the mission Elder Lindmeir

this week has been so crazy! but at the same time worth while, i really got to understand the power of forgiveness and the power of love.

our ward right now is just amazing right all of them just love sharing the gospel, and last year they had 12 baptisms in a whole year, those 12 baptisms is the highest baptisms out of any other ward in our intire mission. so our ward mission leader really wants to reach that goal, but it kinda ridiculous how much he wants it, all he does is just bag on us all day, and tells us pritty much that we dont know how to do it. now the stuff he says are really mean and its hard to get the motivation you need to find those people. the ward mission leader is supposed to help us with the work but this guy just gets mad at us.  its been really hard on elder rivers, he takes it so personally and it has really made him sadder than anyone i have ever met, you can just tell. so we called our mission president to see what to do and we got some advice, so just keep elder rivers in your prayers and hopefully we really work through it together.

 

other than that depressing paragraph this week has been great, we can see that our hard work is coming together and that soon the work is going to blossom!!!!! i don't think i will ever have a companion that wants to work as hard as we do, i mean we get stuff done!!! and we are doing everything right but its just working slowly but that's OK, as long as its growing.

this week for the district we are working on "finding with faith" which simply means knowing with out a doubt that everyday you are going top find someone to teach and someone who is willing to learn more, and wow it has been working!

i got a story for you

me and elder ball were tracking for about 4 hours and then we knock on this door and this old ashian man answers the door, and we chitchat for a good 15 minutes about him serving in the war and that's when he found god in his life, and when the opportunity came we shook his hand and pulled ourselves in the door into his house, it was awesome and i have found that it works about 50% of the time so sisters you should try it. when we got in we sat down and started talking about religion and he said " oh i know about all religion i study! " then we asked well did you know that god has a body of flesh and bone? he replies ( what what were do you get this from?) then we start teaching him about the book of Mormon and man i don't think i have ever seen some one more interested in the book than anyone i have ever met, the lesson was so spiritual and so amazing that when we got down to it we asked him "to know what we have told you today you need to read and to pray and ask god if it is true" and he looks at us like hes confused and he says "why do i need to pray? i already know it is you two are my witnesses!" those are words you just long to hear from as a missionary! i loved it and soon he will get baptised.

 

so many other things happened and I'm loving it here and i miss you all and love you all hope you have a great week

!!!!!!!

elder lindmeir

Sister Waverli Lindmeir

i La ultima semana fue la mejora!!!!

That is Spanish for last week was the best week ever! Last week was a very good week! we had a lesson with Bill, and it was one of the most spiritual lessons i have ever had! If you can't remember who Bill is, he is the one that is almost 7 feet tall, around 400 pounds, and he is just a teddy bear. The Missionaries have been teaching Bill for 8 months now and he is just so ready to be baptized but he has anxiety really bad and so he has never accepted the invitation to be baptized. Sister Standing and i were determined to put Bill on date though because we knew how ready he was. we prayed, fasted,studied, got awesome members to come with us and prepared all we could to have the spirit with us. Even that morning we read a talk together called the divine companionship, which is all about how we need to have the holy ghost with us as our third companion so it is not us teaching the lessons but the holy ghost and when this happens, that is when lightning strikes and the person knows without a doubt that what is being said is true. That was our desire, for him to feel the lightening! For the lesson we read 2 nephi 31 with him and as we read it, the room was filled with the sweetest spirit! I don't even remember what was said or anything but all i know is that the spirit was working through Sister Standing and i and the members like i have never felt it before! Sister Standing invited him to be baptized and he said he was not ready but we through the spirit testified to him that he was ready and that he knew enough. At the End he was soooooo excited to be on date for baptism and he even picked his own date for April 19th. That is a special day for him because that is the day when he graduated boot camp many years ago! We are so excited for him! it was the best lesson ever1

Last week we also started teaching a 10 year old boy named porter. his Mom is a member of the church and she has just started coming to church again! and were teaching his dad the lessons too but he works in texas for a month and then comes home for 14 days. But Porter wants to get baptized really badly and he wants to get baptized on April 6th and his dad will be home then and so we are hoping that seeing his son get baptized strengthen his desire to follow the Saviors example too!

The work here is going super well here. The members are starting to get more fired up about the work and i am loving it! My companion Sister Standing is awesome! we work really well Together and i am learning alot from her! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

 Love Sister Lindmeir

MORE CHANGE!!!!

Happy Monday!

 

Transfers were this past week and Sister Olson left me! We were sad to get the call, but thought it could happen! But the exciting news is that Sister Kraemer is my companion!!! In case you forgot... She was my MTC companion!!!

 

We have been wanting to be companions our whole mission and it has finally happened! During transfer meeting, we were one of the last Sisters called at transfer meeting. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but we kept looking at each other and hoping we would be companions! And sure enough, it happened! It has been a great reunion! All my dreams are coming true :)

 

Sister Kraemer even likes to clean and organize! We spent a couple hours this morning cleaning and it feels great! It has also been great to see how much she has grown and changed! She is an amazing missionary and I am so grateful to work with her.

 

Sister Kraemer and I are excited to go on exchanges with our Sisters. We are just really looking forward to this whole transfer! Or who knows... Maybe we will finish our missions together :)

 

The work this week slowed down a bit! We dropped almost all of our investigators before Sister Kraemer came in because they were not progressing. But they will be ready someday! We are working a lot more with members and we are finding a lot more!

 

At the Sisters Conference last week, we watched a short video from an author who wrote a book about/called "One Word". The word is supposed to be something that will help me be better. It is one word to live by and to focus on for a whole year. Here are the steps to know what your word should be.

 

1. Look in: Prepare your heart. What do yo need to focus on?
2. look up: ask God. Turn to Heavenly and receive a confirmation from him
3. look out: make it a part of your life. apply it to others

I chose a word that has to do with my purpose as a missionary. I knew almost right away what my word needed to be. My word is "Listen". Listening is a talent and can be hard, but I really want to listen. I want to listen to other missionaries, investigators, members and especially the Spirit. I am in the process of putting my word everywhere so that I always remember it!

 

I would encourage all of you to take those three steps and come up with your "One Word". Let me know how it goes!!! Have a great week!

 

Love you all!

HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

Hi Friends, Family and anyone else!

This past week was amazing! I mostly felt like a chicken with its head cut off... But what else is new? Seriously though, this week was great! My Birthday was on the 13th! I was on an exchange with Sister Christensen. She is a sweetheart! She kind of forgot my Birthday though, but don't worry, I reminded her :). Thanks Mom, for the package; I loved all 3 of them so much!!! We exchanged back and then I was with Sister Olson the rest of the day! A member took us to Cafe Rio for dinner and she even gave me some balloons. I also got a cute sock monkey called "Sockie" from Leah (our investigator) and she wrote me the cutest card! We taught her about the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity. She had no problem with them :)

On Friday, was a whole mission Sisters Conference! It was good to see all of my lovely Sisters! We learned a bit of Self-defense and practiced it! Sister Riggs and some other leaders talked to all of us Sisters about ways that we can improve our experience as missionaries! It was really great!

Saturday was Semmi's Baptism and it was such a good day! I was so excited to see Semmi and Lizheng and all my friends from Colonial 1st.  Lizheng baptized Semmi in Chinese and it was so cool! It is just so exciting to see Lizheng, who was recently baptized, perform the baptism. And then to see Semmi, who I started teaching four months ago, make the best decision ever! We went to the baptism with the Mercer Family (Greg, Nina and Elsa). After the baptism, Nina kept saying, "I want to get baptized, I want to get baptized! " They are a sweet family. So the deal was that if they came to the Baptism, we would have to do something fun with them. After the baptism, we gathered up all of our nail supplies and gave them pedicures and did their hair! They both looked so cute!

This weekend was Stake Conference. The Saturday night Adult session was amazing! The focus was on missionary work. The Youth sang the EFY Melody; which is a combination of the Army of Helaman and Sisters in Zion. At the last verse, all the missionaries stood up and sang. It was sooooo cool! There are over 30 missionaries in our Stake; so it was amazing to see :)

This morning, it snowed again! Luckily we have permission to drive! I think Virginia is getting much better  at snow plowing!

I am still loving the IPAD and trying to get the hang of it! We are the first of 30 missions to get IPADS; so we are encouraged to send ideas to improve the system. I have been sending in so many ideas of things that will help the work progress. Hopefully they don't get tired of me, but I love it! We spend (if we have time), about 2 hours a day online!

Transfers are this week, but I am pretty sure I am not leaving. Sister Olson may be leaving though! I will let you all know next week. But until then, I love you all!

Love,

Sister Kiana Lindmeir

 Sister Lindmeirs BDay

Sister Waverli Lindmeir

I am sorry that i didn't email yesterday! we had our P-day today instead because we went to the temple! i Love going to the temple so much but the only problem about it is, is that we have only have a little bit of P-day left by the time we get back to the area we serve in to email, do laundry, and get groceries. so my email is going to be pretty short this week!

 

Last week was a very good week and i got my new companion! her name is Sister Standing. she is from Fresno California and she is about the coolest person i have ever met and served with! She drove a motorcycle before she came out in the field, she can beat box, she plays the ukulele, she is a hardcore snowboarder, and she can fix cars! she is Awesome! The coolest part about this though is that she is the most humble person i have ever met. She is so close to the spirit too and everything that she says is so sincere and from the heart. It is awesome and i am so excited that i get to serve with her!

 

Sorry about the short email. Everything here is going so great! we are teaching a whole bunch of sweet people, we are seeing so many miracles, and the Lord is just blessings us so much!

 

Love, Sister Lindmeir

Mission! Elder Lindmeir

this week was a very busy week, been running around like a mad man! ha ha we had alot of bad things happen but you know it is totally fine, because god will provide! and we have seen that we have been picking up potential like crazy and we have been working on how we can become better contacters because there are so many people here always walking around. something that has been a struggle for us i this area is that everyone here believes in all religion, but none of them are in a religion, its weird and it doesn't make sense, so that's what we have been working on is when we talk to people we share unique parts of the message we share to get there interest and hopefully we will be led by the spirit on what to say to help them resolve there concerns. so give me more suggestions!!!!!!

 

there is a family we are teaching and they are 3 boys. one of them is 15 his name is Andrew the moises hes 14 and rohit who is 9 and there story is ( they were baptised about a year ago and they live in a little house with about 4 other Hispanic families, there mom is a single mom who works all day and isn't able to care for them, and the only one who really does everything for them is Andrew the oldest one, and its been a journey for them and its so great to see really how much the gospel has changed there life around, it has giving them the hope they needed just to survive, to make the right chooses and to always know that they are children of god.

at this point in there life Andrew is having a hard time in school and is just really lonely and really he feels like he doesn't have anyone.

its been a blessing to be with this family and help them out, Andrew went running with us on Saturday and he wants to be on the track and cross country team but cant make it because of his grades( 0 motivation) but he didn't know that i run and i didn't know that he was big into it, so we have been training him to become a better athlete and student and its been working he has Bs and Cs now instead of Fs.  the crazy thing about this, is that he is really fast! like I'm talking really fast for someone who has never ran track, so our goal with him, is for him to have a future! we seriously love them so much, so if you could keep them in your prayers that would be really great!

 

we have been very blessed with all this work that we have and the potential that area can bring! we are totally stoked! love you all so much keep up the good work!!!!!!

 

elder lindmeir 

Sister Waverli Lindmeir!

Hello Family!

 

Last week was a very crazy, sad, and very amazing week all at the same time!

 

We will start with the sad stuff. so remember the story i told you last week about Shanel? she was the one that had a dream about us! :) well last week we went over and she let us in and we just got to get to know her really well. she has had a pretty hard life because she lost one of her kids and she can't have anymore and she is just trying to take each day at a time. she is so nice and amazing and she said that we could come by the next day and start teaching her more about the Savior and the plan of salvation. so the next day we came by and there was a note on the door and it said: "Dear Missionaries, thanks for coming by but i can't accept your visits anymore". It was such a bummer because the gospel would have brought so much peace into her life. one day the missionaries will get her! she just isn't ready yet.

 

Then on wednesday we were supposed to have this Lesson with this boy named thomas. We had a lesson with Thomas two weeks ago on the restoration and gave him 3 Nephi 11 to read. When we talked to his fellowshippers on wednesday they said that Thomas had read 3 Nephi 11 three times!!!! And they said that he talked to them for like two hours asking questions about the gospel and about baptism! (thomas has no religious background other then he knows that there is a God and we only have met with him once!) He is sooo golden! but his parents are anti and they don't want him to meet with us anymore but he is 19 years old so hopefully with lots of prayers, his parents hearts will soften!

 

Now to the happier things that happened! Last week we got a referral from the spanish sisters of a family that they tracted into. So we went by to see them but it wasn't a goodtime so they told us to come back sunday and so we did. The wifes name is Stacy and the Husbands name is Derek. they have an 8 year old son named DJ and a little baby named lola. There family is so sweet and they have been so prepared by the Lord! they have been looking for a religion for there family because they love God so much and they want there kids to be raised with religion in their lives! they said that they are going to come to church next week and read the Book of Mormon! They truely are so prepared for the Gospel and it's crazy to know that God is truely preparing so many people for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we just have to go find them and show them the way!

 

Transfer calls came last week and i am staying!!!!! i am so happy because this area is so bomb!! sis Meyers is leaving which is really sad because we have gotten pretty close and she is a great missionary! i have been called to train a new missionary though. i am very excited and i am grateful for this opportunity so i can learn and grow!

 

I hope everyone has a great week!

 

Love, Sister Lindmeir

SPRING IS COMING... I think

Hello! It sounds like all is well at home and that is good to hear! Shivani, Congrats on your fashion show. And Gabe, congrats on your dancing!   I have had a very humbling, but rewarding week.   Well first off, I have an IPAD!!!!! It is so amazing! I love being organized! We also have the WHOLE Gospel Library on our IPADS. It is a little overwhelming in Studies but I really do love it!   Also, we had MLC this week; which is Missionary Leadership Council! It is so neat. We are there from 9am to 4pm and we talk about what we can do as leaders to help and serve the missionaries we are over. I love it soo much and the Spirit is so strong!   Yesterday, I attended the New Beginnings to support one of our investigators, Leah. She is 15 years old and loves the Young Women Program. I wore my Young Women Medalion yesterday and as we were saying the Young Women theme, I realized something when we repeated "we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation."  I realized that the things I learned in Young Womens helped prepare me for these things, but so has my mission. I am grateful for my mission and all the things I have learned that will allow me to enjoy the blessings of exaltation.   I had 2 exchanges last week and they were both amazing! The first one was with Sisters Martindale and Egbert (they are in a trio). The Second exchange was with Sister Cushing. I learned a lot from all of the Sisters! The DC South Mission is on fire!   Sister Olson and I have been studying humility a lot lately. Which Humility is actually the opposite of Pride. And pride is being competitive or trying to be better than others. I am soooo prideful. Often times my competitiveness gets in the way and affects how I look at others and myself. I don't want to be like that anymore and I am wanting to change! If any of you have tips to do so or suggestions, I would love to hear! :)   Well, I love you all so much! Have an amazing week!

Sister Kiana Lindmeir
3202 Arrowhead Circle #E

Fairfax, VA 22030

 Yay for Ipads!

mission life!!!!

this week was pretty amazing again like last week. met alot of really good people and was able to really humble myself. you know theres just not much to talk about, the people we are teaching right now are just so great! there don't want to change there religion but they love having us over and to learn more about our church. and the more we are sharing the more the heart is softening to change, and the change there making you see it just make there life so much better and so much happier than what is already. that's something i have learned alot so far on the mission that there are very few people out there that actually practice there faith, and it is sad to see. everyone needs a religion that they can lean on for help! hope, comfort. that's something i have really been trying to imply to people we find and teach and show and testify that there life will be so much better if they meet with us.

 

transfers were this week and i got a call and we are both staying and i got a call to help other missionaries and so its going to be alot but you know it will be worth it, I'm excited scared and its a really humbling experience because i know i wont be able to do this by myself.

 

well i love you all not much to say but that I'm loving it and am so grateful for all you i love you tons!!!

 

edler lindmeir

Another Great Week in Oak Marr

Sorry for the late email!!! Once again, DC shuts down due to some snow! But the kids love it because they don't have school! Sister Olson and I loved it because I tracted all night last night in our apartment complex and met some really amazing people! We tried something a bit different last night! We said that we are your neighbors and trying to get to know everyone! That worked really well and a lot of people let us in. We also said that "today we are singing a song to everyone" and then we would sing either I am a Child of God or Families Can be Together Forever. It was so much fun! I really do love tracting because there is a different story behind every door :)

We had two exchanges last week so we were really busy! I went with Sister Call for 24 hours and then Sister Kartchner came with me for 24 hours. At the beginning of my mission; I looked up so much to the older missionaries. It is terrifying being that older missionary. It is also extremely humbling. I feel really inadequate being a Sister Training Leader, but I love it! I love learning from all the Sisters. Today to Thursday, we are doing back to back exchanges.

On Thursday, all my dreams are coming true... We are getting Ipads!!!!! I am so excited that I have been struggling to sleep, because I keep thinking about how much more ORGANIZED we are going to be! It makes me so happy! When I talk to you next week, I will have my ipad and I will tell you all about it!!!

My back is getting stronger! This morning, I even ran one and a half miles; which is like nothing! But it is more than I have ran in a long time. It is really exciting! I am trying to get back in shape; so that I can keep up with everyone when I get home ;)

Sunday was fast and Testimony Meeting! Greg Mercer is a less-active member who was baptized when he was 18 and then never came to church. His daughters, Elsa (11yrs) and Nina (9yrs) are investigating the Church! They are so funny! At Church on Sunday, Greg decided he wanted to add a comment in Sacrament Meeting so he raised his hand so that he could speak; It was funny, but he didn't speak. He also came to Relief Society because he wanted to know what his daughters are getting themselves into. He loved it so much that he wants to come every week to Relief Society...

Hope you have a great week!

Love,

Sister Kiana Lindmeir
3202 Arrowhead Circle #E

Fairfax, VA 22030

Best Week Ever!!!Sister Waverli Lindmeir

Hello Family!

Last week was the best week EVER! My companion was feeling alot better last week and so we worked, worked, and worked a little bit harder!

We saw alot of miracles too and it was amazing! here are some of the amazing things that happened!

We were driving around trying some people and Sister Meyers had this strong impression to go try this lady named Shanel that we tracted into a couple of weeks ago. so i said okay and we drove to her house. We knocked on her door and she answered and said that this wasn't a good time for her but she said i have to tell you something so cool! and we are like okay, tell away! she said that last night she had a dream that she walked outside of her house and saw us on her driveway just looking at us. Then she told her husband that she knew that we were going to come by today when she woke up that morning and he said whatever. And sure enough, we came by! it was so cool and i was so thankful that Sister Meyers was ablt to listen to the promptings of the spirit to go and see her because it would have been so sad if we didn't show up!

 

Another cool thing that happened was we tried a couple of former investigators a couple of weeks ago and one of them named marissa said we could come back on friday and teach her family the gospel. So on friday we went to their house and met there kids! they hve a son named Amillo who is 17, Christian 16, Trenton 14, Junior 12, and Dorothy is 8 years old. We talked to them a little bit and they are all very religious and love God so much! we taught them the plan of salvation and they soaked it all in and new so much about the plan already and they loved it! when we talked about the Celestial kingdom they were all so excited about it and they all want to go there someday! and they said that they want to keep taking the lessons and learning more! they are the smartest and most well behaved kids i have ever met! thay are amazing and we can't wait to keep teaching them!

Then on saturday we went to a family's house for dinner and they had a non member friend over and she came to church the next day and bore her testimony in front of everyone! Her name is Mikah and she is 15 years old and she is fearless! It was a really sweet testimony but i am not sure if she even know what a testimony is haha it was really funny! she wants to learn more though and so we are going to start teaching her :)

 

Last week was just awesome and the Lord has been blessing us so much! it is the best! i hope evryone has a great week!

 

Love, Sister Lindmeir

 

mission life is the best!!!!!!!Elder Lindmeir

this week was so nuts!!!! god blessed us so much!!!!! i love it. we were able to find and teach so many new people this week and to pick them up as investigators, and to help them. one family we picked up this week was the wallis family and it couldent of been a better time to meet them, we knocked on there door and he dident even question letting us in, as we got to know him and his wife a little bit better we soon realized that his wife is going through dialalisis (hopefully i spelt that right but i doubt it) and it has been taking a big tole on her and on her family. it was just so great to help spiritually build them up and help them out of this trial that they have been going through. then we found another guy who was in a similar situation were he just needed an answer, and i know we were his answer and its just so great to be led by the spirit to find these people. like honestly elder rivers had to pee so we were walking to a 711 and when we decided to stop and knock on this house just randomly and it soon led to that family and, just all these other great miracles that led to something great! "by small and simple things are great things come to pass" thats one of my favorite scriptures because its all about the effort and the little extra things you can do to show your faith and willingness to serve. this week we tought more lessons than i have ever tought in a whole week, it is great to see that our teaching skills have been improving so much as we are able to focus on the spirit and the investigator. its pritty cool we go into lessons not having anything planed and we both know exactly what scripture they need in this time of need. I LOVE IT!!!!!

 

the work here is soon coming to be on fire!!!!!!! i love it god is so great. and a pritty cool story mainly for the boys in the family, we were tracking on the beach when we came to an old blue house and this old lady came and answered the door, we talked and were able to get into the house and before you knew it we were talking about family and she showed us pictures of her family and then all the sudden i recognized someone in the picture, and it was TRAVIS PASTRANA!!!! the man who is a professional motorcycle racer and he made his own tv show called NITRO CIRCUS!!!! he is like my idle, and i just met his grandmother.... i was so pumped!!!!!! and then to make it better were comming back to teach her!!! so if she get baptised im probobly going to meet travis and might get a new motorcycle... but thats not the reason why we want to teach her... well mabey a little.

 

another cool story this morning brother ek from our ward picked us up in his 1965 mustang fully restored and has over 500 hoursepower!!!!! that mustang screames!!!!!!!! we were driving and i asked " how fast does it go from 0-60?" and he says "well alot faster when you press that red button!" he had nitrus!!!!! in the fully restored 1965 mustang and to make it even crazier he put nascar suspension on it!!! we could go 80 miles an hour on a turn!!!! it was nutzz ill just tell you this much, they dont mess around here. that was so sick!!!!

 

well thank you all for everything im loving it everything is good no problems or struggles just focusing on the work!!! love you all!!!!

 

edler lindmeir