Umm...what?

Hey!!

I hope everyone has had a good week! Our week here in Moorpark has been quite eventful for sure. Before I explain, Moorpark is probably one of the safest areas you can go to in this mission, I would say. So I am totally safe (Mom and Dad, I promise I am safe). This week has totally been a testimony builder of just how much Heavenly Father protects and takes care of us.

Long story short Sister A** and I are living with a couple in our ward until the end of the transfer when we get whitewashed out.  We had to leave the apartment because it wasn't safe for us to be there. We received very crude and vulgar texts, followed by the person showing up at our door...and trying to open it.  This person knows where we go to church and things like that so we always have to be with someone at church now. We aren't allowed to proselyte and walk around our area, to keep us safe. And we are totally moved out of the apartment. We almost were ETed [emergency transferred] out, but there are only 2 weeks left in the transfer so President is keeping us here until then. 

Even though all the crazy is happening right now, we've still been able to be productive. We taught D** and R** this week and both lessons went well. They both came to church yesterday, too! R** really liked it he said, which we were happy about. We know D** and R** will be baptized in the future and we are so grateful to be teaching them!

I think the biggest thing this week, though, is just how much help Sister A** and I have received. Being a missionary, all you do is serve, but right now everyone has been serving us.  I can't even count the number of missionaries and ward members who have helped us. And you can't forget the Lord. He truly has been taking care of us. There were so many who wanted to confront and take on this person haha. Our ward mission leader and his family have truly been our family. The couple we are staying with are so sweet in taking us in and providing everything for us, all the ward members are watching out for us, it's been so humbling. It's been hard for us to be humble enough to let others help us, but we are so grateful. We feel totally safe with so many taking care of us. 

Isn't serving what it's all about though? That's why we're here--to become like our Heavenly Father and the Savior. All the Savior did was serve. We are here to help our brothers and sisters, to lift and support each other, to protect and comfort, to listen, to love.  

Yes, Sister A and I are so sad to be leaving in 2 weeks. Everyone has become family here. We know that it will all work out the way it is supposed to. We trust in the Lord and His plan. 

If you got anything out of this email, I hope that it's service. "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Mom and Dad again, I promise I am safe:)

xoxo,

Sister Groneman

 

 

Hi from Cali!

Happy Pioneer Day!! [Mormon Pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.]

I hope everyone does something fun today! My ward actually celebrated Pioneer Day on Saturday with a ward activity. There was dinner and then a bunch of pioneer games and crafts to do. Sister A** and I were in charge of teaching and helping the kids make yarn dolls. I can make a pretty good yarn doll! Hahaha. It was so fun though! AND R** came! This was perfect for him to meet more members and start to feel comfortable around them. We found out that one of the first ever lessons he had with the missionaries, the member that was brought reacted badly to a question/concern that R** brought up and she was kind of offended. Right now, R** says he isn't comfortable with members there because he doesn't want to offend anyone with his questions, so we were so happy when he came to the activity! The ward was great with him as well! Later that night we were on the phone with him and he said he really enjoyed the activity and was very grateful we had invited him. He said he could feel that everyone was full of the love of Christ and he really did have a great time. 

On the subject of R**. We had great lessons with him this past week. We are so excited about him. We are watching his faith grow each time. In one lesson this week he shared with us how he was able to answer a question that he had while he was reading. He was so excited because it was one that he went back to the chapter in Isaiah that it was referencing and was able to understand. The Book of Mormon and the Bible TOGETHER can help understanding!

We had exchanges on Wednesday, which were fun! I was with Sister P**! We had so much fun. It was a totally different day for me. I can see and understand how some missionaries have no problem talking with everybody. My exchange goal was to have more faith and trust, and I worked on that by being impulsive. I have no idea where this comes from, but we say it a lot in the mission- Every thought is inspiration until proven otherwise. So that's what I did. If you saw me that day you would wonder who I was! I've had moments throughout the day where I wasn't second guessing or hesitant, but Wednesday was a whole day of that! It's so hard to explain! I  want to stay like that, though, and get better at it, which is the challenge. I don't want to start over. I know 100% that I had the Lord's help that day and I know that I will continue to have His help as I work on getting better at it. 

It sounds like everyone is doing well and having fun, so that's good! I hope you all continue to do so. Don't forget to take a little bit of time and crack open the scriptures though! I promise it's worth it!!

xoxo,

Sister G

 

So I guess last Monday was National Ice Cream Day. A couple in our ward was so sweet and bought us ice cream! Just because! It was so sweet and we felt so loved! We love our ward!!

Exchanges with Sister P**

Sister and President Nakken

 

New Mission President Letter

                                                                                  
July 17, 2017

Dear Groneman Family,

As a newly called Mission President and wife, we were thrilled to arrive in the California Ventura mission and meet each of the most wonderful missionaries  in the world.  Sister Nakken and I are amazed at the quality of missionaries that serve the Lord so faithfully.  It is truly a blessing to be with them.

We want you to know that we do not take lightly our responsibilities to help each one achieve their goals in every aspect of their lives, as well as the opportunity to return with a feeling that the Lord is pleased with their sacrifice and service. It is our desire that each one builds a rock solid foundation that will prepare them for incredible success in the future.

As a way of introduction, we have included a picture of Sister Nakken, myself and your missionary.  She is a wonderful young woman and we love her all ready.  When we received the call to serve we contemplated how we could express our willingness to be apart of their lives.  We were drawn to the following scripture, as it represents our commitment to your missionary.  We felt that this calling is more than just for the term we serve.

In 2 Nephi 2:30 Lehi expresses his undying commitment to his family and to his stewardship when he says "I have none other object save it be the everlasting welfare of your souls."  We feel this same commitment to those who serve with us.  Thank you for your prayers.  Thank you for your unwavering support of your missionary.  May this time be one of spiritual growth for your family also.

Yours in the "Harvest"                                      

David H. Nakken                                                                                                                      Mission President                                                                                                                          California Ventura Mission

I Feel Like I Emailed You Yesterday...

Has a week really gone by?  I can't believe it's been that long!

This week has gone by so quickly, but it was so good!

Wednesday was probably our busiest day. We went out with our Relief Society President and visited some inactives with her. Afterwards we went to lunch with her and her daughter who is an RM. It was so fun! We loved talking to her daughter because she was so real about everything and about what happened once she got home and transitioning and everything. But she is still herself, which was nice. 

We also had our first interview with President Nakken. Can I just tell you how great he and Sister Nakken are!? They are amazing and I love them. I'm so excited. We asked them about iPads and they told us that they really want them, but don't know when the mission is going to get them. They asked when they were in the MTC and the tech people said that the First Presidency wants every mission to have them. What they are working on is HOW they are going to do that. There are over 500 missions in the world (or something like that) and only 88 or so have iPads. But they are working on it!

Story time! So we had a former investigator named R** that we weren't going to see. Well, one day this guy walks up to us in our complex and we learn that we are talking to R**. We agreed to meet with him. The first couple of meetings were so hard because it felt like he was just there to compare and bash a little. (He has read the Bible 5-6 times and is very "to the line" if that makes sense?) We were going to drop him the second lesson and  right before the lesson, in our prayer we told Heavenly Father if that wasn't the right thing to do then don't let it come out of our mouths...and it didn't. So we set up a third lesson with him. We decided together that we were only going to read the Book of Mormon with him to help him understand. (Previous missionaries had told him to read all the standard works and that he couldn't pray until he read the whole Book of Mormon and it's hard for him because the parts that aren't similar to the Bible he doesn't understand). The third lesson totally changed EVERYTHING. All we did was help him answer his questions he had from the chapters he read in between meetings and the chapter we read with him. The Spirit was so strong and the answers we gave him were totally from Heavenly Father. We watched R**'s wall come down and I could see him for who he was-a child of God who is just trying to learn and understand. The Spirit was so strong. And we were able to understand a lot of the confusion between us. R** believes a lot of what we know already, he just uses different terminology for it, words that we define differently. 

He also came to a baptism on Saturday. Our Ward Mission Leader ( who we LOVE!) came and was able to talk to R** for a while as well. We have already seen R** change just from taking the time to help him and try to understand him. We are confident that he will one day know it's true. 

Sister A** (We celebrated her 1 year!!) and I have been talking a lot about families this week though. We really feel like this ward is our family and we love them. Anywhere we go we will always have family because there will be a ward family there. In the bigger picture, we are all part of Heavenly Father's family.  And we probably promised each other that we would find each other. The Gospel brings our family back together. Our responsibility is to help each other get back home, is it not? And there are those in our family who are looking for us. Just let your light shine.

Thank you all for being examples to me. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for being family.

Remember: it's a good day

                    just keep swimming

                    God is good

xoxo,

Sister G

We celebrated with ice cream:)

A Packed Week

Hey!

So much has happened it's hard to know where to begin!

Update on bugs: My feet look better haha! I actually have ankles and feet again. So whatever kind of mosquito they have here I am allergic to. For most of the week I've had to elevate them when I'm home and put some rubbing alcohol on them and wrap them, even at night.  I've had more bites as well. I have a picture of ONE bite on my arm that was huge. But all is well! 

Update on Investigators: Well. Back to square one. We had our last lesson with J** before she left to I**. We chalked out the Plan of Salvation which she loved. We made prayer rocks with her earlier in the week as well to help her remember how to pray. We miss her already! We are hoping at least one of us will still be here when she gets back.

Crazy story with M**- So I guess he's been in contact with the YSA sisters as well. They stopped by our apartment yesterday and told us they were going to visit a guy named M** they have been in contact with. What had happened was when he requested his Book of Mormon he must've requested missionaries as well and he was referred to the YSA sisters. But the four of us didn't know we were both in contact with him. So....we are giving them his teaching record. We were pretty sure he was going to be YSA anyway and we'd have to refer him, but I guess he referred himself? 

So ya. Sister A** and I are back to square one, but we know there are people out there who have been prepared and who are ready to hear the gospel. We just have to find them!

We have been doing service for J** and T**. (She is less active and he's not a member). We love them so much! We have worked with their horses and have taken their dogs on a walk. They have warmed up to us as well and we are getting to understand them more. We had a great conversation about lessons they've learned throughout their lives and it's so interesting to hear that what they were saying are things that we believe and know, they've just taken the Savior out of the picture. It was so special though when they told us we were coming over for lunch that day. As we were leaving, J** made a comment that we have brought more meaning into their lives. It meant a lot to Sister A** and me. We have seen them change already and just want so badly to bring the Savior back into their lives. Love by patience right?

President and Sister Nakken are amazing! We were able to meet them on Saturday and I love them! They are just who I need at this point in my mission to keep pushing myself and becoming the missionary/daughter of God who Heavenly Father wants me to be. I can't wait to learn more from them. 

Sister A** and I had a cool miracle Saturday night. Our RS President challenged us to sing to someone to introduce ourselves and start a conversation. So Saturday night we were ready to do it. We hadn't found anyone and decided to walk around this block before we went home for the night and ate dinner. We talked to some people, but it didn't feel right to sing. The last person we talked to was different. It was so easy to sing to him, and he was so happy. It opened up this long conversation about him. His name is M**. It turns out he used to be paid to sing different places. He has had so many hard things happen in life that he shared with us, but no joke, he was one of the happiest people I have ever met. He had searched out a lot of different religions when he was younger trying to find something to hold on to. He was first introduced to Mormonism when he was in the Navy. Currently he is just Christian, but he told us that he liked us because we were different than most people who come to his door. We looked like we were happy and loved what we were doing. It was such a spiritual experience. The Spirit was so strong. There were so many little decisions that we made leading up to it that led us to him as well. We can't wait to go talk to him again!

I hope you all had a great Independence Day! Keep smiling and keep pressing forward. It's worth it, I promise! 

xoxo,

Sister G

We went on a hike to Paradise Falls!:)

We're not dead yet....

Well. We survived this week. Let me just give you a quick run down.

Monday: Surprise lesson with M** (He's a new investigator, I'll talk about him later!).

Allergic reactions... the other bites were swollen, but not as much

Wednesday: Elder and Sister Andrus came from the mission office to bug bomb the place because we were still getting bit. We had to be out of our apartment for at least 3 hours. When we came back, we started airing out the apartment and filling out teaching records. Out of nowhere we see a huge brown spider run across the floor. Sister A** dropped the Area Book on it. We picked up the Area Book and were looking at the crumpled spider when all of a sudden it pops back up and runs under the couch. I don't think I have screamed as loud as I did in a long time haha! The spider had to be killed though, so we put on socks and pants under our skirts and, armed with tennis rackets, moved the couch. The spider was for sure dead after we were done with it!

Thursday: Still getting bit, but we can't find a sign of bed bugs. Elder and Sister Andrus come again. They help us wash and bag up all of our clothes just in case we do have bed bugs. We slept at the Sister Training Leaders'. 

Friday: Pest control came. They couldn't find any bed bugs either. They were able to spray for spiders though because we have seen so many (We have seen so many baby and adult spiders. We even found one in my bed one day...). We had to leave the apartment for most of the day. We did all of our studies at the church. We had so many bags of clean clothes in our car as well. It looked like we were living out of our car.  We slept at the Sister Training Leaders' again.

Saturday: We walk in to the apartment and see a spider on the wall. If you were wondering, yes, Sister A** and I are DONE with crawly things!  

We have come to a conclusion with all of our bites. It was a mix of mosquito and spider bites. It's been lovely haha. The mosquito bites don't look like the ones I normally get though and they itch soooo bad. It looks like I have a disease on my ankles and feet. It's ok though, the work goes on!

During all of this we started teaching M**!  He is Ethiopian and is so cool! We went to follow up with him on Monday to see if he had read any of the Book of Mormon we gave him. He said he had and he wanted a lesson! We have taught him a couple more times since then as well.  He is awesome! He loves it. His first language is Amharic and he really wanted a Book of Mormon in Amharic so he could understand it better.  We have one coming for him and it will be here next week. Guess what though! Yesterday we saw him as we were walking to our apartment and he was so excited to tell us that he had gotten his book! He had gone onto mormon.org and requested one himself! I have never seen someone so excited about the Book of Mormon before. He got the pamphlets as well in his language. He kept saying how excited he was and how he understands so much more. It was such a cool experience! We were going to set a baptism date with him on Friday, but he ended having to take his break to meet with us because he had to work. We did set a goal with him to stop smoking. We were talking about repentance and he said that is something he really wanted to stop doing. We know he can do it! He will be out of town this week so we will teach him next week, but he said he was so excited to take his Book of Mormon with him haha. We hope he isn't YSA...

That was pretty much our week. We taught J** again. She is 9 years old. Her mom is Cuban and her dad is Italian. Her mom doesn't speak that much English so we are hoping to take one of our members with us who does. J**'s parents haven't sat in on the lessons yet, but we are hoping they will eventually.

President and Sister Nakken are here. I  haven't met them yet, but my zone is meeting them on Saturday. I heard they are great!

Oh, something else that was cool! We went and did service for a less-active member and her husband. We helped with her horses. We walked them around and bathed them. I have never done anything with horses before and Sister A** has always wanted a horse, so we loved it! They had us over for dinner on Saturday as well which was huge. We are so sad though because they are so far away from the Savior. We love them and hope one day their hearts will be open. We are going back to do service for them again! 

I hope everyone is doing well! Have a great week and please don't get bit by anything! hahaha

xoxo,

Sister G

 

Our District+ Zone leaders...We have a blast!

Our apartment has been a disaster. This is what it usually looks like​.

 

Last letter from President Felix (Mission President)

From the mission blog:

Dear California Ventura Missionaries,

I am writing you to express the love and admiration that Sister Felix and I have for each one of you.  This past week was amazing as we were able to share in the zone conference our love and testimony of the Book of Mormon and the veracity of the Living Christ.  We believe in Christ.  We loved being able to personally say goodbye to each one of you.  Thank you so much for the love and support that we have felt from you.  We hope that you will remember that we love each of you.

 

I will not be able to respond to your emails due to my limited access to IMOS this week.  If you just send a short greeting, that would be wonderful.  Your emails next Monday should be addressed to President Nakken.  They are so excited to meet you.  They are enjoying the MTC experience even as you read this.  As soon as President and Sister Nakken arrive on Thursday afternoon, he will be your mission president. 

Sister Felix and I will leave the mission on Friday morning and join our family in St. George for the weekend before arriving home on the 4^th of July.  We will speak in sacrament meeting on July 9^th.

The advice that I want to leave with you is the same as I challenged you with when you first came into the mission.  Put “Both Feet In”.  Finish your mission strong by putting aside all worldly diversions and focus on the sacred work that you have been set apart to do.  After you return home, put both feet into any worthy pursuit you engage in such as schooling, your job, your church calling and when you get married, your spouse.  Being consecrated will help you in achieving your potential.  You don’t want to be less than your potential by slacking off, giving less than your best effort, losing your priority, or giving up. 

President Eyring told us when we were called as mission president and wife that we should not judge the success of our mission by the number of baptisms we had during our mission, but by the level of spiritual activity the missionaries and their families will have in 20 years.  

Sister Felix and I have faith in who you are and the potential that you each have for an abundant, joyful and faith filled life as we prepare for the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Now is the time to set aside all worldly distractions and put every effort into this short time you have to serve Him in the Great California Ventura Mission.

With Loving Memories and Hope for the Future,

President and Sister Felix

We brought this quilt with us to the mission with the intent of all of our missionaries signing it.  On the bottom is our favorite scripture for the mission:  

Doctrine and Covenants 12:8

And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care.

When missionaries leave to go home, they sign the quilt.  This month while President did interviews, the missionaries signed the quilt.  They also filled out a paper with a special experience they have had on the mission.  It will be fun to have the quilt at mission reunions.