He is always there

So this email is going to be short because we have like zero time. I have a new companion! Her name is Sister Durfee and she is the coolest. She is from Burley Idaho and she has been on the mission for 15 months. She is super funny too and she does theater so it is going to be a blast.

Saying goodbye to Sister Wright was really hard because I love her so stinking much but I am so glad that she is home with her family!

This week honestly was kind of crazy with everything going on. I am just so grateful for a Heavenly Father that knows everything that is going on and that He is so willing to help us. We just have to show faith and He will do any good thing we need. I know that this is the full true gospel of Jesus Christ. He does answer our prayers and He is always there when we need Him.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Sister Rodabough

Dearly Beloved, we've gathered here to say our goodbyes to Sister Wright...

This week was so awesome! It was also way sad though because it was Sister Wrights last full week of being a missionary. I hate to send her home but I know that she will do so good at life! She will defiantly be one of my best friends when I get home.

Kicked off the week with exchanges! I went with Sister Bingham and it was the funnest exchange ever. We are the same person. She is so filled with the Spirit, I learned so much from her.

There is one of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon that says, '...shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them..." Lately in my Book of Mormon, I've been highlighting all of the things that the Book of Mormon reveals and confirms. This has strengthened my testimony so much. The Book of Mormon has truly been translated by the power of God and it is the most correct of any Book on earth. I would like to invite all of you to read the Book of Mormon as often as occasion would permit. I promise you will be blessed and enlightened as you do so.

Funny Story:
So almost every pday so far, we have always seen members as we have been going about our normal pday things. Now we like to keep track and see how many we can see each pday. In the walmart parking lot we saw Sister Ransom drive by and she didn't see us so of course I drove as fast as I could to catch up to her and I pulled into the other lane and honked at her. She rolled down the window and we talked for a few minutes and then she drove away. After that, we were in walmart and we saw Sister Dutton. I guess she was talking to Brother Dutton on the phone about us because when she saw us she jumped and said, "Oh! I just found them!" Haha it is so funny when stuff like that happens.

Anyways, I hope that y'all have a great week.

Love,
Sister Rodabough

 I don't even know were to begin.....the Spirit this week was so strong! One thing I have really learned as a missionary is how to follow the Spirit. I am so grateful for this wonderful gift Heavenly Father has blessed me with. Our greatest desire should be to always have the Spirit with us. It is very hard but worth it. 

We had Stake Conference this week and it was the most powerful Stake Conference I have ever had. One of the speakers asked all of the converts in the room to stand up. 90% of them did. It was such an eye opener. He asked a few of them their stories. 100% of them were because of the members. Not the missionaries. Cool huh? 😉

Another thing that was mentioned was that we just need to try our best each day. As we do the best we can, Heavenly Father magnify our efforts. I know this to be true because He as done it for me on my mission.

A few nights ago, all I wanted to do was listen to a talk by Elder Holland. My companion turned on a random talk so I don't know what it is called but here are some notes that I took:
"We should stand as close as humanly possible to the Savior and Redeemer of the world..."
"Believe in yourself and believe in Him, don't demean your worth or denigrate your contribution..."

I thank you all for your love and prayers. I am so grateful for all of you.

Love always,
Sister Rodabough

The Power of keeping Covenants

 Brothers and Sisters,

We had an interesting week. I am still a little sick so there were some days where I couldn't work but the days I can work I work super hard and enjoy it. We had call-ins last night, I told my district leader that I was still a little sick and he was like, "Sister Rodabough, I might have to send you home." My heart sank...thankfully he was joking and I wanted to punch him in the face. 

On Wednesday we had Zone Conference! I learned so much. One of the main things that stuck out to me was how important it is to keep our Covenants. God gives us Covenants so that we can express our love to Him through our obedience. If we love God we will keep His Covenants. Heavenly Father loves us so much, He wants us to follow Him so that He can bless us. I know that keeping our Covenants needs to be our top priority always. As I done this, I feel closer to Heavenly Father and I feel the Spirit so strong. Those were just some insights I had from Zone Conference.

Our area is still having a hard time. We haven't found anyone recently but I know that Heavenly Father will always provide. My faith is strengthened so much with these trials and I am so grateful for them. Ether 12:6

Sister Wright is leaving the mission here in just a few weeks and that makes me sad but she will do so good with adulting! 

I love you guys, thank you for everything and I hope you have a great week!

Keep the faith, keep your covenants, keep going, keep moving forward...keep progressing to our Heavenly home.

Doctrine and Covenants 100:15

"Therefore, let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly..."

Sister Rodabough

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