I'm The Ward Organist Now, Haha

HELLO EVERYONE!!!

Lots of changes happened this week! We moved apartments and we love our new one! It's still in the same complex but a different building. I'll put my new address at the end. It is way nicer than our last apartment:)

We also had transfers this week and Sister Smith and I are staying here together in Red Rocks... BUT our area has been split since there are so many reassigned missionaries. We are sharing our ward with some Elders. They are going to focus on the members with last names in the first half of the alphabet and we are taking the second half. They're pretty cool but it's hard to lose some of our members. Also, Sister Smith totally thought she was going to get transferred so she made a bet with another Sister in our district that if she didn't get transferred, she would cut bangs... so now she has bangs haha.

We also moved to a new district since areas have been splitting and stuff. They are awesome!!!! We are called the Jewell district so that's pretty cool. We have a bunch of Spanish speakers because the Spanish areas are in our district and there are a lot of reassigned missionaries like me who know Spanish too. There is even one Elder who was called to Ecuador Guayaquil West too!! We had a super spiritual district council this week and I think we're going to get some good work done this transfer. We went on a district hike at Red Rocks this morning! It was so beautiful and super fun to be with everyone.

Yesterday I got to take the sacrament 3 times because our ward does 2 sessions and then we do a little sacrament meeting as a district. It was weird to have the Elders in our ward at church with us. The Bishop asked me to be the organist so yep now I do that. I actually feel like it went super well for only having played the organ like once or twice in my life. I know that the Lord helped me play well even though I don't have much organ experience. 

This week was pretty exciting overall but sometimes it's tough with all the Facebook Specialist responsibilities and meetings we have. We really just would rather spend more time working in our area and with the members. So we are trying to figure things out with that and it has also been tough to find people to teach recently. We have been making some good goals for this new transfer and we are excited for a fresh start.

Also, yesterday we were calling some former investigators and this one lady we called was like "um I don't speak English. Anyone speak Spanish?" So WOOT WOOT I got to use my Spanish to have a conversation with her and she said she was interested in coming to church next Sunday! We'll probably have to send her to the Spanish ward though. 

Anyway I think that's about it. Being on a mission is definitely a crazy rollercoaster of emotions and experiences but I really love it. Last night we had a zoom devotional with our whole mission where people shared experiences that helped them decide to make Christ the center of their missions and lives. The Spirit was SO STRONG. I love being so immersed in the gospel and the Spirit as a missionary.

Love, Hermana Megan Young:)

Here is my new address:

10555 W Jewell Ave, Apt 20-207

Lakewood, CO 80232-4847

Pictures:

1-3. Sunday Pics with Sister Smith

4-7. Jewell District hike

8. Us with Brother Perdue, the best ward mission leader ever

We're Moving!

Hello everyone!

Tomorrow we will be moving into a different apartment because ours is kinda falling apart, smells like weed all the time, and is by some sketchy neighbors. It's in the same complex but a different building. We're excited because the one we're moving to has been renovated so it's way nicer than what we have now and it's on the 2nd floor instead of the 3rd floor so we don't have to climb as many stairs:). 

But we are also having transfers this week and we don't know what's going to happen yet so we could move in and then have to move out 2 days later. Our apartment is a disaster right now because we're packing everything up. Missionaries have been living here for a while and so lots of stuff has accumulated. I'm excited to get into the new place and get all cleaned up and organized.

The sad news this week is that Ryan, who was on date for baptism next Sunday, decided he doesn't want to get baptized anymore :( He won't answer any calls or texts and we even tried visiting his house but he didn't answer the door. We think his family just isn't very supportive. We were also struggling to find new people to teach this week. We ended up getting in contact with 2 new people yesterday so that was definitely a miracle. Other sad news is that a member called us last night and was super angry that we had talked to her about Facebook when we had dinner at her house last week and that she didn't feel the Spirit when we spoke in church. That really hurt. Missionary work is tough sometimes.

Anywayyyyy, back to the good stuff. Some members let me borrow their guitar!! That has been super fun and also Sister Smith and I wrote a song called "Colorado Sky" and it's actually super good (well, we think it is haha). Stay tuned for the music video!! Our good friend Shane who we had to pass off to the YSA Elders gave us matching bracelets!! We also had lots of fabulous dinners this week with members! We also got our pictures back from our photoshoot a few weeks ago at Red Rocks so that is exciting!

Today for P-day we met up with our district at a park and ate ice cream and crumbl cookies and we played frisbee and had a good time. It was probably our last time together with that group because transfers are coming up and we think things are going to be changing a lot because we're getting like 30 new missionaries this week.

Good luck to everyone starting school today!! Love you all!

Love, Hermana Megan Young

Pictures:

1. Green Mountain district at the park

2. Us with Travis

3. Us with Shane

4. Random picture at Red Rocks

5-19. Photoshoot at Red Rocks

New Car!!

Hello everyone!

This week we had zone conference in person (socially distanced and with masks of course) and it was so good! It was so fun to see missionaries in person and to hear messages from my mission president and his wife. I played the piano for all the hymns (but no one was allowed to sing so it was a solo) and I played the musical number too. 

At zone conference we got a new car too because the one we have been driving was a rental. We now have a super nice, brand new, blue Chevy equinox and we love it!!! We are still trying to think of a name for it so if you have any suggestions, let me know:). 

We also did some service this week pulling weeds and we saw lots of spiders and my companion saw a snake. 

Yesterday we had church for the first time and it was amazing! The Spirit was so strong! Sister Smith and I both spoke so that was fun. There were 2 sessions so we had to give our talks twice. It was awesome to see everyone together and meet the Bishop in person and everything. One of our investigators named Ryan is getting baptized in 2 weeks and he was at church! A bunch of other investigators that we invited didn't show up though:(

Anyway, it has been another good week here in Colorado. There are some wildfires in our mission but not near me. But we have had smokey skies and ashes on our car in the morning.

Love you all!

Love, Hermana Megan Young

Pictures:

1. Zone conference 

2. New car!

3. Ice cream bars from some members

4-6. Pretty skies

Freedom!!!

Hey everyone!

Yesterday we finished up our time in quarantine and we were able to leave our apartment!!! It was so nice to get out! Being stuck inside was tough but we were so blessed because we were able to put 3 people on date for baptism throughout the week!! Woohoo! 

One of them we actually just met yesterday. We got a phone call from a member saying that he had a friend that was interested in learning about the gospel. We went right over and met the most incredible and strong person ever, Shannon. She has been through so many tough things in her life and is just ready to find peace. The member who called us said, "You ladies talk and I'll go make you some cookies". We taught Shannon about the Restoration and I felt the spirit SO STRONGLY as I recited the First Vision to her. It was amazing. After we finished the lesson, the member wasn't back yet so we just started teaching the Plan of Salvation lesson and we also ended up teaching her the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson too because she was super interested. She told us that she wants to be baptized so we set her date for September 5th! Unfortunately we have to pass her off to other missionaries because she isn't in our area, but I am so grateful that I was able to meet her. Her faith and strength are inspiring and it was definitely a miracle that we were able to teach her.

I know that the Spirit guides us as missionaries and that this is the Lord's work. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! I love the gospel! I know it's true.

Last night we had a fun photoshoot with some other missionaries because we were getting pictures of missionaries to put as the cover photos of the mission Facebook pages. It was so fun to hang out with the other missionaries and to be at the Red Rocks park for the pictures.

We also had dinner with some awesome members last night and it's like 3 generations of the family living together. All of the men in the family are named Gary so it's really funny because they all have numbers. So you have to specify if you're talking to Gary 1, Gary 2, or Gary 3 haha.

For P-day, Sister Smith and I went hiking at the Red Rocks park and it was so beautiful!!

Love you all!

Love, Hermana Megan Young

Pictures:

1. Missionary party during the photoshoot (professional photos coming soon)

2-8. Hike at Red Rocks

Quarantined

Hey everyone!

So this week a member was at a lesson with us and then the next day she tested positive for covid :( so now Sister Smith and I have to be in quarantine for a while because we were with her. We were wearing masks and social distancing so hopefully we don't get sick. So far we are still healthy which is good. We can't leave our apartment unless it's to go to Walmart for the grocery pick up where you order in advance and they bring everything to your car. And we can also go on short walks around our apartment if we are wearing masks and no one else is outside. Oh also members can drop dinners off at our door so that's good.

Even though we can't leave, we have still been keeping busy with lots of phone calls, zoom lessons, and Facebook stuff. Last night we had a Facebook live "Spiritual Sunday" event about temples and families that was a success! Our mission is going to start doing Spiritual Sunday every week and Sister Smith and I were in charge of the first one! It goes to all the Facebook pages in the entire mission (13) so lots of people. I think you can go back and watch it if you want on The Church of Jesus Christ in Lakewood Facebook page. 

Before we had to be quarantined, we were able to have interviews in person with President Rees so I was finally able to meet my mission president and his wife in person! They are super awesome. We also had some fun member dinners which we can do in backyards if we are socially distanced. For some reason everyone wanted to feed us hamburgers haha.

Oh also today marks 2 months as a missionary! Pretty crazy!!

I only have one picture this week and it's Sister Smith and I holding some chex cereal because we were going to make the recipes on the back (muddy buddies and peanut butter bars) and bring them to our district sacrament meeting to give to the other people in our district. We took that picture to send to our district but then we got put into quarantine so we couldn't go to sacrament meeting :(. We still made them though and now we have lots of treats and only two of us. We might leave some outside our door for members when they bring us dinner. Also, of course the most important thing about this picture is that we are matching our outfits hehehe.

Love you all so much!!!

Love, Hermana Megan Young

Picture:

1. Matching with chex