Aunt Jemima Lite!

Hey, hey now..... This is what dreams are made of :)

 It's so hot! This past week has been long, hot, yet faith building.

The members of the Newberg 1st Ward are on fire. They are anxiously

engaged in the Lords work! It is amazing!

D--- (our investigator) was going to be baptized this coming week but, sadly we had to push it back because of some personal reasons. It was heartbreaking but, it was needed. We will be teaching him on Wednesday with our Mission President....can we say stressful!

We sang in church yesterday and I sang part of the hymn solo....that's right insert left leg, right leg...big girl pants are on! We sang Joseph Smiths First Prayer to the Come Thy Fount tune, it was AWESOME! I think I did Grandma proud :) Two of our investigators were there to see us and I could feel the spirit as the words so sound and true came forth.

Funny moment of the week:

We had dinner with Sister M--- on Wednesday, she is this little bitsy tiny thing. We get there and she has a friend there whom she introduced us to, he's so stinky cute and old and wrinkly and has more southern twag than Aunt Cindee :) So right before dinner we were doing some service and he comes walking outside and says to me "ma'am' you look like the woman on the syrup bottle....anyone e'er told you dat?" I said ummm, no I don't think I've ever heard that before. He said "Oh my, well you are so are beautiful!" So, the night goes on and during dinner out of the corner of my eye I see him drooling, yes drooling, I'm talking about he is watching me eat and there is literally water running from the side of his mouth onto the table...DROOLING! So Sister C slaps the table and yells "Y--- Get it together ain't NO body got time for that!" She scared him half to death and I fell slap out of my chair laughing! It was SO funny! And apparently I'm Aunt Jemima...I really hope I'm the lite version ;)

I'm over the half way mark and as much as I want time to hurry so I can get home to my family, I wish it would slow down so I could catch more, see more, do more, be more in the moment of this mission rather than pushing through. Sometimes I feel like the work is so "upon" us that there is never enough time to just "be." Don't get me wrong, it is glorious to see so many coming to feast upon the word of The Lord and I am blessed to have more lessons than I can handle and more investigators than I've ever had....yet, I know this is a time in my life I can never recapture, a time I can never relive, a time that will be over before I know it and already I find myself wishing of all things I had more time!

My words of "wisdom" this week are....find your place inside your life and live it. Don't lose the days, weeks, years - to having, getting, making, doing...make sure to take the small moments to smell the flowers, to walk in the tall grass, to look up at the stars, to ponder a yearning question, to close your eyes and take in the vastness of our Fathers love and the wondrous blessings we have been given to be born in this dispensation. Uchtdorf may have said it best...." Wherever you live on this earth and whatever your life’s situation may be, I testify to you that the gospel of Jesus Christ has the divine power to lift you to great heights from what appears at times to be an unbearable burden or weakness. The Lord knows your circumstances and your challenges. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, we may claim the blessings promised in the covenants and the ordinances we received when we accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My dear brothers and sisters, there will be days and nights when you feel overwhelmed, when your hearts are heavy and your heads hang down. Then, please remember, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, is the Head of this Church. It is His gospel. He wants you to succeed. He gave His life for just this purpose. He is the Son of the living God." 

Find the time, to find your place inside your life and don't miss a moment of it, it is spectacular!

Thank you for the gifts and letters and love, I am SO excited for Daniel and I wish I could have been there with him as he moves ever closer to beginning his mission. I love you all and can't wait to see your faces, and sleep till noon, and go to the pool and watch Walking Dead with daddy and drink a big fat Dr Pepper and leave my clothes laying on the bathroom floor and to wear shorts....but, NOT YET! I have much work left to do!

XOXO

Sister Z

Bomb.com!

Bula vinka (hello in Fujian)

Happy 4th of July, Happy Birthday Cookie girl,  Happy birthday

daddy, and Happy anniversary mommy & daddy!

My week has been filled with making sushi, interviews with President

Samuelian, catering to the needs of sisters, and learning lessons.

Seriously where do I start....

I feel like a new missionary. The amount of stress I currently have is

out of control ! I'm in a trio with two Hawaiian sisters

#getdownwithdabrown.

I had an interview with President this past week. The following is an

account of our conversation....

President : Sister Zubicki would you offer the opening prayer?

Me : sure, I would love to.

Me : Our Dear Father In Heaven.... In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

President : (immediately stares into my eyes) Sister Zubicki (in his

sacrament voice)... Are you tired of being asked if your Polynesian?

Me : hahahahhahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahahahah actually yes

because I'm Fijian.

- Sister Purcell and Agader are from Hawaii and they told me I needed

to pick a island to say I'm from so I picked Fuji... They taught me

some words... I feel super cool. I can't tell you how many people

think I'm actually from Fuji :)

Sister Agader really likes to cook so we made sushi with a less active

couple this week. It was seriously so much fun****  We shared a

message about eternal marriage at the end of our lesson. It was so great!

We are also helping them build their house. They are doing the habit for

humanity program so, every Saturday we help them for a few hours.

It's super hard but really rewarding.

We had a baptism this week... Which was awesome!!! We live in

a house that is literally the size of a shoe box. I'm currently

living out of my suitcase. The ward is on fire! They've have 7

baptisms this month. <~ super exciting. We are working with a family.

The mom was baptized a few months ago as well as the daughter and the

son. We are currently working with the dad. His name is D---. He's

awesome ! I invited him to be baptized on July 12.

Keep him in your prayers...We will be teaching him on

Wednesday.  I feel like daddy needs to send D--- a letter about his

experience in joining the church.

I found out that Eggie and her baby (new companion) scheduled someone

for a baptism! I'm SO excited for them both!

We are going on an exchange on Saturday in Rockaway Beach!

I'm so pumped to see all of my peeps!

I also bucketed 1 ton of hay this weekend. It was bomb.com!

Please keep me and all of the missionaries around the world in your prayers,

we need them, some more than others but, we ALL need them!

I love you all more than I can put into words!

XOXO
Sis Z

Forgive!

TRANSFERRED!!!! OH ME OH MY! Due to said transfer I was asked

to give a talk on forgiveness and my....the soul searching and personal

struggles I had to go through to write those words...my lesson this week

is forgiveness...here are some portions of my talk:

Good morning brothers and sisters, I have three goals with my talk today…

#1 to make sure no one falls asleep,

#2 that someone other than the person who assigned me this talk, will

walk away knowing what I spoke about today

#3 to ensure before I leave the “Bend Ward” that everyone is clear on

exactly how fantastically awesome Sis Z is! :)

In life things happen to us, as children we often think bad things

only happen to us or that we are the only ones that make wrong

choices….it’s easy to look at someone and think their load is lighter

than ours or no true trial can ever have touched their perfected

world….my mom use to always tell me that no one’s life is easy, that

if everyone in the world put their shoes in a pile and all the hurt,

all the worry, the pain, the loss, the despair, that each trial faced

in life were attached to each persons shoes, that we would always chose

our own….no one can live the life you live for it is yours alone…

..................

In each of our lives there are times when we will seek forgiveness or

extend forgiveness. What is it to forgive? Why must we forgive hurt

done unto us?

D&C 64:9-10 says...

9. Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for

he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned

before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.

10. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is

required to forgive all men.

In all our forgiving and seeking forgiveness, we must recognize that,

despite whatever restitution we may be capable of providing or

receiving, our efforts and those of others are woefully insufficient

to meet the demands of eternal justice. How, then, is true forgiveness

possible? Paul, in speaking to the Ephesians, wrote that it is in

Christ that “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of

sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph. 1:7).

The blessings that flow from the gift of forgiveness are many. Chief

among them is peace. It is the Savior’s desire that we each feel His

peace. He said: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. …

Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John

14:27). The forgiveness we offer to others and the forgiveness we

receive from Jesus Christ lead us to Him and along the path to eternal

life.

Because of the Savior’s perfect love for us, He willingly forgives us

if we truly repent. In return, He has asked us to be like Him and

forgive one another. It is through the Saviors infinite sacrifice that

enables you and I to forgive those who "trespass against us...

I knew once a young girl...a child of 8 years old, she was her mother’s

pride, her first born and all the family adored her. She saw life

through the eyes of a child, her imagination was unending, she brought

laughter where ever she went, and she lived life to the fullest every

minute of every day. She decided to be baptized, and her mother’s

husband, not her father by blood but, the man who had raised her and

had recently been baptized himself would perform the ordinance. What a

blessing, she glowed with anticipation and joy; family flew in from

across the country to be present for her day! She was filled with the

love of our Heavenly Father as she exited the waters and she wept as

her grandfather laid his hands upon her head confirming her as a

member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Eight years

old and her life was like a dream….the next week after family flew

home and she sat watching a movie, with only the cares of if would mom

order pizza tonight or not….there was this happening….at 8 she learned

that others can be in charge of her happiness, the agency of others

can dictate who we are….on a still night, while in the safety of her home,

she was broken…never to be “just a child” again….what had she done to

cause this…did her mother know….why didn't the Lord protect her…for

years she suffered in anguish, she questioned her worth, she feared the

night….there was no escape the life surrounding her and she

crumbled….to see this girl let go, was heartbreaking, what had

happened they wondered?!….her mother begged…..her bishop asked what

can we do? And still she fell….deeper and further…trying to escape the

tragedy of life awaiting her inside the walls of her home, holding

ever tighter to the secrets she kept within..…7 years she languished,

trying to hold on to who she was, who she used to be, who everyone else

thought she was….until finally the truth saw the light and her mother

took her siblings and she to safety….all pieces of shattered and

broken…there she was, and she raged with fury – she lashed out at her

mother, at her Father in Heaven, and at her family, she tore and

ripped at all these pictures of perfect and happy…she was spiraling out

of control and SO WHAT she thought?! She looked into the mirror

one day and thought "to all who know me….I am lost….I am empty...

I am broken."

It was there on the edge of giving up and giving  in, that through the

power and the blessing of the atonement that she found her way back to

the Lord and back to church, it was through the power of forgiveness

and healing that….. I, that 8 year old girl, I used to know and can never be

again, was able to forgive those who have forever changed the course of

both my life and theirs ….applying the atonement in my life is what

changed me from being the girl who felt utterly alone...  into the

servant of Lord that stands before you now.

I am here today as a living witness to the power of forgiveness through

the blessing of the atonement. My parting words to you my beloved

brothers and sisters is this: Forgive! Being unable to forgive

either ourselves or others is a small darkness inside us, although

unseen, even unfelt…over time the dark takes over unintended light,

slow and ever changing, ever growing…as the shadows of swallowed anger

or shame filled pride will turn you...will turn us bitter. It’s hard and requires

strength but, you must practice the miracle of forgiveness as it is the only

way to truly be free!

May we always remember what our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson

taught us at this last general conference..."Blame keeps wounds open.

Only forgiveness heals." The overwhelming message of the Atonement is

the perfect love the Savior has for each and all of us. His love is

full of mercy, patience, grace, long-suffering, forgiveness and, above

all, healing.

I leave these things with you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Please send all mail to:

Sister Kiarra Zubicki

700 Deborah Road Suite 260

Newberg Oregon, 97132