Busy Busy Busy

Hola everybody!! :)

Greetings from good ol' Alabama! Have I ever mentioned how beautiful Alabama skies are? Really though, Alabama and Idaho definitely have my favorite skies. Thank you mucho for the package familia :D It was a surprise and definitely appreciated. You should have just seen my face light up when I saw all of those CD's. (Which by the way, I didn't get the Disney one). Hermana Hazelgren is seriously so excited for that CD she's shaking. She LOVES Disney. And the candy was great too! Although I am definitely not going to eat it all. It's good for sharing with the Hermanas :)

Well this week has been yet another fantastic week. Despite the fact that almost every single one of our investigators have been antied or have dropped us, we are still happy! :) We went to Steak and Shake for Sister Hazelgren's Birthday. Good old greasy food :) And as we were checking out I started talking to the lady at the cash register. Turns out she had a friend who was a member of the church and recently was going to buy a Book of Mormon but she figured she could get it somewhere for free. And then we just happened to be there eating out at her restaurant! So we gave her a Book of Mormon and left her with a mormon.org card and left her with our number and took hers then told her where the church was. A few hours later we got a text from her saying she has really been studying the mormon religion!!! We invited her to church (the english ward of course) and guess who was at church this Sunday. Ariel!! (that's her name p.s.) We went early just to make sure she got there and was taken care of and then we let the English sisters take care of her. They said that as she was leaving she said, "I'll be back next week!" and they have an appointment with her on Wednesday. Miracles are out there, opportunities to find everywhere, and God does answer prayers :) We are just instruments in the grand hands of our Lord.

Other than that, our week has been super busy. We had Mission Leadership Council in Birmingham on Wednesday, so we were there most of the day. (by the way, my trainee Sister Child is a Sister Training Leader :') It was so good to see her) President Hanks has dubbed this month of August "Finding Month". Good stuff. I think it will really help the mission focus on finding those who are prepared and finding investigators in general. President really hit on just being yourself. We don't need to try to be anyone but our best self. If you like basketball, talk about basketball! But you can always link it back into the gospel. We call it "spiritual pivoting". It works great! Then we had Zone trainings on Friday. We didn't have much time to plan for them, but that's basically what we did most of Thursday. Both of them went great in both Madison and Huntsville zone. We had some great skits in the Huntsville zone training :) It was a lot of fun... and edifying and spiritual as well!

We also had two exchanges this week. One in Cullman Alabama and the other in Fayetteville Tennessee! The sisters in both those areas are AMAZING. These new sisters never cease to amaze me. I just love all of them! Fayetteville is so amazingly beautiful. It's a lot more country than our big city of Huntsville, but I just loved it there. We rode our bikes down those streets and I was just soaking it all up. Part of their area is Hazel Green (not my companions name) and that is just equally as beautiful.

We went to a members house this week. She is a southern lady who is learning spanish and can understand almost all of it. She asked to be put in the Spanish branch and so she is in it now :) She played her autoharp for us and it was SO beautiful. I could have just sat there for hours. As I was sitting there listening to her play I felt the spirit so strongly. Music is really one of the best ways to touch someones heart and soul. It made me realize how much I love music, so I am definitely coming back and working on my musical abilities :) I've been praciticing my hymns on the piano whenever I get a chance and they are coming along, but I have a lot to improve.

Sorry, that was a lot of information, but that was my week in a nutshell! It was busy busy busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I have learned, and continue to learn, that happiness is a choice ance since I've noticed that, I have never been happier. I have felt the spirit so much stronger these past few weeks and I am starting to recognize it a lot easier. I am so grateful for this mission and I cannot imagine being anywhere else right now. It is so true though, as soon as you figure out what you're really doing out here, they are about to send you home! On Wednesday I will officially be out for a year! Loco!

Love you all so much! Thank you for all of the love and prayers! Miss you!

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

Hey

I got an email from Serph. It was so great to hear from him. His email made me cry (but don't tell him that ;) ) His testimony was so strengthened from EFY. He said his favorite part was the preach my gospel activity they did where they had to teach and investigator. He said it made him want to go on a mission right now :) got to love it!

Oh guess what! I got a package from Cassi! She said she met Brayden at the airport when we was heading out :) He didn't tell me that. She gave him a big hug apparently and then remembered he was a missionary. haha. And guess what! Shes pregnant! She's due for february so I might be home before she has it. Sure hope so.

Love you LOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for everything :D

Love, Tu Hija

Loving, living, and enjoying life :)

Hola Hola!!!

This week has been great! :) Transfers were this week and that means a lot of changes in areas and people. It really has made more of a sense of urgency in our zones which is fantastic! They still haven't called Sister Training Leaders in the Madison zone so we are now over 11 companionships of sisters. That is A LOT of sisters to try to help, but with lots of prayer and the Lord, all is possible :) Most of the sisters are brand new or have only been out a few months and are now training so they are all a bit frazzled at the moment. That's where we come in and I just hope and pray we can help them all. They really are all so amazing, they don't need any of our help. All of the new missionaries have been prepared for this time because they are excellent missionaries. They train me more than I feel I train them! The new spanish sisters have amazing spanish as well. Suffice it to say, we will probably be traveling all over north east Alabama this transfer, not spending too much time in our own area, going on exchanges. Woot!...

We had a baptism this last Saturday!!! Juanita Palomino. She is a daughter of a Less active, and has some kind of learning disability. She is great, and I am so glad I got to take part in this blessing from the Lord. Miracles happen all of the time. This baptism was pretty much dropped in our laps. We had a lesson with her this week with a member from the branch, Hermana Lopez (the branch presidents wife) and she is one of the most powerful woman I have ever met! Juanita's sister, Dionicia, was not to happy with the fact that her sister was getting baptized (long story), but Hermana Lopez bore the most heart felt testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the blessing it has been in her life. I was just so aww struck I didn't know what to say, thank goodness we had Hermana Lopez there. She is an inspiration to me on living my life worthy ALWAYS so my testimony can be that strong someday. She was definitely an answer to my prayers :) It's funny how the Lord answers our prayers that way.

Besides the baptism, which was WONDERFUL, our week was a little rough. Almost all of our investigators have not been answering the door and we are sure a couple of them have been antied :( it makes me sad that there are people out there who would spread lies like they do. I don't know why people hate us so much when all we spread is love and hope. The hard part is that our investigators will almost never just tell us straight to our face that they don't want to meet with us anymore. They just want to hide in their apartments and act like they aren't home. It is a happy day when someone just tells me straight out they aren't interested. Then I don't have to waste the lords time trying to get in contact with them. Satan works hard when things are going good (like a baptism). I've definitely seen that this week. But! I am not letting it get me down :) We just have to attack with a different tactic I guess.

I got on family search and found my Decker line. Turns out Elder Decker (in my district and branch) and I have the same great great great Grandpa. Zachary Bruyn Decker :) That makes us like 5th or 6th cousins right! He was actually named after Zachary. Cool stuff huh? It's a small world, mormon world is.

I've been studying a lot about "healing" this week. I know I've talked about this before with the church being like a hospital, but I have just found so many things in the scriptures that kind of helped me take off with it. Christ, being the ultimate physician, healed not only the physical wounds, but the spiritual wounds too. And that is why we need the Church. We need the healing that we can't get anywhere else. It's the same reason we go to the hospital when we get sick or injured. We know we need a doctors help and Christ is our spiritual doctor. I was reading about the gadianton robbers this morning and I was amazed how quickly they spread eventhough they started off so small. It's like a virus. If we don't stop a virus right away it will spread until we are "ripening for destruction". That's the same with sin. If we let one small sin pass and we don't stop it before it grows and "infests" our spirit, we will be ripening for distruction. We are sinners, which means we are all sick. We need the ultimate doctor to heal us. The great thing is, he will never fail us. We CAN and WILL be healed if we turn to him.

Anyways, just a little spiritual though there :) It sounds like the family has had tons of fun this summer! I'm so glad. Lots of good memories :) If you all could, please just pray that we find those people who are ready. Our brothers and sisters who are searching for us. Those who are "bleeding out" and need the healing only the savior can bring.

Love you all mucho!!! I am grateful for your prayers and support. I can feel it every day! Miss you all! I am praying for you as well.

Love, Hermana Masey Decker.

ALOHA!!

Querida familia y amigos!

So very jealous that you get to be in San Diego right now! But not jealous enough to leave ;) I'll take the Lords work over some sandy ol' beach any day! Although it would be nice... We may have to make a trip when I get back. Can you say Disney Land anyone ;) Just kidding!... but really. Also, thank you mucho for all of the pictures!!! I miss all of the kiddos :( They are getting so big! They are just too cute for their own good. Everyone's emails this week definitely raised my spirits.

So... Sweet home Alabama. We got transfers call this week. Guess who is not being transferred... This girl! That means yet another transfer in good ol' Huntsville. And I get to stay with my lovely companion Hermana Hazelgren. That makes us Celestial Companions since this will be our third transfer together. I've never been this long with somebody ever! But it's great, we get along amazingly! That sometimes causes a problem though because we tend to have too much fun when we should be being serious ;) Lifes to short to be too serious though. We should be the examples however, as we will still be Sister Training Leaders. I'm trying to work on my maturity a bit ;) It's hard to find a good balance of seriousness and fun. Sometimes I wonder what the Lord is thinking ;)

This week was a pretty great week. We went on two exchanges (like usual) and the sister are all pretty much brand new, but I love that I learn so much from each of them! There are so many new ones and they just keep coming! Once one of the Sisters goes home on Wednesday, I will officially be the 2nd oldest Spanish missionary... no pressure. And the one who is the oldest, doesn't know much Spanish. Actually, besides the sisters who came out with me (all 4 of us) there is only one older sister. It's weird being the oldest when I feel like I just got here and I swear these sisters coming out know so much more than I do! 

We have a baptism this week with Juanita! We are really excited for it and I hope it give a little more excitement to the Branch for missionary work. We also set two other dates this week. One with Julia, a 23 year old with 2 kids. She has been going through some rough times since her "esposo" just left her and she has no job and no family here. She is really quiet and timid, but the zone leaders made some food and we had dinner with her this week! I could tell she was so grateful. The Zone Leaders are so amazing, I am so grateful we have the opportunity to work with them. Even though they don't speak spanish they are so willing to help. The second girl is Sandra. She is 20 and has two kids and is married. Por fin! They are never married. She still needs to come to church, but we are trying all we can to get her to come :) Julia's date is 8/3 and Sandra's is 8/10. Fingers crossed... and lots of prayer and faith too :)

I gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting. 10 minutes of pure Spanish in front of a room full of native speakers and a couple missionaries. The great thing is, that I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be. Me, and the two elders, were assigned to talk on missionary work and I focused my talk on Miracles and Faith. I shared the story in Luke 5 about Simon Peter drawing up the net with so much fish it filled up more than just his boat after he listened to the council of Jesus. Then Christ says, "I will make you fishers of men". This story has so many applications to missionary work I will just let you read it and let you interpret it ;) It's so good!

Mom! I do know Elder LeBaron! He is only one of the greatest Elders out here! I have had the opportunity to work with him a couple of times. He was in my zone when I was in Florence and he is in the zone I cover in Madison as a district leader. He is an amazing missionary. He always has a smile on his face :)

The work is moving forward and I am so excited to be a part of it. The mission has definitely put me through the refiners fire and continues to. I try not to focus on all of my weaknesses but there are so many! That is why I am so grateful for the Atonement. I have realized that I cannot do this work without the Lord. It would be impossible and meaningless, but with him "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" :)

Love y'all! Les Amo! Miss ya'll! Les extrano!

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

fotos!

Sunset

Birthday card from sister hazelgren

and more birthday stuff :)

Amor!!!

Hola hola!!!

It has been another glorious weeks here in Huntsville Alabama. Pretty much every day is like a roller coaster with so many things going on! We have had some pretty epic storms here, no tornadoes (thank goodness!!) but some of the most amazing lightning storms I have ever seen. It's amazing how something that scares so many people can be so beautiful at the same time. I guess it's all in how you look at it, which greatly applies to our missionary service as well.

A couple of things from this week. We had zone training this Tuesday... Elder Munns (our zone leader) was in the hospital for surgery on his elbow, so that left Hermana Hazelgren and I along with Elder Emmanuel in charge. It didn't go as great as we had hoped. I felt like we chastised the zone more than we showed our love for them. I had to make up for it and gush about them at the end before we ended. Our other Zone training in the Madison zone went significantly better. I likened our missionary work to a hospital (since we had been in there for a few days visiting with Elder Munns) and how we are the doctors and nurses. We would expect the best from those doctors or nurses for our own injuries as well as our suffering loved ones so we should be those kinds of missionaries to the people here in Alabama. There are some people who are "bleeding out" and we need to find those people and end their suffering before we try to help those with a little scratch. 

Proselyting work wise, this week was a bit rough. We had a day where pretty much nobody was home, which is always the hard days. It always makes me stop to think "Are we missing something?". We stopped to pray many times to help us get direction, but it was just one of those days I guess. We found out about some depressing news about our miracle family I've mentioned previously. We had the other sisters go and visit them while we were on exchanges, trying to keep daily contact, and the mother told them that we have to stop coming by. Turns out that the "esposo" (which 99% of the time is not their husband but Boy friend) doesn't like us coming over and beats her and her daughters frequently over it... It is a very sad situation and there really is nothing we can do about it but pray for them. She told the sisters that she is trying to get away and that she loves what we have been teaching and loves church and hopes to be able to return some day, but not for now. It's definitely an eye opener to how awful the world really can be sometimes. I really hope that at least those kids find the gospel soon. They loved church last week and Sophia (the 10 year old) asked straight out what she could do to be baptized.

On a lighter note, we went to see one of our investigators on Saturday, who will hopefully be getting baptized this Saturday!, and a 15 year old black kid walked up to us and asked if we had any pamphlets or anything. We ended up talking for a while and he has had a pretty rough life. He used to live up in Chicago area and has been in some rough crowds, been shot at a couple times, been stabbed in the knee, and is not trying to fix his life up. We called up the Elders who are over his area (in english) and talked to him right there and he agreed to go to church the next day. He went and it turns out he loved it!!!... Well not the first two hours :) But he says he wants to join our church!!... but not get baptized because he has been baptized, but we can work with that! :)

Muchisimas Gracias for the Birthday package!!! It was amazing and so perfectly timed. And the flowers just brighten up our apartment :D I have got to lay off the candy though! Next month I will have 6 months left (don't want to think about that) but we have deemed it (or all the sisters have deemed it) 6 months to skinny!!! But that wont start till next month so I guess I can finish of the sweets you sent ;) It was a great day. We went to the Taco bus for dinner "El Cazador" and I got a DELICIOUS burrito. The Zone Leaders bought me some presents (more candy) and Hermana Hazelgren made me an AWESOME card and bought me Diet Dr Pepper. haha. The other spanish sisters made me cookies. Then we had interviews with president Hanks and he shared some wise council. He is really a great guy. Really funny and easy to get a long with. Here is a couple of scriptures he has shared with us:

(3 Nephi 5:13) "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

And our "unofficial mission logo" (because we're not allowed to have one) (2 Nephi 31:20): "…Press forward with a Steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men."

Thank you so much for all of the love, prayers and support. Sounds like it has been pretty rough up there Brayden! Keep up the good work!! (p.s. love how you said "comparted our testimonies" haha, you have definitely been speaking lots of Spanish!)

Blessings and Love,

Hermana Masey Decker

Buenos Dias :)

Hola Hola :D

Well all is well in good ol' Huntsville Alabama. It pretty much rained every day this week. Thank goodness for the blessing of a car and extra miles! And when I say every day... I mean EVERY day. It did make it a little cooler which was nice. 

We had the opportunity to meet our new mission president this week! He is pretty amazing. President Hanks used to be a big guy over the marriot hotel service so his business skills are pretty much one of the best. And he brings in such energy and wisdom into the mission! I am excited to get to work with him. We had a "meet the president" activity on Tuesday where he talked to us, and he's a pretty funny guy. He's definitely not President Holzapfel, but he knows that and it's definitely not a bad thing. We miss President Holzapfel, but we're excited for President Hanks :D Than we had Mission Leadership Council on Friday and got to meet with him and his wife again. His wife is so cute and so worried about doing a great job :) We know they are going to do great things.

Sorry for last weeks letter. I was discouraged last week, but I figured out why I was having such a tough time. My experience with discouragement and having a bad attitude has really helped me to help some of the sisters. I think I went through it just for that. It goes with the whole having empathy more than sympathy thing. A lot of our zone is just really discouraged lately and so we have been working on helping them increase their faith and patience :) The Lord always has a reason for the things that we go through, whether they be difficult or not.

And there are so many reasons to be happy!! Just look around us! There are so many blessings the Lord has given us! I had the opportunity to go to a baptism on Saturday of a 9 year old girl that some of the missionaries found and taught. A NINE year old girl! It is definitely true that the youth will lead them :) And her testimony is so strong! She will now be able to live her life with the gospel and the holy ghost  to lead and guide her in the struggles that she is sure to face. What a blessing! What a miracle :) 

We have one baptismal date for next Saturday of a daughter in the branch! Her name is Juanita. I think I wrote about her last week. Then we were tracting the other day in a trailor park that we just found and we stopped to talk to this cute family that was walking home and we talked a bit about walking and how we do a lot of it and as soon as I get "Somos representantes de Jesucristo..." out of my mouth, the mother says, come on with us to our house :) The whole family of 5 (Jaime, Martina, Cathy 12, Sofia 10, and Christofer 8) came to church on Sunday!!! Needless to say the branch was pretty excited. We have a Noche de Hogar (FHE) tonight at the branch presidents house with them :D We have high hopes for them.

Happy late Independence day P.S. We had fireworks going off left and right here on Thursday night. We went to a members house and had some Argentinan food for dinner. Not exactly Burgers and Hot Dogs, but it was delicious!!! And greatly appreciated.

Tomorrow we have zone training and our beloved zone leader, Elder Munns had to go into surgery on Thursday for cellulitis in his elbow. We have spent a couple of the last few days in the hospital with him and Elder Emmanuel to plan our zone training. Elder Emmanuel, bless his sweet little heart, is from Africa and has difficulty still speaking some English, so that leaves Sister Hazelgren and I to do most of the training since Elder Munns will still be in the hospital.... Just praying to the heavens above that the Lord will give me something to say to this zone that will get them excited for the work. And what is there not to be excited about?! Doctrine and Covenants 88:73 says that "I will hasten my work in its time"... It's time! The work is being hastened and I am so excited and blessed to be a part of it :)

Miss you all! Love you all!!! Tengan una bonita semana con mucho amor y bendiciones!

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

Picturas!

1. Sister Training Leaders and President and Sister Holzapfel

2. On an exchange at Po Boys! Ate me some 'gator!

3. My wonderful companion saving me from a wasp that managed it's way into our apartment

4. I made actual food that wasn't cereal and was more than one color! :)

5. My wonderful companion

I love mi Familia! :)

Buenas Tardes :)

Thank you so much for all of the pictures mom :) They definitely brought some light to this week. The kids are getting so dang big! It's crazy! It's good to see that everyone is in good working order :) And Brayden, you look so tan in your pictures! I guess that happens when you are walking outside in the Mexico heat though. 

Not going to lie, this week has been pretty rough. I'm not quite sure what it is but I have just felt weighed down this week. And what makes it more frustrating is the fact that I know it's all based on my attitude but I'm not doing anything to change it or don't quite know how to. Our investigators are just falling through our fingers and I can't think of how to help them. We have no baptismal dates set and when we think we find someone they just come right out and say that they aren't interested in becoming Mormon. Which is bitter sweet, because I would rather someone come right out and tell me they aren't interested than having us come back time after time without keeping commitments. But sometimes I just want to shake them and say "Why aren't you getting this?!" "Can't you feel it?!" :) That darn agency is just frustrating sometimes.

I love being a sister training leader! I love working with the sisters and I love their examples to me and the love that I feel for them. They all have great testimonies and I love being able to help them become better. I love my companion! She is the best and almost always has a fun loving attitude. We have some good times. We play "pt cruiser bruiser" and "slug bug" in the car all of the time and I'm pretty sure I'm forming a bruise from all of the times she has hit me :) Exchanges are a blessing. It is a fresh of breath air when I can go on an exchange with a sister who has been out here a long time. I like not being in charge all of the time and have to be the one with the good attitude about everything...(which I should have all the time anyway), but! being the one getting everyone excited for everything, get's a bit tiring sometimes. I did an experiment this week and pretty much, if I don't initiate things in our companionship, they won't get done. Even just little things like getting out of the car. I feel like I'm not living up to everybody's expectations including my own. I just want to be the best missionary I can be and help save people. It's frustrating to have so many weaknesses!

None the less! I am complaining and only thinking about myself! And I'm sure none of you want to hear that ;) I have been praying and praying that I can just forget myself and get to work! Which has been helping. I don't know what I would do without my beloved brother Jesus :) We do have the greatest old white man that we found and are helping to teach. We call him Grandpa Bob (Bob is really his name) and he is the coolest old man you will ever meet (besides my real Grandpa of course ;) ) We had a lesson with the Elders in the English ward he is in and he pretty much said he'll be baptized as soon as he gets to church! He has been asking and asking what he needs to do to be baptized. He just has to give up his smoking, coffee and tea and he's pretty much ready to go! :) And he's working on that. So, big hopes for crazy Bob.

As for our Branch, I think we may start to see baptisms soon. We fasted and prayed yesterday to help us know how many baptisms we should set as our goal for this transfer and came up with three. That very day (yesterday) one of the members came with her daughter and President Lopez said we should get her in the water :) She has some kind of Autism or something and is about 30 years old, but he says he thinks her mind is at least at the age of accountability so we are going to work with her. 

We have a new mission president! I was so so SO sad to have President and Sister Holzapfel leave. I love them so much and they definitely have made a big impact on not only our mission, but my life as well. I may have shed a few tears ;) But we are SO excited to have president Hanks here! We get to meet him on Wednesday!

Just keeping the faith, thinking of y'all, and loving Heavenly Father and Jesus and this amazing work! I miss each and everyone of you and my prayers are always with you! Los Queremos!

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

Examples of Ammon

Hola :)

Well things are the same old same old here in Alabama. Watched the broadcast yesterday! That was pretty exciting :D I guess now the missionaries will be able to start using the computers more for proselyting. We have to wait until they get around to our mission but it's pretty neat. Using facebook and all. But, it doesn't really apply to most of our investigators considering almost none of them have the internet let alone facebook. The whole thing with the Church doors always being open, I don't know how they will do that, but I guess we will find out :) I'm glad that they called for a lot of help with the members. We really could have a lot more success if the members were involved. Our little branch is just suffering and I don't know how to help it. We have a branch mission leader but he never does anything and they never have ward council or anything. Hopefully we can get some baptisms to excite the branch more about missionary work.

The work here seems to be going kind of slow lately. We have gone from 6 baptismal dates to 0. None of our investigators are keeping commitments so we have no progressing investigators either. Our investigator Alejandra who we were so sure about, didn't show up to church. It just breaks my heart that none of these people really understand how this Gospel could change their lives! They struggle with so many things and I wish they could just see how it could all be better if they would just accept our invitations. I am really at a lost at what to do and it makes me feel like I must be lacking something because we aren't seeing success like I would like to. Although, I was reading in the Book of Mormon this morning and I have just finished most of the stories of Ammon and his brothers Aaron, etc.. In Alma 26 it mentions in vs 27   Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to^aturn back, behold, the Lord ^bcomforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with ^cpatience thine^dafflictions, and I will give unto you success. And it goes on to tell of their afflictions and then Ammon says:30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our ajoy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the afruits of our labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are bmany; yea, and we can witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards their brethren and also towards us.

It brought me back to the Christ like attribute I have been working on, patience. Maybe the Lord is trying to teach me something :) And they were just working towards, "saving some" and look at all the blessings that followed. There is always so much to learn from the missionaries of the Book of Mormon. 

Other than that, things are good :) We went on two exchanges this week. One with the sisters in Guntersville and another in the Winchester ward in Huntsville. They are great sisters. I always learn something new from each exchange I go on. We did a lot of spanish work in Guntersville. They have no Spanish investigators and they were double transfered in and one sister is brand new and the other has only been here two transfers. That's pretty much how all of our sisters here are now. I don't know how they do it. I was worried to train when I had already been here 4 transfers. They are all amazing. And to answer your questions mom, I don't know Sister Alison Spensko... there are so many sisters here now it's hard to keep up. And Sister Wilding's old companion went home due to sickness... at least that's the rumor. I haven't heard anything else.

We went to a specialized training for the Sister Training Leaders on Tuesday in Birmingham. That was intense! President Holzapfel is just amazing and so is his lovely wife. He pretty much just threw down the hammer. Basically we are going through a phenomenon because we have increasing missionaries coming, but our baptism average is going down for the first time, and it should be that we are increasing... He wanted our opinion on it, but we are just as baffled as he is. We are so sad that he will be leaving this Saturday :( He is really one of a kind. But we are excited for President Hanks to get here! We know he will have a lot of great things to bring to the mission.

We're still trying to figure out this whole Sister Training Leader thing :) It definitely has been a blessing to me as I feel I have grown a lot, I just hope I have been a blessing to others as well. That's why we're here, to bless other peoples lives and I hope that our hard work and patience ;) will bring some fruits to our labors.

Thanks mom for the skirts!!!! They have been such a blessing :) I love you all and I miss you tons! Thank you for all of the prayers and support that you send my way. I miss the kiddos like crazy and I hope that they are all doing well. I hope you're enjoying bryan head too. LOVE YOU!! Send my love to everyone.

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

Happy Fathers day!

Happy Fathers day to Dad!!! one day later, but it still counts :) I hope you got the letter I sent! Sounds like the work is certainly moving forward in good ol' Las Vegas! That is so exciting to hear with Austin and his baptismal date and with Brett! Ya'll are doing some great missionary work :) I'm going to have to step it up to catch up! I really hope that Brett continues to come to church! That would be so awesome if Serph got to baptize him. Your faith and testimonies and hard work in the work of the Lord is an inspiration to me to work harder and more effectively.

Well things are going here. It has kind of been a rough week. You get them every once and a while I guess. We have gone from 6 people with a baptismal date, to 1 and that 1 didn't come to church on Sunday so we have to move her date again. It's a bit frustrating when everyone keeps telling you that they will come to church and work towards baptism and then not put the work in to do something about it. I guess that's where we come in though. We need to help them out better. President has been telling us that we as a mission are doing better at inviting, we are just not doing so well in helping our investigators keep those invitations. I'm going to work harder on that this week.

This week was transfers. We now have a total of 9 companionships of sisters that we are over. I love them all to death, but it is kind of a lot of work :) We have 2 exchanges planned per week which means we won't be in our area as often, but hopefully that will push us to work harder in our own area with the investigators here. I think it's important for us to remember that all of these people here are not "our investigators", they're the Lords. It's hard to get some of the sisters to see that. They don't want to "share" their investigators with anyone. But, we're all working for the same goal so it shouldn't really matter which missionary is teaching them. Yes we should do everything we can to help that person and love them, but we don't have possession over them.

We got to go to Presidente Lopez's house yesterday for a "dia de Padre Fiesta". It was a lot of fun. We got to know the branch a little better and eat a bunch of different kinds of hispanic food... so much food. Hermana Beck (the other Huntsville sisters) is going to help me go on a diet this week ;) I'm gaining way too much weight. We ended up stuck their pretty much all day... Our ride back to the church didn't leave until the evening. But it was still great. I got some good spanish practice in. Which by the way, Brayden is going to speak 10x better than me when we get home. Where he is, is probably where I am right now... and I have been out 10 months. In my defense though, we are not completely submerged in spanish all of the time ;)

Other than that it has been a pretty slow week. We went on an exchange yesterday with the Athens sisters, saved a dying bird, taught a bum, baked cookies for some construction workers by our apartment, Met a millionaire who is living in a trailer park and has cancer and is related to Bruce Willis (that was an interesting one), and made banana pudding with Hermana May (a member in our branch who is AMAZING at cooking). 

Yep that's about it. It's hotter than hades here. The humidity is pretty horrible and the bike doesn't make it any better. You feel like you can barely even breathe! But it's all good :) The work of the Lord must go on! We just have some nice sweat marks to prove we've been working hard. 

I'm excited for the broadcast on Sunday! It should be pretty epic! Our stake didn't head the council of letting the missionaries watch it live so we have to watch a rebroadcast at 7... I'm kind of dissappointed with that, but it is what it is.

Love you all so so so much!!!!!!!! miss you! Thank you for all of the Love and support. Sure do love ya'll!

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

Photos!! finally :)

1. We stole the elders bike parts :)

2. Sister Marchetti and I got SOAKED

3. Our tree of life for our zone conference

4. At the temple

5. :)

6. Our Huntsville Spanish District from last transfer

mas fotos

 I made my own finger brace

Elder Tolman, He bought the same Alabama T-shirt as me 

I am not wearing a backpack

Paulina's Baptism!!!!!!! and her cute kids :D

Biking, Eating, and Preaching

Hola hola!

I just want to thank everyone for the support and love! It means more to me than you even know. I feel your prayers every day and I could not do it without you!! :) Gracias!!! This week has been so great! Our numbers weren't the best, but I think that we fulfilled our purpose none-the-less. We have fun along the way too.

We did our monthly zone training on Tuesday and that was so so so great! I just absolutely love the Zone Leaders that we work with. They are such good missionaries and inspired missionaries. Many of the Huntsville zone told us that the training was one of the best trainings that they have ever had. It was so spiritual and I think it really helped to rejuvenate the missionaries and their faith. We really tried to focus on their relationship with Jesus Christ and how that is really the basis of everything. I think too many of us out here on the mission forget that. We're out here to serve in the LORD'S vineyard. We need to rely on him. We got some great missionaries who have really strong testimonies. We had a little part where we bore our testimonies and you could just feel that power in that room. I hope to be as great of a spiritual giant as some of these missionaries out here who are about to go home. I can already so such a change in myself I just hope it continues. 

We got to go the the temple this week! It is such a blessing to have the opportunity to have a temple so close that we can go to quarter annually. I love just being able to get away from everything and all of the worries and receive some revelation. I try to work on a Christ like attribute every week and I have gone over some points pretty hard, like: diligence, humility, charity, faith. But I have skipped over some. One of those being patience. I guess I just thought I was a pretty patient person.. (and humble to i guess ;) ) anyways, I've come to realize that I need to work on patience. It's not just being able to wait, but being patient through adversity, with other people, and mostly myself. It was kind of a break through I guess because I have trying to figure out what I am lacking. 

So guess what! I am staying in Huntsville for another transfer with Hermana Hazelgren as Sister Training Leader!! Woot! I'm pretty excited :) I just think I am so blessed especially considering that there are only 3 spanish branches on the mission and hundreds of missionaries, and I get to be in one. Pretty darned blessed :) We have SO many missionaries coming this transfer! It's so crazy because there are so many new missionaries! And we are expected to take care of all of the sisters... It's quite a big task. I am the oldest in the two zones that we cover if you don't count the temple square missionaries who aren't used to a proselyting mission. Hermana Palmer who is older than me, is leaving this transfer. I'm kind of hoping they send us some older sisters ;) I LOVE the new sisters but I love not being in charge sometimes too and it's a treat when I get to go on an exchange with a sister who has been here longer than I have.

We had TWO investigators at church yesterday!!!!!!!! my patience payed off ;D I was totes excited (as brooky would say). One of them is named Alejandra and she has been taught pretty much all of the lessons, but hasn't been to church, but we finally got her! She just has to come 2 more times and she works every other Sunday.. And she needs to get married (like every other Mexican here!!!). The other was Julia and she has the cutest 2 little kids ever. She's hard to read, but I hope she enjoyed it.

I just love all of the little hispanic children! Whenever we see a little animal, Hermana Hazelgren always says, "Can we keep it?". Whenever I see a little hispanic child I say "can we keep it?!". Hermana Hazelgren reminds me that would be kidnapping ;) But I just love them. I wish we could just work with the kids all day.

I am excited for this next transfer! There is a lot to do and I hope that I can do it better next transfer than I did this transfer. Live and learn I guess you could say :) That's what the Atonement is for, isn't it? I absolutely love all of the sisters here and for all of the things they have taught me thus far and I hope that I have left some good with them as well and blessed their lives as they have mine. It is an adventure here on the mission :) I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Love you all!!! Thank you for everything!!!!!! Miss you!!!!!!!! 

Blessings and Love, 

Hermana Masey Decker

Another day in Paradise :)

Buenos Dias!!

Well I guess I can say it has been another crazy week, but I think I have just learned that every week is a crazy week on the mission. We had A LOT to do this week. We went on three exchanges with some great sisters. Then we had a zone conference in Madison we had to go to on Thursday and a Mission Leadership Council on Friday. Then of course, the usual preaching of the gospel :) There is never a dull moment here that's for sure. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get home and have some down time... but let's not talk about home ;)

Our investigators are driving me crazy. We have 5 baptismal dates set. All of the hispanic pretty much say yes to anything we ask them to do, but they almost never pull through with it. It's a bit frustrating when they all tell you they will show up to church and then you are sadly dissapointed when NONE of them walk through that door. We even found a ride for one of them and when we came and knocked on her door... nobody answered. It's a bit discouraging to say the least. We are trying to come up with anyway possible to get them to come. We call them and go to their houses, but to no avail. It's getting to the point where we are seriously considering dropping most of them because they aren't progressing and we are running out of ideas to help them... Sometimes dropping them is the best way for them to see that we mean business. It's just hard when you love them all so much and want what's best for them!

Good news though! Our opening our mouth to everyone payed off :) We talked to this one guy outside an apartment complex named Rodolfo and told him that we would have the Elders come over and teach him and they did and he showed up to church on Sunday! So technically we aren't the missionaries teaching him, but we are just so excited to see someone progressing! The other sisters in our branch are having pretty much the same issues we are, so any success in the branch is great! Hermana Hazelgren and I were talking last night and we think that we can probably get together with the missionaries in our area and really plan out how we are going to help this branch and this area. If we work together better, I think we will see more success.

Even though the latinos can't seem to commit to anything, I still love them... probably more than the white people. The white people are rude, but at least they won't play around and say they will do something when they actually wont. We get lots of lessons taught with the Hispanics but not so many progressing investigators. I'm still holding out for the "elect". We'll find them soon :) Not gonna lie, I had a bit of a rough day yesterday. It's just dissapointing and sad that these people won't move forward. But I realized that my attitude was greatly effecting Hermana Hazelgrens and on our bike ride over to our next appointment I just prayed that the Lord would help me forget about myself. When you ask, he does answer :) If anything, I've learned that attitude really does affect the work. If you have a good attitude and keep the faith, miracles follow. Maybe small miracles, but miracles none the less.

Tomorrow we have to train in zone training for Huntsville and Madison. Huntsville zone training is going to be sweet! The zone leaders here are inspired. Our whole topic is enduring to the end, since our mission President is leaving this month :( The Zone leaders decided to make our zone training into kind of an interactive meeting so we are transforming the gym into the tree of life story and likening those scriptures to enduring to the end in some shape or form. We prayed about it and placed each missionary in a different area so they can teach that principle (little do they know that we placed them there for a reason). It is going to take some work, but I think it will help a lot. We've noticed that the missionaries are not focusing as much on Christ as they should. That's why we are here and if their relationship with Christ was better, they wouldn't be having the problems they are having and they would be more obedient. So our goal is to help them strengthen that bond. In Madison Zone Training, our part to train on is Inviting and then Helping. And we decided to go over Elder Holland's talk from last conference "Lord I Believe". We read it together this morning and I'm pretty excited for it!

We have fun here :) I met some crazy Korean lady this week in a trailor park when I was on exchange with Sister Marchetti from Italy. She kept pointing to the sky and saying "Boom Boom Boom". Some drunk Mexican men (not unoriginal by any means) were cooking a pig outside and had us come over and look at it. It rained cats and dogs and we were about 3 miles away from home on our bikes. Some random member who goes to college up here stopped us because we looked so pitiful and took us out to dinner. Blessings! We have a wonderful family who have been taught forever but will not progress, who always feed us delicious hispanic food. They just love the missionaries :) Hermana Hazelgren and I are saving up money we find on the ground to go out and eat!

Everything is so great here. I cannot even express to y'all how much I love this mission and all of the people I have met. It has changed me forever, and it's not over yet! So much more to learn, so much more to experience. Even the hard parts are great! I miss you all and I love you all so so so sooooo much!!! I know I don't write y'all as much as you deserve, especially all of the kiddos, but I hope you all know that I love you LOTS! and I haven't forgotten you! :)

Blessings and Love,

Hermana Decker