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

quote

I was reading the ensign from this month and in Elder Packer's talk, he says something  that I thought you'd like

"I have come to know that faith is a real power, not just an expression of belief. There are few things more powerful than the faithful prayers of a righteous mother."

Love you so much!!!!!! Miss you!!!

Como Estan!!

Buenas!

Greetings once again from the lovely state of Alabama! :)  It has been another fantastic week as a missionary. I love every single moment of it. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else right now. I keep having dreams where I am at home and I wake up in a panic. I will not let that happen. I guess it's good though because I wake up realizing that at some point I will go home and I need to work my tail off before that day comes. But, like I said. I love it. I love our little branch and all of the members. I love our investigators. I love the missionaries, especially our sisters were over. I just love it all.

I mentioned before I love our investigators. I would love it more if they would keep some commitments!!  We are having trouble getting ANY of our investigators to church. Even the other Elders and Sisters in our district (and branch by that matter) can't seem to get anybody to commit to come to church... Well I guess the problem is that they commit and then they don't show up. We thought for sure we would have at least one person at the church since we arranged a ride for them and everything and they promised they would be there... The members went, but nobody answered the door. It's a bit discouraging especially since they commit to baptism and then they aren't really willing to work towards it. We try to make it very clear that if they want to be baptized they need to come to church... still nothing. It has made me realize that we really are looking for the elect. The ones who are willing to keep those commitments and come to church at all costs.

I got to go down to Montgomery this week! The three hour drive was totally worth it just to be there for Paulina's baptism! Yep, she was finally baptized and it was wonderful :) Even with the fact that she had to be baptized three times. That has made me realize that these people are out there. The ones who are ready. Who have been praying for us to show up. Praying for direction. Praying for peace. And then God sends us. God knows where they are. The problem I'm having is listening to him I guess. We'll find them though :) We might have to drop all of our investigators first though ;) 

I finally got to take a nap! I think it was the first time on my mission! It was preparation day. I usually don't like taking naps because we have SO MUCH TO DO! But, my allergies are killing me. I love Alabama, but not so much all of the pollen in the air. Thank you drugs!

Well, we are as busy forever with everything, but I love it so much. It makes me a better missionary and helps me be more urgent. I loved being able to see your pictures Brayden! I can't believe it! You're a missionary! I may have shed a tear or two. I love it. It helps me be motivated to work. 

The work goes on! We are still searching, working hard, biking like crazy! I lost 5 lbs! Huntsville is like the hilliest place in Alabama. We have some nice sweat stains to show for it ;) 

Love you all soooooo much! Thank you for the prayers and letters. Thanks for the package mom! Sadly... only the ruffly skirt fit.. I'm telling you I'm getting fat! The dress was just a little bit to small. If I was a couple centimeters smaller, it would fit. And the houndstooth skirt was a bit to short... But! I loved them. It's the thought that counts right? One of the sisters told me they found some good flowy skirts with pockets at Down East. 

Oh! for the Elders in your ward. President said something that I thought might help. Think of all of the missionaries that have been in that area and how many of them have asked the members for referrals. They need to stop asking for referrals and invite missionaries to do missionary work. Help them to do missionary work. In the end, our mission is just preparing us to be better member missionaries because they do the actual work.

Love you!!! 

Con amor, Hermana Decker

Aloha!

Buenos Dias!!

Things are crazy as ever here in Huntsville Alabama :) But we love the craziness. We are always all over the place going on exchanges with sisters. Being away from my area has really helped me to grow a greater appreciation for each and every second that we have. Each moment is precious when we are finally in our area. I love going on exchanges though. I think it probably helps me more than it helps the other sisters. I love serving them. There are so many of them who need help and it's so hard to get to all of them! We have the zone leaders calling us telling us of sisters that need to go on exchanges and then we have the sisters calling us telling us they want to go on some, I just wish we could get to all of them tomorrow. We don't know where to go, but the Lord does, so we are trusting that he will guide us to the sisters that need us most.

This week has been a pretty successful week... besides the fact that nobody came to church, but we are working on that! I truly have a testimony now of talking with everybody! We've seen our numbers go up a lot just by stopping to talk to everybody we see. I always thought it was so annoying to have people just stop and talk to you, like on temple square with all of the sister missionaries popping out of nowhere to talk to you, but I guess we are a little annoying and awkward :)  The Lord is blessing us even when we are hardly ever in our own area. We had 6 baptismal dates, but none of them came to church, so now we only have 3. I don't know what these people need, but they will not get off their lazy bums and come to church. Granted, most of them work Sundays, they will take any day they can get to work. We're trying to get them to recognize that if we make time for the Lord, he will bless us. It's discouraging to see all of these people drop through though. I wish they could just see it from our perspective. So many blessings. I know though that there are people out there who are ready right now to make the commitment, we just got to find them.

We had to drop a few investigators and that's always hard, but they were not progressing. Someone once told me out here that the key to  baptizing is dropping. We waste too much time with the people who are not ready, we have to find the ones that are.

I have been praying for the opportunity to do more service and Saturday when we were on our exchanges with some sisters we got to do a lot of service! We helped at this house for feeding people in need and we met a lot of spanish people there. Then we helped this lady who is in a safe house move in some furniture. We left her a book of mormon. She has been through a lot and I hope and pray that she will read it...

On a more not so work related side, here are a few other things that happened this week :) I hit a bird... It pretty much just skydived right out of the sky to the front of our car. The sister that was with me laughed her eyes out she thought it was so funny, while I cried ;) I met a full grown seven dwarf. He was the most interesting fella. He even had a dwarf hat on. I wish I could've gotten a picture. We biked like crazy this week. While the rest of me might be getting fat, my legs are going to be solid muscle by the time I get back!

I hit my half way mark yesterday... Its so weird!!!! I cannot believe that I only have 9 months left! it goes by so stinkin fast it's not even funny. We did some training this week in one of the district meetings on urgency and I pretty much broke down on the missionaries about how fast it goes by. Most of them still don't believe me, but it really does go by SO fast. We shouldn't waste ONE SECOND out here.We have such a limited time to serve the Lord completely with all our time and heart and if we don't make the best of it, we will go home wishing we did more. I don't want to go home like that. I'm determined not to :) I want to go home exhausted.

We get to train for a bit on Thursday at our zone conference. President will be there and everything, so it's a bit intimidating. We get to train on the importance of members. Then we get to train next week in the other zone were over at their zone conference. Then we have Mission Leadership council next Friday and we have 5 Exchanges planned for the next two weeks... Lots to do but I love every minute of it! Hopefully I get to go down this weekend to see Paulina's baptism as well. Sister Stock (my previous companion) just emailed me and said that some of our investigators are getting baptized soon in Florence! Bah! I just love it. Dulce (Jose Luis' sister) has pretty much fallen off the face of the planet :( I just hope she finds her way. Too many problems for the youth of this generation. I just wish that I could help them see what a difference they can make! It took me way to long to figure it out. They could help so many of their friends come to the knowledge. I am a firm believer in that the children will guide them.

I love you all so so so much! Sorry this was a super long letter :) I think I'll step off my soap box now ;)

Love, Hermana Decker

Hola Familia!

Buenos Dias :)

I am so happy I got to see all (well almost all) of your beautiful faces yesterday!!! :) So sad Serph wasn't there :( I miss his beautiful face too. I'm sad I didn't get to talk to Bray either, but at least I know he is being taken care for across the border :) Didn't know we were in the same time zone though!! That's neat! 

Nothing has changed much since we last talked. I'm sad we didn't have more time though :( So much to say and yet so little time! All the kids looked the same but a little more grown up. I can't believe how fast time flies by! I keep having dreams that I am home and it makes me realize that I don't want to go home anytime soon. Not because I don't want to see my family but because I haven't finished what I was sent out here to do and I haven't become the person that I need to become.  This mission really is a blessing and I am now just realizing how extremely short the time is here! It has made me realize that I don't want to let even one moment slip by, which is exactly what I have been praying for. I am so grateful for parents who have raised me to get to this exact point in my life :)

Huntsville is going well. I love the people here and I love sharing the gospel with them. We were able to commit three people to baptism this week. Daniel and Suzanna, and Alejandra. We have a lot of investigators, the problem is that none of them will come to church! It's frustrating but we just keep trying to think outside of the box like President teaches us so we can get people to come.

We are having trouble getting some of the branch members out to teach with us. The ones that can go out are usually out with the other missionaries in the branch. We are trying to come up with ways to make the branch excited for missionary work but haven't quite figured it out yet. We are going to visit more members and hopefully we can get someone out with us. That would be nice because I have seen the blessings of member missionary work. There really is nothing that compares! 

The missionaries too need a bit of a kick to get them more excited for the work. I have started to see the importance of leading by example and I hope we are doing a good enough job to help out these sisters a bit. They are afraid of inviting to baptism! The zone leaders really hit that hard in Zone Training, but some people still just don't get it. We have to get them to realize that is our purpose! Invite! They need to see more baptisms to get them excited but they won't see any if they're not inviting.

I love the mission. Even with all of the naked ladies answering the doors, Wasps in the house, broken fingers, muddy shoes, flat bike tires, slammed doors, problem missionaries, cat calls etc... It really is a great journey :D and all of those things just make it even better ;) They make good stories. I can't imagine not being here. I'm grateful for the events in my life that have brought me here. We had a man just stop us on the street asking us for a Bible and we gave him that and a Book of Mormon and he was so excited to read it! Little things like that make me realize that the lord is preparing people right now! We just gotta find them :)

Thank you so much for all of your support and Love!! I couldn't do it without you :) 

Love, Hermana Masey Decker

Hola

Buenos Dias!!!

I get to talk with y'all next week!!!!!! I'm so excited :D Presidente Lopez (our branch president) said that we could come over next week after church to skype at his house, so it will probably be around 2ish our time so 12ish your time.... I hope that doesn't interfere with church and stuff.. But I'm sure he will let us do it whenever we want to. Cant wait to see your beautiful faces :D

So this week has been hectic to say the least! This whole Sister training Leader thing is a lot of work! Who would've thought. So we got two new Temple Square sisters in the mission and they were going to be in our zone so president wanted us to come down to Birmingham to transfers to come get them and their companions. We weren't supposed to go to tranfers but we ended up taking the long trip down there Wednesday morning. The temple square sisters weren't getting there till later so we had to pick up their brand new companions and get them all set and ready to go and then we got to go to the mission home to have lunch with the departing missionaries while we waited for the Temple Square missionaries, which was great. Love free food! It's so sad to see missionaries go home though :( kind of like a bitter sweet thing because you know they get to go see their family and friends. I love the departing missionaries though because they have grown so much and you can just see it in their faces. Anywho, so we were down there pretty much all day and then we had to drive both of those companionships back home, one set living all the way up basically in Tennessee so we didn't get back home till about 10 that night. It was a long day...

Then we had Mission Leadership Council down in Birmingham on Friday so we got to make another trip! Apparently we were one of the first "mission Leadership Councils" in the world!! Pretty cool. President Holzapfel is AMAZING!!!!!! I love him so much and his wife as well. They work so hard and we can feel their love. We got a lot of good training from him. It's good to get chastized every now and then :) I always leave his meetings feeling a lot more motivated! This calling has made me realize I have so much to work on! Anywho, we were there pretty much all Friday and then we went on an exchange with the other Spanish Sisters in our area. Did I mention we have 6 missionaries working in our little branch! Bet you didn't know there were that many spanish people down here did ya ;) One of the Elders is Elder Decker! (Which reminds me.. Padres, could you send me a good family history chart? We are determined to find out if we are related! ) We are all in the same district which means we get to hold our District meetings in Spanish! Pretty exciting stuff.

I love the exchanges! I learn something new about myself and missionary work every time I am with these amazing Sisters! I love them all so much! I didn't realize I could love them more than I already do. I got to go with Hermana Beck (shes a trainee) and shes great :) She made me Banana pancakes for breakfast and we got to go to the Ghetto and hula hoop and we saw a sweet car with "SWAGILLAC" on the back :) I love the black people ;) I have really tried to focus on what I can do to help this work move forward here, to help the sisters, and I'm trying to gain more Christlike attributes. This calling has made me realize that I have a lot to work on and it has helped me to focus more on being exactly obedient and working smarter and harder.

Our investigators here are great! They aren't progressing as much as we would like but we just keep thinking of ways we can help.I love the Spanish people! And I love that I get to learn their language and actually speak with them! We recontacted a past investigator named Maricruz. She has been tought a lot! She knows a lot of the past Hermanas that have been here in Huntsville. She basically knows everything she won't commit to baptism! She has been to church a lot and we asked her all of the Baptisimal questions and she answered them all correct! We told her that and she said that she just wants to be sure because she doesn't want to fall away when she commits to something... I'm not quite sure what she needs, but hopefully the Lord will help us figure out what to do.

We have zone training on Tuesday and Hermana Hazelgren and I get to train in our zone and the Madison zone. We'll see how that goes... Working with all these sisters I have realized more the importance of the work we are doing. That probably sounds strange but it's true. We aren't just here to help our investigators, our purpose states to "invite ALL to come unto christ". That includes the members, less actives, the missionaries, our companions, EVERYBODY. Even these cute sisters here :) I love 'em :D

 I love being able to serve here in Huntsville. The branch is great and they are all so loving and welcoming. They are few, but the few are faithful and have strong testimonies. They could probably use a bit of excitement to get them excited for missionary work. We are trying to think of ways to do that and have thought of maybe a missionary activity and they could definitely use some baptisms here :) we hope that we can bring a few this transfer. I have been praying and praying that we can. With 6 of us missionaries all working in the same branch, I have strong faith that it can happen. If we ever actually get to work in our area ;) I swear we are in the car for half of our week!

Congrats to my little Ejilah!!! I'm so excited for him and his baptism :) I want to see pictures! Give him a big kiss and hug for me! And Colbster! I heard you got your drivers permit! That's a bit scary thinking you will be on the road ;) LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!!!! Can't wait to talk to y'all!

Les Amo MUCHISIMO!!!!!!

Con Amor, Masey

Buenas Tardes!

Hola!!!!!!!!

I love being a missionary! There is nothing else to it :) I just love it. I had a dream last night that they sent me home early and I woke up in a panic! Definitely not ready to head home quite yet :) Alabama is just so beautiful and amazing. The skies are more blue here! De verdad! I love it. We always talk about how the clouds are like toy story clouds :) so perfect.

Well, my calling took full effect last week. This week we have our first meetings so we will see how those go. It's a bit overwhelming but president said that it's good that we are overwhelmed. It brings us to our knees :) I have been on my knees a lot this week.  I am so grateful for this opportunity to work here in the Huntsville area and to work with all of the sisters here as well. I have learned here on the mission that our prayers are always answered. Maybe not how we expect, but they are always answered. Each transfer is an answer to a prayer for me as each one teaches me something new. On our drive back from Montgomery this week, I remembered that I recently had been praying for an experience to help me grow as a missionary that would help me be a better disciple of Christ and lo and behold :) Here I am as a Sister Training Leader. It's amazing how the Lord works. I feel so much love for each of the sisters that we are over. I never thought I could feel so much love for people I hardly even know, but as I pray for more charity I can feel it take effect in my heart.

We went on two exchanges this week. One with some Sisters in our area. One of the sisters has been struggling... She seems to just be struggling with teaching. She gets stuck when she starts to teach, it's like her mind goes completely blank and she doesn't know what to say and then she gets frustrated and then she breaks down. Her companions (she is in a trio) are amazing companions and show so much love to her and I know she can feel that. She is such a sweet girl and is willing to learn. We ended up just trying to get her to teach simply and had one of her comps pretend to be an 8 year old and that seemed to help a lot. We tried to get her to understand that it's not a bad place where she is at because she can turn it all over to the Lord. We have weaknesses to make us stronger. I hope we helped. I learned a lot from the exchange about myself and about missionary work. 

I also got the opportunity to drive back down to Montgomery! A 3 hour drive!! President wanted us to go down though because it's our old companions and they are both new. Two greenies in an area :) fun.  They are doing great! They have come out ready to work and they are getting to work. They still struggle with the language but they are trying so hard and are not afraid to just open their mouth. I can see their testimonies being strengthened by the help of the Lord. They both are amazing missionaries! And they have a baptism next Saturday for Paulina who is progressing so much! Hermana Child and I found her. I LOVE THE GOSPEL! When we found her she was quite, wouldn't make eye contact, her husband had just left her and she had no job, never smiled. I saw her on Saturday morning while we were down there and it's like she has made a complete 180! She finally found a job and she is just so happy! She even said she was going to church eventhough she worked a 12 hour shift through the night. She's amazing. She is so excited for her baptism. I just wish I could be there to see it! But, I got a lot of work to do up here in Huntsville :)

Hermana Leahman ( Hermana Hazelgren's old comp, who I went on the exchange with) mentioned how she just loves it down in Montgomery because of the energy. So many things are happening! Huntsville needs a little bit of a kick start. There's not as much excitement for the work here as there was in Montgomery and I've been trying to figure out what the difference is. And it's not just the missionaries but the branch as well. It's not the people because I know the missionaries up here are amazing and I love the people in the branch! I was reading this morning in Matthew 12:25 Which talks about "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:" and I don't think that this district or area is divided against itself, but that it could use more unity. I think that is what made the difference in Montgomery. We were all working towards the same goal and praying for the same people. Hopefully I can help... not sure how quite yet :)

I have started to realize that this calling will probably change me more than anybody else. It's like a teacher learns more from a lesson they prepare than their students. It is definitely a humbling experience to be called and I trust that the Lord knows what he's doing :)

Hermana Hazelgren is a blast. We laugh so much! It's great :) I love her! It's crazy because we are so different. She is a gamer and is in love with the Avengers. Everything in our apartment is avengers! But she is so sweet and loving and it's been fun. I have learned that if you are not enjoying your mission you are doing something wrong. We are supposed to be having fun! a happy missionary is a working missionary, that's all there is to it. And the time goes by so fast! I'm almost to my half way mark! Crazy!

I love you all so so much! I am so grateful for your prayers! I can feel them each and every day! I hope you can feel my prayers as well :)

Con amor,

Hermana Masey Decker

weather update ;)

So I forgot to mention! (not that it's that important but I wanted to tell yall anyways ;) ) So Saturday night there was a HUGE thunderstorm, like more intense than I have ever experienced before. It sounded like bombs were going off in our front yard! it was crazy! anywho :) Thats all..

Pictures

So this isn't from my camera, but from sister kims (the Korean). She sent them to us and I forgot my camera. These are the girls in my district in Montgomery :)

Greetings from HUNTSVILLE!

Hola!!!

So to say this week has been a crazy week would be a complete understatement. This week has been beyond crazy. As you can probably tell from the subject of this email I have been mid transfer transferred to Huntsville Alabama! I didn't do anything wrong, I promise :) I don't know if you heard but it's kind of a big deal out here in the mission field, they have a new sister leadership position. Basically they are sister zone leaders (that's what president said they are, but you will never hear them called that). I have officially been called to the position... So now I'm here in Huntsville with sister Hazelgren! We are in charge of the Huntsville and Madison zone. What we do is we go to the now named "mission leadership council" (previously known as Zone Leader council) and we help train the missionaries but our main focus is going on exchanges with the sisters in our zone. President said that we are the first ones called in the whole church! as every other mission seems to be waiting until the actual transfer to call their sisters. It definitely has been a very humbling experience.

Like I said before I am with Sister Hazelgren and she is great! She is so full of energy and loving and she has only been here for about 10 weeks. But she has been called as a leader as well! They put us together like they put zone leaders together, with a missionary that is well seasoned as well... But we only have so many sisters here :) So, I get to finish her training and we get to be in charge of these 2 zones. Bah! it's so crazy, but so exciting! It is an exciting time in the church especially for the woman. Did you notice that a sister prayed in General Conference for the first time ever? And we were on the phone as leaders with Tracy Watson (head of church proselyting) and he said that a big change is about to come forth. There will be a big announcement June 23rd that will change 200 years of missionary work... That is a little bit intimidating.

I knew the calling was being made, but I just thought, "That stinks for the sisters who get called to that position." And here I am. But I am so excited to get to learn from all of these sisters! I only hope I can help them as well :) We met with president on Wednesday and he personally gave each of us Sister Training Leaders (that's the official name) a personal blessing. It was so powerful! We really have no idea what we are doing, but we are going to work as hard as we can to do the best we can. President said to not worry about making mistakes because that is how we learn. I am grateful for that because I am sure we will make a few :)

I was so sad to leave our little Spanish group in montgomery though :( We had finally just gotten our feet on the ground and ready to run. Sister Child is now with another brand new sister so she was scared out of her mind, but they will do so good! nothing like being thrown into the thick of things to help you learn spanish :) I can't wait to hear that their group has turned into a branch. We still have our baptismal date with paulina! So that is so exciting! We moved her date up to the 4th and I'm almost positive she will go through with it. There are some great members down there who have helped tremendously!

We just changed this morning, and we came straight to the library, so I don't even know where we live but I am so excited to work here in Huntsville in their Spanish Branch! Sister Hazelgren's mom is from Puerto Rico so she speaks really well. Hopefully I can learn a bit from her. OH! I had to give a talk yesterday in our spanish sacrament meeting! It was a bit terrifying and I know my spanish was far from perfect, but I talked on Tithing and I thought it went as well as it could have :) 15 minutes of speaking, so not too shabby.

I am so grateful for all of your prayers and love! I definitely need your prayers now more than ever. I don't feel like I am ready to be a leader in any sense of the word, but I trust in the Lord enough to know that I'm not supposed to do it on my own. It's only when we feel overwhelmed that we truly understand how much we need the Lord and then we can see him working in our life as we accomplish things we wouldn't be able to otherwise.

I love you all so much! I hope that all is well. I sent Eli a birthday package, but it might get there a little late. Tell him I love him and give him a big hug and kiss for me!! :D

Con Amor, Hermana Decker

P.S. Mom, could you send me some skirts?? Possibly some with pockets? If that's not too much to ask.

And, There is a great cd in spanish. The artist name is Marcella Gandara... I think. If you can find it could you send it to me :)