The priesthood has been restored!

Brothers and Sisters,

Let me just begin by saying how grateful I am for this true gospel. It is real. It is true. It is the same gospel that Jesus Christ taught while He was on the earth. I know that the gospel is perfect, the people are not but we can be through Christ. Jesus Christ is the head of this church and as we follow His example with exactness, we will have everlasting happiness. 

On Monday I had a nightmare about an evil spirit. I have felt this spirit before on my mission and it is scary. I was able to get a Priesthood blessing and a lot of questions were answered. Everything is good now and I am no longer afraid. The Priesthood is real and I have felt its power to heal and to comfort. Do not ever hesitate to get a blessing if you need one. I love the Priesthood and I am so grateful to always have worthy Priesthood holders available. 

Other then that this week went by super fast! Time just flies by. We laugh and we cry but it is all apart of the experience. I love being a missionary. It is such a unique experience that I wouldn't trade for the world. 

Our area is kind of struggling right now. Finding is really hard and our people are not progressing very much. We have not found a new investigator in a long time but hopefully we will soon!

Thank you for all of your prayers and love and support.

Doctrine and Covenants 121:36 (look it up:)

Sister Rodabough

Sick with the flu booooooo

So not much to report on this week because I was sick with the flu and had to stay in for three days. I was the woooooorst but I am alive and all is well. (mom don't freak out) I'll tell you the story. So on Thursday I woke up at 6:30 and I told Sister Wright, "Hey I didn't get much sleep last night I am going to sleep for another hour okay?" I did and woke up in time to plan. I felt very light headed and had a head ache. Also I left out a part, early that night I stayed in the bathroom for like 10 minutes because I felt like I was going to throw up (thankfully I never did). So I called my mission nurse. She gave me the news that I had the flu and that I couldn't proselyte for three days. I am glad that it was only three days and not a week. I was able to go to church and everything on Sunday so that was great! I have a very loving companion and ward that was able to help take care of me. I also hit my year mark so that was fun!

My favorite scriptures this week is Alma 15:6-12 which reads:

6 And it came to pass that Alma said unto him, taking him by the hand: Believest thou in the power of Christ unto salvation?

7 And he answered and said: Yea, I believe all the words that thou hast taught.

8 And Alma said: If thou believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be healed.

9 And he said: Yea, I believe according to thy words.

10 And then Alma cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him according to his faith which is in Christ.

11 And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk; and this was done to the great astonishment of all the people; and the knowledge of this went forth throughout all the land of Sidom.

12 And Alma baptized Zeezrom unto the Lord; and he began from that time forth to preach unto the people.

These scriptures really helped my testimony grow. It just proves how powerful a belief in Christ really is. I would like to commit all of you to do something this week that will help you grow your testimony of the Savior. I know as you do so that you will see the Lords hand in your lives more abundantly.

Have a great week!
Sister Rodabough

The Mission=The Best Experience

Hill Billie Mormons LOL

Hi family! What's up? 

This week was crazy fast, again. We were busy busy busy. I guess time flies when your having fun. ;) I'll give y'all the rundown.

Wednesday: We taught Sister Ransom about faith and repentance. It was pretty powerful because she is really good at connecting the dots although it takes her a little while. We also met with the Duttons (members) and taught them. They told us all about the church history sights and I want to go there with my family so bad. They said that is was very spiritual so I'm hyped because I love spiritual things haha.

Thursday: We tried a potential named Qiana but Arnez answered the door instead. He is like 17 and he said that he is looking for a Bible and a church so luckily we have both of those. We gave him the Bible and hopefully we get to teach him soon. We also taught Jennifer (investigator) and I read her Rockey's conversion story and she said she really connected with it and that she felt the same way he did so that was really cool. She hasn't come to church in a while thought because Satan...I don't like him very much.

Friday: We watched President Monson's broadcast and it was way sad. The messages were very powerful and if you have't seen it yet I would encourage you to do so.

Saturday: I had a really cool experience that day. I have been having little doubts about Heavenly Father answering my prayers lately so I decided to try something. In the morning as I was starting my personal study session, I pleaded with Heavenly Father to allow us to pick up a new investigator that day. Arnez' name came up and after my prayer I told my companion that we needed to go see him today. We went on our usual day and all of the sudden we had a teaching opportunity come up. We taught Nancy, a cute old lady about the Plan of Salvation and we picked her up as a new investigator! This renewed my testimony that Heavenly Father will always answer our prayers just not in the way that we expect Him too. (We did try Arnez but we did not get the opportunity to teach him that day) 

Sunday: We had church and after church we had dinner with the Fergursons. That family is so powerful oh my goodness. They talked to us about their family history and how their family built the first church in Roanoke (which is right by Salem) so that was way cool. 

Awesome moments: 

1. We saw Maggie and Michael at the rehab center and Maggie told us about Michael's conversion story. Afterword Maggie asked Michael, "Do you love me." (Michael had a stroke and cant communicate/move very well) Michael stuck his tongue our and waved his had (saying kind of) and was like, "uhhhh" it was so funny oh my gosh. He still has his sense of humor which is the greatest thing in life. 

2. When we were teaching Jennifer at the Davenports house we were about to leave and two year old Cameron was like, "Bye Sister Rodabough!" Which was great because no one can say my name right but this two year old can. 

3. I played about 900 games of Uno with a little girl named Brea on Friday, it was so fun! :)

Sorry for the long letter but I hope that y'all have a great week! Love y'all

Sister Rodabough

So I guess 6 weeks ago I came into Salem and now here I am 6 weeks later. This has been the fastest transfer of life. Any missionary can testify that the longer you've been out the faster the time goes which is way sad btw. However, I still love the work! 

Our area is struggling right now, finding is becoming hard because people aren't home or they are not interested. But I am not going to let that stop us from fulfilling our purpose because I know that Heavenly Father wants His children to find the Gospel and because of that I know that He will lead people to us.

We finally picked up a new this week! He is so awesome. He is from a PMF and his name is Brother Getty's, he even came to church! I was so excited when I saw him there! It has been a long time sense we've found a new person so I am glad that Heavenly Father helped us.

We went bowling today and I got 4th place out of 6 people. Not that we keep score or anything......after that we went to Benny's! That is the place that has huge pieces of pizza. You eat one slice and you are done for the rest of the day haha.

Sorry for the short email but we've got to get going soon! I am excited for the new year and the new transfer!

Thank you for everything,
Sister Rodabough

No good mama, no good! LOL 

Goodbye 2017 Hello 2018

Its a New Year! Hooray! I love this time we have to set new goals and become better people. This is like the repentance process haha. Our New Years Eve was so fun! We had dinner with the Gerkens and that family is so sassy so we got along well. After that we went home and did companion study then after it was 9:00 we just went to bed haha, it was a good time! 

Tuesday (PDay): We went to the mall and I got lots of cute stuff! Thank you grandma for the visa card. It was so much fun. I got a dress, a watch, a bag and some new necklaces. Shopping is my forte.

Wednesday: We had exchanges! I went up to Roanoke with Sister Nicholles. We found some pretty cool potential investigators. We started teaching them the Restoration but half way through he got a phone call and his daughter was like, "Can y'all come back another time...this is a really important call." So we left and I was just thinking 'I hate Satan' haha because Satan does crap like that and its not cool. 

Thursday: After we came home from exchanges we taught Sally Hill. She is our investigator and we taught her about the Book of Mormon. She was beyond excited to read it! She said that it made sense that God would reach out to us again because He loves all of His children and I was like "THANK YOU!!!" That is what we try to tell everyone but only a handful of people actually care. 

Sunday: I gave a talk about prayer and after my talk a little boy came up to me and was like, "I really liked your testimony." And my heart completely melted because he was so cute haha. 

Monday (today): We are going to the Roanoke star later! We are also going back to the mall again haha. I can't wait. Having a mall right next to your area is golden. 

Thats about it for this week. Thank you everyone again for all of the cards (Jepsen's card wins) and the packages! I love y'all.

Sister Rodabough