We have a Temple!

Hello Friends and Family!

It was such a wonderful experience attending the Temple Dedication yesterday. I loved being able to hear from President Eyring and hearing the words for the dedication of the Temple. I'm so excited to be able to go to the temple again. Last time I went was in February. I'd love to go to the Indy Temple sometime soon. :) It's amazing to think that two years ago the ground was broken and now stands a beautiful House of the Lord. I love the Temple and all the Blessings it brings to families now and beyond the veil. It's amazing. I'm so excited to go through again. Especially for my ancestors.

This week we had a miracle lesson with our new investigator. Jesse has been dating a member for a while now and started reading the Book of Mormon in May. He's now in Helaman and is thinking about a baptismal date! We taught the Message of the Restoration to him with her family there to support and answer further questions. It was amazing. He has been finding this truth on his own and that's the important part.

We continue to feel the promptings of the Spirit telling us to visit members and to help strengthen the ward. We feel that the work will catch and we can see miracles pick up as they become more missionary minded and can then support each other better. We've seen miracles of the trust that is being built by them and have contacted several of the referrals they have given us and are in contact with the referrals from the Temple. It's amazing to see the relationships build between us and our members as we share thanks and love with them and serve them. It's been a wonderful learning experience. I'm glad we can do such meaningful work amongst the members in Crawfordsville. We've been contacting more of them and have been trying to establish our investigator pool through them because they have friends who are ready and waiting to hear the Gospel. And once they learn a little from their friends that's when we will step in. It's becoming member missionary work here. I love it. :)

It's been a good week. We had a rainstorm yesterday and we felt it wash away the old and can help us see tomorrow in a better light. It was great to stand in it for a sec and just laugh too. Also, I retired a pair of beat up shoes I wore for a long time tracting. It's a great feeling to see how worn they are from all the hard work. :) It's been a great year to say the least. Tons of growth and I have definitely been trained and have learned so much. It's crazy and weird but I'm excited to see these last 6 months through!

Much love! Have a great week!

Love,

Sister Halverson

Hard Work Really Does Pay Off!

Hello Friends and Family!

Our hard work is paying off! This week was a little stressful regarding companionship but we have everything under control and I'm going to get a blessing just because it's the start of a new transfer and I would love a little Counsel from Heavenly Father to help us know how to help this area work and see miracles. Which leads me to my miracle!!!!!

So there is a young man who comes to church pretty regularly. He's dating a member and he is a non-member. The family wanted to let him explore and not push it on him because their daughter who is dating him has been burned before. So any and all contact made with the Church has been in his own interest and on his own time. Well, he's been attending church with her for the past 4-5 months and has been listening to the Book of Mormon on tape while driving to work! We finally felt prompted to approach the family and ask if he was ready to meet with the missionaries, especially after the Temple Open House and how strong the Spirit has been in the ward. He said yes! We have our first official meeting with him on Wednesday and we're so super excited!

Our members have been meeting with their friends and sharing the Gospel with them. A lot have come through the Temple Open House and are good friends with Several members of the Ward. They've been doing EXCELLENT member missionary work and with the feelings we've been getting of working with members the work is starting to pay off. We're so so happy to be able to build their trust in us and I am so thankful we have been listening to the voice of the Spirit to help our ward and have them in turn trust us with their friends and families. It's been a testimony builder of the trust they have in us and the strength of the relationships we share one with another as a congregation to missionaries and as companions. All of it plays together with the strength of our personal relationship to God and how we all work together to bring about His great work.

The stress has been building up but now that we have seen the miracles and have implemented changes that will better the work in our area, I feel very much accomplished. We've been doing little things like offering service to an animal shelter a couple of times a week for an hour to walk some of the dogs. It's a great way to contact people and to help out the community to get the name out so to speak. Plus we have wanted to play with dogs for a transfer and have found a way to do it! It was a blessing in disguise! We're really happy working here and I'm so so glad we have work to do and have finished a map of our area, have started going out and attempting to meet ALL of our members, and have been receiving referrals from them as we leave their home with a spiritual message. It's been so great. Like yesterday!

We shared the Restoration with our dinner appointment and the Spirit was so strong. We taught in unity and I have had a wonderful time getting to know and serve with Sister Anderson. We definitely know miracles are happening in Crawfordsville. :)

We also got a new-ish car at Transfers! It's a 2013 Cruze. :) With a bike rack! Haha like we ever use those..... (Knock on Wood). But it's nice so we can help elders. I feel bad. We take their cars and then make them ride bikes. The least we can do is to use the bike rack and help them out at transfers. Oh well. I'm doing really good this week! Things are getting moving in Crawfordsville. :) It'll be a great transfer!

Love you!

Love,
Sister Halverson

The End of the Indiana Temple Open House

Hello Friends and Family!

Well, transfer calls came and honestly we were both shocked to find out we were staying together for another transfer. I'm excited at the same time and wondering why this happened. It's going to be a great transfer and we have already seen things fall into play after the temple open house. I'm excited to see if more referrals will come in and also be able to spend a bit more time with the missionaries in my district. It'll be so much fun to see them and get to know them more. I was worried things might get tight with my companion but we have it worked out and will continue to work it out. She's become like a Sister to me more than anything and this area will see a lot of good things.

There are lots of families in our ward working with individuals who are interested in the Gospel. We are patiently praying to see when a good time to approach these individuals will be. So many of them have gone through the temple and I'm so happy to hear how they are doing. We feel with the members being there with them every step of the way, we'll see the Crawfordsville ward grow in ways we couldn't even have imagined. I'm so excited to work with these members and help the people they're working with to grow and learn and become thriving members of the Church.

We also have planned to work with the Less Actives and visit every member on our roster this transfer with the help of the active members willing to come help us. It's a transfer I'm looking forward to because we feel prompted to do a special kind of work that will help us and others. It's been a great year honestly. I can look back and see how much I've grown and learned from all of my past companions and areas. Different lessons came at different times and I'm happy about how things have turned out. I'm really looking forward to the future as well. It can only go up from here!

We've got lots to do. Also! The ending tally for the temple open house was 91,000!  They got it together as far as ushering people through the temple by the second to last day but at least they figured it out.  Better late than never! It was amazing to be a part of this special event and they're giving us the referrals from the open house. The people who were interested enough to come see the temple and walk through it and who want to know more makes me excited to go and talk to them. Hopefully we will be doing a lot of that this transfer as we kind of take over Crawfordsville and help the wonderful people here. :)

Love you all! Miss you! See you in 6!

Love,
Sister Halverson

20 and a Transfer!

Hello Friends and Family!

This transfer is already almost over. Where did the time go??? I feel like it was just yesterday that I was in Warsaw to Crawfordsville and now who knows what will happen??? It's so weird how fast time really does fly by. It's amazing but really weird. I feel like this Transfer was meant to help build Sister Anderson and I. We made goals and plans for this area and were able to help it rest for what it seemed it needed. I'm excited to see how things work out after this transfer and the Temple is Dedicated. I think that's when we'll see the miracles roll in. Not that they haven't already. More will come. We started our member wall and I'm determined to finish it. I'm glad things will be able to settle down a bit more because our ward has been so engaged in the Temple. It's been cool to see how many people are being built like Elder Sinclair said in his training for the Sisters. We truly are being built.

I'm super excited to see what happens. I love Sister Anderson and being able to serve with her was so so much fun. She's become one of my best friends out here in Indiana. It was so much fun! Tons of memories and laughs! 

This weekend was a weird one. I don't feel like I'm 20. It doesn't feel like I have two decades under my belt. And I think back and look at how much I've learned since being on my mission and everything turns into perspective for me. Bizarre and really edifying too. I'm glad I am serving a mission. :) We had so much fun this weekend. Shooting each other with Nerf guns and having a total blast! Ate a ton of cake and got to have fun on Saturday at the temple. It was a wonderful birthday!!! :) Hope you all have a wonderful week!!!!

Love,
Sister Halverson

20!

Good morning Crawfordsville

Sister Anderson and I