The worth of EVERY Soul is Great...

Hey!

This week has been good for sure! Sister C and I have definitely seen miracles. We have two new investigators and will hopefully have one more by the end of this week. One of our investigators, A**, is a former. He has been taught before but stopped taking the lessons. He randomly showed up to church last Sunday and as we went to see him this past Wednesday, he asked when he could start taking the lessons again. We taught him yesterday and it went well. He told us he knows this is all true, he just needs to learn and understand it all. We definitely can see him getting baptized next month! We are hopeful and we are praying! He is golden!

Our other investigator is C**. We met her a couple of weeks ago (the one who was walking her dog before we went to dinner. Have I mentioned her?). Well we went and saw her after the Women's Conference on Saturday (Which was AMAZING btw) and it was needed. This week is emotional for her and her family because it is her son's bday this week (the one who died). She had read the pamphlet we had given her when we first met her and she said it gave her comfort. We talked to her a little more about the Plan of Salvation and how her son is ok. She said she is really interested and really wanted to learn more. She felt hope with what she read and what we were telling her and that she wanted it all to be true. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she was really excited to read it and to learn more. We are going back this week to teach her more. She is willing and definitely has been prepared by Heavenly Father to receive the gospel. I'm so excited for her.

That's something that I have been coming more to understand. That there are people like C** who are searching for something to make their life better. There are those who are in darkness and it's so hard to watch because you know you have something that can help them and give them the hope and peace they are begging for. We have the privilege of helping them. We all do. The worth of every soul is great in the sight of God. No one is excluded in this plan or in receiving His love. This gospel is truly a gift from a loving Heavenly Father. Without this gospel we would be lost, just like some of our brothers and sisters are. It makes me want to work even harder so I can help everyone that I can. Are you willing to do the same?

General Conference is coming up this week!!!!!! I am so excited and you should be, too! It's the chance you have to go in with questions and to listen to our leaders for guidance and inspiration. It's such a simple way to receive answers you have been searching for. All you need to do is SINCERELY pray and go into Conference with a question and  ACTIVELY and SINCERELY listen and PAY ATTENTION to thoughts and impressions that come. It works, I promise. Are you willing to try it?

Heavenly Father definitely knows better than you think you do and He is waiting to help you. You just have to ask and be willing to change. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, God's work in your life is bigger than the story you would like to tell" (D Todd Christofferson).

Hope you all have an amazing week and see the Lord's hand in your life (He's there, you just have to be looking).

xoxo,

Sister G

 

The worth of EVERY soul is great..including a chicken's    :P

[sent to Sister Groneman's mom after a dinner appointment]

[sent to Sister Groneman's mom after a dinner appointment]

[sent to Sister Groneman's mom after a dinner appointment]

OH MAN...this week

Hey!

This week has been good. Sister C** and I have been working hard and we have seen results and miracles!

The ward is getting more involved, which is exciting. Our ward mission leader went out with us this week and also our Relief Society President. We had success with both of them, meeting and sharing the gospel with people. We also spoke yesterday in Sacrament meeting. The ward loved it and the YM president told us it was the best Missionary Sacrament Meeting he has seen in the ward the whole time he has been there (30+ yrs). The Spirit was definitely the teacher. Last night we had a youth fireside about missionary work that the bishopric wanted. Sis C** and I decided to bring in the two sets of Elders in our district to have a Q and A session with the youth. This way they could actually learn more about what they want to know. It was a really good night. The youth had really good questions and we feel like it opened their eyes a little about the whole Missionary work stuff. I think they understood more that we are just like them and the fears that they have, we have them as well. It was just a really good night. THE CHALLENGE THOUGH. So in the next couple of weeks you will probably get pictures of Sis C** and me covered in pie....we gave them the challenge to pass out more Books of Mormon than us this week. If they win, they get to throw pie at us...Sis C** and I are preparing ourselves hahahaha!

My first exchange was this past Saturday and I loved it! The Sister Training Leaders are so fun to work with! I was with Sister F** and we had a great day. Even though plans fell through, we still saw success! Our dinner message was really good, and the lesson we taught right after was what this lady needed to hear. It was so cool to see the spirit working and to know that even though we were speaking, it wasn't us teaching.  

MIRACLES
Sis C** and I have been praying and working hard to find the one. We received TWO referrals within 24 hours of each other this weekend!! One of them we don't have a number so we have to go to the house to see them, but the other we called right after we received it and he said he was VERY interested. He has a wife and a little girl and we are meeting with them tomorrow. We are excited and are praying for them!

It feels like this week is going to be a good week so I am very excited. Sis C** and I had a bomb weekly planning session and are excited to carry out our plans and goals. Our saying is ONE MORE. We are going to go the extra mile on everything because that is what will help us find the ONE.

I hope you all have a good week! and if you have the chance, look up the poem HOLES. It's a good one:)

xoxo
Sister Groneman

We held baby goats!!!!!!!

We told the Elders to do face masks with us when they dropped stuff off hahahahahaha

Sis C and me

The sunset

The sunset on the ocean

Sister F** and me

Anyone know what week it is? Because I don't hahaha....

This week was a roller coaster filled with so many miracles! We've really been trying to find people and have been praying to find someone to teach. This past week the Lord has put so many people in our path it seems like to talk to, and hopefully they will become investigators. My favorite one is a lady named C**. We were early to our dinner appointment so we walked the street and got talking to her. She thought we were JW at first and asked us for the newest pamphlet. When she realized we were Mormons, she got excited and we started talking. It turns out her son committed suicide recently and she and her husband are looking at and are open to all the different religions. Perfect opportunity to bear testimony! Sister C** was bomb and took that opportunity to give her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and tell her about eternal families. She was super interested and wanted us to go back, but she had to talk with her husband about it. We are crossing our fingers! It gets better though. The couple we had dinner with are really good friends with her and talk to her all the time! So we already have people who can fellowship her. We are praying for her!!

Another miracle. We were doing daily planning and we felt that we really needed to go see a guy named C**. He hasn't seen the missionaries in 2 years since he stopped taking lessons and he told us that he is searching to have a connection with God more than ever. He said he had been talking to his dad about it when we knocked. Yes, Sister C** and I are part of one of those miracles now! How cool!? We want to go back and see him and hope that he will be open to meeting with missionaries again.

B** and J** did get married! It was a cute wedding. We helped B** get ready, which was fun. The Relief Society stepped in and decorated a little bit and had a cake for them which was so sweet. And a lot of people came to support. They were both super happy. We are now working on getting J** to church so he can get baptized.

We have a new standard of excellence that President Felix gave us. It is one baptism per month per companionship. I know this is possible because I know P Felix receives revelation from Heavenly Father. We just need the faith and the motivation to work even harder! We can do it!!

Thoughts before I go:

Having a testimony and being converted are two different things. Conversion is the fruit of repentance and obedience. You start with a testimony and by working on it and being obedient and changing (repenting) you will be converted.

The church is not a one and done thing. Everything we do is always repeated in one way or another. Sacrament, our work, then doing work for the dead, reading, praying, EVERYTHING. You can't just expect to do everything once and be fine. Everything we do is repeated because we know that to learn you have to do things over and over. So, the next time you really don't want to go to church or read, or ____(fill in the blank), take a moment to think about that and decide if you want to keep learning and growing closer to our Savior.

I hope you all have a great week! I know I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for Sister C** and me!! We will be working hard!

xoxo

Sister G

First Week in California

Hello from California!!!!!

It's crazy to think that I'm actually here now. Like, this is real. President & Sister Felix picked us up from the airport. They are so nice, I love them. The rest of the day was super chill. We picked up two missionaries later in the day who came from the MTC in Mexico, but other than that we visited the mission office and then went to the mission home. It's beautiful here. There are flowers and colors everywhere. And fruit fields and vineyards and things like that! MY PLACE.

My companion is Sister C** and she is from Sandy. Yes, we have a connection. Her sister is B** L**'s wife! She's actually known I would be coming since I got my call. It's crazy that she is my trainer. She's great. She has such a strong testimony and I've already learned so much from her. We are working on how to bring all our ideas together and make a better plan. She is a yellow [personality] and I'm blue, but we both have red as our second so we are figuring things out hahahahahah.

I am in Paso Robles. THREE HOURS away from the mission home. Our mission doesn't go any farther north.  It's gorgeous here. There are vineyards everywhere and just rolling hills. Everything is green from all the rain. I absolutely love it. The stars are so incredible as well because there aren't as many lights out here. I am selfish and just stare at the stars every night as we are driving haha.

hahaha so proposals. Yes, Sister C** and I proposed. B** and J** have been investigators for a long time. She is baptized and he isn't. He has proposed to her a few times, but she has always said no for different reasons, but they're basically married already. Anyway, J** hasn't been progressing because he is ready to be baptized, but he hasn't gone to church and there wasn't much more we could do. So, our lesson was just bold, and basically we were going to burn the bridge until they were ready, if they weren't going to make changes and keep their commitments. The lesson was so good. The Spirit was definitely working through us and in them. What we were telling them was clicking and what we were saying was bold, but it was what J** and B** needed to hear. B** really wants to go to the temple but she can't until J** is baptized and they are married. It clicked in her and it clicked in J**. So we popped the question. And B** said yes, she would marry J**. and then J** said he would get baptized. So there will be a wedding this Saturday, and J**'s date was moved up to April 15. So excited!!

The people here are great. I'm slowly learning people in the ward. They are way nice. Our ward mission leader is great. He is really involved and very helpful, we just need to help the members get excited and involved in the work. I'm starting to see just how important members' involvement is.

I wish I could've been there for the drum recital!! I bet it was amazing!! And a new band? since when!? and COLDPLAY!!!!!! I hope it all works out.

I hope everything is going well back home. In the snow. While I'm in the sun;) haha

Oh so I don't need it for 6 weeks, but you can't really go anywhere without a GPS, so should I buy one here? I was wondering if there was a super cheap one on Amazon? Let me know.

I hope I answered all the questions. I'm going to try and send pictures now. The third one is of mexican food. It said it had a secret sauce. FRYSAUCE. It was frysauce hahahahahah   I have way more to send from the last week in the MTC, but I don't have time so you'll get them next week. An hour isn't enough aghhhhhh

Stuff to think about--

"What we love is what we seek; what we seek determines what we think and do; what we think and do determines who we are and who we will become."

"Our calendars can never be so packed that we don't have room to show love to those around us."

Take time to focus on others and seek ways to serve them. Love is the Key.

See you next week!!

xoxo-

Sister Groneman

Sister R** & Sister Groneman

This one is of Mexican food. It said it had a secret sauce. FRYSAUCE. It was frysauce hahahahahah

New Companions: Sister C** & Sister Groneman

Arrival Letter

Mom & Dad,

Hey! I made it safely. I guess you haven't gotten a call saying I made it here because we don't have the home phone anymore. They've tried calling though.

It's so pretty here! It's like the place I've always wanted to live so I'm so happy. There are fruit fields everywhere and the strawberries are so good! I can't wait to see it all.

The Felixs are so nice. We've gotten to know them since yesterday and they are amazing. I'm so excited to be here! 

Hope you are doing well?

I'll be emailing soon!

xoxo

Sister Groneman

Sister Groneman and Sister & President Felix

[President & Sister Felix know Eliza's Grandma & Grandpa Groneman because they share the same home ward. Sister Felix sent a sweet note to Grandma telling her that Eliza arrived safely, that she's an incredible girl, and that she's going to be a great missionary.]

New Companion

From the mission blog:

Transfers 2/28/17

We had breakfast at 7:30 and then took pictures.  President Felix did interviews with all of the missionaries to get to know them.  Since our missionaries enjoyed learning about their core personalities, we thought we would continue doing the personality test with these new missionaries.  After that we played Jeopardy with questions from the white handbook, Preach My Gospel, and miscelaneous questions regarding the work.

 

Yesterday went very smooth except Hermana B**'s luggage did not make it.  We were told by the airlines that it would be delivered Monday night to the mission home.  It didn't come so she slept in her dress even though I offered to give her some pjs.  It didn't arrive until Tuesday afternoon.  She was amazing and had a great attitude with no complaining.

The office couples arranged for lunch for the new missionaries, trainers, departing missionaries, and those who would be taking out the departing missionaries for the afternoon so they could still work while we were meeting with the new missionaries and their trainers.

After the orientation for the new arrivals and the meeting for the trainers, everyone came together to find out who their companion would be.

Sisters Groneman and C**

New Arrivals

From the mission blog:

New Arrivals 2/27/17

Four missionaries arrived from the Provo MTC around 10:45.  We loved seeing them almost run down the stairs and felt their excitement.

Sister R**

Sister Groneman

The two missionaries from the Mexico CCM were not going to arrive until 1:56 so we decided to stay close to the airport.  We drove to the Institute at UCSB where Elder & Sister Clark were waiting.  We walked over to Freebirds and got lunch to go so we could eat at the Institute.

The missionaries were good sports in playing a game of drawing, humming, or acting gospel related words.

The six missionaries come from Arizona, Texas, and Utah.

 

Here is San Buenaventrua City Hall.  We drive past it on the way to Father Serra Cross.

After President Felix talked about being anxiously engaged, leaving things behind and to commit to the mission, they are jumping in with both feet.  We feel these missionaries are special and will be a great asset to the mission.

Due to the lack of vehicles for transporting on Tuesday, the missionaries were given a sack to put what they would need for Monday night and Tuesday.  All the luggage was then locked up in President Felix's office.

We borrowed one of the mission cars so we could get everyone to the mission home for dinner.  After eating, the assistants did a short orientation.

We know we can't give them a lot of information because they are so tired.  They get up so early at the MTC and CCM that it makes for a very long day; and of course, they don't go to bed early the night before.