There can be miracles, if you believe!!

Well hello  there!

 I hope you could hear me singing that line from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack because life has been so beautiful this week! Let me tell you all about it. 

Monday after we emailed you we went and spent some time at the National Museum of Australia which was.... Interesting. But it was fun. We spent the evening with a new part member and less active family that we had never met before. They were so lovely and the mum, who is Catholic, really showed a lot of interest in learning and growing in the Gospel. 

Tuesday was a bit more of a struggle. It was Australia day! Woo! But unfortunately that means the only people that weren't intoxicated were out of town. Except for one of our investigators. We went and saw him and had a lovely chat, and he called himself an "optitheist." So he's an atheist, but he's also an optimist. No worries though, he'll come around. 

Wednesday I was in a different area in the zone on exchanges and it was so much fun. I was with Sister Bogidua, a sister from Fiji! Bula! It was such a fun day. We went and saw some of the people I had taught last month when I was on exchanges there and it was beautiful to see their progression since I had seen them last. 

Thursday was so fun. We went and spent time with the Klenka family since it was their son's birthday and they also combined the party to a baptism party for Lachlan (Lochy in last week's email). It was a lot of fun and we tried a new way to teach the Restoration with them... It was a little rough but it has potential. :) Then we went with some of the High Priests to go do some service for a couple that is investigating. Throwing a tub and tanning beds off of a second story balcony? Don't mind if we do. :) 

Friday was excellent! We had our meeting in the morning and it was really good. We also went and saw a couple of people who joined the church this last year and a new investigator that we're trying to get progressing. Nothing monumental but it was a pretty good day. 

Saturday!!!! Oh how blessed is Saturday. Lachlan was baptized. :') Don't worry, we only cried a lot. We sang at his baptism and luckily we were blessed enough to be able to hold back our tears of joy, but barely. After the baptism I was on exchanges with Sister Yonthawin, and the poor thing just gets traumatized every time we are together. We went and met this less active sister who is amazing and we were able to start a good relationship with her. Then we went to see Nana Julie and her neighbors went NUTS! They called the cops on us, took pictures of our car, screamed all sorts of profanities at us, the works. THEN we went to see a less active sister that went super crazy when we were there. She yelled at us for calling Sunday the Sabbath day, told us the sky was on fire, and all sorts of stuff.... Poor Yonti didn't know what hit her. 

Sunday honestly put the stars in the sky this week! We were teaching the Gospel Principles class about covenants and the whole time my attention was just on Brother D. Do you remember Brother D? I've talked a little about the D family... He's not a member but has come to church with his wife who is every week for quite a number of months. And we always mean to ask him what's going on and why he hasn't been baptized but it never feels right. Well right after our lesson, we sat down for the closing prayer and I turned to Sister Swan and said, "We need to invite him to be baptized right now." And so we followed the prompting and invited him to be baptized! And he told us how he really felt the Spirit at Lochy's baptism and how if we would've asked  when we were having FHE at his house it wouldn't have ever been the right time, but in that moment it was the right time.... So he needs to pray about it but sometime in February we'll be seeing that man in white! :) MIRACLES! Never delay a prompting, never. Pray for him that he'll feel comfortable with a date and that he'll hold strong. 

The church is true, the Book is blue. The struggle is the best! 

Love,

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Picture: Our boy Lachlan with the Elders. :')

Congratulations!

Congratulations, you have officially waited 11 months for this email to come to you. How does it feel? Are you even reading it? Please reply "STOP" if you would like these emails to no longer continue. Hahaha jokes. But really, you've been putting up with weekly emails from me for 11 months. I can stop sending them if your heart so desires, just let me know. But if you are still reading them, I hope you've laughed with me, cried with me, and wondered what the heck I'm doing with my life (because I sure do at times). 

This week has been one full of laughs, tears, and wondering. But such is life. It was a great week and we were able to see miracles! Tuesday was great. We were able to see Kate again for the first time in a long time. She's so sweet and is such a good mum. And we met up with Terry! Miracles I say. Life has been busy but he's still hopeful to pull his life together to get baptized. We also saw one of my favorite elderly couples which was great. It's always good to go into a home, talk about the Gospel, and get a good hug. :) 

Wednesday was great. We did service for Anna and had a great visit with her. Then we went and had a lesson with Roslyn! She was the Elders' investigator for ages but she hasn't really progressed, so we're hoping some time with the Sisters can help that. We went with two incredible members, Christian and Ashleigh, and it was really fun. Ashleigh is pretty much my hero with her one-liners. Let's just say she pin pointed missionary work when she said, "Let's be real. We ALL know that you're eating struggle puffs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner." Hahaha. We also had interviews with President and Sister Back. They are the best. We were able to go to dinner with them too which was fun. I love being able to spend time with them.

Thursday was great. Had a huge little blessing happen. :) President and Sister Back were still in town and we had to see them real quick, and we pulled in right as Sister Moon called them! So I was able to chat with her and see how she was doing with everything. Blessings. :) We were able to visit the Skinners as well. Ashleigh and Christian with us and it was fantastic! The Skinners loved them! It was incredible. I've never seen them open their hearts up to people like that before.

Friday we were able to watch a broadcast by the missionary department and it was really great. Elder Bednar, Elder Oaks, and a few others did some training. It was really neat and insightful. After that, we went and saw a less active member and had a beautiful lesson with him! he was so nice and receptive and so excited to have a new Book of Mormon. Then we went and saw a former investigator and had a great visit with her. It seems like the time we spent away from her helped prepare her to be more receptive to the message. I'm excited to see how she progresses now! We also went and had a lesson with Lochy at the Klenka's. Lochy is getting baptized next Saturday and is being taught by the Elders, and the Klenkas are just the best. it was a great night with all of them. Spending time with people you love and having your testimony strengthened is the best. 

Saturday was an adventure and a half. The sisters in the ward next to us had a baptism so we spent the morning with them preparing for that and also singing at it. It was a great time and everyone was so happy. After the baptism we had a long meeting then went off to lessons! We were able to see a less active sister as well as do some service for another sister.  Then we were able to spend time with Bishop Seamalu and his family. Oh how I just adore that family!

Sunday was great. We were able to see an investigator that kicked the last sisters out and she welcomed us with open arms. It was awesome and the Spirit was so strong! Time creates opportunities for miracles! 

Love,

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Picture: My vocabulary and pronunciation might be a bit off these days, but I still know who's number 1 in my heart. ;)

"You are good, so be nice to you."

So you know, typical Sister Stott down under... Working hard, praying hard, being hard on yourself. The usual. The title of my email is something that President Back said to me when I was having a little stress session last week. It really helped me so I figured it might help you too.

So this week.... was.... beautiful. Monday when we were emailing we received an email from church headquarters that someone wanted to meet us, so after p-day we went straight over to their house to introduce ourselves. Well, he was NOT interested. But we kept persisting that he requested the visit and then his friend rocked up! So we started talking to the friend and taught a little bit about the Book of Mormon and he invited us to come over next week. No effort is wasted!

Tuesday was great. We went and saw our Nana Julie and then a member named Emily. I'm 95% sure we were good mates in the pre-mortal existence because she is such a crack up. We had a family home evening with the D family and it was so much fun and then we went and saw our investigator Amanda! She is so great. She invited herself to church and just kept asking, "What makes you people so nice?" The Gospel in our lives, you know? 

Wednesday was.... interesting. Sometimes you do anything and everything to show people that you care. We met this lady and we were talking to her about the Plan of Salvation and how our church is focused on families, right? Well, her 5 year old daughter had a purple streak in her hair so we complimented it. And she took that compliment as an invitation to spray paint our hair to match.... So we went punk for a little bit, but it got us a return appointment. :) We went to a family in our ward's home that evening and boy did I have some flashbacks. We put an object lesson in front of them and it was honestly a fight to the death for superior knowledge and skills, just like Austin and Jordan. It made me smile to know that other families have their overly competitive kid genius's too just like my brothers. 

Thursday was fun! We honestly have the cutest senior missionary couple serving in our area. They had us over for brunch and they are just so sweet. They are in charge of YSA reactivation in the stake so we're trying to help them find the YSA. Then we went to go see a member that we haven't seen for a few weeks. After that, we went and saw Bruce! Oh my heavens... People are killing me with their one liners in this country. Bruce committed to be baptized last week when we met with him then we were talking about the commandments this week and asked him if he wanted to become more like Jesus Christ. So he sat there and thought about it for a few minutes and said (dead seriously), "Well ya know, I'm not too keen on being crucified..."  Real people with real concerns... He was very relieved when we explained that's not in our religious practices... Then we took a ward council member to visit a less active member and that was an absolute riot. People just like to make you laugh here.

Friday was great. We were doing some service for family history with Nana Julie and we had been praying how we could meet her neighbor without forcing anyone's hand or making them feel pressured... And she just walked

up to Nana's! it was pretty cool. Then we had a family night with the Primary President, an active family in our ward, and a less active family. It was a lot of fun and it helped build some fellowship ties and helped us know what some concerns were.

Saturday was great... First off, do you remember me talking about the little Tafengatoto girl I taught up in Sydney? Well, she got baptized! Yayy! :) I was so happy when I heard the news. We went and saw a family in the morning and got to know them a little better. Then we went and saw a less active recent convert family and had an absolute BLAST! The kids are so funny and the little girl, Isla, asked us if we could find her a ride for church since no one else wants to go. She's so sweet! Then we went and had a lesson with a less active sister and her mum. It was a really nice time.

Sunday was great! We went over after studies and did Isla's hair for church and waited for her ride to get there. Then when we got to church Amanda and her daughters were waiting for us! Aah, we literally RAN to them! It is so good to see people you love in the chapel. Nothing better than that except for seeing them in white. After church we went to a family's house and they invited some not as active members as well. It was a good night. Then we went and saw Nana Julie because she was sick and we needed to let her know we loved her. Everybody needs to feel loved.

The work is going well. We're working hard, praying hard and playing hard... And trying not to be too hard on ourselves. 

Just remember, "You are good, so be nice to you." 

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Pic: Our new punk look. 

Life in the "Aussie D.C."

All is well in the Otai Kingdom. It was an interesting week where we tried to never stopped going, but when we caught a moment, there was Otai awaiting us. Haha. I'm so grateful that members in my past areas have let me spend time in the kitchen with them so when I'm lacking certain things, I know how to overload my system. Otai is pretty much 4 servings of fruit in one beautiful Tongan drink, so we made some on Monday to survive the heat of the week. After we had our p-day we had a discussion with an investigator then went to a part member family's home for family home evening. Such a sweet family! The first time I met the D family, I was just ridiculously impressed with how polite and calm everything was handled. I know I'll never be that calm of a parent, but they're good examples to look to.

Tuesday was rough. It was the funeral for the toddler I mentioned last week, so we did a lot of preparing with that with the Relief Society. Aah, I love that family so much. It was a hard time but their faith was beautiful. All of the talks were just testimonies of the Plan of Salvation. They also ended the funeral service with a huge Haka. Oh how I love the Polynesian culture with all of my heart. It was so beautiful. After the funeral we went and visited a sister that has been in the hospital then we went to another part member family's home. Then we went and saw one of my favorite families and had a little family night with them. It was the mum's birthday so naturally we had to crash the evening. :) 

Wednesday was great. We started off the morning by doing service for Anna. We had a great conversation with her and her husband about temples since they're building one right around the corner from where he grew up in Italy. Then we went and saw a recent convert that hasn't been coming to church for a bit and went on a crazy drive trying to find less active members. We met one family where the mum is blind and when we introduced ourselves as Sisters, she thought we were nuns. So we were talking for a bit and she said, "Oh I'm so glad you Sisters are here and it wasn't those Mormon boys knocking on the door." Hahaha... Awkward. But we saved it and she ended up not hating us by the end of the conversation. 

Thursday was really good. We went and saw Nana Julie with Sister K and it was fun. I love them so much. Then we had a lesson with Bruce and he loved the Plan of Salvation. He said he's going to start preparing for baptism but he wants to read a lot more of the Book of Mormon. That is totally okay with us! He's great. After Bruce's we went and saw a family in our ward and it was a really nice evening. We were able to learn more about how they came into contact with the church and to hear their testimonies. It was really nice to hear their testimonies. After our visit with them we went and saw Amanda! She's a single mum and really opened up to us about her trials and what she's been through. So we talked for a while and then she asked us to give her something to read so she can know what we believe. So we gave her some info about the Plan of Salvation and then gave her a Book of Mormon and we'll go back in a few days to see what she thought! 

Friday was hectic. We had our Zone Training Meeting in the morning but it went WAY over the time it was supposed to, so we were running like mad trying to see the people that we had planned for the day. We were able to visit quite a few and we were even able to take a young woman out with us in the evening to try to find some people. It was fun.

Saturday we went and saw a few less active families that the ward council had requested for us to visit and it was a lot of fun. I hadn't met quite a few of them and it was great getting to know them.

Sunday we had meetings all morning, church all afternoon, and trying to find people in the evening. It wasn't an overly exciting day but it's the Sabbath, so nothing too crazy should be going on anyways. ;) 

Every day we join together as a mission at 12 noon in prayer and ask God for His help. We ask to have unity to be led by the Spirit and to find those whom God has prepared. It's great and I can absolutely testify of the Lord's hand in our lives every day. Life is good when you turn it to God. I need to do it more often than I do.

Have a beautiful week. Stay cool, err, warm I guess. I'll try to stay cool here.

Love,

Sister Danielle Laree Stott

Sorry for not taking pictures this week, but here's me in front of Parliament House. Yayy for living in the "Aussie D.C." ;)

Don't Mess with Texas!

Well, it's official. I have hit the point of awkward missionary status. Ty Tuesday after I emailed I had to go to the mission office for a meeting which was an hour drive away from where I emailed but there was one problem. I DIDN'T HAVE A COMPANION YET! So I had to drive for an hour, in Sydney traffic, by myself. My anxiety level was up the wall! That's the most alone time I've had in almost a year and it was terrifying. I was so relieved when I got out of the car and there was another sister waiting for me. I'm sure glad my mum is a cutie and is going to be glued to my awkward side when I get back to the States. I'm not about that loner life. 

Anyways, it's been a great week. Sister Swan flew in from the Provo MTC  Wednesday morning. She is from Texas and is wonderful! She is a hard worker and loves the Gospel! She was able to serve a mini mission in Texas before going to the MTC and so she has heaps of great ideas that we can apply to the work here. She also went to Utah State and after a long discussion of "I swear you look familiar" we realized that she used to come to my work and buy food from me when I was there. Haha. It's a small Mormon world out there. Well after the poor thing went through heaps of meetings completely jet lagged we had to drive 3 1/2 hours back to Canberra and she had to fight to stay awake the whole time. Haha. But she survived and is doing great. 

Thursday was great. The Stake is hosting a YSA convention and so the missionaries were the tour guides. Talk about awkward... But it was really fun because I was able to see a lot of the members from Sydney that I'd grown close to and that I wasn't able to say goodbye to when I got rushed down to Canberra. it was good closure for all of us and it was fun to see that those friendships do last even after you leave. After we gave the tours we went and so Rosy with one of our members. It was a great discussion about temples and family history work and I just realized how blessed we are! I love the temple and I'm so grateful that the Priesthood has been restored so we can have those beautiful ordinances on the earth today. After Rosy's we went to Elsie's and had a great discussion with her. We moved her baptismal date to late February just to ensure that she'll be prepared and have a strong testimony. After Elsie's we went to Bishop's home so that he could meet Sister Swan and we could get working with him on the work. Our Bishop is so great. He reminds me a lot of my homeward bishop which is probably why I love working with him so much.  

Friday was really good. We had our District Training Meeting and then we went and did some service and taught a lesson to our new investigator Anna. Then we went and visited our Nana Julie and that was great. I love her! She's such a sweet lady. Then we had a sad evening. Unfortunately a 2 year old in our ward drowned this week, so we spent the evening at his wake helping out behind the scenes and sending our love to the family. I love this family so much and my heart really hurts for them. We'd just spent Christmas with them and it really hit home since baby was born just a week before my niece Addi. How blessed are we to have the Plan of Salvation? The whole family has been a huge inspiration to me this week as they have shared their testimonies with us and as they have held their views up to Heaven. They're a beautiful family and I'm so grateful that I can learn from them at this time. 

Saturday was FULL of miracles! We went to visit our investigator with a baptismal date, Terry, and we found out he's not married to his partner. So we flat out invited them to get married this month and for his partner to consider being baptized in February with Terry, and they both accepted! So now we're planning a wedding! Woo! This has been my dream on my mission! They have two grown kids together but they just never got married, but it's finally going to happen! Then we went and saw a less active sister, stopped in on a member from Texas, and then followed up on a lot of former investigators. It was a great day. :) 

Sunday was so good! Sister Swan was so cute and let me dress her in traditional Polynesian clothing for her first Sunday here. :) Luckily I had an extra Talavala that was her size and she rocked it! We went and introduced her to the Ward Mission Leader after church and it was a grand old Tongan time. 

Life is grand! The church is true. Trials come, but the truth remains the same. The members throughout the world may not be perfect, we missionaries sure aren't, and sometimes there are issues. But the Gospel of Jesus Christ is 100% true and 100% perfect. The atonement is real and I know that will all of my heart. 

I'll see you later this year! Love,

Sister Danielle Laree Stott 

Traditional clothing all the way! :)