April 28th, 2014

What a wonderful time!

Ah.... the joys of spring! :) I seriously love this place!! There are so many things to be grateful for. One of them, is the blessing of being able to serve! This past weekend, 11 of us missionaries who are serving in or near State College were able to do service picking up trash along a 2 mile stretch of road  for 3.5 hours. This kind of service isn't something that we get to do very often so we were all really excited!  It seemed like such a simple task, but throughout the time we spent there, SO many people either honked and waved as they drove by, shouted a big "THANK YOU" out their window, or stopped to see who we were/what we were doing. Afterwards, as we were driving in "Big Bertha" (the name of the State College sister's red minivan that all the sisters cruise around in) back home, we all felt so much joy from the simple service we had just performed. It was 60 degrees outside, so we rolled the windows down to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air as we sang along to the wonderful EFY music and marveled at the blessings we have been given! We all concluded and said together, "THIS is the life!" :)

Sister Moss and I began teaching a Chinese student this week, named Michelle! We had met her on the bus last week traveling to campus. I had begun talking to her and asked her where she was from, when she said China I immediately embarrassed my companion by pointing to Sister Moss and saying, "She speaks a little Chinese!" Michelle was so excited and exclaimed, "really?!" Sister Moss gave me a look as if to say, "you are crazy Sister Walborn!!" But proceeded to say the one phrase that she knows in Chinese, which means "I am a child of God." Michelle could understand what she said and was very impressed that she knew any Chinese at all! :) She said she would love to talk to us about our church and yesterday, we had that opportunity! She is finishing her Junior year here at Penn State and has discovered Christianity during her time in America. She spoke of people in her home country as knowing that you come to America for a better, happier life but they do not know why! She believes that it is because of religion - so cool! She already has an incredible testimony of the power of God, and what He can do for our lives and she was so excited to learn that there is another book available to her to learn about Jesus Christ! Yay! Michelle is one of those people that is actively seeking truth in her life, it makes me so excited to think the blessings of the gospel that are waiting for her!! THE GOSPEL IS TRUE!!

Oh.. and before I finish this email, I wanted to tell you something that I thought was worthwhile to share..... ELDER HOLLAND IS COMING TO OUR MISSION ON MAY 22ND!!!! :D So insane right?!?! He is coming to speak to our entire mission and I cannot express how excited I am!! It's coming up so fast! I can't wait! 

Anyway, I love you all so much. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He knows exactly how we are feeling, no matter what is bombarding us in life or going on around us. There is so much peace and comfort available to us if we simply turn to Him and seek His will :) Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Walborn

p.s. Pictures: 1) Sister Moss and I in our Penn State gear! Woot woot! 2) Our group before the service project - we love missionary work!!  LOVE YOU!! 

 

 

April 21st, 2014

Hi Family! :) How was everyone's Easter??

Mine was wonderful. We had a miracle happen that I want to share with you! But first I want to tell you about Justin Hatch (my branch mission leader). He is an amazing guy, he has had this calling for about 3 years now and he has the one of the most profound testimonies of this gospel that I have ever heard. He fell away from the church when he was "younger" and joined the marines, etc. Finally he started experimenting with keeping the commandments and saw IMMEDIATE, UNDENIABLE blessings pour into his life! Now he is happily married to a returned missionary (super awesome girl), is graduating in a few weeks and is headed to Texas for his PhD in the fall :) Stellar guy, he has an awesome vision for our branch! Okay, now that I have given you a little background on him I will explain the miracle! 

Last week after during our coordination meeting with all the branch missionaries, he told us that he wanted to have a special fast over Easter weekend for 5 members of the branch who are either a varying degree of less-active, or who have been struggling a lot recently. A couple of the branch missionaries moaned and groaned about it since there would be lots of opportunity to eat, since it would be Easter! But everyone agreed and the attitude changed as we began discussing their needs. We talked about each person specifically and what we could do as a support system for them. By the end of that meeting, you could feel the desire to help them among the missionary force of the branch. Then, as we knelt together and petitioned the Lord to help and guide them, as well as help and guide us in our efforts to be a blessing to them, the Spirit was so powerful in the room. 

Throughout the week, so many things happened and the fast hadn't even taken place yet! Sister Moss and I were able to teach one of the less-actives and his heart was completely open!! He committed to coming to church even though he hadn't been in a very long time! Then on Friday during Forums (where we are allowed to proselyte on campus for a specific time, in a specific place) on of the other people we were going to fast for, stopped and talked to us for a good amount of time then offered to feed us dinner that night AND come to one of our lessons the next day!! YAY!! Then, as the four of us missionaries came into sacrament meeting Sunday morning, we were anxious to see if the less-active we had had a lesson with would follow through on his commitment and come to church. To our great joy, he came!! Not only him, but 2 other people that we had been fasting for came as well! :) Heavenly Father responds to the faith of His children and is always wanting to bless us with our righteous desires. I know it!

I am so grateful to be a missionary. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve the God I love in this wonderful part of His vineyard. I know that my Redeemer lives! I feel so privileged to have this knowledge, and I feel an increased sense of urgency to share it with these incredible students here at Penn State! I love you all so much and I'm grateful for the role you play in my life, I wouldn't be here without you.

Love,

Sister Walborn

p.s. Picture: 1) Sister Moss and I on Easter Sunday outside of the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center where we have church :) LOVE YOU!!! 

 

 

April 14th, 2014

.....life is sooooo good! :D

HOLY COW YOU GUYS!!! I have been called to serve in State College, PA as one of the sisters in the University branch! So what that means is that I no longer have a specific "area". We cover any young adults who should attend the branch and we spend the majority of our time on Penn State University campus and downtown State College! I LOVE it here so much already!! There are so many things about serving here that are unique to anywhere else in this mission! For example, our main mode of transportation is the Cata Bus system. It is so fun because it is a built-in finding opportunity whenever we get to ride! 

When we are on the campus grounds, we are not allowed to proselyte EXCEPT for every Tuesday and Friday from 2:30 to 4:30 in front of a certain building (either the Palmer art museum or the Pattee Library - depending on the day). We call those times "forums". I got to participate in forums for the first time on Friday and holy cow, it was such a blast!! At first it is a little awkward because you have to be pretty forward in approaching people or chasing them down to talk to them, but after a few tries it became easier. haha I cannot even express how much I love talking to people about the gospel! And to make it even cooler, I met a girl from Grand Rapids!! Her name is Alison and we are hoping to meet with her this week :) But yeah, it was such a fun moment because usually the Caucasian people here are from PA, Virginia, New Jersey, or New York so when she said Michigan and then continued to say grand rapids, Michigan - I about died! She might have been a little overwhelmed with my excitement.. haha :) The cool thing about Penn State though, is that there it is so culturally diverse! While walking around campus, I typically here 4 or 5 different languages in the matter of minutes. The are so many chinese people here that President Topham requested a mandarin speaker from temple square to do her "out bound" here. Right now the sister from temple square is so sweet! Her name is Sister Ying and she is serving with Sister Wade as the other sisters of the branch, along with Sister Moss and I. 

Oh! I should probably tell you more about Sister Moss!! She is the cutest thing on the planet! She is from Oregon!! And her parents live in BEND!! What the heck, right? She has only been out for 3 months but is stellar at teaching and pretty much every aspect of missionary work! We have had so much fun together so far and we have already clicked so well, I cannot even wait to see how close we will be at the end of the transfer :) Ah... pure joy. I feel like I have said this so many times before, but I truly know that Heavenly Father is so aware of me and my needs!! He knows what is best for me, and I know that I am supposed to be here in State College right now, with Sister Moss! I have had so many opportunities to share my testimony here, and I can feel it getting stronger everyday. I know that our Redeemer lives!! And because I have been given that knowledge I want to share it with others so badly! I want to start by sharing it with all of you - the people I love most in this world. Could you please take just a few minutes to go onto Mormon.org/BecauseofHim and watch that wonderful video? I know that when you watch it, you will be filled with the Spirit and feel an urgency to share it with others. Please follow that prompting when it comes :)

I love you all so much. I know that this gospel is true! I wish I could film my mission and send it home for you to watch, because these emails do not in any way do it justice. Please know that my heart is overflowing with joy because of the power of this work! God lives!

Love,

Sister Walborn

p.s.  here is a picture of Sister Moss and I downtown! A member took us out for Rita's :) LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! 

p.p.s. No one says yinz here... haha 

March 31st, 2014

This week was so good! There are so many things to be grateful for! This week we did an exchange with the sisters in the Pitt 4th ward, and a blitz up in Erie with those sisters. Both were so amazing!! I want to tell you a little bit about both of them really quick:

 

The exchange with the Pitt 4th sisters was so fun because the sisters there both came out with Sister Larsen and I! We were all in the MTC together over 9 months ago and it was so neat to see the progress we have all made so far on our missions. I got to spend the exchange with Sister Brown. In case you don't remember the story, Sister Brown and I met on June 4th, 2013 (the day before I entered the MTC). She was sitting in the terminal of the Denver airport waiting to board the plane heading to Salt Lake. She is from Florida and we were both going a day early to stay with siblings in Provo. I walked up to her, because she was reading from Preach My Gospel and was dressed in missionary attire, hoping that she was a missionary too! Thank heavens she was and we discovered we were both headed (eventually) for the PA, pittsburgh mission!! It was such a tender mercy! And now, 9 months later we had another tender mercy experience! Over the course of the exchange we talked about how our missions have been so different up to this point, but so incredibly wonderful in their own ways. On the car ride headed back to her area at the end of the exchange, we bore our testimonies to each other and I felt the spirit so strongly.

 

Later in the week we went to Erie! We did a blitz with the sisters up there because it is 100.2 miles to their apartment one way... haha Very far. I am so grateful though, because it was exactly what needed to happen. The sisters up there are Sister Holmstead and Sister Sampson. Sister Sampson has only been in the mission for 5 weeks, and Sister Holmstead has been out for a year. Sister Holmstead is training for the 3rd time and also was a Sister Training Leader before she came to Erie. Even though all four of us stayed in Erie, we separated during proselyting time and I got to spend the day with Sister Holmstead. I learned so much from her! We became instant friends and I loved having the opportunity to teach with her! It was so interesting because at the end of every exchange (or blitz) we do a review and talk with the sisters about what we learned, and discuss what we all can do to improve, and at the during this review Sister Holmstead and I learned the same lesson but in different ways! We both learned the power of optimism but in different aspects of the work. It was so cool to realize how much heavenly Father works through the people in our lives. Each person we come in contact with has something to teach us, or to learn from us, or BOTH! :)

 

Also this week we got to do service at Produce to the People. I know I have talked about it before, but this time we had a really special moment. We were standing around before all the produce arrived, and the Elders were telling us about their day. A man made eye contact with me from a distance and so I smiled at him, not thinking much of it. He continued to watch us and then started walking toward us. He joined our conversation and we all introduced ourselves. He asked us a few questions about our tags and missionary life, and in an attempt to focus the conversation on him, I asked, "so how are you doing?" This man told us his life story. He was into drugs, alcohol, and every immoral thing out there until he was in his late 40s. He had hit rock bottom and was terrified, thinking that his life has been wasted by useless things. He was angry that he worked so hard everyday to earn money and then would go and spend it on alcohol and drugs. So, he started going to a little christian church where the people helped him give up his bad habits and turn his life around. He looked at us and said, "Those people helped me so much, and I know that my Lord was with me every step of the way!" He has now been clean for 7 years and is trying so hard to help other people recognize God in their life.  This man really touched my heart! I KNOW that people have the ability to change. The Atonement is available to everyone, and we can play a role in others coming unto Christ. I am so grateful for the people at that little christian church who reached out to this man. :)

 

I love you all so much! I know that heavenly Father placed us all on the earth at this time for a specific purpose, and like President Eyring said in the General Women's Meeting, we are a "favored few" to be a part of the covenant. We have to do our part to help others have the blessings we have received! I know this gospel is true, the Savior lives.

 

Love,

Sister Walborn

 

p.s. Pictures: 1) Sister Larsen and I with Sister Yates and Sister Brown at the end of our exchange :) 2) Sister Larsen and I after service at the senior center. The old people are so sweet to us and love our "crowns" haha  LOVE YINZ!!

March 24th, 2014

This week we saw so many miracles. Sister Larsen and I really tried taking to heart and applying the lessons that were given to us at zone conference last friday about talking to EVERYONE and having faith to find those whom God has prepared. We have tried a couple new things this week and we are confident that they will bring results. Yay!

 

Okay, so I wanted to share a small experiences that meant a lot to me this week:

1) On Thursday night, we pulled up to our apartment and got out of the car to head inside. Just before we did though, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 8:54. We had 6 minutes before we were supposed to be in. We live in an area with lots of houses, and even though we live in the elder's area, I suggested that we walk around the block before going inside. She quickly agreed and so we began our little venture up fifth street. As we walked, we talked about our day. We were about to turn the corner and there was a wonderful house lit up with little lights lining the walkway. I paused, and asked Sister Larsen if we could knock on the door. We did, and this adorable lady showed her face through the window and yelled, "HI! What are you doing?" So I answered, "We came to see you!" She giggled and told us to come around the back. She is a 70 year old lady named Suzie and she is a devout Lutheran. She loves the Lord and shared her testimony with us about her journey with Christ. She declined our offer for the Book of Mormon, but said that she is never up that late and she knows she was meant to talk to us. She called us her "sisters in Christ", gave us huge hugs, thanked us for what we do, and lovlingly sent us on her way. She isn't a new investigator, she doesn't want to get baptized, and she didn't have a referral for us. But I really felt like we were meant to talk to her and help her feel the Spirit, as well as be uplifted by her :) The quote, "It is impossible for us to fail when we do our best when we are on the Lord's errand," really rang true at that moment for me. We were simply trying to use every minute God had given us that day, and he blessed us in meeting Suzie.

 

I'm sorry this is so short! I love you all so much and I KNOW this gospel is true!! Be strong and carry on! Always be willing to shine the light of the gospel!

 

Love,

Sister Walborn

March 17th, 2014

Hello Family!!

 

Holy cow.... this week was absolutely insane! I am not sure if this email will do it justice, but I will do my best.

 

So, the location of our apartment is very inconvenient for missionary work. It is in the very bottom corner of our ward boundary, and we cover the entire ward boundary except for a little circle in the middle for the elder's (walk) area. It wouldn't be a big deal, except for the fact that we are only allotted a certain number of miles on our car every month and in order to get to everyone and accomplish everything we need to do, we would need more miles or move apartments. So, it started the process of what are we going to do to solve the problem? WELL, on tuesday we got a call from that secretary letting us know that we would be moving the following saturday (the 15th).... haha I was on an exchange with Sister Luker from Brookville and she just laughed at me as I sat there in shock. I called Sister Larsen and we had to cancel our appointments for wednesday and thursday so that we could pack and clean the apartment. AH! CRAZY!  So, that is what we did. We had to scrub every inch of that apartment so that we could leave it better than we found it. We have both helped many people move so far on our missions and the majority of them haven't been very prepared to make the move. So that was our goal! After packing and organizing everything, we moved it all (couches, beds, dressers, etc.) into one room on on the main floor. It only took our moving crew 25 minutes to load everything up!! :) yay!

 

Friday we had an all day zone conference, which we thought was terrible timing at first because it only gave us 2 instead of 3 days to prepare for the move, but ended up being the biggest blessing! We needed that spiritual nourishment and time to relax so badly. We talked a lot about having the faith to find those whom God has prepared. Something particular that President Topham said had a big impact on me, he said, "Us older folks (talking about the senior couples have been paying tithing for a long time, and I can promise you that they would know as well as I do that you don't pay tithing with money.... (he paused, we were all confused)... You pay your tithing with FAITH. The same thing applies to finding. You do not find people to teach by knocking on doors or talking to someone in the grocery store, you find them by FAITH."  He continued on to explain that obviously we aren't going to find 10 new people if we are feeling that our faith is pretty rockin' that day, but we are having the faith to try, and to do our best so that they people that God has prepared can be led to us or us to them.

 

So, transfers are in 3 weeks. There is a very good chance that I will be transferred :( So I think that any mail you want to send, you should just send it to the mission office. That way, there won't be any chance of it not getting to the right place. This new apartment we are in is not as nice as the one in Evans City, but we know it will help us be much more effective in our missionary efforts which is all that really matters!! :) We live in the elder's area (kind of weird) which will make our lives so much easier in working our ENTIRE area. YAYY!!

 

2600 Boyce Plaza Rd. Ste. 101

Upper St. Clair, PA 15241

 

I had the most wonderful birthday! :) On Saturday, Tiny (investigator) and his wife Jeanette (less-active), threw me a party at their parents house - Joe & Roberta. Roberta is the one who made me the afghan. They are SO sweet and really wanted me to feel at home away from home. Then on Sunday, the wonderful Eberle family, the same place I went for Christmas, fed us dinner and celebrated my birthday. I love this area and this ward so much. They really have become my family and I know that I have been hugely blessed by the love and examples of these people.

 

I love you all so much and I want you to know that the GOSPEL IS TRUE!!!

 

Love,

Sister Walborn

 

p.s. Pictures: 1) A small view of the stuff we packed up! We don't live there anymore! 2) birthday pictures! The elders decided it would be funny to smear frosting all over my face... so it became a war. Grandma (roberta) was so happy, she thought it was hilarious! LOVE YINZ!!

 

 

March 3rd, 2014

Hi everyone!!

This week was wonderful. We had the opportunity to do SO much service!! I think it totaled to about 12 hours, when normally we do 3. The one that took the most time, and was the most fun - was helping move a sister in the ward. She lived on the second floor of one of the buildings, and was moving to the first floor of the building right next door. There were about 15 ward members there, plus the four of us missionaries so the phrase "many hands makes light work" was very applicable. The fun part was maneuvering some of the furniture through the doorways and the stairwells so that they could arrive unharmed to the next apartment! Never thought I would learn that skill on my mission! haha 

To get the sad news out of the way- Tiny's work schedule changed so that now he is working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day! Because of that, he said that he won't be able to be able to meet with us for a few months AND he will be so exhausted from work that he will need to catch up on sleep on mondays... :( Satan is horrible. Always there to steer a person wrong, especially when their heart and mind begin to open to what is truly right and good for their life! Oh well, we will still be visiting Jeanette (his LA wife) and hopefully something will come from that. 

We had a really cool experience with Jan yesterday though! She is a less-active lady we have been working with her for months. Her husband Nick is not a member, and he has been listening and participating in the lessons for a little while now! Jan has been coming back to church but the past few weeks she was in Virginia for work. She is a kernel in the Army. During the last few weeks, she had the chance to go to church only once down there and she told us that she could feel Satan working on her! She has dealt with a lot of problems with the army because she is trying to retire but they are not cooperating. While she was there, she told us that she lost her temper with them because of their dishonesty in the situation and she was really disappointed in herself. They had us over for dinner last night and we seemed to be able to get her mind off of it and cheer her up during the meal. As we sat down for the spiritual message though, she got a call that resurfaced all the problems. She broke down crying to us and sitting there, my heart just ached for her. I had no idea how to help in the situation because they were discussing all the different legal actions that could be taken to make the situation right. As I sat there though, the Spirit whispered to me that she needs a blessing. Elder Whitmire was listening to the Spirit as well, because at the same time we turned to Elder Bashein (who was sitting between us) and said "offer a blessing!" :) It was so neat! He quickly agreed and asked Jan if she would want a blessing. Jan's 90 year old mother was also there and as soon as the question was asked, she blurted, "yes! please! she needs it!"  Elder Bashein gave her a beautiful blessing that brought the Spirit so strongly into their home. 

Well, sorry my email wasn't extremely long!! I wish I could share every detail of every day! But I hope you have an amazing week!! The gospel is true and God lives! LOVE YOU!!!

Love,

Sister Walborn

p.s. Pictures: 1) Tiny and Jeanette made me cookies once they found out that I wasn't getting transferred! So sweet! The middle ones say "You rock" because I guess that is one of my common phrases... haha :)  2) Sister Larsen and I expressing our excitement for Nancy!! GO COUGARS!!! Pretty much everyone in the ward here knows, because it was such wonderful news for me-I told everyone! :)   LOVE YINZ!!