Week 12--3 Month Mark

Hey Loved Ones,

So this week I've been reading and thinking a lot about Mosiah 11-18. Alma and Abinadi. How Abinadi went into King Noah's kingdom, and preached to no avail whatsoever, and was thrown out. And he was told to go back, and he did, not knowing why. And he did, and he came back more agressive, bolder, and more powerful than before. And he knew they would probably kill him, but he did anyway. And then he got taken before the kind and they said they are going to kill him. And he's like, alright cool, but I'm not done. And he literally doesn't stop prophesying until he is dead. And he never got to see a single soul brought to repentance. And he dies thinking he hasn't brought anyone to repent.

But then there's Alma. He believes. He stands up for his beliefs. He is kicked out and has to separate himself from his formerly wicked (pretty much the most wicked in all of the kingdom) lifestyle. And he surrounds himself with people who are open minded. And he starts preaching to them, and baptizes 402 souls in that kingdom. And later they join up with King Mosiah in Zarahemla, and he becomes prophet and the whole land of Zarahemla are believers because of him. And he has a son who becomes a missionary to lead the Lamanites to believe, and thousands of them are converted.

All because of Abinadi. They are still referencing his prophecies years and years later, and nations brought into the fold of God because of him. And he died thinking that no one listened. One person did, and that was all it took.

We face a lot less than torture and death when we share the Gospel with our friends, and they may say no and we may never see the fruits, but in D&C 58:28 it says that no good deed is without reward, and sharing the Gospel with others is THE MOST IMPORTANT duty we can do...at least according to Joseph Smith. And I dunno about you, but he's a pretty smart guy.

Love you, but Jesus Loves You Best,

Sister Pugmire

Paige is in this video for the Boise LDS Institute!

Tornado Warning-May 2, 2016

All is safe with tornadoes. Yesterday we were having a meeting at the home of the Cox's. They are a senior couple and this week was the last week of their 12 month mission. There were about 16 missionaries there Sunday evening when a neighbor drops by an says there is a tornado warning. A few minutes later the sirens went off. The whole sky was lit up, and the wind was crazy. We turned on the news (because Senior missionaries have like, no rules) and they showed the hail was the size of ping pong balls. We all had to crowd into the stairwell until 10pm, so we played Uno and ate  bundt cake. It was actually a really fun memory. At 10 the Zone Leaders drove us home, and lucky they did because shortly after it stormed really a lot. But during that 30 minute window to get home the weather was calm! The Lord blesses us for sure.

Week 11--The Week in Miracles

Hey Loved Ones,

HUGE miracle this week. We felt impressed to go tracting on a street, and after 2 hours did did not see much success. As we were getting back into the car, Sister Gregerson felt we should do one more house on the corner. We knocked, and the woman answered and said, "Sisters! One moment; let me pull up some chairs and we will talk!" We sat on her porch and she told us her name, Kay, and that she'd been to our church before and loved it. She said she didn't really know why she stopped attending, as she loved our church best and felt the people were the nicest in the world. She also told us she was engaged to be married in June to an inactive member, Jerry, who is not even on our roster. She was looking for someone to marry them and a venue as well, as asked if it would be possible at our church. We told her if she wanted the Bishop could do it in our building for no cost. She was so happy, and then started crying and said that she had just been praying and feeling lost, and wanted to have a sign, and then we showed up. She said she knew she needed to come back to church, and that she knew she would be welcomed back with open arms. We told her we would come back before church and meet with her and her fiance on Friday.

On Friday, at 3:15, we get a call from her and she asks if we can bring the Bishop with us at 5. We say we will give it a shot, but we know Bishop Jackson is probably the busiest person we know and has eight children who are all home schooled, and he just opened up a law firm. We call him, and ask if he could come to her appointment. It just so happens he's taken the day off from work! When we show up, she and Jerry are both waiting on their porch. As soon as we get seated, she says, "I want to be baptized right now. I know I need to be married first, but I want to be married as soon as possible and baptized the next day!" We are kind of stunned. The Bishop rolls into the drive and they both remember each other! She tells him the same thing. He's kind of in shock too, and goes over the baptismal interview qualifications right on the porch, and she says, "Yes, I know all that, I don't have any Word of Wisdom problems, and I'll try to pay my tithing too! We want to get married the first weekend in June, and then baptized the next day!" So she pretty much puts herself on baptism date for June 4th, and asks if he can marry them on the 3rd.

Bishop says we have to give her all the discussions, and read the Book of Mormon. He asks her, "Kay, do you have a Book of Mormon? Have they given you one yet?" She smiles so big and says, "Oh, do I have a Book of Mormon!" She runs into her house and immediately fetches this beautiful leather grain LDS quad, and opens it up and pulls out all the Missionary Discussion pamphlets, and had the pages all marked in different colors and highlighters. "You know what they call you, Kay? A Dry Mormon," says the Bishop. "All we need to do is baptize you."

She really is ready for baptism, and it made me think of why after not coming to church for years after meeting missionaries she still had retained her testimony. It's the Book of Mormon.

Not everyone is like Kay. We have one recent convert whose mother Lea has been taking discussions. She wants so much to be baptized and to see her husband's proxy baptism done in the temple by her daughter at his one year mark, but she has a Word of Wisdom problem with smoking. The past week we had the perfect lesson, with the perfect ward member who shared the PERFECT testimony and by the end of the lesson we were all CRYING and Lea offered the most beautiful prayer I have ever heard. We gave her two commitments: Come to church, and put her Book of Mormon on top of her tobacco and every time she is going to smoke one read a chapter first.

We can't get a hold of them Sunday morning. So we literally go over to her house and knock on the door for ten minutes. Then we go around and knock on the bedroom door to wake them up. Then (because we are really close) we walk right into their house and wake them up for church, and tell them we found a member to give her a ride. She's happy to see us, but tells us she doesn't feel well enough to come to church today. Then she rolls a cigarette right in front of us--no Book of Mormon in sight--and starts smoking it. We were at a loss.

And I wondered why she didn't keep her commitments--didn't even try. Sister Gregerson and I went back to square one. And realized the very first commitment we need to give someone--before we ask them to pray, before we ask them to come to church, before we ask them ANYTHING--is to read the Book of Mormon. It's the keystone of our faith and the first step to conversion. I know the Book of Mormon is true, and i know that you CANNOT BE CONVERTED TO THE LORD UNLESS YOU READ IT.  You can be converted to the people at church, or the food, or the way you feel in the chapel at church, but not to the Savior. So read it, and pray and fast until you know it is true.

My challenge to you,

Thanks for reading this long letter,

Love you, but Jesus loves you BEST!

Sister Pugmire

Week 10

Hey Loved Ones,

Being on mission is crazy. Just when you think you'll never teach the law of chastity as a first contact lesson, Heavenly Father puts it in your path. He definitely has a sense of humor. 

This week was also full of miracles. There are people out there looking for what the Gospel has to offer and they don't know where to find it.

A lot of miracles are invisible--probably most--but the clearest ones come from tracting. President Cleveland (former BYU basketball coach) wants us to go tracting 12 hours every week. We try and get in the full amount even if we only have 15 minutes here or there. One day we had that kind of situation--where we had too much to do and only could tract in between lessons. But we wanted to  be diligent. First person to answer the door says, "We're in the middle of a family meeting. Can you come back later?" Which sounds like an excuse. But then he says, "You're the Mormons, right? Come back Saturday at 1. We used to have missionaries that lived a floor above us. We were such great friends and had them over for BBQ all the time. Then we moved. So come back, you can teach us, and then we will talk about having you over for BBQ!"

If that wasn't enough of a miracle, what happens next is. When we see them again, the wife greets us like old friends. The whole family seems happy to see us, except their 8 year old son Izzy isn't there. His mom says, "Izzy likes to go 'find friends' around the neighborhood. He will come back soon with a friend he's made and then we will start a lesson." Sister Gregerson and I got a strong impression that we needed to change the lesson we were going to teach and tell a story from the Book of Mormon instead. Izzy comes back with two new friends he has made, and we invite them to listen. They were very touched by the story of the 2000 Strippling Warriors.

But after the closing prayer, the two friends, Nicholas and Logan come up to us and say, "Uh..we're Mormon." We think they must be confused because we haven't seen them at church and we have the ward roster practically memorized, and they are no where on it. But they say they are, they know the name of the Bishop, and say their parents don't really take them to church anymore but they loved to go. We ask them if they had missionaries at their house ever. "Yes," they say, "We loved the Elders but they don't come anymore! Let's take you to our house!" So across the neighborhood they lead us to their house. The parents are busy but say we can come back. As we leave the boys yell, "Thanks for coming to visit us! Come back soon!" Cutest thing ever.

We look at home, and sure thing their family is not on the records. It was just the most crazy, off the wall :coincidence" to me. That this family would be so receptive, and that their son--out of all the kids in the neighborhood--would choose the two children of inactive parents who had their records removed. And we totally changed the lesson we were going to give too! If we hadn't told a story from the Book of Mormon that those kids recognized, they may have never told us they were Mormon. It's almost like...God knows His children and is mindful of them...or something? 

I know the Lord is mindful of you and what you need, and even when you don't see His hand, He is there!

And I love you, But Jesus Loves You BEST!

Sister Pugmire

Week 9

Hey Loved Ones!

So this week we had to say goodbye to our old zone, and hello to a new zone. Not because I was transferred last week. Sister Gregerson and I were actually the only companionship in the zone to not be transferred! Still in good ol' Franklin. There are only a handful of other missionaries staying, and then our zone combined with Columbus Zone to form the Indianapolis Zone. I thought for sure the new Zone would not be as cool as the one we had before, because I loved every single one of them so much, but this new combined zone has 30 missionaries and they are all super cool! So funny how you can only spend time with someone once or twice a week for a few hours and be best friends.

This week being the first week of transfers was kind of a shuffle. It seemed like even though we stayed,  everything was different. A lot of investigators decided they wanted to ignore us, while others came out of the woodwork. They say it happens a lot the beginning of the transfer, and is a good way to reevaluate how to be most effective. One thing that I've realized is that even as a missionary when you feel the Spirit so strongly, and can fill up your schedule, and go about doing good all the day long, it still might not be the thing that the Lord wants you to do. Sure, the Spirit may say, "Go for it!" because it is the Spirit's job to testify of truth and good. But it is our job to seek the difference between good, better and best, to show our faith in God.

Speaking of which, I love seeing how strong the faith of someone can be when no one tells them "it's too hard" or "you can't do it." Terri came to church on her first Fast Sunday as a member already fasting! We didn't even remind her. Sunday was the first, so it's not like the calendar reminded her either. She has MS, and I think a lot of people in her place would say, "Oh, I'm too sick, I can't do it." But she takes no excuse. She obeys the Lord immediately. She remembered our stake presidency, weeks before she was baptized, telling the stake to focus on fasting especially this month and year, and for missionary opportunities. It reminds me of the story in the New Test where someone came to the Savior imploring their relatives, who were possessed, to be healed. Jesus did so, and the apostles complained they couldn't heal that same person and asked why. Jesus told them it was because the apostles lacked faith, not the ones that were possessed. Even if you think someone wouldn't be able to live the Gospel,. think again, because they might have the faith that you don't.

I love you, but Jesus loves you BEST!

Sister Pugmire

April 25, 2016

So THIS past Saturday was my two month mark for being set apart, for real tho...again, time is so messed up on a mission.This Wednesday will be my two month of entering the MTC.

We had some really amazing experiences this week. We had the baptism of Terri Matthews. She has been the most golden investigator. The Lord prepared her so much. She was ready to go by the first time I met her. She later confessed to us that baptism is something that had been on her mind, weighing heavily, before she met us, but she didn't know how to be baptized. She was so humble--willing to learn--and so receptive. Because she has been so sick she could literally meet any time under the sun so it made it easy for us to get members to appointments with her. (**If you didn't know, missionaries need to have a member present at every planned appointment, so if you haven't already, ask them when you can come with them!**Because it stinks canceling an appointment because a Church member canceled.) All we had to do was show up and teach the lessons to her and answer her questions. She was so ready. Wouldn't it be great to say that because of my own skills she was brought into the fold, but I know it was the Lord and he just used me. I think with any investigators we find such success with it will be the same, throughout my mission. I'm thankful He did, and I don't know why He's chosen to bless me so much, but He has.

We also had a cool experience tracting. We ask everyone we meet, "How has faith in Jesus Christ impacted your life?" (Because everyone in Indy has a faith in Christ, duh.) We get some cool answers. But by far one of the coolest I have heard so far came from Aiden. He is 13. He has been to any church about 4 times in his life, all recently. He gave one of the most powerful expressions of faith with his answers I've heard. He had never heard of the word apostle, of the word new testament, but he wants to follow Christ. We came back to visit him and teach the REstoration of the Church, and he said he had a dream. A dream in which he was in heaven helping God teach people, and that Jesus was teaching his family. He said that he was helping God direct people in entering the pearly gates, and telling them which "cities" to go to. We have never even BROUGHT UP the Plan of Salvation. Pretty incredible. He said he knows God will help Him in the afterlife, and we told Him God wants to help him here too.

I know God will help you if you seek Him.

And I love you, but Jesus Loves You Best, Sister Pugmire

 We felt so joyful after Terri's baptism that we had to blow some dandelions because see Terri get baptized was a wish come true!

           A healthy meal after a . lonnngggg day!

Happy P-day! filling in an adult coloring book for Patricia. Not bad for doing it while driving.

April 18, 2016

Hey Loved Ones,

As of yesterday, I have been a missionary for two months!

This week my companion and I had the goal of being very diligent about our tracting. Mission President Cleveland requires that we do 12 hours every week. Which is completely turned on its head from what I expected, because I heard it was least effective. But you'd be so surprised that most of the ward members are converts, and most of said converts were tracted into by missionaries.

We started tracting on Tuesday, and felt very impressed to go down a certain street. Not a ton of luck. Then we ran into, the last house on the block, a VERY Irish Catholic man, Mr. O'Mara, who has the IRA's flag flying on his flagpole and only reads the Saint Ignatius Bible. For some reason, even though I knew the Irish hate the English, and he just got finished telling me about how the IRA is totally justified in bombing people because of what the English did to them, I felt impressed to talk about my family history from England. He said he had visited the land of my ancestors, "Pugh's Mire" and told me that "pugh" in Gaelic means "to kiss." Then we felt impressed to give him a Book of Mormon, which he said he would read the whole thing! He then gave us a prayer card for the Patron Saint of purgatory, and told us to read it if we ever wanted to release souls from purgatory, and if I did so those souls in purgatory would do the same thing for me. That explains a lot, because at least three Catholics have given me some relic for the Patron Saint of Purgatory since I've been here. Well, better than Hell.

Later we also tracted into a lady who made it very clear that she was not interested, EXCEPT for learning about the pioneers. She said she reads nonfiuc about the Mormon Pioneers specifically and why they did what they did. It was so cool to share with her the stories of my ancestors, and the knowledge that they did it because they knew it was true and wanted to give me a better life. We are coming back and giving her a copy of 17 Miracles and Legacy to borrow. She gave us some clementines and water bottles for the road! Who knew family history would come in handy tracting?

We are really focusing on that this week before Terri gets baptized. She has been saying that her parents were "already baptized," and we knew that she didn't have a testimony about the Restored Gospel or the Priesthood power, so we knew we needed to work on it. But when we gave a lesson on Family History, she expressed interest in taking their names to the temple the week after she gets baptized! Her testimony is growing so fast!

Love you all, pray for you, and hope you see the hand of the Lord in your life!

<3 Sister "Pugh's Mire"

PS............Any relatives, if you have family history stories, I'd love to read them!

April 11, 2016

Hey Loved Ones,

So this is actually week 7 for me, not last week. Time is so hard to keep track of.

So this is going to be my lamest email yet, but here is a picture.

All I have to say is people watch you being awesome and it so helps with missionary work. There are people out there who need to hear and see your testimonies.

And the most powerful testimony comes when you don't know, but you still do it anyway. That's how my investigators have been this week. They don't know why they need to keep the lord's commands, but they do it anyway, even those who have only come in contact with the Church recently. That to me is SO powerful.

Also read the Ensign! <3 Sister Pugmire

Week 7-General Conference Week

Hey Loved Ones,

This week has been a great one in preparation for General Conference. It was a great way to spread the Gospel as we told our investigators, potential investigators, former investigators, recent converts, active members, returning less active members, less active members, and friends all about the Prophet speaking for God this week! In short, everyone we could. It was so amazing to hear the excitement in someone's voice when they heard the leader of our church was speaking to the whole world, and they would definitely tune in!

There's something about General Conference...the harmony of the topics the speakers gave, the way they just said the exact words that were answers to things I had been praying about before, and how it really does impact the lives of millions and millions of people worldwide, and truly the whole world. I hope if you didn't get to watch it live, you will.

One of the themes that stood out to me was our identity, and what defines a person. That no one should ever be defined by the worst thing that they have ever done, that we are children of a King and can be like Him, and that once we understand that and that he loves us even more than an earthly father ever could, it changes us and our actions.

After Sunday morning session we went to visit a very special investigator. Before I was a missionary, I swore I would never waste time with an investigator who was not making progress, as I know how many people there are the Lord has prepared. But my mind changed when I heard about "Patty". She has been on the list of "New" investigators for almost a year, mostly because she has not progressed in that year. But we go visit her once a week. From the moment that I heard about her, Sister Gregerson and I took a keen interest in her. Imagine Ann of Green Gables in all her sassiness, double it, and imagine her trapped in a old lady's body, and then add in a drinking habit, a smoking habit, and lots of cussing. That is "Patty". She calls everyone a hussie, her family members snakes, and she'll excuse herself for saying "pissed" but never for actual swearwords. It is the funniest thing. I love her to death. She has what we call an abrasive personality, but that really doesn't deter missionaries. We went over there to remind her how much God loves her, ask her if she remembers that she is the daughter of a King, and to tell her about Conference. When we got there she said she had been praying we would come by today. She also said last week when we prayed her niece would come by, she did! She said she had been reading the Book of Mormon, and would watch General Conference. And then we felt the prompting from the Holy Ghost to ask her if she wanted to be Baptized!!! She said yes, and picked the day of May 14th!!! She says she wants to quit smoking, give up coffee and alcohol, and come to church and meet the Bishop! It's amazing what the Love of God can do. As we left she gave us her catholic rosary pendants, and a statue of a wizard. So now we have Merlin in our front room and the Patron Saint of Lost Causes around my neck. 

I love ya all and pray for you!

Remember that the Best Blessings from Conference come AFTER, Remember who you are, and Remember the Alamo.

Sister Pugmire

Being a missionary is great!

Hey Loved Ones,

Being a missionary is great. It's no joke that spreading the Doctrine of Christ and seeing other people take it to heart is one of the best joys in life.

My companion Sister Gregerson is so great. We have a ton of fun together. Our only problem is we stay up too late just talking! She has such a genuine interest in people and is always thinking and talking about them. And it shows. I was in the bathroom one time and she was sitting waiting outside. A man stopped dead in his tracks and looked at her. "You...you are a child of Christ?!" he exclaimed. "You're glowing!" and then he walked away. We'd never seen him in our life.

It's true though. Here's a cool story. Sister Ketchum (who Mom got the pic from this week) had us over to make Easter cookies for investigators. She has a daughter serving in Federal Way, who in her own right is a missionary legend. Her name is Maggie. She has a very interesting family she had been working with. It was a family from Iran. They were devout Muslims. Then one day, out of the blue, a coworker started bearing testimony of Christ, but never spoke of it again. They became curious, went to a Christian church, and became baptized. They ended up having to leave Iran within months because of persecution and threats on their life. They moved to Turkey, where the preacher at their Christian church warned them vehemently about the dangerous "Mormons." Again curious, they researched all they could online. They heard that the faces of these "Mormons shine in the dark". Because of persecution and looming danger of Isis attacks in Turkey, they moved eight months later to Washington. Then, very soon after, they saw at a food bank, one of the helpers had one these faces that were shining. Literally shining, so that they could see. They told their youngest son, the only one to speak any English, to go ask him if he was Mormon. He was. He was an Elder, who referred them to Sister Maggie Ketchum. The family wanted to go to the church building first. All through the discussion, the youngest son Qian had to translate. They took them on a tour of the church. When they got to the painting of Christ visiting America, the wife stopped. She told her son to tell the missionaries that there was an energy coming from the painting. They told her it was the Spirit. She asked them what the Spirit is. They told her it was God speaking to her, and asked her what He was saying. She said that God was telling her that he loved her, and what they learned was true. They were baptized last week, the whole family.

We invited two of our investigators to a baptism this week. One was Benjamin. The baptism started really late and he had to go to work before it would even be over. It takes him 15 minutes to get to work from the church, and the miracle was that even though it started late he had exactly enough time to watch the full ordinance, and then he had to step out the door. The other investigator was Terrie Matthews with her 6-year old daughter Mikayla. Mikayla is very funny, very opinionated, and very sassy! She is adorable! The boy being baptized was a ten year old boy named David Percifield, and in typical ten year old boy fashion was silly with how excited he was. As he was coming into the font he was yelling (laughing) "No! No! I don't want to get in that water!" because it was a bit cold. Then Mikalya asked (loudly,) "Why doesn't he wanna get in the water? Is he NAKED?!" We all Lost It. We were all laughing, and I was about in tears. But it was so funny, no one could help it. Then once he was baptized, something got stuck under water and Elder Hoffman had to dive to get it. It was a bit silly. Mikayla was loudly exclaiming through all this she would never be baptized. I worried the Spirit may have gone away. But once Terrie got back to the Relief Society room, she whispered to me, "Now I know I really want to do this." I was in such shock I asked her to repeat it. "Yes," she said, "I know I really want to do this now." It testified to me how strong the Spirit is during these sacred ordinances, regardless of anything else. (;

We talked about how it would be a good example for Mikayla. Sister Gregerson brought them a children's Book of Mormon and asked them to read a chapter every night, and then have Terrie read the full chapter in her Book of Mormon. We felt impressed to promise her that some of the fondest memories she could make with Mikayla would be reading her the Book of Mormon and watching her understand it.

On Sunday they came to Easter service. After church, Terrie told us they were reading the Book of Mormon. She said that they had read a chapter every night, and last night one extra because Mikayla wouldn't let her stop! She said she just eats it up!!! Terrie said that she was having trouble reading the smaller print in the Book of Mormon because of her MS makes her have tremors. It was so cool to see her sincere desire to teach her daughter, and we got her a large print Book of Mormon.

There are so many miracles out there, I wasn't even able to share the half of them. Until next week, I love you all and pray for you.

Read to your kiddoes the Book of Mormon, pray even when you feel grumpy, and feed the missionaries, because spiritual hunger takes its toll in the temporal (;

First Month!

Hey Loved Ones,

First email!

I can't believe that I have been set apart as a missionary for a month...and that as of this week it will be my one month mark! Time is seriously as warped as a funhouse mirror on the mission. It feels like I have been out in the field for a lot longer than a week and a half, but I can't believe it's been a month!

I was among the very last set of missionaries to only spend two weeks in the MTC. Less than that...11 1/2 days! It was amazing. I had a blast. It was like Hogwarts and Disneyworld all in one, only instead of roller coasters and magic you're learning about the Doctrine of Christ. I had about as much fun as I've EVER had in my life, and my companion Sister Forseth and I and I grew to be a close as sisters in that short time! The Lord seriously answered every single prayer that I had regarding a companion before my mission with Sister Forseth. That was what I was most nervous about, but I tried to be optimistic. I was the first person in the classroom on my arrival day and my teachers Sister Greer and Brother Hanson asked what I was nervous about. I said having a companion all the time, but I also said that I wanted to look at it as having a built in best friend. Then in walks Sister Forseth and my prayer was answered! I know the Lord hand picked her for me.

My teachers were also amazing. As well as being the last missionaries to have the shortest MTC time in history, I was also in the district that was Brother Hanson's last class to teach before they are making him "retire." And I know that there was no coincidence why my report date was so soon. I needed to meet him, This was a cool experience--

We did a lot of role acting, where we practice how to give a lesson. Brother Hanson always was acting the role of the same person, "Andre." A person he had baptized on his mission. We knew it was meaningful to him. The very last day he said, "I'm going to show you who Andre is, and why every time we practice I'm always Andre, trying to say the things that Andre would say." He pulled up a picture of a guy standing next to a sister missionary. We all said, "Andre looks like you!" but then we realized it WAS him, and that the Sister was "Andre" (Audrey), who had been on a mission after she was baptized. But here's the craziest part. I knew her. We had mutual friends, and those friends had shared an article she had written about being a missionary on Facebook. I had read it, and that article made me realize that although I had always wanted to go on a mission, the time was NOW. That's when I left school, got two jobs, and really put the petal to the metal and worked on myself. I would have waited who knows how long to come a mission if it hadn't been for her article, and now I was in the MTC, in the last class for me and my teacher, who was the guy who converted that girl who wrote that article. Too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. If I didn't already know I was meant to be on a mission RIGHT NOW, (heck yes I do!) I am thoroughly convinced now.

The mission field has been amazing. President Cleveland and his wife are so warm and loving. President Cleveland was a basketball coach for BYU and a team here in Indy so it feels like i have a personal life coach. I've been assigned to a town on about 20,000 called Franklin!

My companion is awesome. Sister Gregerson. Once again, the Lord answered just about every prayer I had for a companion. It has been awesome! A lot of people including investigators have told us that they just know that the Lord put us together for a reason, and that we can accomplish the work we have to do. We have a LOT of work. In Indiana, there are more churches per capita than anywhere else in America, probably anywhere else in the world. Everyone wants to have that love of God, everyone wants to know Jesus better. And that is the message that we have! The fullness of the Gospel, every single thing that man has ever been told by God is in this church today! The fullness of God and the fullness of that relationship is achieved in this Chruch. 

And the craziest thing about Franklin is that tracting WORKS! I'm amazed. My first time tracting, 5 out of 6 people listened to our message and invited us back. And it hasn't stopped there. I feel like my jaw could hit the floor half the time. The Lord has prepared this people and the field is white to harvest!

We had an investigator come to church this week with us, Terrie and her 6 year old Mikayla. She was found tracting by Sister Gregerson and her companion. They actually weren't even tracting. They just were driving home and happened to see them on the front lawn. They immediately did a u-turn to go talk to her, and she invited them back! She hadn't contacted them back in the weeks before I got there though, which seemed odd as she had been previously interested. We went to see her again. I had no idea what she might be like or her testimony. We had no idea what to teach her. But Sister Gregerson and I turned to each other and said we should read from the Book of Mormon. At the EXACT same time we both said, "Second Nephi 31&32?" So you can imagine what we read! Halfway through the chapter I felt impressed to ask her to be baptized, and tell her the soonest date I could think of, on the 23rd of April. She had never even been to church, but said yes.

A big pivotal point for her was coming to church. She has MS, and she can hardly walk. Some days are worse than others. And her daughter had never been to church, and she said she had behavioral issues. I could tell her daughter and how much she liked church would make or break. But she agreed if she felt ok she would come, and her daughter kind of reluctantly agreed. At church her daughter was very eager to get out of sacrament. very verbal in her dislike for it (haha!) and I could tell Terrie was nervous about leaving her daughter in Sunday School. But by the end, Mikayla was saying she wanted to come to church every single day! It was really one of those miracles.

Love you all. Thinking and praying about you all the time. God loves you and will answer your prayers, no matter how small. The field is ripe to harvest. I love you!

Sister Pugmire

Paige arrived safely in Indiana and has been assigned to her first area in Franklin, Indiana. It's a town of about 25,000 located about 20 miles south of Indianapolis. Her mission president is Steve Cleveland, who is a former BYU Basketball Coach.
I'm sure she would love emails. paige.pugmire@myldsmail.net

Embarking on a Journey

Hello!

Welcome to my blog. This is my virtual mission journal; a diary that is not-so-private.

Here is where my letters home to my whole family and friends will be posted while I am serving my 18 month mission to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

My job is to seek out those who need help; who are lost but want to find light and happiness that is out there for them. To befriend, serve, and teach them the way back to that light and joy--in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Every Monday morning during my P-day, I'll send my letter and pictures recapping my week and my experience on my mission thus far.

If you have any tips or would just like to write to me and get a response personally, don't hesitate to send an email or letter! I'd love to hear from you.

See you in eighteen months, and
God be with you 'til we meet again
Sister Pugmire <3