Never Stop Your Steps to the Temple {9.29.14}

My dear family!

God is so good. I just want to start off by saying that I know that He has a plan for each of us and that if we let Him and we trust Him, He will reveal it to us. This week Heavenly Father has very lovingly reached out to me and helped me to feel of His love and presence. He is there. And He does know us perfectly. I think President Uchtdorf described it best at the women's broadcast. He talked about God's perfect love and how He loves us TODAY, right now, exactly how and who we are. He isn't waiting for us to be perfect to receive His divine love... it is simply always there. I am so grateful for that knowledge and also grateful that every time I try to do something to show my love in return, I feel His love even stronger. He truly is our Father. 

 I also loved the focus on preparing for and attending the temple. Never stop your steps to the temple!

This week we were able to teach Patrice again. She is the Wells neighbor (a family in our ward). She is catholic but is very open to learning and is just about the sweetest, most sincere woman you will meet. She has been reading the Book of Mormon and feeling the sweet Spirit it brings into her home. She even agreed to an invitation to the women's broadcast! And she loved it. It was a lot, but she loved it. She is such a wonderful example to me of a sincere heart. She is open to the Spirit and Heavenly Father is pouring it down (she doesn't have her umbrella up if you watched the broadcast :).

Katrina was also able to watch the broadcast! She wasn't feeling well so she watched it on her own at home! This girl is amazing. She came to church with the Lighthalls again and loved it. She is so prepared. My testimony of member missionary work continues to grow!

It's so sad though to see the contrast between them and another of our investigators who knows It is all true and wants it in her life but just cannot give up some of her ways of living. It is so incredible/heart breaking to see the light growing in some of our investigators while their lives change for the better and then to see the struggles of our other investigators who just won't act on what they know. Agency can be terribly frustrating. However, I know that the changes she has made have strengthened her faith and that seeds have definitely been planted. No effort is wasted!

This past week we have been working out in the gym and bringing Ensigns with us to read while we work out. I have learned so much and actually look forward to morning workouts now ;)

I am so grateful for modern day prophets and for the knowledge that the Heavens are open!!

God loves us so much! 

Check out this talk if you get a chance :)

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1989/07/born-of-god?lang=eng

Okay one more random story. Sorry for another all over the place email! I need to start coming more prepared for these things. I just have to tell you that my testimony of following the promptings of the Spirit and acting on every generous thought have really increased this week as I have been trying to do so! I was on an exchange Friday night and we decided to walk to a family's house instead of drive because it was so beautiful. Well, they weren't home and as we were walking back I had the thought to knock on the door of a referral we were walking past. We had tried this house many times before with no answer and it didn't appear anyone was home at the time, so I brushed it off. Well, it came back. We had other plans though so I pushed it aside again. After a minute of an internal struggle I was reminded that this is probably a generous thought so I probably need to act on it. So we did and......... someone answererd!! Want to know what she said?
"Oh, Hi sisters!" Uh... wait what? You know who we are?? Turns out she grew up in Utah as a member of the church but moved away and fell away. She hasn't attended in about 20 years but has an active brother in ST GEORGE. She let us in and It turned out we had a lot more in common! She was so sweet and invited us back whenever we want! She even offered laundry and dinner. WOW. As I said, my testimony of acting on promptings, even small ones, definitely increased!

I love you more than words can say!!

xoxoxo

Sister Rolfe

Pictures:

We stopped at a little farm for carmeled apples :)

The Ohio River!

Exchange with some of our wonderful sisters!

Be Thou An Example! {9.22.14}

Family!

I love you! I hope you have had a wonderful week and I would love to hear all about it. This past week was transfer week for us. Luckily, Sister Bowers and I both stayed. Thank goodness-- I don't know what I would do without her!! We did get 3 new sisters though and 2 of them are being trained! One of them is being trained by Sister Wight so that means that she is my grand daughter.. both of my babies are now mothers, I'm so proud :) AND there is a new area in our zone: Cincinnati 3, the first area of sisters in downtown Cincinnati!! This is the first time sisters have served downtown since the mission opened and we are lucky enough to be the sister training leaders over their area. So, we got to head down there this week to help them get the area opened up. They are living with a member right now who lives in one of the ritziest neighborhoods in Cincy. It was crazy because her suburb actually connects to Eastgate... weird!! 

They have some of the nicest neighborhoods and some of the sketchiest, but the members have been very kind to steer us clear of those ones. We had an awesome day with the sisters and were able to help them find some new investigators. It was great!

Here is my funny story of the week from our exchange. Sister Lane and I went to visit a member of their ward. We got there and she asked what part of Utah we were from. I said St. George and she said, "Oh, I could have guessed that" Then she proceeded the questions,

"You went to BYU before this?"

"Yep!"

"And you're going back after?"

"Yep!"

"What's his name?"

"Uh...."

"The boyfriend"

"There isn't one!"

"Oh by the this time next year you will be married!"

Then as we're leaving, I gave her a hug and she just looked at me for a minute and says,

"You are just Utah from head to toe!"

Hahaha not exactly sure how I'm supposed to take this or how I feel about it, but I'll just go ahead and take it as a compliment since I love Utah so much :)

I love serving with brand new missionaries because they are so excited and so eager and willing to work (for the most part :) The older missionaries who served around me at the beginning of my mission played such a huge role in the kind of missionary I became, so I feel so blessed to be able to hopefully be that for these new sisters. I still can't believe I'm one of the older missionaries, though. Sister Bowers and I have been talking a lot this week about the power of examples and righteous influences. I am so grateful for the many good examples I have been surrounded with throughout my life and for the impact they (you all) have had on me. Don't discount the power of your influence.. you never know who's watching!

Let me tell you a story about that :) We have been teaching Kat, who is a co-worker of a member of the stake presidency, Bro. Lighthall. He has been having us all in his home for the lessons and they have been wonderful. She is literally a golden investigator (one of the most, if not the most, prepared people I've taught on my mission) and it's in large part due to Bro. Lighthall's example. Seriously, member missionary work is where the real success is! Yesterday, Kat canceled her weekend plans last minute so that she could go to church with us. She had a wonderful experience! Yay! 

Russell M. Nelson said,

Each member can be an example of the believers. Brethren, as followers of Jesus Christ, each of you can live in accord with His teachings. You can have “a pure heart and clean hands”; you can have “the image of God engraven upon your [countenance].” ¹⁰ ‍ Your good works will be evident to others. ¹¹ ‍ The light of the Lord can beam from your eyes. ¹² ‍ With that radiance, you had better prepare for questions. The Apostle Peter so counseled, “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.” 

^{https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2010/10/be-thou-an-example-of-the-believers?lang=eng}

Other fun things this week:

The Hekkings had us over for crepes last night. Sister Hekking is French so they were authentic... YUM! 

Presidend Lighthall told us he had been talking to President Porter and they agreed that we are masterful teachers! Okay, I don't know how true that is but I wanted to cry I was so happy. I look up to both of them so much!

I received ZERO mail. That was rough.

We found 10 new friends to teach! Woohoo! pray for them!

I love you all so much!

xoxox

Sister Rolfe

Pictures:

Kelly who was just baptized a few weeks ago came teaching with us. She was so nervous but listened to the Spirit and had an awesome powerful experience!

We got name tags for our scriptures :)

let the Holy Spirit guide {9.15.14}

My wonderful family,

I just want you all to know how much I love you. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!

Okay, so my quote of the week is this:

Don’t fret at how irrational the voice of the Spirit may seem. God is in control and knows what is necessary and right.Always be guided by the Holy Ghost.

It is from this talk and I highly suggest you all read it..

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/09/your-journey-of-giving?lang=eng

If I have learned anything the past two years of my life it has been exactly that. I don't always understand why Heavenly Father leads me in a certain direction or asks me to do certain things, but when I heed His promptings things ALWAYS work out for the best.

Let me share a small example from this past week...

A family we're teaching wasn't able to come to church last week so we decided to stop by during the week and see how they're doing (they had been sick). We talked for a minute and then left, seeing as we walked down the steps that their neighbor was pulling up. This neighbor was just getting home from the hospital after being their for almost 2 months because their son had major head trauma from a skate boarding accident. We felt prompted to talk to them, but didn't know if it was a good time. Hesitantly, we walked toward the car and began a conversation. We had a wonderful talk with the mother, Donna, and offered to help with his welcome home party. She kindly declined but as she continued to talk decided to ask us to bring some food. She also told us about the priesthood blessing her son received in the hospital from a friend of theirs who is a member and how powerful it was and how quickly his health took a turn for the better. Woo!

We dropped the food by Saturday and didn't really see the family.

Sunday night after dinner, we headed toward the Fugates (their next door neighbor) because we had felt strongly the night before when we were planning that is where we needed to be at that time. We contemplated going somewhere else because it was a little late for the fugates and our visit with them wouldn't add anything to the goals we still wanted to reach. In the end, the Spirit won and we decided to follow the guidance we'd received. Once again, we visited briefly with the fugates and were headed on our way when we heard, "Hey sisters!!" We looked around and saw Cheyenne, a member of the ward, on Donna's deck. She invited us over!

As it turned out, Cheyenne's family was visiting and we were able to sit down and talk with all of them (the member family and the nonmember family). We talked about the miracles that had occurred for their son and the miracle of us meeting and helping with the food. Donna said they were supposed to come home earlier that day but kept getting delayed until they arrived exactly when we were standing there. She said when she saw us she had the thought, "I need to listen to those girls." As we talked she said she felt shivers all down her body and had another thought, "I sent them to help you" that is when she asked about the food for the party.

WOW.

We sang them a hymn, Guide Me to Thee, and the Spirit just flooded the room. It was SO POWERFUL. Now, we are going to start teaching their family.

I'm telling you, Heavenly Father knows best! Every time! We had no idea why we were going to the fugates and it seemed pretty irrational, but it ended up being one of the most spiritual experiences I've had.

Trust in Him. He will never lead you astray!

I love you so much!

xoxoxox

Sister Rolfe

Oh and about transfers, which are happening tomorrow....

Sister Bowers and I are both staying!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

Hallelujah.

Rabbit Hash and Lucy Lou {9.8.14}

Hello All!

It hasn't been long since I last wrote so this probably won't be too lengthy, but I just want to start by saying how grateful I am for each of you. Your examples and letters of encouragement give me a needed boost each week. You are so inspired!

What I want to focus on today is an exchange I had this weekend. I was able to spend the day with a sister who is really struggling. I wanted so badly to help her, but wasn't quite sure how. I knew that although I didn't have all of the answers and didn't know what she needed to hear, Heavenly Father did. I realized that if I wanted to help this sister I needed to fully rely on Him. So, I went to Him in prayer and study. I didn't have a light bulb moment of inspiration, but I felt guided by Him in my studies and when this sister opened up to me I was prepared to counsel her with the Spirit. I silently prayed as we talked and Heavenly Father was able to put words into my mouth in the very moment I needed them. He brought things back to my remembrance from my study and they suddenly made sense in the situation. He even put a road block on the road we were traveling on so we had to take the long way around the small town we were traveling to.

He is so good.

This exchange was really powerful. Not because I was able to comfort and guide this sister, but because my testimony was strengthened on the power of receiving and acting on promptings.

I have been feeling so inadequate this past week-- something I think we all face from time to time. I know that those feelings don't come from Heavenly Father, but they are real and sometimes hard to escape. All I wanted this weekend was to put those thoughts aside and help this sister and that is exactly what Heavenly Father enabled me to do-- as I relied on Him.

I know that I am not perfect and that is okay. As I rely on my Heavenly Father and diligently act on His promptings, I am enough.

Story of the week:

Thursday night we taught the foreign exchange student I told you about last week. We have been starting our lessons off with a song (it is so powerful!) so we sang him Come Follow Me. After, he told us we inspired him and that he felt like angels were singing to him. Haha, the Spirit is definitely real! Then during the lesson, their huge dog got loose in the house after he had been swimming and ran into the living room and jumped on me and Sister Bowers! hahaha it was pretty comical. The Spirit was pretty much gone at this point, so we ended the lesson by having him offer the prayer and he thanked heavenly father for our angel voices :)

Also, I read this talk this week and it really inspired me so I thought I would share!

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/10/becoming-men-and-women-of-god?lang=eng

xoxoxo

Sister Rolfe

Pictures:

P day road trip to Rabbit Hash, KY where the mayor is literally a dog, Lucy Lou :)  It as actually the cutest little tiny town!

And our zone :)

I feel my Savior's love {9.3.14}

Oh goodness, I always have a hard time knowing how to tell you everything in these letters and this week I have two extra days to talk about! Bear with me, I will do my best.

You know those moments, experiences, and words that speak to your heart and you know you will never forget because they've changed you? The past 10 days have been full of those moments. My heart is so full.

I love this Gospel so much.

Let me start by telling you a little about the details of the week..

Monday-- went to the Zoo (again!) with the zone leaders and two of the sisters who have been struggling. It was so much fun-- as always. We ran into a family who was recently baptized and now live in ST. GEORGE! Woo!

Tuesday & Saturday were spent fasting for different reasons. My testimony of fasting and prayer increased so much. What a powerful tool we've been given. Have you watched the new Mormon message, Hope of God's light, yet? You should!

Thursday-- Had dinner with a family in the ward.. started teaching their foreign exchange student from the Philippines! He is a senior in high school and actually went to a Mormon church about 6 years ago randomly. When he told his mom (who is catholic) he would be living with a Mormon family she told him, "Follow the Mormons!" :)

Friday-- I got to spend the day on an exchange with my dear daughter, Sister Wight. I am so grateful for this day. Sister Wight is a changed person-- literally not the missionary I served with 7 months ago. We got to talk all about our companionship, our experiences together and apart, and how we've learned and grown, and our love grew even more for one another. I know that God places people in our lives for very specific purposes. He has blessed me with so many second chances on my mission to learn from these wonderful people.

Saturday-- We taught a member of the stake presidency's friend in his home. He is actually her boss and was bold (and loving) enough to share the Gospel with her because she was seeking out peace. She completely embraced it when we met with her. Member missionary work is so powerful!! So much more powerful than anything we, as missionaries, can do on our own.

Monday-- Mission wide finding day for Labor Day. Despite the rain that cancelled our chalk drawing plans, we broke another finding record of 276 new investigators in one day! Woo!

and this brings us to Tuesday-- Mission Leadership Council. Wow. We spent the morning at the mission home, as usual, but after lunch they changed things up and sent us to the church. We all gathered in the chapel and President Porter taught us one of the most powerful lessons about Jesus Christ I have ever experienced. He talked about His atonement and the symbolism of the sacrament. He said every week we are attending a memorial service for the Lord Jesus Christ. If we really thought of it that way, would we ever consider not going because we were too tired or busy? Wow. It was just so powerful. I will never miss a sacrament meeting after that talk. Then, there was a special musical number and the Spirit literally flooded the chapel. After, President gave us the opportunity to come forward and bear our testimonies. For the next 2 hours I felt the Spirit of God stronger than I have at any other time I can remember in my life. As zone leaders and sister training leaders shared their personal experiences with and testimonies of our Savior I couldn't help but feel of his infinite love for every one of us. It was incredible and my life and relationship with Him has been changed because of it.

Our testimonies don't have to be long or fancy. Just sincere. I know that our testimonies are only strengthened when we share them and I would love to hear yours!

I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior and I will forever be greatful to them for sending me here, to the great Ohio Cincinnati Mission, to change my life.

All my love,

xoxo

Sister Kayla Rolfe

ps...

Watch the Cincinnati Reds baseball game next Monday because our entire mission will be there!!