough or that we satisfy others demands, or what we THINK they desire of us.. most of the time our perception is wrong about what other people think of us. anyways, so it can be little bit stressful and hard to "measure up" and I just have to keep pushing myself and not become defeated. Its a great stretching activity!  y'all should try it! :) haha

before I forget, Patricia is doing well. She came to church, and she helped one of the Elder's investigators, who is blind, around church. It was great to see her serve others and help them she is the best! I seriously Love Patricia!  we had a good lesson with her this week that lifted our spirits. thank you for your prayers, they have been answered. She really opened up to us and told us a lot about the trials she has had in her life and all that hse has been throught. it is overwhelming. and then to look at her and see how strong she is, it is amazing. I know it was only because of the Lord that she is in the place she is in. She has really come a long way and is being healed through the gospel. it is amazing to watch.

When sister Henderson was here we were looking for some places we could do community service and volunteer, so we found this place in Chillicothe called Helping Hands. It is a volunteer run second-hand thrift store that is Christian based but non-denominational, and we would be going there to help sort and organize. oooook. so we finally got back in there to get the info and ask them when we could come and help and they invited us to come on Saturday. side note- Chillicothe is a 30 minute drive north, and a lot of miles, so we try not to go there more than once a week. anyways.. We get up there to start our shift and the lady Chris says to us "while you volunteer here you have to take off your name tags." ... ummm what?? I am 95% positive my jaw dropped in front of her. hahahha I was in disbelief. I have NEVER been asked to do that, so I wasn't really sure how to respond. she went on to say " we are interdenominational here and so you will have to remove them."  so I calmly said to her " we don't take our name tags off for anything. We are representatives of Jesus Christ and we wear them so that others can recognize us." She cut me off and said "well we are too! but you will have to take them off... you can put them under your sweater!"  I explained to her that we would not actively proselyte or teach others while we volunteered at their organization out of respect, but she just responded with "well you will just have to wear them under your sweater"  ... LADY!!!  THAT IS Like Not wearing it at all!! hahahahaha!!  seriously! ( I didn't say that.. I just thought it..)  At this point all the workers around us  ( about 5 or 6) stopped to watch this discussion, because she was really snippy and short and rotten with us. it was sad that she felt so strongly about this. But we just kinda stood there and told her we would not remove our name tags and that we were sorry that their organization had such restrictions that we could not offer our helping hands. I gave her our info again and said if they ever felt like they needed additional help they could call us.  I think I was in shock for a few moments after that experience, I think mostly I was just sad that someone was asking me to hide who I am. I wondered about if we had been a nun or Muslim or some other obvious religious or cultural belief if she would have asked them to do the same, to remove entirely or partially .  to me my name tag is part of my armor. Its a part of who I am right now and I am dreading the day that I have to take it off. I was really grateful for that opportunity to boldly defend who I am and not

this week I read an article on either Mormon newsroom or lds.org (I cant remember) but it talked about happiness and the 10 charactersistics of happy people. I relaly loved this article and the quote at the very end from Man's search for Meaning.

"Even the helpless victim of a hopeless situation, facing a fate he cannot change, may rise above himself, may grow beyond himself. He may turn personal tragedy into triumph." Its all about ATTITUDE!! it always about our attitude, which is something we control. it is a choice we make. and we have the help of the lord to change it when it is hard to.

We are off to carve pumpkins! I didn't do it last year, so  I am determined to this year. We have our trunk or treat on Wednesday and then on Friday for Halloween we are going to the Crespos home to use their home theater to watch a church movie. It is super nice like the White's home. :) they are so nice to let us come and use it. :)

I am so excited, next week is Stake conference here so I am eager to see some ward members from Pekin! I am excited for them to come and so that I can see them!  woot! it will be great! :)

that's all folks!

love you all!

have a great week!

love,
Sister O'Neil  

10/20/14

Dear family,

We’re going where?
Guess where I am going right now?! That's right! BEAUTIFUL NAUVOO!
We got a text from the zone leaders on Thursday telling us that we
would be going today,  and so here we go! I am so happy about this. I
didn't think I would get to go again to Nauvoo while a missionary, but this is
so great! Such a tender mercy.
Speaking of tender mercies, I have seen many great mercies from the
lord this week. It has been such a wonderful week! I have noticed that
with this responsibility of being a trainer I have felt a greater abundance of the spirit
with me, and it has been such a blessing. I have learned so much and
have done a lot of reflecting about the beginning of my mission and
how much I have grown and come to understand things that I never
thought I would understand.  Having a new companion, I have been
reminded of all the fears and anxieties I had as a new missionary and
I have loved thinking back on all my experiences to see how each one
helped me mature and grow. It's really neat.  I hope more of these
opportunities to reflect back will present themselves through out my
life, and I hope you will look at your lives.  I love being able to
see the potential heavenly fathers saw in me and how applying the
process of the gospel has shaped me to become a stronger disciple of
Christ.

 Now I am in the middle of Iowa, traveling back. So for a few moments I
am west of the Mississippi, that much closer to home... And now we are
crossing back.  :) #missionaryforlife #idontwanttoleave #thatsgoodcuzidonthaveto...yet!
Nauvoo was great and amazing. I love the temple so much. It was such a
blessing to be there and be in those holy walls and learn from the spirit. It is such a joy and privilege in my life to be in the service of my fellow brothers and sisters, in and outside the temple. But I LOVE Nauvoo! seriously. I will attach some pictures.

so I started this email this morning, and now I am going to finish...

This week has been pretty good. It has not been a normal "missionary week" (well at least that is what I keep telling sister Sullivan) because she has been sick, so we have been trying to help her get some rest and health back, and then today we went to Nauvoo.

Anyways, we had to drop a couple of our investigators, so we are back to the beginning, working hard through members and tracting etc. to try and find some people to teach. Sister Henderson and I had met this lady last week and we went to teach her last night in hopes that she would become a new investigator. The lesson went ok, until about the 1st vision. people either love it or hate it. It was so weird because every time we tried to tell her about the vision she would ask a question or something, and we couldn't get to it. DARN SATAN!! he always gets in the way! but what it came down to was that she thought we had to pray through our prophet to strengthen our relationship with Christ, and today in the temple it was just SO CLEAR to me how important a prophet really is. I love the temple. so much. also it was like a fulfilling of the feelings I had during conference. I felt like they were preparing us for battle by fortifying our testimonies of prophets and encouraging us to pray etc. and then we went to battle last night. it ended with her inviting us to her church and she kept asking us "what is your purpose in coming here?" and she would not stay quiet long enough for us to respond.. so annoying. but its all good! she gave us referrals!! :) woot! so we are going to stop by them! 

Sunday was a really hard day. we always try to call linda and patricia to help them come to church - because they both still struggle with it a little bit.. and so we had called patricia and she was not very happy. then about two hours later she sent us a text about how she felt we were overwhelming her and she felt pressured.. and all these negative things, she said she was thinking about not being a member anymore and it broke my heart. I just sat down and cried for a while because of how hard other people exercise of agency can be sometimes. for a few minutes I felt like a total and complete failure and that all our efforts were pointless. and then I snapped out of it. The lessons that day were about reverence and I received so many comforting feelings from the things people said and the prayers others prayed. they were in tune with the spirit. And I just hope and pray she will have a softened heart again and not get off the path. She came to church at the very end to do her visiting teaching and I gave her a big hug and told her I loved her. I hope she knows that I meant it with all my heart. please pray for her. she needs it. :)

the church is true! have to run, we don't have any more time. but here are a couple of pictures from today!

I love you so much! thank you for your prayers and love.

training is hard, but so good! I really do love it. sometimes I forget she is new.. haha oops!! haha

love you!

Sister O'Neil

10/13/14

You may be wondering why my subject title this week is all about President Fenn.  Well for any missionary in the Illinois Chicago West Mission on the night of transfer calls, knows that when that name appears on the phone as the person calling who will determine your fate, you know it's a big deal.  Well, sure enough it was President on the phone and he told Sister Henderson her fate, that she is being transferred away to the Schaumburg YSA and that I Sister O'Neil will be... I don't know if I should tell you.. I am so nervous about it, and truly humbled, ... but...  I will be a trainer for a brand new missionary for the last six weeks.  So, As many other missionaries say,  "im having a baby!"... Haha this will be an adventure. I am so so excited, but also extremely nervous and humbled. Truly, I don't feel prepared for this, but I feel prepared at the same time... I view it as a great honor that the Lord and President Fenn trust me enough to place this responsibility on my shoulders and I hope I can do my best. In some many ways it is an answer to my prayers, because I want to be a more consecrated missionary, and I know this will push me to work harder and become better to reach that goal. I told president that I would do my best, and work hard and thanked him. So tomorrow we go up to Naperville to drop off Sister Henderson and meet my new companion. Another thing that is kinda freaking me out a little is that there are only two English sisters coming in this transfer. Out of all the sisters, I was chosen as one, and I can think of 10 sisters who, in my view, have much more experience and are more confident in helping new missionaries, but I have been comforted by the knowledge that "whom the Lord calls he qualifies." I need to trust in that. Yay for all the good news. :) It's gonna be great! I am excited! 

I am so grateful for this week of my mission. First I just want to say, that I am so grateful for these last three transfers I have served around other missionaries and in the Peoria ward. Yesterday was a somewhat sad day at church, because 3 of these missionaries are transferring out, and many members were sad, bishop had them bare their testimonies, and I just realized how grateful I am for this season of my mission and life. I was tempted to be sad that change was happening, but then I just focused on the blessing it has been that the lord has allowed for us to work together and enjoy one another.  I was so happy!! I AM so happy! I hope we will stay good friends and keep these awesome memories. The church is true!! 

 On Friday we had an awesome experience and opportunity to go to a mission conference with Elder Robert C. Gay of the seventy. He is a special witness of Jesus Christ and had so many awesome, AWESOME things to tell us. I loved what he and president taught us, " the work of salvation is the work of healing." We as missionaries, and you as members, are working together to heal Gods children. We are the means (3 Nephi 18:32) and the Book of Mormon is our tool, evidence and power to get the job done! He compared our time, to the story of the brother of Jared who desired to bring his family and people to the promised land ( AKA eternal life, the celestial kingdom , to live with God... You name it :) ). The brother of Jared needed revelation and counsel with the lord to know what he should do for light in the barges, well His help comes in only one way: believing in the impossible and seeking for the truth. So we know, the brother of Jared went to the lord and presented his plan and they received light. Now he helped us to think of our efforts as missionaries and how our tool of the Book of Mormon is no different than the stones for the brother of Jared. Both come from the earth, both are new and weird to the people, and maybe they are not as easily accepted by the people. But in ether 3:2&4 we learn the importance of studying it out and then asking for a miracle to happen. And our study combined with our faith move the work forward, it teaches us all things we should do, and brings the power of the Lord into our lives to get us where we need to go. Ahh! There is so much good stuff. I know what he taught us is true. And I know these principles can be applied to any calling we serve in in the church. There are miracles we hope to see in the lives of others, and greater efforts we want to put forward, because we love the lord.  As we focus on the the importance of the atonement, and testify of it, more than anything else, we help to heal people. We teach them how to open their hearts and FEEL the power of love change them and bring them light, truth, hope and HEALING. I know that it is when we are healed, we are truly converted, because we feel of His great love, and will do anything to feel it constantly in our lives. Talk to people's lives, because how we teach ( or lead, or guide, or comfort, or serve ) is just as important as what we teach. I want to add my favorite scripture here: " wherefore my beloved [family], pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that he may become the sons [and daughters] of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." (Moroni 7:48) 

It was really neat be a use he shared a lot of stories with us from his mission, and his time as a mission president, and as he was telling us a story, I realized I had heard it before and I could not figure out where I had heard it. Thinking I had heard it on my mission I asked sister Oliphant, Bailey and Henderson if I had heard it with them, because they were my comps. And then I realized that he had come to BYU-I while I was there and told the same story. It was really neat, and awesome to hear it again. He shared with us some of his personal experiences working with the quorum of the 12 and the first presidency, and they were really neat to hear about. At the end of his discourse he said something so profound to me, and as I have pondered this I realize that putting our trust in the lord is so much more than what I thought it was, and there are so many blessings. This inspires me to want to be more consecrated and I hope it will for you to. He said: "Focus on the Lords priorities and He will focus on yours." So cool!!

Sister Henderson asked an awesome question to him about personalities, and how we can know ourselves when we are changing so much as missionaries and people... ( I think she is going through a toughy, trying to really know and understand who she is right now, she has been asking everyone this question.) anyways, she asked this question, and I am so grateful she did because I learned so so much from his answer and I know many other missionaries did as well. Basically he taught us that we are each given characteristics, qualities and talents that are similar to others.  It is how we use our agency to use those qualities that makes us unique and gives us personality. Everyone's experiences on this journey of life are different, and we learn best in different ways, no one is the same. This makes my mind go wild with so many examples I could list! So cool!!  I loved what he said, that the lord blesses us with feelings of commonality with others, and as I thought about that, I have realized how easy it is for satan to warp that, and makes us believe that we are just like everyone else and not special. But that is obviously false! Don't listen to him! I think the Lord blesses us with commonalities so that we can have the feelings of belonging and we are able to comprehend others based on the degree that we are like them. We are unique, but we are the same, and most of us have the same desire to do good and be good. ( basically be disciples of Christ, but the rest of the world doesn't realize that is what they want. :) hahaha ) 

This week we saw Meet the Mormons! SO GOOD! I cried and laughed and felt the spirit. I hope you all got to see it. It is so moving and so inspiring. It even made ME want to be Mormon! Hahahahahaha :). Seriously though, the first presidency directed the movie and was in charge of it, don't know if you knew that. The assistants instructed us about the significance of this movie and how it is a fulfilling of prophesies. So cool! The work is moving forward! :) 

We had FHE with some members this week, and for some reason they gave us marriage advice. There have been a lot of conversations with members that have led to dating, marriage, and babies it's been really weird and brought a lot of anxiety to Sister Henderson. Which brought its challenges.

Oh! Ok so this weekend was awesome! On Saturday we went to loaves and fish, saw some of my favorite people, and listened to them gossip about each other yeah that is always fun. I have been working on one of them, baring my testimony here and there to help her. Anyways, that's not why it was a awesome, it was awesome because we went to s baptism and we have been telling others that we had a baptism! Let me explain, the zone leaders baptized Daphne, she is so cool, 17 and her boyfriend was reactivated in June, and then brought her into the gospel and so it was so wonderful to be there and be a part of that event. She is so sweet.  Then, Linda Johnson went to the temple to do baptisms for the first time and she took her husbands name Jim Johnson to be baptized! It was so cool!! She told us of her experience and was emotional, and I could tell she felt the spirit. I was so happy for her!! So we saved another soul!! Linda is amazing!  

I am so grateful for this week. Needless to say, I have learned so much. Sometimes I wish it could go a little slower so that I could really learn and internalize everything. There is so much coming at me all the time. Sometimes it is like drinking out of a fire hydrant, which I am So GRATEFUL for! It is amazing! 

Well! Here's to the next 6 weeks! Wish me luck! I love you! #44days #soshelpimatrainer 

Thank you for everything. All your support and love and letters and prayers and concern and excitement , everything! The church is true!! 

Love, 

Sister O'Neil 

Hello my family.                                                            10/8/2014
I loved general conference! Didn't you?
There were so many aspects of general conference that I loved. Great
themes of : prophets and apostles. The sacrament. Pleasing God and not
man. Service. Personal responsibility. Asking for the truth. Paying
the price. Becoming brilliant in the basics. Sustaining leaders.
LIGHT! ( that was one of my favorites). Fortifying our foundations.
Joseph smith. The Book of Mormon. PRAYER. Families. Parenting. Truth.
Repentance. Sanctification. Decisions. Gods love. Eternal perspective.
Keeping sacred things sacred. THE ATONEMENT!
And so many other good ones. I learned so much this conference.so many questions were answered!  Some
of my favorite talks were jörge klebingat's and elder Hamulas. And
elder Scott's and president monsons. Ahh! They were all good! It was
amazing! I am sad that president Monson didn't get up and extend the
time of service for sister missionaries. But.. Tis not the will of the
lord. :) I am also sad this is my last general conference as a
missionary, so bitter sweet. Wasn't it amazing to hear all the
promised blessings?!?! Goodness! The church is so true! How could it
not be!? Seriously!

This week we did some stop bys to less actives.. Well we are always
doing that, but this week it was really funny. Anyways as we were
walking up to their door I waved at the woman inside because she was
looking out the window, and she sent her husband to the door. We get
to the door and he is waiting for us, and we asked for the person we
were looking for, and he said " no she doesn't live here, and she's
Christian, and isint interested in your cult anyway."  I was so
surprised, I think I always am when someone says something like that
to us, because I never expect it, and I sit there for a few seconds
thinking... Did he really just say what I thought he said? There was
no time for us to respond or really do much because of the slam of the
door, So I just let out my awkward/ nervous laugh and we walked away.
Haha I am so awkward! Haha it's the best!!

Tomorrow we see Meet the Mormons! ( Linda Johnson calls it, "here come
the Mormons"... Haha it makes me laugh) I am soo excited! Have I told
you that president Fenn is the best? I am so excited. Other
missionaries in our mission saw it last week, and they have raved
about it. So I am so excited! You should all go and see it!
And then this weekend is our mission tour. Elder Robert C. Gay of the
presidency of the 70 will be here. I loved it last year, and I am
thrilled about it! I love the mission tours! It is like our own mini
general conference! ( I told you I love this time of year!) and then
Saturday is the infamous transfer calls. Which means I literally have
7 weeks left. THAT... IS...INSANE!! FOR REAL. I am praying that
whatever happens I will accept and have confidence that it is the will
of the lord. There have been transfer calls that have really brought a
lot of faith to be able to move forward, but I know that this will be
great, whatever happens. I am guessing that president will keep me in
this area for my last 6 weeks, but we shall see. I will let you know.

I finished the Book of Mormon in 65 days. It was the coolest
experience to finish and then one day later attend General conference.
So awesome! My testimony of its divinity and truth was fortified. The
Book of Mormon is so true! I will never neglect it, ever! And Joseph
smith IS a prophet of God! The gospel is so amazing. As we invited
many to hear our message this week every decline I died a little
inside. It makes me so sad when people dont want to hear or learn. If
only the could realize the great blessings waiting for them if they
would just listen for a few minutes! Oh agency!!

Patricia bought us new purses. she shouldn't have. but it was a nice gesture of her thankfulness. she is so awesome. she came to one of the sessions of conference and she bore her testimony last week about how excited she is for her daughter to serve a mission! I am so happy for her! The gospel is truly changing her life. its soo cool!

 I love you all! Hope you have a wonderful week filled with missionary
experiences.

love you!

Sister O'Neil

 Happy birthday kater-bug and Abby! Hope you have a wonderful day and
eat some delish cake!