October 13th, 2014

This week has been full of so many miracles! 

We were able to find a new investigator this week, a cute 45 year old lady named Sheilea who is completely prepared to hear the gospel. She was in awe as we taught her the Restoration and explained that there is a prophet on the earth today, just like Moses or Abraham or Noah. She has been to many churches in the past, but she never felt like they were truly focused on God. She had felt that each church she attended was becoming more and more centered on the "money" aspect, and less determined to help people have faith. We knew that coming to church with us would be crucial, because she would be able to see right away that the ward is full of righteous families and individuals who have the sole purpose of deepening their relationship with God and helping others do the same! Guess what? SHE CAME! It was especially special, because our ward mission leader told me that there hasn't been a single investigator from the sister's area at church for this entire calendar year... Not from lack of trying, just simply because people were not truly interested or satan worked his way in and prevented it from happening. Sheilea was so wonderful and she seemed to glow as she heard the different talks and lessons, fully based on our Savior Jesus Christ and how we can grow closer to Him. Woot woot! Yay for church! 

We also had a fun experience contacting a Church Headquarter referral. We had called the guy to ask when would be a good time to drop by his home and leave him the Book of Mormon, and he sounded very young! So, we were excited! We arrive on the scheduled day and out walks this 15 year old kid (named Jake) in a white t-shirt with the print on the front looking like a black necktie and black name tag! As he got closer we were able to see the words on the name tag, "God's Favorite Musical"! haha He had gone to see the Book of Mormon musical a few weeks before with his parents and because of it, was anxious to read the Book of Mormon and see what it is really about! He was excited to meet us and told us that he has been "church hunting" a lot lately but none of them have clicked for him. He was thrilled to set up a time to learn more from us about the church and at the end of the conversation he looked at me intently and asked, "so if I joined your church, would I go on a mission?" haha..... what?! :D We giggled and told him, if he had a desire to go then yes of course he COULD serve a mission.

OH! This last Tuesday we got together with 2 neighboring zones, had a mini zone training, and then got to watch MEET THE MORMONS! Holy cow, it was amazing!! I don't think there was a dry eye in the room, especially during the "missionary mom" section of the movie - it was so real for all of us and it may have caused a little longing for home in the hearts of a few of the missionaries. But truly, what an uplifting, inspiring video! It is so interesting to see how the world's view of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is slowly beginning to shift to a more accurate perception. With the miracle of modern technology we have the opportunity to share what we believe with so many people in our lives, on a regular basis. I hope everyone gets the chance to see the movie soon! Invite your friends to see it! :)

I love you all so much! The gospel is the greatest blessing, and I hope we can strive to live it a little more fully each day and show the Lord how grateful we are for this blessing. I know the Savior loves us! Our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and He has given us so many tools to find true happiness. Read, pray, serve, love! Have a wonderful week!!

Love,

Sister Walborn

October 6th, 2014

This week has been full of craziness and pure JOY! To start - last preparation day (a week ago today) missionaries serving all around Pittsburgh came together at the Point State Park to play ultimate Frisbee!  It probably doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but if you look at almost any well known picture of Pittsburgh or even the fun Pitt t-shirts, so many display the Park with it's massive fountain. It was neat, and it made it very real that I am truly in Pittsburgh! Woohoo!

From Tuesday night into Wednesday, I got to go on an exchange with my Sister Training Leader and good friend who was in the MTC at the same time I was! We had quite the time together! We had a surprise service activity where we spent 4 hours frantically packing up a house. A random lady, who is coming out of an abusive relationship, was leaving to another state with 4 young children and hadn't packed up a single thing in her home. When we walked into her house, I just wanted to burst into tears! Immediately after walking into the house, the living room off to the left had the four children sprawled out over a flat cardboard box that had nothing but a soiled flat sheet over top of it and all around them were the remains of the previous night's McDonald's dinner. The youngest child, just a small baby was screaming at the top of her little lungs and the mother, between giving us directions on where to start, would yell at the baby to cut it out. So, we went to work! There were mounds of clothes, toys, food, garbage- you name it -that we gutted and packed up for her. We had to call in the assistants and another set of elders to come and help, because we knew there was no chance we would be able to accomplish it all on our own. The assistants had helped her the night before as well, and when they arrived and saw the progress we had done, they were amazed by how much better it looked from the night before when they had first arrived! Which was pitiful because we hadn't felt like we had accomplished hardly anything! (in case you can't tell - it was BAD)

After listening to that poor little baby scream for the next little while, one of the assistants looked at me and told me that one of us sisters needed to hold her and that we had permission to give her some love because it was very apparent that what the mother was doing was not working. So, we continued working as fast as we could, taking turns holding the kids and trying to keep them calm. The whole time as we were trying to help, I found myself getting discouraged that these poor little children were in such terrible circumstances and that nothing we were doing would help them to really get out of the problems they were dealing with. Heavenly Father seemed to sooth my worries, and when we were nearing the end, we gave the mother a Book of Mormon. She said thank you over and over, telling us that we were angels for helping her! I don't know if that lady will choose to read the Book of Mormon, but I do know that because of our service and prayers on their behalf, that family will be blessed in some way. If nothing else, it helped me realize how lending a helping hand and being willing to help in a time of need can be an answer to someone else's prayer. It didn't seem like much what we were able to accomplish for her that day, but as Elder Holland helped me remember in conference, "What we do is only a drop in the ocean, but if we do not do it, the ocean will be one drop less.."

Which leads me to the pure joy of this week - CONFERENCE! Holy cow - this conference was truly the greatest I have ever experienced. I was able to see so clearly how the Lord really does hear my prayers and is anxious to help me find answers to them. I was especially touched by Elder Jorg Klebingat's talk about the importance of having confidence before God. His 6 tips to help accomplish this confidence were so inspired and I am excited to readily apply and do better with each of them. Towards the end of his talk, I felt that he was speaking directly to me when he said, "acknowledge and face your weaknesses, but don't become immobilized by them!" The Lord wants each of us to be happy and to provide us with strength to overcome our weaknesses, not to be held down and hindered by them. The Savior's Atonement is REAL. I know that as we turn to the Lord for help, He will send what we need to achieve our righteous desires and goals. 

I love this gospel! And I love all of you!! I hope that we can all review over and over the inspiration that we received this weekend. We are so incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to receive personal revelation, and to hear the word of God directly from His prophet! Let's take advantage of the blessings available to us :)

LOVE,

Sister Walborn

September 29th, 2014

Familyy!!

I have been transferred to Moon! It is about 15 minutes outside of Pittsburgh! Woohoo! This last week was really interesting and fun getting to try and learn the area and LOTS of names. We had dinner appointment every night this last week, which my companion said is extremely rare for this ward, and it was such a tender mercy because these members extended so much love to me - and coming into church on Sunday, I felt like I already knew a good amount of them! This ward is really young. So many young families with a lot of cutie pie kids, and many more on the way(it seems like half the ward is pregnant and they are all glowing with joy!)! Needless to say.. I am very happy here :)

My companion's name is Sister Pugmire! She has been out for 14 months, so it is definitely a cool experience to serve with someone who is "seasoned" and has had a lot of wonderful experiences to share. We are ready to tear up this area and find/teach/rescue until we drop! 

I don't have a lot of time, next week I will write more! But I wanted to share really fast something that I loved from the General Women's Meeting. Wasn't it wonderful?! I was so inspired by President Uchtdorf's talk, and specifically when he shared with the women about the importance of remembering that we are all children of God! The knowledge that I am a child of God will carry me through the hardest trials and can motivate me to accomplish so much IF I choose to remember it... Being a daughter of God isn't a title I have earned nor will I ever LOSE. How comforting! I know that we are all children of God and that our Father in heaven loves us so dearly. I hope we can all choose to remember that no matter what is going on in our lives, trying to distract us from that precious truth!

I love you all so much and I hope that General Conference receives your full, undivided attention this weekend! We are so blessed to be able to hear these inspired men of God speak directly to us on the most important topics right now. LOVE YOU!!!

Love,

Sister Walborn

p.s. New address:

310 Lee Dr. #59

Moon, PA 15108