Things are going well here in St.Louis. I went to a baptism for our District leader and his companion for a woman named Shakirra. She is super awesome. They found her like 2 weeks ago. Super fast! She is so solid. We went because I was asked to sing I Feel My Savior's Love. It was such a spiritual experience to be there. There was a very strong spirit and it was amazing! Marta is getting baptized, hopefully on the 23rd or something close to that. There is a memorial service that was scheduled for the same day as Marta's baptism, so we decided not to do her baptism at the Frontenac building. But her family lives a few hours away. So, we are trying to figure out how we can get her baptized and allow her to go to the Family thing they are having that they booked a place for so it is at a particular time. THings are just crazy. It is just Satan trying to throw us a curve ball. Everything will work out though. This is the last week of the transfer. WE have been working crazy hard. My companion hasn't been feeling very well this week. I saw Sister Rapp on Sunday. She poked her head in the little window of our Sunday school room right as class was starting and David, the recent convert we meet with and I just bolted out of the room. I was so excited to see her. She was there for a confirmation in the Singles Branch. It was so great to see her. Life is crazy as ever. Less actives are still difficult to get in contact with, investigators are still difficult to find, but I am convinced that we will see blessings in other ways for our diligence in tracting and reaching out to others.

The scripture I ponderized this week was Hebrews 11:6 But without Faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

(I actually memorized this!- I know crazy- i am still working on the HTBT points- I still have most of The Best Two Years memorized though, in case you were wondering). Well this transfer has just gone way too fast! I am done with 12 week! We are excited to continue to work hard and reach our goal for our Vision to Baptize challenge. Have you ever read Vision to Baptize? It is great, I would highly recommend it. I am so incredibly thrilled for Colin and Keira to get baptized! send me lots and lots of pictures.

Something that was really cool about being at Shakirra's baptism was that I saw the baptism from the missionaries point of view. We were in the bathroom with her before she got baptized and she looking down with her elbows on the countertop and she just told us that she knew this is what God wanted her to do.

My favorite conference talk was the talk by Elder James B. Martino. I have been thinking a lot about my personal prayers to my Father in Heaven. This talked answered some of the questions that I had written down for this conference. Elder Andersen's talk from Priesthood session is super great. After Priesthood Session our district leader called us and told us all about it and how great it was so I listened to it today and his testimony and faith in Jesus Christ and the prophet Joseph Smith was great. I am pretty sure that everyone in the chapel was super worried about President Monson and we were all just praying that he would make it through the conference. Things are going well. I am learning a lot and am so grateful to be a missionary. It is cooling down quite a bit here. I will. The family is actually a family from Sister Shontell's first area. Her first area is right next to our area and so we met them for lunch one day and they are super nice. I will definitely thank them. I am happy! Things are going well. A new IKEA opened near here so we might go there, but I am not sure. We will be finding lots of people to teach this week and we will teach Irene, but not Marta because she is out of town. It is almost her baptism and we are so excited. We went to the President's house for Pancakes and Prophets on Sunday (Yeah, how cute is that name, Sister Morgan is the cutest person ever!) and he is so excited for the Frontenac Ward to get a new member! It's gonna be great!

September 28, 2015

So we met with Marta this week and committed her to be baptized!!! Yeah! But she is leaving again this week and she will be back the week of her baptism, so it will be a funky schedule but we will be able to teach her all that she needs to know. She is super spiritual and has shared with us about her deep desire to go to the temple because she went to an open house once and felt the spirit very strongly. This week has been great. We had exchanges with the STL's so I went to Fenton for a couple of days. We visited a lot of less actives and invited them to the Women's Broadcast and a few of them came! I am so excited for general conference! So, we helped David, one of our recent converts dig up his mother in laws ashes on Saturday. and he made me carry them across the street because we reburied them in another relatives yard because the lady's husband got remarried and they wanted to move the ashes. So, David had us did them up and then dig a whole for the ashes to be put in.

This recent convert has taught me a lot. He is really close to the spirit but he is kinda crazy. He wants to rule the world, basically and he has plans to do it, too. He gives all of his missionaries nicknames. I am jynx. Well, he really wants to get his patriarchal blessing, so we were talking to him about them the other day and he looks at me and he is like God is telling me something, (because he gets promptings really easily it is the coolest thing) You are very special, I haven't figured out why yet but I was supposed to help you learn about being a leader. So her was asking me about my blessing and I was thinking about it and I realized that I don't have it. I will need to have a copy sent to me because I have been thinking about it a lot since then and I can't recall anything monumental. I have been thinking about my calling as a missionary with regards to my blessing though. It talks about me having confidence in preaching the gospel. 

 

My blessing has come up for a while now, so I am going to order a copy to be sent to me. Anyway, it was kinda an unusual experience. I know though that I need to develop more faith. It has been an interesting week. I have been thinking about being a consecrated missionary.

 

So, now I can say that I have dug up a dead person... kinda.

September 21, 2015

This week has been great. We are doing well here in Frontenac. We met with our investigator Irene a couple of times and Marta comes back this week so things are looking good. Elder C. Scott Grow was the visiting authority and it was a pretty intense experience. He talked a lot about obedience. Apparently, this mission has a history of not being very obedient. Anyway, he talked a lot about using Preach My Gospel and about how to study in order to prepare for teaching opportunities. It was cool, but everyone was pretty humbled, I think. It kinda bothered me at first, but now I see where he was coming from and what we can do to be more productive. I truly believe that my companion and I are working hard. This week, I am studying about being a consecrated missionary. I have been thinking a lot about that these last couple of days. I am excited to become better. I am developing a better relationship with a lot of the less actives. It really has been a great week. We have visited a lot of people and got some tracting in. I am excited for this week. Our investigator Marta, who is really close to baptism, who went to Poland for about two months.... yeah, well she comes back this week and we are sooooooo excited! I got to see my momma, too, which is always great. I love it! She sang a beautiful solo. She is amazing. 

I hope Athena does well on the Stanford meet. Thanks for the pictures. So, I brought my camera this time, but I didn't bring a cord to connect to the computer. I will send you some pictures soon. Plus, we don't really have any good pictures because the only thing I have really done that is exciting on P-days is go to the zoo and it rained. On a brighter note, we found the food pantry on Saturday and were able to do some service! It has been a wonderful week. I love you all and pray for you! Thank you for your example to me, dad! I am excited to be a consecrated missionary!

September 14, 2015

So, this week was pretty crazy. My new companion is Sister Shontelle and she has been out for about a year. The transfer went well, after many tears, all from my dear momma Sister Rapp, because of course, we all know that Sister Favero doesn't cry (thanks mom). But, I missed her for the first couple of days because I didn't really know at all what I was doing or where I was going. Sister Rapp went to Fenton, Missouri, so she is actually pretty close, but she is in a different zone I think. Luckily, we had a district meeting, so I could kinda pull myself together. That is so exciting that you got another foster baby, how cute! Isaac is a sweet name. I will send you some pictures soon, I promise. I just need to remember to bring my camera to the library. The other day, we were trying to find the food pantry and we didn't have a GPS, so we kinda got lost and ended up at this gas station that was pretty sketchy, but it's ok. We got out alive and we almost saw the arch too. Sister Shontelle told our district leader that she has the funniest companion, so basically only Sister Rapp, Elder Jimenez, and Sister Shontelle know how funny it is to be companions with Sister Favero. Hopefully, I will get my name tag soon. It has been kinda difficult, but I know that I can do hard things. I am giving a training tomorrow on recognizing and relying on the spirit, it is going to be great! This week is going to be wonderful! We have mission conference this week and I am soooooooo excited!
Things are going well in the area. We are teaching a lady from China, Irene, who was a referral from a ward member who comes to the lessons with us. We are teaching Neil and his family. Neil is Indian, his girlfriend is Christian, one daughter who is 15 professes to be an atheist, and one daughter is ten. I have taught one lesson with them this week. We are meeting with a lot of less active and part member families and recent converts. Our relief society president always gives us a big list of people to see each week from Relief Society, so that is what we spend most of the time doing. We actually got to talk to a lady who is less active who said she wanted to start going back to church but hasn't yet. We talked with her last night about going back to the temple for about an hour. She really appreciated us coming by. And of course, we still see Jennifer each week to help her with her house. She is wonderful. She got her cabinets put in so that is exciting. One step closer, she still needs appliances, maybe she will be done with her house before I leave. She has been remodeling for almost 9 months now and each set of missionaries in the Frontenac ward have gone to help her, but now of them have gotten to see the finished product, but I think that Sister Shontelle and I will be the lucky missionaries who see it to the end. That is exciting, she has become a wonderful friend. I love meeting with the ward members and I am learning so much about how I want my home to be after I get married here on my mission. It is such a cool experience. This week has been great! I hope you all are doing well! We can do hard things!