Still Happy In Lebanon

Hola! This week has been a crazy week! 

This week Hermana Idso joined Hermana Knecht and I, we have loved having her and she is a great asset to our teaching and finding efforts. Hermana Idso is from Gilbert Arizona, she is the oldest of 4 siblings, and she is turning 20 today! 

We had a lot of really good lessons with our investigators this week, we are seeing amazing progression and a good amount of them are very close to Baptism! We have a Baptism with Mckayla Daily on June the 16th and she is amazing. Her step father, Adam Daily, is also amazing, he is over halfway through the Book of Mormon and he attends church every week. My Spanish is still pretty bad (haha), but I understand 80 to 90 percent of the Spanish I hear and my speaking is about at a 40%,haha. 

Just yesterday we had a mission wide meeting and we found out that the McKee Family has been released as mission presidents and will be returning home this July. It was a very sad meeting, President McKee and Sister McKee do not want to leave us and with all their hearts they want to stay, but with tears in their eyes they shared that they will do the things that the Prophet has asked them. They shared how difficult it can be to follow the things Heavenly Father wants us to do. We need to trust in Him and follow the path he has for us, even though it might not be the things we want to do. They are fantastic examples of faith and perseverance. They expressed to us how they told the 12 that they are more than capable of staying and how they want to stay.  They told us that we must listen to our high authorities and follow what they say because it is of God. It made me realize that I should not take a day for granted because I have the opportunity and the privilege to be on a mission.  There are people who want to serve with all their hearts, but they cannot. It broke my heart to see the pain in their eyes as they have to leave their mission early after they did everything they did to stay. Sister McKee is a living miracle to us all and her unwavering faith is a testimony to us all. I love that family and they have blessed my life through their example. We will miss them here in the Nashville TN mission. 

We are excited to meet the new mission pres. in July, President Andersen from Ogden UT. He and his wife had a mission call to serve as a mission couple in Washington DC and just last week they were asked to come as mission pres. in July. So, if you think your life is crazy at home, think again, haha. Isn't this work crazy (haha).  I have a testimony that the Priesthood keys will always remain the same, even though the faces will change. This mission will continue on in greatness because the new president will have the same keys that Pres. McKee had. 

Love you all so much and I am so happy for you all as you are about to set foot into the mission field! 

Hermana Ayre

Hello Family!!

Well to start off, I am still doing great! This week we had some AMAZING lessons! One of our investigators Jacklyn (yes Hispanic) told us that she just can't stop reading the restoration pamphlet!  She told us that every time she reads it she feels so much peace and that every time we come over to her house she feels that peace as well!!  WOW, Hermana Knecht and I were sooooo happy when she said that!  We let her know that what she is feeling is the spirit and Heavenly Fathers love for her.  We also let her know that she can feel that all the time through God's restored gospel and the gift of the holy ghost after you are baptized with the proper authority.

We also started teaching a 17 year old girl from Mexico and we are trying to teach her whole family, BUT they don't speak Spanish they speak Misteco ( it is NOTHING like Spanish) Although the teenagers can speak English. The girl, Elouisa, is 17 and is graduating from high school in a few weeks. Elouisa is the oldest sibling of 6 children. When Elouisa was 9 her Father was killed in Lebanon when he was trying to sell a car and the deal went bad. That left her mom alone to raise 6 kids all under the age of 9 all by herself. Elouisa works 30 hours a week while going to school and gives her whole pay check to her mom to help pay for everything and she helps her mom raise all the kids. She really wants to go to college, but has no way to pay for it and she has to help her mom pay her bills. We taught Elouisa the plan of salvation and she really liked it. We love her so much and hope to help her find a way to go to college, but most of all to share the restored gospel and the comfort and blessings that come from Heavenly Father as we choose to follow him.

This week is transfers and I found out that I get to stay another 6 weeks in Lebanon with Sister Knecht!  We are also becoming a trio and getting another comp. that will be going with us, Hermana Idso.  We are excited for her to join us and we know that she will be a blessing to our companionship!

I am sooooooooooooooooooo excited for Alydia to get married this next week!!!!! I am excited for her to be able to go to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity to such a great guy! I am so excited for her to learn of all the blessings she will receive as she enters into a new covenant with our Heavenly Father.  I know that she is ready to go to the temple and I am so grateful for the example and impact she has had in my life!

Dad and mom, I am so excited for you to go and get set apart as mission presidents!! I am so sad that I won't be there for that amazing experience, but I can't wait to hear all about it!! I love you all and I wish I had more time to write you, but I love you and hope all is well!

Hermana Ayre

Letter Home 5/13/13

Things in Lebanon are great!!

It was sooo fun to be able to talk with you all last night over Skype! Mom I hope you had the best Mother's Day ever!!! 

So yesterday our investigator Blanca came to church with her daughter Lidia and they both loved church!! Hermana Knecht and I are still getting along, haha. We are having a great time together, we figured out that we were in the exact same Book of Mormon class at BYU, but we just sat at opposite sides of the room, small world. 

This week we taught some really good lessons and found a lot of new people to start teaching. At trainer trainee meeting, Nashville Tribute Band came and did a concert for us and we got to sing with them and we got to learn about their missions and their fun stories. I am still so happy to be out here and I learn something new every day. Time already feels like it is starting to fly by. The days are long, but the weeks are fast. As you enter into the mission field in Argentina you will understand what I am talking about. 

I love ya'll soo much and miss you. Have a blessed week, as we would say in the South,

Love

Hermana Ayre

Another week in Lebanon

Hola familia, 

Well this week has been another great week. Right now we are teaching some awesome families and a lot of women. This last Friday,the 3rd, our Spanish group put on a cinco de mayo fiesta. At the fiesta, two of our investigator families showed up ( Edwin, Jamie and their two sons Dillion and Justin. They are the family in one of my pictures and also Blanca, Hugo and their daughter Lidia) you can't imagine the joy my companion and I had when they showed up to the fiesta!  Their families are soooooo awesome, I love them all so much. We had taught both of their families a lot and they are progressing :) We hope that they will come to church this next Sunday! 

I am really loving the work out here, it can be hard at times, but there are so many amazing people that we get to interact with that it makes it all worth it. My testimony has grown so strong and I receive a confirmation of our church being true every day. It is amazing how your testimony can continue to get stronger and that your knowledge of this gospel has no cap. The more you study and exercise your testimony the more light and knowledge you have in your life. The longer I am out here on my mission the more I start to look at life differently. My life has become way more meaningful for me while I have been here. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share the gospel and it is something that I have learned not to take lightly. My desire to share my knowledge grows stronger every day, the more I come to know the more I want to share. When I am in personal study in the mornings and I read something new in the scriptures, or I will read something cool in Preach my Gospel all I want to do is go out and share my knowledge with the people around me. I feel so blessed to have the gospel in my life and the comfort it brings. I seriously just LOVE being on a mission.

I hope that Amanda will highly consider going because I have grown so much and have had so much happiness out here that I just want everyone to be able to experience what I get to be apart of! 

I am sooooo excited for Whitney to go on her mission, I pray for her every night so she can be prepared to go to Washington! AHHH she is just going to love it. I am also so excited for Alydia to be getting married!!! I am getting excited for the day when I get home and get to start looking for the person I get to share forever with! My testimonies of families has also grown so strong, as I share God's Plan for our families with others, it makes me so excited to be able to have one of my own! 

I am also sooooo excited for you to go to Argentina! We had Zone Conference this last Friday and I just pictured Dad and Mom talking to all their missionaries, I'll be honest, it made me a little home sick when I pictured dad and mom giving their zone conference talks and I wanted to be able to be apart of that. BUT, I absolutely love my mission president and his wife. Mom and Dad you are in for quite the treat because I can tell how crazy and wild their lives are and I just picture you in Argentina running around crazy like they are, haha. Good thing the Lord is on our side and that he is guiding his work because without him missions would be impossible and we wouldn't be able to function. I love you all so much and wish you all a great week.

Love Hermana Ayre