I couldn't of asked for a better week to end my mission on :)

"Alright, whoever has been praying that I would have the best week of my life, THANK-YOU!!! because their prayers were answered!  Wow, I couldn't have asked for a better week to be a missionary or to end my mission than this one.  It's been full of miracles, completely, utterly full of miracles.  Every single day.  It's been overwhelming.  The Lord has been so good to me.

...So this week was unbelievable!!!!  We found many new people to teach, taught SO many lessons, had so many people at church, was guided by the spirit, went to the temple twice, went to a baptism!!  Where do I start?!?!  (this might be jumpy so hang on!)

So first of all, let's just start somewhere.  We had a real live lesson with [the car wash guy], in his home, with his girlfriend and the lesson went amazing.  The spirit was incredible there! and having his girlfriend there (who's a recent convert) was the biggest help that could have happened!  She was amazing!  (Come to find out an elder that I served with in McMinnville taught her!  How crazy is that?!?!)  The lesson was amazing and he was so in-tuned with the spirit.  It was so strong.  By the time we got to the end of the lesson, we invited him to come to church with us and he said YES!!!!!!!!!!!! he said he would come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Not only that, he was going to go to a baptism with his girlfriend on Saturday.  So fast forward to Sunday, [the car wash guy] comes to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Before church we were freaking out, jumping up and down, saying '[He] is coming to church, [he] is coming to church !!!!!!!!!!!!!!'  Oh, it was remarkable!!!!!!  He walked in and we all sat down.  He said he loved the baptism that he went to on Saturday.  And church couldn't have been better!  He had to leave after the sacrament but said, 'I'm going to see if I can get [his girlfriend] to come to church here next week.  It should be easy enough.'   [HE] WANTED TO COME BACK!!!!!!!!!!!! gosh dang it!!! he's going to get baptized, he just doesn't know it yet!!!!!!!!!  GA!!!!!!  It was the BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We taught [another lady] this week.  She doesn't see the difference in religions except she feels the spirit for sure.  So! we decided that we were going to watch the Restoration with her.  When we go in there I realized that my ipad had only 13% left on it.  The Restoration was a 20 minute video and I know that with that much battery and what we wanted to watch, we weren't going to make it.  But we exercised faith in the Lord and decided to go for it.  We gave [the lady] the ipad and began praying that the battery would last.  My heart leaped with joy when we got to the end of the movie and the ipad was still alive!!!!!!!  I couldn't believe it!!!!!  I know my ipad well.  It shouldn't have lasted, but it did.  That my friends, was a miracle.  And she LOVED IT.  She loves the church, she loves the building, she feels the spirit.  She'll come, with time she'll come :) :)

Wednesday was an incredibly filled day.  We got up at 5:00 a.m. so we could go to the temple that morning.  I haven't been since December and oh boy oh boy oh boy was I anxious to go!!!!  The Portland temple is my favorite place in the world!  The celestial room is..undescribable!!!  That place is amazing.  We went as a district and all I can say is it was exactly what was needed.  I learned so much and came away feeling so much better about life.  Wow!  Then we went to [a granddaughter they have been teaching's] lesson.  The lesson went great.  We talked about reading our scriptures, praying and being obedient.  And guess what!!! by the end of the lesson [she] put herself back on date for baptism!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She's going to get baptized still!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yayayayayayaya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Oh, it was the best feeling in the world!!!  I cried saying goodbye to [her] and the [family].  I couldn't hold back the tears anymore, I just couldn't.  They just came (super embarrassing haha!!)  but wow, that's going to be a good day [the baptism] :)  We zipped off to a lesson with a member's less active daughter.  She has so many questions about the gospel and hasn't been sure who to ask.  So she came to us with her questions, and they were TOUGH questions.  I didn't know the answers.  So we've been searching them all week.  You could see the relief just be lifted off her shoulders as we listened to her questions and told her we would find answers to them.  Finally she felt she had someone she could talk to and confide in.  It was the best feeling ever!!!  We finally saw [the 15 yr. old they have been teaching for a long time now] that day too.  I love her, I love her, I love her!!!!  She's amazing.  We talked about where she's at in all this.  She said that she wants to make sure she believes this 100% and is in it for the long run before she gets baptized.  She said she still sees herself getting baptized, she just wants to make sure.  I'll take it.  Its work but I'll take it...she is going to be amazing.  She also came to church on Sunday with us!!!!  Her and I hung out in the Young Women's together and she was answering questions all about the priesthood that she knew.  Oh, I was like a proud mama!! :D  She's something special.  She doesn't know it but she is something special.  That night we went to dinner and they brought a non-member to dinner.  We got talking and she's been to church several times, loves the gospel and the people.  We asked if she has ever met with the missionaries before and she said she hadn't, only talked to her friends about the church.  We invited her to take the lessons and she said YES!!!!!!!!  Tears filled the member's eyes as we left.  They've been friends for a long time and all he could say was thank-you.  It was like we were floating on cloud nine.  The spirit was so good and continued to lead us.  We went to [an older gentleman they have been working with] after that.  [He's] been reading the Book of Mormon and he LOVES it.  You should see him when we read.  He gets all into it and then he'll stop and ponder about what things mean and what it means for him.  And then he asks questions and wants to hear about how all things are.  His son was over one day while we were talking and [he] convinced him to stay and read with us.  He told his son all about the Book of Mormon and what it's about and how it all works out and who Nephi is and what not.  It was SO good!!!  We invited him to church, but he didn't come.  That's okay.  Time, just time :)  It was the best day EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!  We got to the end of the night and was exhausted from the day!!!!  We had been up so early and going all day long.  It was amazing.  We slept well that night!!!

We saw [another lady] this week, our Jehovah Witness friend.  She was really struggling with the concept of a spirit world and a premortal life and the fact that we had spirits.  So we dove into the scriptures and began reading all over the place.  It was so funny.  She was like, 'Oh my goodness, it says it right here that we have a spirit!  Who would of guessed!  Well, I guess if the scriptures say so!!  I'll keep pondering this.'  She wants to believe this so badly.  She kept telling us, 'I want believe this.  I really really want to believe this.  I want to know if this is true.'  Over and over again she kept saying that.  She'll find her answer :)  She also came to church on Sunday!  She had tears in her eyes most the day as I'm certain she has found what she's looking for.  Saying goodbye to her was a killer!!  She's like, 'I would cry, but I won't.  Just remember that I love you.'  ah!!!!!  I love [her]!!!  I think that's the hardest part about this whole thing is that you grow to love these people SO much and then when you have to leave you can't see them grow and progress and gain that light about them and see it change them.  It's SO hard to walk away as you started this journey together.  ga! It rips my heart out!! but her being in church was the icing on the cake!!!!!!!!

We went to the temple again on Friday with President and Sister Taylor and the other missionaries that are leaving.  Wow.  The three sisters and I and Sister Taylor sat in the celestial room by ourselves for almost 45 min (poor Pres was waiting for us, hah!) but seriously being up there with her and talking and just..wow.  It was a special  experience for me and the advice and love and care that she showed to me - my heart is full.  I know I was meant to meet them.  We were friend before this life.  I've learned so much from them.  They've been the greatest example to me and have had the unconditional love they've loved me for, for how I am and I couldn't be more grateful to them.  Being in the temple with them knowing that these relationships have gone on forever..what a blessing.

And then we come to Saturday.  The baptism!!!  Oh my goodness, everyone was there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The dream team, all the Mount Scott people, [the man being baptized]!  President and the office staff, ah!!!!!  Life doesn't get better than that!!!  I gave the talk and honestly I'm not sure what I said.  The spirit took over and I bore my testimony of baptism to [him] and the importance of it.  It went well.  But to see [him] dressed in white, knowing his story and his background, seeing his wife, who I'm sure has long awaited this day, and to see that it is all finally and actually happening, more tears.  To see him come up out of the water, knowing that he was clean, knowing the promises he's made and him knowing the promises he's made.  Life doesn't get better than that.  He was confirmed at the baptism and oh my goodness.  It was amazing.  The spirit there was unbelievable!!  As once more a child has taken the first step back into the presence of our Father in Heaven.  Words cannot describe, only love.  There was so much love.

After the baptism we zipped back to Vancouver for a conference.  Elder Call and Bro. Ridd were here from SLC and they talked to us for a bit.  It was really good.  By the time it was over though and we were all leaving, it meant I had to say goodbye one last time to all my sisters.  They have been my mission.  The sisters in the mission don't know or realize how much they have influenced my life.  Some missionary's missions are all about the investigators, but my mission has been about these sisters.  I love them as if they were my own.  We are family now.  They've become my best friends.  They understand, they have the biggest hearts and their testimonies have strengthened mine in ways they may never know.  They are the hardest to leave.  More laughs, more smiles, a few tears and many many hugs.  I love the sisters of the WVM.  They are my family, the sisters I've long awaited to have.  They will never understand what they mean to me.

Yesterday after church!!! (with everyone there!)  All I wanted to do was tract!!  I just wanted to tract!!  I wanted to knock doors until I couldn't knock on doors anymore!!  I wanted to testify of Christ to every person I saw!!  We've tracted a lot so we were trying to find a neighborhood that we hadn't tracted.  Thank goodness Sister Rix was in-tune with the Holy Ghost and remembered one we hadn't spent much time in.  As we were driving around the neighborhood looking for what street to start and a place to park, we drove past a house and the holy ghost hit me with a 2X4 saying the we HAD to go knock on that house.  It stood out like a sore thumb.  So we drove down the street for a bit and then got out.  Sis. Rix headed to one side but I was like, 'No, we have to go knock on that house with the blue door and the brick siding' (it was quiet a ways back) and so she's like.. okay.  We walked up to the door and a guy answered.  He had to be 18 or something.  We talked to him and told him the message we were sharing about Christ.  We testified of the restored gospel and about the Book of Mormon.  We offered him a Book of Mormon and he gladly took it.  We asked if we could come back and without hesitation or a moment of thought he said, 'yes'.  They are going back Wednesday to teach him.  It was amazing.  The rest of the night..pretty much no one answered their door.  Wow.  The holy ghost will lead and guide us to all places in our lives.  God knows where his children are and who we need to talk to, if we only listen to it's prompting and follow it's council.  We will be blessed and see miracles.  I was floored.  I wasn't sure what I was expecting but the spirit told me that there was someone in there who was ready and they were.  Never doubt the spirit.

We spent the last hour of the evening saying goodbye to those we love.  It's been really hard to walk away from all this.  These people have become my family.  They've become my life.  They've helped me to become who I am today and helped change me into this person I've become.  And I can't believe that I am simply going to walk away from it all.  It's a stabbing to the heart and it kills.  Its been so hard to say goodbye.  It's taken everything I've had to simply walk away.  But I've been praying and praying that the Lord would give me strength to make it through this.  And I've felt the strength of God being poured out in abundance.  I've felt angels bearing me up and giving me the strength to move forward.

It's onward and upward from here.  My journey has come to a close but the memories will last forever.  It's now time to apply the lessons I have learned from this past 18 months to the rest of my life.  This journey has not been easy.  It's not what I ever expected it to be.  It's been so much better. I feel full.  I feel satisfied.  I'm at peace.  I've done the work that the Lord has called me to do. I've done what he's asked.  I've tried my best.  Miracles have happened.  The Lord has been so good to me.  My heart has been touched and changed forever because of those I've met and the experiences I've been through.  I'm not the same person I was, and that's a blessing in and of itself.

I know that God lives.  I know that he is my loving Heavenly Father.  I now that he knows his children.  Joseph Smith did in fact see what he said he saw in the grove of trees.  The priesthood is on the earth today, in it's fullness, with all power to bind families forever, to give blessings, to bestow gifts to all God's children.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God.  By reading it I have come closer to my savoir then ever before.  The words within it are true.  Words cannot express how grateful I am for my savior Jesus Christ and for His love, kindness and most of all, His atonement, so we truly are never alone.  He knows how we feel and how to succor us.  Through him, all things are possible.  He is my best friend, my redeemer, my savior and master.  I will follow him to the day I die, for in his arms we are safe.  We are protected and he can make this life ever more greater than what I could ever make of it.

I love my savior Jesus Christ.  He's been so good to me, but all in all, THE CHUCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

'... my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

Yea, I know I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself,

but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things;

yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land,

for which we will praise his name forever.

Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell;

and they are brought to sing redeeming love,

and this because of the power of his word which is in us,

therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?

Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, for he is the Most High God,

and has loosed our brethren from the chains of hell.

Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction;

but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light,

yea, into everlasting salvation;

and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love;

yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work.

Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord;

yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full;

yea, we will praise our God forever.

Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord?

Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy,

and of his long-suffering towards the children of men?

Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.'

(Alma 26:11-16)

 

 

What a journey it's been :)

I love you forever,
See you tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SISTER MAXFIELD"

excerpts from Erin's last missionary email 06/09/2014

Hang on tight, this is going to be quite the email...

"This week had some very high highs and some very low lows.  We were all over the place this week.  So this will be a wild ride.  Let's start at the beginning...

Seeing the Morbys was the BEST!!  It didn't feel like it had been as long as it had since I had seen them.  We walked up to their door and Sister Morby answered.  We hugged and cried a little and oh, it was so good to see them!!  We sat in their living room for awhile and talked about the mission and talked about how things are going, talked about plans after (since they are packing up to leave, too).  We talked about all the other missionaries that are still here and the good old times :)  President kept saying how hard it was to let me go (he kept tearing up over it).  He kept saying how incredibly hard it was and now I realize (being out so long) how hard that really must have been.  He's like, 'But I knew President would need good leadership so I had to let you go.'  He was still sad over it which made me love them that much more.  They never do forget you :)  We had cold pizza for lunch and said goodbye.  I love them but at the same time it made me realize how at home I am here in the WVM and how much I LOVE the Taylors.  Like I said, this place is home.  The Morbys are like my grandparents, the Taylors are my parents.  I feel at home here and know now more then ever that this is where I needed to be all along.  On the way home we stopped at Salt and Straw (an amazing ice cream place in Portland).  I tried dandelion ice cream, balsamic vinegar ice cream and ended up with getting a cone of lavender and honey.  It was good for a scoop, haha!  What a place!  Good old Portland! haha!

Tuesday conference was..I would say better then expected but that is not the right words to use.  Let me tell you what happened.  So Sis. Rix and I were doing a break-out on comp unity and had set up this whole three legged race and what not.  We had been working on it all week long and it was going to be GOOD.  At first, the break-out was going to be after lunch but Sister Taylor changed it at the last minute to before lunch (which we like never do, but okay!) and so we got to do it all before lunch and it was good!!!  The sisters loved it!!  We had a lot of sisters say that is what brought them together and what unified them.  We also gave them get to know you questions, talked about how to have fun and enjoy the work together as a companionship.  Oh, it was so good!!!!  Right after our break-out we had lunch.  We were all standing around chatting and visiting before we started lunch in the gym.  Then President Taylor came in and said, 'Sisters, I have some bad news.  Sister Lierlie has passed away.  We are going to the hospital now to go release her, but we thought you sisters should know.'  The gym fell silent.  (Quick background: Sister Lierlie had been in the hospital all weekend long.  She was sick for the past few weeks and they weren't really able to figure out why.  Anyway, they finally pinpointed it down to an infected/abscessed tooth and they were going to do surgery.  They were going to do it on Sunday but her jaw had locked and the doctors (no matter what they did) couldn't get it opened.  The whole thing was strange and the doctors didn't really know what was going on.  They did the surgery Monday morning and kept her overnight to make sure the recovery was going well.  I'll pick up the rest of the what happened in a minute, back to the gym.)  So the gym fell silent and my heart sank.  Cries broke out and sisters began hugging the other sisters looking for comfort.  We all were just starring at each other, no one knew what to do, and then it was suggested we pray.  Within half a second everyone in that church was on their knees, and I was the one who said the prayer.  I didn't know what to say, my mind was blank but the Holy Ghost took over and we prayed.  A sense of 'everything is going to be okay' enveloped the room.  After we prayed we once again didn't know what to do.  We hadn't eaten yet and someone suggested we get our plates and eat as we could.  Slowly we all got our plates and sat down, but no one was eating.  No one was talking.  We all just sat and stared.  Suddenly a few sisters got up and began singing.  We all sung hymns in that room together....I've never heard so many angels singing in my life.  The room was full of angels and it was beautiful.  I've heard us all sing together and it's NEVER sounded like that.  It was from heaven and it was the most comforting thing that has ever happened.  It was beautiful.  Certainly a heaven on earth.  After 30 minutes or so of that we all picked at our food and then went back into the chapel.  We had Bro. Scott there from LDS Family Services.  Originally we asked him to come talk about stress management but due to recent events, he talked about grief.  President Anderson showed up and treaded water for a bit before President got back.  About 3:00 President Taylor got back from the hospital.  He got up and simply said, 'I don't know what to say.  We don't know what happened' and told us what he did know and what had happened.  He said at 10:35 that morning Sis. Penrod (her companion who was at the conference) called her at the hospital to check up on her, they talked for a bit, then she said that she didn't feel well and was going to go.  She dropped the phone and the nurse found her on the floor not long after.  They were able to revive her for a bit but she came back scared and couldn't breath, then they lost her.
It was hard for us all.  But at the same time, amazing all the pieces fell together, in the fact that we hadn't been all together as sisters since November.  We picked this day at 'random'.  The Lord let us teach our break-out sessions because we worked so hard on them.  Matt Scott was there and we were all there to be able to comfort each other.  I won't lie, I didn't know Sister Lierlie that well at all, but I knew she was loved and an amazing missionary.  When we planned this event, we were going to bring in balloons and have everyone write their fears on them and we were going to release them.  It never really fit in the program anywhere but we went with it.  Then after all this, we changed plans and took the balloons and released them for her.  It was amazing.  We all realized how short of time we really have, to love our companions and to love our family and our friends, because we never know when God will call us home.  It was a tough day and a sad loss, but we are all doing well now.  My heart ached for the family and the Taylors.  But like I said, God doesn't do random.  There are no mistakes and she's exactly where she needs to be, but she will certainly be missed.

The baptism that I'm speaking at is this weekend.  Woot, woot!!!  But...[the granddaughter of a member they have been teaching] isn't going to get baptized this weekend anymore.  She fell off date last Wednesday (heartbreaking!)  She talked to her parents and they said that this was moving way too fast.  They kind of talked her out if it and kept telling her to think about this logically.  It was a hard lesson.  She asked all sort of what I like to call left field questions that weren't hers.  Her little growing testimony got shaken a little.  But! she's not giving up.  She's still reading.  She still went to church and she's still praying.  We testified to her that this is her choice and her decision, to not do this for anyone else but herself and if she is not ready, then that's okay.  We'll still help her and set her in the right direction but she needs to figure this out for herself.  ga, it was so hard I wanted to just cry!  She'll get there.  It'll just be more time.  The baptism in Portland is still going on this weekend! So looking forward to that next week!!

We also had a few gators drop us this week, so it's back finding new ones!  Don't worry though, this week wasn't all shot.  We had NOTHING planned on Saturday but studies, lunch and dinner.  So we decided we were going to tract, all day and while we were planning we decided that we were going to teach 6 unplanned lessons tomorrow.  I felt it, we were going to do this.  The most we had ever taught was 2 but we were going to teach six, no doubt, so we went out to do it and boy, did I feel good about this!!  (short version, I'll tell you the long one another day!)  The first door we knocked on, we talked to him for about 45 minutes, all about the church.  Lesson one.  Second house, family outside, taught the restoration, third home, the man talked to us for another 45 minutes, another interesting lesson, but lesson taught.  (Sister Rix and I were like..holy smoke!!  What is going on?!?  Well..we have 3 more lessons to teach so let's keep going) so we keep going, 4th home we walk up and the man lets us right into his backyard and we sit down with him and his wife and we read some from the Book of Mormon.  Super nice couple!!  The next home the lady tried bashing, but we showed her the Because of Him video, testified of Christ and His teachings.  It softened her heart and she was very happy to talk to us after that.  We had one more lesson.  So we walked up this huge driveway and I just got this sick feeling some dog was going to come out and attack us, and barreling down the driveway comes this bounding golden retriever puppy!!!!  Cutest thing you've ever seen in your life!!!!!  We talked to the lady planting bulbs and taught her the plan of salvation, she recently lost her sister.  It had been all day and we had only talked to 6 people..and taught 6 lessons..in a row.  Amazing.  Just amazing.  We were like, 'What in the world?!?!?!?!  Is this for reals?!?!?!?!?  Every house we knocked on after that, every person we talked to, quickly turned us away and didn't want to talk to us.  But those six, we taught lessons to just as we planned, had faith and prayed for.  Wow!  Miracles happen!!

So all in all, it's been an all over the place kind of week, good, but all over the place... Oh!!  We are meeting with [the car wash guy] this week!!!!!!!!!!!!  He set an appointment with us and everything!!  We're going there tomorrow with him and his girlfriend!!  YIPPIE!!!  [Another investigator, an older gentleman] is reading the Book of Mormon!!!!!  [HE] IS ACTUALLY READING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  that's HUGE!! and he loves it!!!!!!!!!!  We took another gator on the church tour!!!!!!!!!!!! (we've been trying to do that for so long) and the lady that we took with us hit if off like a million bucks, our other gator is also reading faithful and LOVED the plan of salvation lesson we taught her.  She loved it.  She's incredible!!!!!  So there are great things that are happening here!!!  This work is still going forward and it's still progressing.  Onward and upward!!

I'm doing good.  Well, honestly, it varies from moment to moment.  I have my panic freak-out moments where it's like..I'm leaving!!! and then I freak-out or panic or try to hold back the tears and what not.  And then at other times I get really excited to see everyone again and do so many fun things and all that jazz.  And I'm at peace knowing that I've done the work that the Lord has called me to do.  I've done everything He has asked, this mission was exactly what He planned it to be for me and I've done the work that He needed me to do.  So it varies from moment to moment.  This week should be interesting, but we've got a lot to keep us busy (thank goodness!!!)  It's going to be a crazy week, I just hope I can keep my head afloat!  haha!!

Well, that about it for the week.  You know, I finished the Book of Mormon for the 4th time on my mission today, and still, it's true.  It amazed me the faith that the people had.  It was all by faith that EVERYTHING happened.  It was by faith that all things come about and it's by faith that we have those words with us today.  Faith is everything.  It's the essence of life.  Without it, we are nothing.  We are lost.  Life is pointless without faith.

I'm so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ and the love that He has for me.  I know without Him, we would be nothing.  We would have no hope, but He understands all.  I love my savior.

I love you!!!!!  Looking forward to seeing you soon!!!

Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield

p.s. the church is true!!!"

excerpts from Erin's email 06/02/2014

There's a lot going on out here and it's a joy to be doing it.

[Erin was heading to Portland early this morning so instead of typing her email she dictated it and let the ipad type it up instead.  The results were a very funny email due to the fact that many words and phrases were typed up incorrectly!  I have done my best to decipher it all; some of it had to simply be left out because I can make no sense of it!! :D  Here is the best translation:]

"...Well, you're right, we are on early this morning because I'm headed down to Portland, which is awesome!  [they were heading down there for a surprise farewell party for President and Sister Morby, Erin's first mission president, in the Portland, Oregon mission.]  I'm talking this email so I'm not really sure how it's going to turn out.  I hope you can read it and it works...good luck!

...I will admit I'm a little sad about coming home..okay, that is a lie.  I'm really sad about coming home, haha!  It's hard not to be...  It will be hard not to get emails every Monday and to hear from everybody and get the quick updates from everybody, that will be really weird.  Love you emailing on Mondays, haha! ...so looking forward to it but there's a lot to lose.  There's a lot to gain.  So we will see what happens! haha!

...This week has been a good week.  I'm not sure where the week went...our investigator are doing well.  [the great-granddaughter of a member] is getting baptized on June 6.  She couldn't be more excited!!  She has been reading the Book of Mormon. She went to church yesterday.  We Skyped after church to see how things went.  She loved it.  She was telling us how she is so excited to go to church and have the first time to be the first day of the rest of her life.  She was telling us how that in her 16 years of living, this last month of her reading the Book of Mormon, meeting with the missionaries, have meant the most to her.  The gospel is really changing her life.  You can see the change in her and you can see the change that it made in her family.  She is incredible and couldn't be more excited for baptism.  So that will be next Friday.  Most seriously looking forward to it. 

On next Saturday the man from Portland is getting baptized, the one that would take us bowling.  I couldn't be more excited for him!  On Sunday he asked me over Facebook if I would give the talk on baptism at his baptism.  I've never done that before!!  I was so excited to say yes and now I can't wait.  However, now I'm a little nervous because I don't know what to say.  It's a good thing that they hardly ever remember anything that you say anyway, haha!  But we're looking forward to that.  It's going to be great.

Our other investigators are doing really well...We have one investigator that we've been teaching.  I'm not sure if I told you about her Jehovah Witness friend.  She told us she was a referral from another ward's bishop and she had some disagreements with her current religion and is looking at the Mormon church.  She was going to come to church with us yesterday but forgot about some previous commitments she made.  So she will come to church with us next week.  But [we have been] talking to her and sharing the gospel with her.  She has loved it!!  She loved the Book of Mormon.  The thing that really touched her heart was the testimonies from the apostles.  She said, 'The first time I heard the apostles they spoke right to my heart. ..the testimony of those men were so real and sincere.  There's something different, something special about them.  They truly know Christ.  And it touched my heart.  I never felt like that before.'  She's a wonderful older lady and we're visiting with her later this week.  It's been a joy to teach her because we truly go through the scriptures as we teach and testify and she understands.,  It brings peace to your heart...you should see her face light up when we speak truth that she can understand.  It's been a blessing.  She is leaving out of town this week and we had a really hard time seeing her.  We did stop in before she left and shared a little message with her.  It was much needed.  I think she's forgotten a little bit about the spirit and how it really feels and how it makes her feel.  We were able to remind her how it feels.  She's coming but she's got a little bit caught up with everything else.  So that ...reminder was much needed for her.  We're planning on seeing her when she comes home and hopefully things will get better from there.

Everyone else is still making progress, still moving forward.

This week we have a specialized sisters training meeting that we're doing tomorrow.  It's an all day meeting for the sisters.  There are a lot of issues with the sisters going on lately and so we though it would be a good idea to get everyone together and see if we can't figure things out.  So everybody's coming form all over the mission and we're doing a huge training.  Sister Rix and I are doing breakout sessions about companion unity and love, haha!  We got volunteered to do that one so looking forward to it.  It should be really good.  We've got big plans...on how we can strengthen our companionships.  It will be great!  So that's going on all day tomorrow.  We have a couple of baptisms coming up.  We have a temple trip coming up.  We have one more exchange, wow!
More people to find, work to be done, there's a lot going on out here and it's joy to be doing it.  I love being a missionary!!

...wow!  These emails get long when I am just talking and not typing! haha!
I hope you enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and that things go well for you...

Things are well out here!  The church is still true.  I still loving being a missionary.  There's a lot of work to be done and not a lot of time to do it in.  So we're working hard having the spirit to the end.

...The church is true... I love my Savior Jesus Christ.  He lives.  He loves us.  He wants the best for us.  Through the scriptures we can truly come closer to our Savior Jesus Christ.  Joseph Smith was a prophet.  He did see what he said he saw in the grove of trees.  I know this to be true.  I know this as much as I know that the sun will come up tomorrow.  There's no doubt in my mind.

...Talk to you soon.
Have a great day!!

Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield"

excerpts from Erin's email 05/25/2014

It's when faith hits the road...

"...It's been a busy week, but Sis. Rix and I were talking about it and we couldn't figure out what happened this week. haha!  One of those weeks where it's like..what did we do?  We did something because here we are again.  haha!  Here's an update really quick:

We saw [an investigator] this week.  It went SO well!!  [He] is doing great.  It think the turning point for him was the Life of Christ.  After that things changed and it's been onwards and upwards from there.  We taught him the Restoration (I think I told you that last week) and this week we taught him the Plan of Salvation.  He was interested.  Not sure if he really believes it but he thought it was quite interesting.  He's open and every time he prays he's like, '...and please help me to know if this is true.  I don't know how you will tell me but if it is, let me know.'  We'll take it :)  He's awesome.  He came to a baptism with the sisters this week (we were on exchanges and I was down in Portland) and they say he really enjoyed it.  He stay and talked to the missionaries and to a few members for a long time afterwards.  So that was awesome!  He's doing great and I'm sure we'll go back a few times this week :)  So there's huge progress there!

I don't know if you remember this story so I'll tell it again to lead up to this point.  So once upon a time about..15 weeks ago we were out driving around.  It was the first time the sun was out and we were feeling GOOD.  We had the windows down and as we were stopped at a red light Sister Rix notices the guy next to us in a convertible.  She gives me a sly look and leans out the window and starts talking to this guy!  Well, before the light turned green we found out that he once was meeting with the missionaries, lives next to some members and might be interested in meeting with us again.  Well, the light turned green before we could exchange info.  So we were determined that we were going to find this guy.  Fast forward 6 weeks.  We were out tracting one evening and we knocked on this door and who is on the other side?  The convertible guy (does God do random??)  He was really busy at the time.  We kept trying to get back but with no luck.  Finally a few weeks ago we stopped in late in the evening and tried him - found him home and available!! (true story!)  We got a short message in and then he asked us to come back next week.  This last Tuesday we went over with the intentions to teach him about the restoration but the spirit directs you other places and things don't always go according to plan.  We taught him about the Book of Mormon and how we came to know the book to be true and how for each of us it's a little bit different.  On some occasions it's an 'ah ha' moment, for others its a gradual thing, for some they just know.  It's all different.  Anyway, it turned out to be a REALLY good lesson!  We are going back tomorrow and are anxious to teach him.  He's amazing and is ready to listen! :)  WOOT WOOT!!

We saw [another investigator] this week (the old man in no man's land)... We taught him the plan of salvation and after watched the Because of Him video.  After it all, he looked at us and he looked at the plan and was like, 'Is this true?'  That moment right there is my absolute favorite moment on my mission because it's that moment that the person changes.  It's right there, that's the pivotal moment when they begin to think for themselves and wonder if it's true.  It's at that moment they are open and their hearts are ready, it's the 'piercing of the heart'.  It's the best feeling in the world to see that moment and to have that happen.  We testified that it was true, but that he didn't have to rely on our testimony and for him to figure it out for himself.  We left him with some scriptures to read and to pray about it.  We'll be going back (yeah!)  But it was so neat!  Like I said, he's progressing, slowly and on his own time but it's better than nothing :)  Oh, it was the best!!

We ran into [the car wash guy] again.  Finally found him home.  Our lesson fell through with someone else and we found him outside.  So we stopped and talked to him.  We showed him the Because of Him video and asked if we could come back.  We are really hoping to meet with him soon.  He's amazing.  He has this light about him that I don't think he realizes that he has and you just want to latch onto it and help him see it.  But everyone has their agency.  It was a good conversation that we had and we are hoping to see him soon.  He said we could meet sometime soon so we're praying that doesn't fall through!!

...The ward is finally starting to catch on and see the vision.  It's been unbelievable.  So many members have been coming up to us and telling us things like, 'I have a neighbor that I want to share something with.  How do I do that?' or 'My son invited someone to church' or 'We're thinking about doing this or that'.  The ward is starting to become much more missionary minded.  It's starting :)  Amazing things are going to happened here in this ward in the next year or so.  As they become more missionary minded they will see the most amazing things happen.  It's felt so good to hear everyone's efforts and their work that they've been doing on their own.  Like I said, that's what's going to change their hears, this is when the true miracles happen.  It's when faith hits the road and turns into miracles.  It's going to be amazing :)  I've been reading that a lot in my scriptures this week.  How miracles don't produce faith, but rather it's the other way around.  That without faith miracles can't happen.  Anyway, that's been running around my brain all week long.

We've been tracting again.  But people have not been so friendly, ..sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't.  We were down in Portland for exchanges this week, went out tracting and people were just rude.  I don't know why they feel so obligated to be rude when we come to the door.  That has baffled me from day one, but no worries, I didn't lose any sleep over it and we did find a new investigator for them! yeah!!  So it wasn't a total loss.  hahaha!  It just always surprises me how people react sometimes.  Go figure.

It's been SO nice this week!!  The weather has been AMAZING and the sun has been out!!  yippee!!!  Although the rain is back today, stupid rain, and on a Monday???  Dang it.  Oh well, what can ya do?  haha!

Well, I think that's about all for this week.  Like I said, things are good here in Vancouver.  We're happy, still trucking along, still working hard doing what we do best!!  I still LOVE being a missionary.  This is the best work in the world.  It seems like such small things we do - talking to people and yet we feel such an approval from the Lord.  Every little bit we do brings that approval from the Lord :)
The church is true every day!  All things are in the Lord's timing and are in His hands.
The church is true!!
Christ lives!!

I love you so much!!!

Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield'

excerpts from Erin's email 05/19/2014

The sun is shinning, the air is clean and there ain't a cloud in the sky! Life is good :)

[she called home for Mother's Day]
"...It was SO good to see you yesterday! Like I said, it's like being home all over again.  You finally belong somewhere.  It's a funny feeling, that 'connection' feeling.  I've missed it.  It makes coming home a little better knowing you guys are there :)  I love you guys...

I have a few cool things to tell you...
So I told you about [a granddaughter of some members in her ward] who we put on date for May 31.  She's SO excited and I'm so excited and boy oh boy, it's such a good feeling!!! :D  And she's progressing like crazy and is all over this whole church thing.  When I invited her to be baptized, she got this huge grin on her face, leaned back in the chair and was like, 'Wow' (the spirit over came her) and was like, 'I've always wanted to be baptized.  This is an amazing feeling.'  Is the church true?  I'd say it is! :D  So we are excited!!

There's another baptism going on in Portland on June 7th (wow, cutting it close!) for a man I taught down in Portland, maybe you remember him?  He's the one we would go bowling with on p-days.  He finally committed to a date!!!!!!!  I've never been so excited in my life!!  Oh, it's so good!!!!!  So I'm really excited to go down there and see him get baptized.  Their daughter is getting baptized later in June, but to finally see them both come around, work out their concerns and enter into the waters of baptism, what a good feeling!!! :D  We are so excited!!!

So there's a lot of great things coming up.  This month is going to be BUSY.  We have a specialized sister meeting at the end of the month, departing temple trip, there's a zone meeting, exchanges, people to teach, people to find, people to baptize, it's going to be all SO good!!  I'm so excited for this month.  It's going to be such a good, busy one!!

I think our biggest miracle for this week though has been...an older gentleman that we found through our phone quite some time back.  The sisters found him about a year ago.  When they tried to teach him the restoration he got all hung up over the apostasy (he's Catholic) and couldn't get past it.  So when we went to teach him, we weren't sure what we were heading into.  But we went for it and gave it a shot.  As we started teaching, the spirit entered into the room and we began teaching with power and authority.  I don't know, it was amazing.  It was different than any other lesson we had taught before.  You could feel the spirit putting the words into your mouth and you could see his countenance change right before your eyes, from 'they are sweet girls telling me a good story' to 'maybe this is true'.  It was unbelievable.  He prayed after and he was like, 'Well, if this Joseph Smith story is true, let me know.  I don't know how you are going to tell me, but I would like to know.'  It was so cool :)  We committed him to reading the Book of Mormon but we found out that really he can't see the pages and doesn't really understand.  So we went over the next day and read to him.  We read from 3 Nephi 11.  After we got done he kept leaning back in his chair and thinking about what we taught him.  The spirit once again was so strong.  He was like, 'You picked this chapter on purpose, didn't you?', and we were like, 'Yup ~ of course we did!'
He was having trouble getting his car set up (he got a new one and couldn't figure out the radio) and so he was like, 'This car is going to be the death of me!  I don't even think heaven can help me!' so we prayed :) and we helped him get his car fixed.  Heaven answered our prayers.  He prayed again after reading and he was like, 'Now, I don't know if reading and learning about this church will change me..but it might.  We'll see.'  :)  Best words ever!!!  So lesson wise, there's progress being made!!

We got dropped by a few of our investigators this week, which is a huge bummer :S but people have their agency.  But we found 2 more and they seem to be more solid the more they come.  We have one lady we are now teaching.  She lives on this street that we tracted awhile back but she lives in the only house we didn't knock on (because it said private property on it and it didn't feel right.)  Well, that's her!  Her friend sent us to her.  She feels like there are things missing from her religion.  She watched conference and is REALLY interested in prophets!  So we're excited about that!!

So, it's been another amazing week.  More miracles and still keeping busy!

...the church is true, every single day it's true.  My relationship with my Savior has grown immensely.  Vancouver has really become sacred ground to me because this is where I've come to know my Savior.  This is where I really understand his love for his children, his willingness to answer prayers and the power of faith... Vancouver is sacred to me...

Well, like I said, the church is true!  Thank goodness!!
I hope you have a wonderful week!!  You're the best!!!

Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!!"

excerpts from Erin's email 05/12/2014

The Lord has kept us SO busy

"...So!!! this week!! First of all, I cannot believe we are Monday again!!!  I seriously am floored that it's Monday again.  It's scary how fast time flies.  Seriously..it's scary.  It feels like a dream and suddenly I find myself here again and have new things to tell you but aren't sure where they came from, goodness gracious.  But this week was AMAZING!!!  So many miracles are happening left and right.  It's overwhelming.

So we got to go to the transfer meeting this week (to give rides to some of the sisters) and it was really weird.  As I sat there looking at all the sisters coming in I realized that I remember when every single one of those sisters came in.  I remember when they were the ones standing up because they were new.  I remember training them and then here they were training other sisters, having their feet under them, heading to new areas and new companions. .. I felt really out of place.  It was a really odd feeling.  I felt old.  haha! ..it was hard to think that everyone I knew and those I considered my close friends have really all gone home or are close to going.  Like I said, it was odd.  I won't lie, I shed a few tears.  As President talked about the places this mission is going to go, how things are going to be changing and how things are going to go way up from here, and realizing I can't go with them, that was really hard.  This whole coming home thing is so hard..but it's inevitable.  So we do our best :)  Luckily, the Lord has kept us SO busy there's not time to dwell on it :)

We taught SO many lessons this week!!!  More then we have ever taught in one week since we got here!  Which is amazing because we were literally in all-day meetings all week long but somehow we were able to squeeze out SO many lessons ~ it was one after another after another.  We were running from place to place and people were calling to make appointments and we were like..uh..next week?  It was crazy!!!  What a blessing!!!  Yesterday we taught 3 lessons in 3 hours and got 2 new gators!!!!  We knocked into a lady a long time ago and have been dying to get back with her since then.  It's been a long long process, but we FINALLY got in with her yesterday.  Two of her kids sat in on the lesson and were very intrigued in what we had to say.  Both of the kids had Book of Mormons that they had been reading on their own, that their friends had given to them (MEMBER MISSIONARY WORK!!!!!)  and the mom knows all about the church.  It may have been one of the best Restoration lessons I've ever taught.  It was SO good.  The whole family was involved and they were all right there listening.  They were so intuned and so interested in what we had to say.  It was AWESOME!!!  They're letting us come back and teach them more and we can't be more excited!!  Some people you know it's only going to be a matter of when before they get baptized and this is one of those families :)

We went by to check on another investigator this week and he was SO happy to see us!  He's an older gentleman that lives by himself in this little forgotten corner of the world (pulled on my heart strings!)  So we stopped by to see him and he was so happy to see us!  He was apprehensive before when we stopped by but to see his smile just made by day!!  We set up another appointment and he was like, 'Oh!! by the way, I've been reading the Book of Mormon.  I'm 10 pages in, but I will read more before next time!'  His whole countenance has changed and that was an awesome moment for me! to see his face light up and to know that he's been reading!!!  So good!!! :D  We're excited about him!  He's another 'he'll be baptized in time :)'  yes!!!!

Another miracle, we had some members call us the other day.  They were like, 'Hey, our great granddaughter is here and she's interested in the church.  Can you come over and teach her?' and we were like, 'um yeah!!'  So we zipped over there and one again, sat down and taught her.  And it was another amazing lesson.  She was right there with us the whole time and the grandparents were so involved and a HUGE help!  What a blessing!  She's been so prepared and ready for the truth, she soaked it all up!  I love being a missionary!!  I love getting to go teach and to be able to share my testimony with all these people!  Seriously, nothing is more thrilling than being able to teach someone who: a- wants it and b- gets it!! :D :D :D :D   The church is true!!!!

This week was also stake conference, which ended up being AMAZING.  President and Sister Taylor spoke and they did an AMAZING job!!!  I LOVE them!!!!  They told the stake exactly what they needed to hear and talked about how the Lord is hastening His work and it hastens by inviting people to simply come and see.  Oh it was so good!!  After the meeting, we ran into them in the hall and Sister Taylor was like, 'Sisters!  ..Sister Glover is at my house right now, do you want to come over and say hello?' (Sister Glover went home awhile ago because her time was up and she was up visiting.  I LOVE her!)  So I got STOKED!!! and was like 'can we really!?!' and so we zoomed over to the Taylors and I got to see Sister Glover <3 and visit with the Taylors for a bit!  We almost just slept over there but decided we should come home and not worry our members ;)  but is was awesome!!  I LOVE the Taylors.  They love us like their children.  I feel that love from them and it's such a blessing.  We can tease each other, have fun, talk, be open, we share these experiences, seriously, they are the best thing that's ever happened to me.  The Taylors changed my life and I have learned things from them that has shaped my life forever :)  They are the best.  They will honestly be the hardest to leave. 

The mission has been asked to read the Book of Mormon before the end of this transfer.  So Sister Rix and I have been on a Book of Mormon reading marathon.  It's been awesome!!  I LOVE the Book of Mormon, kind of a lot.  It's my 4th time through on my mission and still I find new things, new truths, the old truths still ring deeper and still true.  This time I've gone through and highlighted every time the word faith comes up and the results of that person having faith.  It's remarkable.  The Book of Mormon is true.  I don't understand how people think it's not.

So all in all, this week was SO good.  Its amazing to see how this place has changed since we got here.  The Lord has been so good to us while being here.  It's been through obedience and hard work that it's gotten here but the Lord promises His blessings.  We are starting to see those promises being fulfilled.
I can't believe I'm leaving.  I feel like I'm leaving right at the best part.  This seriously is so hard.  But no matter what..the church is true.. :)  and it's raining again.  haha!  Christ is our Savior.  He's my best friend.  He has saved my life and I couldn't be more grateful :)

I think that's about it for this week.  I'm certain this next week will fly by if not faster than this last week.  Crazy.  More meetings, more lessons, people to teach, people to find, trust to be heralded and work to be done!!

I love you so much!!  Enjoy this week!!

Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield"

excerpts from Erin's email 05/05/2014

The 40-day fast

"...This week has been AMAZING!!!!  We've seen more miracles this week than I have the whole time I've been here and I attest it to the 40-day fast.  Our ward has decided that to help us in the missionary work and to help the ward really get the ball rolling, we are going to do a 40-day fast, where for 40 days someone (or many people) of the ward will be fasting for missionary work, or us, our gators and to have their own missionary opportunities.  And this week has been unbelievable.  I'll name just a few....

- Salmon Creek has a curse called no-one-will-make-a return-appointment with the missionaries, even those we see consistently won't make appointments.  This week while on exchanges, the sisters were able to get return appointments with *everyone*, even those that we've been trying for six weeks!!  We finally were able to get appointments with them.

- We had more lessons this week than we have since we got here.  We've been so busy we haven't had time to tract, in Salmon Creek!!  Remember what it was like when we first got here?  Now we've been so busy!  It's been crazy!! and none of the lessons fell through!

- We had an impromptu lesson with a lady we are teaching, that we've been trying to teach FOREVER.  We got there and just started chatting, then her boy was getting restless.  Thanks to the Holy Ghost, it was like, 'Hey!  Wanna see an experiment?!' and so we showed him the Doctrine of Christ experiment (I'll show you one day) and he didn't understand (he's only 5) but she listened very intently the whole time.  It was SO cool!  which opened up a can of worms of questions and we are going back next week to teach the Plan of Salvation, because that is where most of her questions stem from! :D  It's been a long time coming!

- Our less-active that we found while out tracting let us come back and teach her some more.  She really has a desire to come back and wants to be a part of us again.  Plus she wants us to meet her boyfriend to show him that we're not crazy, haha!  She knows a lady in our ward really well (come to find out) and they have both been through similar experiences in life, so they understand each other.  And then yesterday this member asked if she could come to the gospel principals class on Sunday because she's working with a few less-actives she's trying to get back into activity!!  What?!?!  Um, yeah, please come!!!  SO good!!

- So on Saturday we had an appointment with a potential we found while knocking on doors.  They asked us to come back on Saturday at 1:00.  We show up and no one was home, bummer.  Later that evening around 7:00 we had an hour before a meeting we were to be at.  We were going to go tracting, then this potential's name popped up.  So we stopped by again to see if they were home.  We knocked on the door and they let us right in!  They weren't shy or nervous at all.  They let us right in, we sat down and they were like..'Well, do you guys celebrate birthdays?' (trying to figure out who we are, the Jehovah Witnesses don't celebrate holidays) and we were like, 'Yeah!' and they asked us about the church on Saturday and we were like, 'No, that's the 7th Day' and he's like..'Well, who are you?' and we're like, 'We are the LDS!' and he's like, 'Ooh!! the Mormons!' and we're like, 'Ya'  :D  Apparently he's had a lot of friends who are LDS and knows some about them.  His wife joined us and they both had a lot of questions about the temple, the Holy Ghost, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith.  They were so anxious to hear what we had to say.  So we went right into it and they intently listened the whole time!  They thought the concept of the Book of Mormon was so cool and were very anxious to read it.  He was like, 'I have a lot of free time at work.  I'll take it and read it.'   And his wife was also very interested in reading it, too.  They have a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation and we are going back this coming week to teach them the that.  They are AWESOME!!!!!!  We got back into our car and literally started yelling and screaming for joy!!!!

This week has been AMAZING!!!!!!

one more:
-[their 15 yr. old investigator] is doing better than she ever has.  We felt like we had gotten to the point where we were treading water with her.  We weren't really going anywhere, she knew everything but didn't really have a testimony of it all, and we weren't sure where to go from there.  So we decided to start back at the beginning.  Last Monday we watched Prophet of the Restoration with her.  By the time it was over we were all in tears and testified of Joseph Smith.  The next day we went through his account in JSH and the beginning of the Book of Mormon.  The next day we went through the book and told of different stories and different things going on in there.  She was very excited and anxious to really get into it and read it.  Her exact words, 'You guys always say you know this for 100% and I'm getting there.' :)  Best moment ever!!!!!  We felt like the missing piece was a baptism.  We hadn't been able to take her to one due to the lack of baptisms in the area.  Well, it came to my attention that a girl that I found in Rainer was getting baptized this weekend.  BINGO! so we made a few phone calls and headed for Rainer on Saturday with [their investigator] in hand to see this baptism.  It was perfect, she was the same age as her and you could just see the light in her!  It was awesome!!!   We are going over tonight to see her thoughts on it all.  AND she wants us to meet her cousin.  This is HUGE because her cousin goes to another church and takes [the investigator] with her.  [Their investigator] I guess talks about us a lot to her cousin and now we get to meet her!!! So we're hoping good things will come from this!!!  ah!!!...this is the best thing ever!!!!! :D :D :D :D :D

So all in all, things are well!  Oh, I'm staying in Salomon Creek with Sister Rix.  Looks like Vancouver will be my resting place :)  And I'm happy with that!  And I'm so happy to be with Sister Rix!  It will be a good six weeks!

It's been amazing to see everything happening this week, the blessings of the fast and the work that is rolling forward.  There's a lot more work to be done and its' going to be a SUPER busy week!!!

The church is true, every single day.  Christ lives, His atonement covers all! and I'm so grateful for that!!

...Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield

oh! p.s.:
funny story,
So we were praying with this family and I was saying the prayer and it went like this (Jojo is 5):

Me:  'Please bless Jojo'
Jojo during the prayer: 'and my lizard'
Me:  'and Toothless'
Jojo:  'and the crickets'
Me:  'and the crickets'
Jojo:  'and Lacy' (the girl next door)
Me:  'and Lacy'

ahah!  it was so funny!!  We all busted up in the middle of prayer!
ah, life is good!"

excerpts from Erin's email 04/28/2014

The Life of Christ event was unbelievable!!

"Easter... they sang a song in sacrament and then they had 2 talks.  I was surprised they didn't do more.  Oh well.  The church is still true ;) haha!  We had dinner at a member's home and spent some time with them.  It was SO good!!! Lamb, turkey, rolls, potatoes and yams, asparagus, peas, jello, ooh, it was SO good!!  We were STUFFED!!!  That's what it's all about :)  We made a few visits to a few people, tried a few potentials and then that was pretty much our day!

... Have you seen the Because of Him video?  I think I've watched it a thousand times in the past few days, over and over and over.  It's amazing.  If you haven't seen it, go look for it [at lds.org]  It's unbelievable.  I was floored.  It's amazing!!!

The Life of Christ event was unbelievable!!!!!  They transformed the whole gym into an exhibit of Christ's life starting at his birth, to his childhood, the Sea of Galilee, his trials, death, resurrection and then the second coming.  Those displays were phenomenal.  Pictures, props, live actors on some days, the floor had sand, grass, dirt on it depending on the scene, it was remarkable and to real life.  The center of the gym was full of pictures of the Savior and different miracles he performed.  Some pictures I've seen before, others I hadn't.  The feeling in that room was like the temple.  It was so full of Christ.  It was unbelievable.  There were thousands that came to see.  [Their 15 yr. old investigator] came and we spent most of an hour and a half walking around, talking about each one of the scenes and parts of Christ's life.  There were many tears shed as we taught and testified of Christ's life to her.  She was certainly touched by it...  Our YSA's came. They were like 'I've seen some exhibits of Christ, but never anything like this.  This is unbelievable.'   Once again, many hearts were touched.  They stayed and listened to the choir for a bit which was remarkable.  And they loved it.  We had several of our less activities that we've been working with come and see the exhibits.  One of them in particular we found just a few days before while knocking on doors, we knocked into a lady.  We had no idea who she was but after a few minutes she told us that she was a less active and had been for a really long time, but has been thinking about it a lot lately and has been wanting to come back to church.  She said that she's been going to so many other churches trying to find that same feeling of home but it's never been found.  The sisters went back the next day to teach her and we've got a lot to work with, but there's so much potential there :)  She came to the Life of Christ this week, first time she's been in the church in who knows how many years.  So we're starting to work with her :)   We had another man come with us that we've been working just a little with.  He's been..stubborn, but while walking through the Life of Christ, he realized that we DO believe in Jesus Christ and that he is the focus of our lives.  Those are just a few of the thousands of people that came, members and non members.  There are really amazing stories that have come out of this event this weekend and I'm certain more will be coming :)  When we weren't in the exhibit itself with our investigators, we were helping in the children's room, dressing up, telling stories of the Savior, helping with little crafts they had.  So much fun!! ...There were several people we got to talk to and share the gospel with that we otherwise wouldn't have :)  It's amazing to see all the work this stake puts into this and the amazing outcome that comes from it.  All the volunteer work and the countless hours spent.  It was unbelievable.  I've never seen anything like it.  It's been an amazing weekend!!

[they moved to a new home]  I love living out in the country!!! although my allergies have flared up again, thank goodness for Claritin!! :D  The Barns are AWESOME!!! converts, they have an amazing story I'll have to share with you one day :)  They are incredible.  I LOVE living with them!  We have the whole basement to ourselves and I sleep in the most comfy bed I've ever slept in in my life!! making it hard to get out in the mornings.  But that's okay, the days go so fast it seems like we're back before we even blink.  It's been really good to be with them!! :D  They have a great dane named Misty.  She's finally stopped barking at us, haha!  We watch the squirrels go crazy in the mornings jumping up and down everything outside.  I like living there.  It's great!! :D

Oh!!  SO this week was Sister Taylor's birthday, and of course we can't just not do anything for Sister Taylor's birthday!!!  So Sis. Rix and I devised a surprise birthday plan :)  I'll tell ya the story from my point of view since it's the only point I have :)  So Wednesday night we were meeting at the Taylor's at 8:00 for this surprise.  We had done exchanges that day and were trying to exchange back, but with a lot of back and forth we didn't realize how long it would take us to get there and now we were running late.  The zone was all there waiting for us and President kept asking where we were, ga!!  So..we were speeding just a little bit and out into the middle of the road dashed this little bunny!!..and Sis. Rix hits it (hahah!)  Now she's trying not to throw-up as we're hurried down the road!  We still have to go to the church and get the ice cream!!  We speedy quick get the ice cream then dash to the president's house.  We finally get there and everyone's waiting for us.  Sister Taylor's in the backroom and we all sneak in.  President calls her out and as she comes out we all yelled, 'Surprise!!' and it scared her SO BAD!!!!!  Oh it was great!!! :D :D :D :D  We had a great evening of brownies and ice cream and we sang her a song Sister Rix and I wrote the day before, wishing her a happy birthday :)  SO much fun!!!  I LOVE the Taylors!!!  I feel so blessed to have them as my mission parents.  They love us as their own kids and would do anything for us!  I cannot tell you how much I love them!!  They are the best!!! :D  So that was certainly good this week!!

The hike was wonderful!! [last week]  I got some pictures I'll try to send, it was BEAUTIFUL!!!! Wow, this place is amazing.  It's so pretty!!!

...well, that's about all the things I have for this week. 
We're hoping for a really really good week this week!  A lot of lessons planned and a lot potential to be had!  This should be good!!  Transfers are next week..if we are getting transferred, we'll find out Friday.  So pray we don't! :D

... I love you.

Your forever,
Sister Maxfield

p.s. the church is true!"

["Oh, so we told President at the birthday party the Sister Rix hit a bunny and he was like, 'It's okay.  It was the playboy bunny.  You solved all problems!' 
hahaha!!!!  oh, President :)  hahah!!"]

excerpts from Erin's email 04/21/2014

Happy Easter!!!

"Hey...I'm doing great this week!!  The thunderstorm sounds amazing!! [we had a huge thunderstorm at home I was telling her about.]  Last time I saw lightening was in Rainer and I haven't seen or heard thunder since.  They don't get thunderstorms out here.  So it's weird to think you still do, haha!  It's like a secret thing I forgot about! haha! :D...

We have seen SOOO many miracles this week!  You know when it said that the miracles don't come until after the trial of your faith?  This week has been the aftermath :)  We found 6 NEW INVESTIGATORS THIS WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Seriously, they all felt like they all fell into our lap.  One came from a contacting potential we found forever ago while out tracting. We are going back to read the Book of Mormon with her this Wednesday.  Three came from tracting (cool story), two were a member referral (another cool story) and one a former investigator we picked up again :)  ah!!  The church is true!

Alright, so cool story #1:
We were out tracting while on exchanges and we come up to this house, knock on it and this super sweet older couple answers..and lets us right in!  We go in and sit down and we start chatting.  They were like, 'We always talk to the Jehovah Witnesses but we've never talked to the Mormons before.'  So we got talking about prayer and answers to prayers, then one thing leads to another and suddenly we're talking about the plan of salvation.  We pull it out from the scriptures so it's not just us talking and they were so fascinated!!  It was AWESOME!!  They were trying to figure out this verse in the bible and we all three had different bibles and they all said different things.  So we asked if they knew anything about the Book of Mormon and they said they didn't.  We had been there a while already and so we gave them a Book of Mormon and asked if we could come back and talk about it.  They were very happy to!  They had a lot of service for us so the plan was to go over and help with their yard then talk about the Book of Mormon.  So Friday rolls around and Sis. Rix and I get into our jeans and go over.  We sit down and she [the investigator] was like, 'Hey!  I'm too tired to do yard work.  Tell me about this Book of Mormon.'  So we explained to her what it was and the story of it.  She was COMPLETELY fascinated by it.  We told her how Christ comes to the Americas and she's like, 'Where is that in it?!' and we're like, 'Well, here it is!' and so we opened it up to it and read it with her.  As soon as that chapter is done she flips ahead to another chapter and was like, 'Let's read this one' and then flips a few more ahead and was like, 'Let's read this one'.  We ended up reading about 5-6 chapters from 3 Nephi and she was completely fascinated.  The spirit was so there and so strong.  Anyway, we had once again been there for a while at this point, answered their questions and we are going back again this Friday to teach them more!  SO COOL!!! :D :D :D  and we taught them in our jeans.  That was weird!! but the church is still true so I suppose it's oaky, haha! but I've never done that one before!

Cool story #2:
Later that same afternoon we get a call from a lady in our ward.  She told us that her son had strayed from the church since he was a teenager (he's now 40) and wants to come back to church. He asked me to call you and set up an appointment to meet with you and his girlfriend wants to learn about the church.  She'll be here too.  So Sunday, how does that work?  and we're like FREAKING out on the other side!!!  We go to the lesson on Sunday and we sit down with the girlfriend (the son didn't sit this time) and we had this amazing lesson on the restoration.  After it's all over we're like, 'Do you have any questions?' and she's like, 'um..yeah, I have a question.  So I really really want to get baptized.  Like REALLY, that's what I want and I was just wondering what it's going to take to get baptized and how long that will take and what do I need to do to do that?' and we're like..well, well, well!!!  We can help you with that!!!!  So moral of the story, she's on date for baptism on May 22.  She's going to read the Book of Mormon this week, come to church next Sunday and we're meeting again Sunday afternoon.  AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Seriously, we were like..what!?! are you serious?  It was crazy.  It's amazing how they just..fell into our laps.  That's never happened!! but it happened this time.  It was amazing :)  It felt like all those oym's from the past weeks are finally seeing the blessings from them and I still feel confident that we will find more this upcoming week :)  We're starting to get busy!!

...this week is the Life of Christ event.  It's a HUGE event that the stake puts on.  You should google it.  They TRANSFORM the church into the life of Christ, like a museum walk-through, and its for everyone to come and see.  It's unbelievable.  Everyone donates stuff and it's amazing.  We were helping all morning set it up.  Its another 3 days of set up and then Thursday to Saturday is the open house with live actors, choirs and all sorts of other amazing things.  It's going to be HUGE and we're trying to get everyone to come!!!  We are so excited!!!  What a good week ahead!!

The weather is amazing up here.  It's not been this good for so long!!  We are going hiking today which will be SO nice!  So it's a good day ahead!!

We gave talks on Sunday.  I talked about true discipleship.  It was a really good Sunday!  We've been working on them all week.  The ward is getting onboard with helping us out so we don't have to tract so much.  With the talks we gave on Sunday, us going around helping the members to do their own missionary work and the bishopric onboard, we are getting the ball rolling.  There are going to be amazing thing happening in this ward.  Hang tight, they are on the way!

Well, I think that's about it for this week.  Time is FLYING by.  It freaks me out kind of a lot..but there's not a whole lot I can do about it.  I LOVE being a missionary.  I LOVE Vancouver, the church is true every single day, Christ LIVES.

HAPPY EASTER!!!

I LOVE YOU!
Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield


'What I need, Peter, are disciples - and I need them forever.  I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs.  I need someone to preach my gospel and defend my faith.  I need someone who loves me, truly, truly loves me, and loves what our Father in Heaven has commissioned me to do.  Ours is not a feeble message.  It is not a fleeting task.  It is not hapless; it is not hopeless; it is not to be consigned to the ash heap of history.  It is the work of Almighty God, and it is to change the world.'
- Elder Jeffery R. Holland"

excerpts from Erin's email 04/14/2014

I was trying to use the table leg to flip my shoe back on when I looked across the table at the elder who had a really funny look on his face - the table had no leg and I had been playing footsies with him having no idea! :D

"...[first], conference was AMAZING!!!!!!!  I seriously felt like every one of my prayers, questions and concerns were answered in this conference.  I felt like every talk was directed to me.  I took something huge away from every one of them and I have never been so anxious for them to come out so I can re-read them!! :D :D :D  It was AMAZING!!  And yes, [the 16 yr. old investigator] came to Saturday morning!!  She quite enjoyed it! (as much as a 16 year old can enjoy being lectured for 2 hours! haha)  But we are going over tonight.  She called us yesterday and was like 'I have so many questions I want to ask.  Can you come over tomorrow?' :D  We love her!  She's not quiet on date yet, it's still a work in progress... but we love her so much.  She even went to mutual this last Wednesday with a girl in the ward and LOVED that! :D  So there's good things going there!
We also had our 2 YSA's come on the Sunday afternoon!  I think one liked it more that the other, but they came!  So we'll take it.  That one's a really slow moving process but it's been good!  So that was awesome to sit in the chapel with a roomful of missionaries and our gators and the prophet!!!!  It was the best!  I LOVE conference!!!!!! :D :D :D  I loved Uchtdorf talk, especially like coming to the end of my mission and what not.  It was just..so incredibly comforting :)

As for this week:
...There were SO many funny things that happened this week!  I think we just ran around and laughed all week as everything just seemed to be funny!

First of all:  we found some new GATORS!!!!  We were driving around trying to find streets that we think haven't been tracted in a long time or have had less traffic.  We found one :)  It was out behind all these neighborhoods and we drove down this forgotten road to this little neighborhood at the end.  We jumped out and started knocking on doors ;)  One man said we could come back, *(we did and he was still wishy-washy about it all, but we aren't giving up on him quite yet.  Ballard told us we need to be persistent, right?!?! :)  And then we knocked into this other guy and he was like, 'Well, I don't believe in hell!' and we're like, 'Well, you're in luck!  We don't either!'  We went back a few days later and taught him and his wife about the plan of salvation.  It went SO WELL!!!  So we're going back again this week to teach them more.  They were going to come to conference but ended up not.  So we'll have to go back their direction :) haha!

So here's a list of the funny things that happened this week:
- we had a little boy follow us around as we were tracting this week.  We eventually found his dad, but he walked around the neighborhood with us and would go up and knock on the door then ring the bell for us.  It was so funny!  He was 4 and was like, 'What house are you going to now?' and we'd tell him and he'd follow us over....oh, so funny!  We were dying!!

- we were sitting at lunch the other day with the other missionaries and it was Sister Rix and I and then another elder at our table.  Well, I had flipped my shoe funny so I was trying to slip it back on using leg of the table.  And I look across the table at the elder who had a really funny look on his face.  I then looked over and realized that the table across didn't have a table leg and I was like, 'Wait..is that your leg??'  We busted up laughing!!!!! because it was his leg and I'm sitting there playing footsies with him having no idea.  Oh that was SO funny!!!  Awkward!!!!!!!!

- to get the zoned pumped and working hard this transfer we've come up with the word WILLARDS..it has a meaning besides just a name but I don't remember what it means. hahaha! but now we yell it everywhere we go or whenever something good happens. haha! WILLIARDS!!

- at MLC this week I brought a can of sardines I got when I was in Rainier.  At lunch I jumped over to the table with Sister Steadman, the Taylors and a few other missionaries.  We all gathered around as we ate these sardines.  President Taylor started (because he actually likes them), then I took a bite (it was..fine) and Steadman took a bite and then we had the other fish and I was holding it up.  Sister Taylor bends down and bites it right out of my hand, the other elders also take a bite, (it was really funny the faces and trying to convince people to eat it).  Then one elder finally got up the courage to eat it, and so he was chewing it....it wasn't jiving with him and he started gagging on it.  Needless to say, everyone abandoned the table in .2 seconds thinking he was going to hurl.  hahaha!!  He made it to the trash, but we were all laughing so hard!! :D  Mission work's the best!!!

So this has been a good week, spiritual, full of miracles and some good fun!
The church is true every single day!  Christ lives, He loves us and we are His children.

...Thanks for everything!!!

Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield"

excerpts from Erin's email 04/07/2014

Miracles come after the trial of your faith

"This week's been a good week.  Well, it's been a little like this..you know the movie Groundhog Day?  It was like that.  A lot of the same thing over and over again. haha!  A lot of knocking, a lot of looking.  We have a return appointment with someone on Tuesday we are hoping and praying that goes well!  There were a few miracles that happened this week:

- During weekly planning we decided to go out for lunch.  Next to Panda is this frozen yogurt place we've been wanting to go to for a while.  So we go to get some and we walk in and who should be behind the counter but this lady we ran into a few weeks ago while out tracting!  So back track to a few weeks ago (I didn't tell you about her).  We knocked into her, she told us we could come back.  We did and she wasn't to thrilled to let us in to talk to us.  Finally, Sister Rix convinced her to let us talk to her for like 10 min.  So she let us in and we stood in her doorway and taught her a quick Restoration.  By the end, her heart was softened and she said we could come back :)  We went back the next week and she had family in town but told us to come back (that brings us to coming back this week) so when we walked into the yogurt place we were surprised to see that she worked there.  Having the place to ourselves we got to just sit and talk with her for a good 30 min. or so :)  She was excited to have us come back.  We invited her to the Women's Conference and she said she would try to make it.  She wasn't able to..but good thing it's online!  So her heart is getting softer and we're building that relationship.  So we're praying that goes somewhere!

- We decided we weren't going to take no for an answer from [the car wash guy].  So we pulled up our big boy socks and went to go knock on his door.  K, I was so nervous!  I was like, 'He told us not to come back and we're going back.  What are we going to say?!?!?!'  Anyway, we walked up and he's in his driveway cleaning a car (surprise surprise!)  We called out to him and he had a smile on his face, happy to see us.  We chatted for a bit and told him about General Conference.  He was like, 'Wait, that prophet guy, who was he?' and we're like, 'Thomas S. Monson' and he's like, 'Oh ya, Tommy boy.  Okay.  Well, I'll check out this big 'T' guy.  I'll watch conference!'  He committed to watching conference!!!  He's going out of town though for a few weeks and we asked it we could come back after he gets back and see what he thought and he's like, 'Yeah, sure, that's fine!'  yayayaya!!!!!  So it'll still be some time, but all hope isn't lost :)  There's still good things in that picture there!

- Some people from Provo came out this week to see us and to help us as missionaries.  We had a huge meeting that helped us to be able to help the members.  They took a talk from Elder Neil L. Anderson's talk last April conference (It's A Miracle) about 'come and see' and helped us to teach the members how to help their friends 'come and see'.  The invite isn't to 'come and take the lessons, come and be baptized, come and join'.  It's simple 'come and see'.  That's it.  And all the things we *can* invite people to!  FHE, service, EQ basketball, giving a talk, activities, all sorts of things we can invite people to 'come and see'.  It's going to be huge.  We are taking it to our ward to help their friends 'come and see'.  We are hoping this will help us get into more member's homes and less knocking on doors (which is the goal) so that'll be good!

Loved the Women's Conference!!!  That was so good!! :D  It gave me chills and lead me to tears several times and I felt the power of the women all over the world coming together as daughters of God!!  Oh, it was so good!!  I was so touched the whole time!! :D :D :D  [The 15 yr. old investigator] was going to come but her family came in town at the last minute and couldn't make it.  We'll watch it with her later this week though.  But the whole time I was like 'GA! She needs to be watching this!!!!'  But we'll watch it soon, no worries!!  We're giving her *and* her mom a church tour tonight!! (her mom is interested in what [the investigator] is getting herself into).  So that's exciting for us!) and there's good things happening there.  She's really making great progress and she's praying about a date of baptism!! :D  So life is real good on that end!

Our YSA's haven been MIA.  We haven't had much luck getting a hold of them.  They've been out of town though so that doesn't help.  So that's a work in progress.

It's been a lot of searching this week and more looking trying to find those that will listen.  We've had some great conversations with people and some really good potentials but no one quite solid yet.  But like I was reading this morning, the miracles don't happen until 'after the trial of your faith'.  We're still in the whole 'trail of their faith' part.  But something good is coming.  Something big is about to happen.  There's something huge brewing here in Vancouver.  Everyone can feel it, everyone keeps talking about it, everyone knows that there's something big, on the horizon.  We simply have to keep going until we get there.

Well, that's about it for the week! ...
I love this church.  I love the hope that it brings into my life.  The answer to prayers, the joy and the laughter, the strength through trials, the peace we find in the Savior...

The church is true!
Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield


p.s.  Battle Ground Lake was beautiful!!  It was like a jungle walking around the lake!  ah, I'll send you pictures!! :D"

excerpts from Erin's email 03/31/2014

Really high highs and really low lows

"...This week's been a week of really high highs and really low lows.  I always have a hard time debating on whether to start with the highs or the lows.  I think I'll start with the highs because it's much more exciting!

So we went to our 15 yr. old's home and we had a lesson with her.  We had planned the lesson to go another direction but as we got talking and chitchatting it ended up going into the 'For the Strength of Youth'  pamphlet.  So we pulled it up (thank-you ipads) and began looking through the different sections.  We started talking about repentance and forgiveness.  She expressed to us her desires to be forgiven and to be able to feel peace again in her life.  We were able to testify to her about the atonement of Jesus Christ and how there is no such thing as being 'too far off the path', that the atonement of Jesus Christ covers all.  I've noticed when it comes to really spiritual experiences, you can't quite put it all into words or make it sound like it feels to convey all that happened.  But the spirit flooded the room and she began to cry.  Through her tears she told us 'I have been looking for help.  I've needed help.  No one has been able to help me, not my parents, siblings, friends, cousins, no one, except for you.  You are the only ones who have been able to help me.  You came to my house that first day and you taught me how to pray and talk with my Father in Heaven and that changed everything.  Everything is different now.  Three weeks ago I only believed in a higher power.  Now I realize that I'm loved by a Father in Heaven who cares and loves me and so much more.... you came and knocked on my door and my life has been completely different since.'  It was a very sweet, very tender moment.  The spirit was extremely strong in that room.  Needless to say, we were all in tears.  She's the reason I had to come to Salmon Creek.  God knew where she was and sent us to her.  I really feel she's the whole reason I had to come out here.  We have the time to meet with her every single day.  In most areas, we wouldn't have the time or the attention we could be giving her because of our teaching but because we are so open we can meet whenever, whereever and for however long she needs.  Its been such a blessing.  We basked in the spirit for a while after the lesson, just sitting there enjoying the spirit.  Her mom walked in and we invited her to pray with us.  She sat down and prayed with all of us and she thanked us for coming over and spending so much time with her daughter.  She told us how grateful she was for teaching her and helping her through this time.  She said the she's been happier and there's this light about her now (everyone can see that), even her parents know it.  They don't have any solid beliefs but I really think that we will be able to teach them soon.  Right now though we are focusing on our 15 yr. old.  Her dad even came in the next day and chatted with us for a bit :)  This is so good! I love her with a love that goes beyond the past few weeks.  I've known her for a very very long time.  Oh!  and she is going to be baptized!!!!  April 26th is the date :)  So in about a month!!!!!!!  Needless to say we are STOKED!!!!!!!!!  haha!! Oh, it was so good!  I LOVE her!!!

For exchanges this transfer we decided to do something a little different.  We were getting tired of just exchanging and then exchanging back.  We thought we needed to do something a little different, a little more exciting.  Something to make exchanges fun and something the sisters can look forward to!  SO!  We came up with the exchange game which is pretty much like a scavenger hunt thing.  All through the day you get points for the things you do, like..starting studies at 8:00 or giving out 2 Book of Mormons or teaching a member present lesson or asking for an online referral.  So all these things we get points for and the goal is to get 1000 points before the end of the day!  Seriously, we tried it on Saturday and it was AWESOME!!  It made us really stretch and use the materials we've been given.  It made us think a little more and really try to be the very best we could be and then at the end of the day as we were adding up our points we were able to see how much we really did and suddenly a 'normal' missionary day felt very very full! I loved it!! :D  So we're going to be continuing that this transfer and we are already working on ideas for next transfer's exchange challenge/game!  Inspired by the Holy Ghost?  I say yes!!!

Alright, here's the bummer news.  The 'car wash' guy asked us not to come back </3  When we had our lesson on Friday with [a ward family] he was like 'Alright, next week you and [his friend] and [the family] and I will all come over, we can have a sit down lesson and really talk through these 'discussions of the gospel'.'  He invited us back!  We were so excited!!!!  So on Tuesday of last week we texted him to see when we could come over and the only response we got back was 'Hey, sisters!  So I'm happy with the Crossroads church.  My brother and sister-in-law are doing a bible study class and I'm going to stick with this.  Thanks and good luck with the rest of your mission!' ..WHAT?!?!?!? What happened?!?!? ..we haven't heard back from him since.  Yeah, it hurts.  [The family] is going to try to help us out but we'll see what happens.  It really broke our hearts.  It's like..no!!!!  You need this!  We have the answers to your questions and what you're looking for and just ..ga!! no!! .....so yeah, we haven't heard back from him since.  We haven't stopped praying for him but it's still hard.

So that's pretty much our week!  This next week is going to be a lot the same.  We got 116 OYM's this week.  Still looking for people.  We have one appointment tonight with someone we found.  We are praying that doesn't fall through and will turn into something.  But other than that, it's back on the streets looking.  Sometimes it's hard to not get discouraged or start to wonder if there is really someone out there.  But there has to be, or else we wouldn't be here.

I love you so much!!  I hope this week goes good and happy for you!...
The church is true.  Our Savoir lives, all can be made right through His atonement.
Joseph Smith was a prophet who did see what he said he saw in that grove of trees.
This IS true.  No doubt in my mind.

I love you!
Yours forever,
Sister Maxfield"

excerpts from Erin's email 03/24/2014