Last Week in Moorpark

August 14, 2017
Hey!!

This last week was good! Things have settled down in Moorpark which made it a chill week.

We had a couple lessons with R**. He is doing well! He is somewhere in Mosiah right now in the Book of Mormon which is great! He is slowly changing each day. I can't wait for the day when he feels and can understand the answers he has been getting about everything, because right now he is so focused on reading the whole Book of Mormon. He can see his faith growing though and he has told us that which is great! There is power in the Book of Mormon. It was sad to say goodbye to him, but I know he is in good hands.

D** is changing as well! She has started to listen to the Book of Mormon on the gospel library app in between appointments!! And she told us that somehow she has always known that Christ visited the people in America. It will be in her own time, but I am confident that D** will continue to come closer to the Savior and eventually (and hopefully!) have the desire to be baptized.

One cool thing this week is that we were able to work with the YSA Sisters a few times this past week. We had time to fill and needed to be productive so we went out with them. Friday night, we were able to go boothing in the mall with them! You just talk to people in the mall. Sis A and I felt like we walked into the world which was overwhelming at first, but it ended up to be pretty fun! YSA still scares me though haha!

It was really hard to know that this was the last week here. And Sunday yesterday in church, Bishop H** made us cry! Let's be honest though, we've been crying a lot because we love everyone here so much. They are truly my family and I will never forget them. But I knew that things like this were going to happen when I signed up! It doesn't make it any happier though.

So I guess the part you've all been waiting for- where I am going.

So I think I first have to tell you that I won't know who my companion is until tomorrow. I am training! And we are whitewashing in to Santa Maria! Yep, back up north. It will be another adventure!! I have mixed emotions about the whole thing as well. I am really nervous. And hesitant because I will be the companion who knows more and I will need to show the way which I feel like I've had the comfort of leaning on my companions when I didn't know what to do. On the other side, I am calm and at peace because I know the call came from the Lord. He trusts me and has placed His confidence in me. And He will help me every step of the way. "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded." I feel like so many in the Book of Mormon who are called and they have the faith to do it, but they are still nervous. I know whoever my sweet sister is will be an amazing missionary and I am excited to welcome her into the Great California Ventura Mission.

Love you all! Sorry I had so many pictures to send home, but I forgot my camera....I know, I'm sorry. You'll get them next week:)

xoxo,

Sister G

Thousand Oaks Zone Conference

 

 

Zone Conference luncheon

 

 

6 months already?

April 7, 2017
Hey!

I can't believe that tomorrow I have been out for 6 months. The Lord's time is so different compared to the world's time!

This week was good. Sister A and I have seen miracles and have been able to still be productive in our area.  We've been able to set a lot of appointments working with our members and some less actives. They've given us referrals as well so we've still been able to go knock some doors haha.

One cool miracle though! We were out with our RS president again and we were not seeing any success. At all. At one point we ended up on this steep dirt hill trying to find an inactive member. We tried to go visit a lady named M**, who was sooo nice to Sister A and me on the phone about a month back. Well, the door we knocked on was the wrong apartment....So Sister E** called and left a message. We decided to head to the apartments across the street to try a couple less actives there and still, no success. Right as we were about to call it a day the phone rang. It was M**! She was just about home and wanted us to come by! We were able to stop by and meet her. We talked for quite awhile. She shared her story of being baptized at 14 and going in and out of activity, but she always ends back at this church one way or another. She really wants to have a solid testimony in this so she invited us back! When we met with her, she shared some questions that she had and we were able to answer them. She said that even though sometimes her brain starts to overthink about some things, she always goes back and remembers how she's always felt here and how she feels like there is a fullness here. Really the one thing holding her back is the Book of Mormon. She hasn't read the full book and she really wants to. She knows that if she can read it and decide and know that it's true then she will be fine! ... Sister A** and I are really just there to help her read the Book of Mormon. She remembers pretty much everything else, although we will review it all. Her husband is not a member, but is very supportive, and hopefully will gain interest as M** is meeting with missionaries.  It was so cool!

R** and D** are still doing well! We had a great lesson with R** this past week. At the end he asked our members that were there how long he would have to wait to get an answer. It was one of the only times I've seen him really really wanting to have an answer. I can't wait for him to get it! We were able to get D** to stay for Gospel Essentials yesterday which was great. The lesson was on baptism and it was exactly what she and R** needed to hear. Brother H** gave a really inspired lesson!

This week we have lessons with R** and D** again, and hopefully M**. It should be a great week. Transfer calls are this Saturday...I'll let you know what happens!

xoxo,

Sister G

 

 

 

 

Oh. We were able to catch a baby lizard. Her name is Shequoquo:)

 

 

 

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!:)