Almost 9 MONTHS Out!!!!!

Well things are going great!!!! I am having so much fun in Watertown! Just so everyone knows the storm that is hitting the east coast will not be hitting upstate new york so there is no worries we are safe and sound :) It hasn't snowed her for the whole week so I have worries about being suck in the snow. Just keep all those who are being affect by the storm in your prayers they could really use them right now. 

The work is great here in Watertown!!! One of our investigators Bethaney now has a baptismal date for March 19th so please keep her in your prayers! She has gone though alot for only being 21 and she can really use all the prayers she can get!  Larry is doing great! Him and Kelly are getting married on February 27th i am so excited for them!!!!! 

Transfers are coming up soon!!! We get the call on Saturday to know who is staying and who is going! I have this gut feeling that I will be heading out :( I love it here is Watertown but if the Lord need me to go i will go where he needs me. 

I love the Gospel!!!! It truly is the best blessing in the world to be able to share to this wonderful restored gospel to Heavenly Fathers children here in upstate New York :)

So this morning I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Mosiah, I came to love chapters 14-15. They are talking about Christ and truly how important he is to have in our lives because he loosened the bands of death for us so we are able to have eternal life. I truly loved verses 22-27 , "    And now, the resurrection of all the prophets, and all those that have believed in their words, or all those that have kept the commandments of God, shall come forth in the first resurrection; therefore, they are the first resurrection. They are raised to dwell with God who has redeemed them; thus they have eternal life through Christ, who has broken the bands of death. And these are those who have part in the first resurrection; and these are they that have died before Christ came, in their ignorance, not having salvation declared unto them. And thus the Lord bringeth about the restoration of these; and they have a part in the first resurrection, or have eternal life, being redeemed by the Lord. And little children also have eternal life. But behold, and fear, and tremble before God, for ye ought to tremble; for the Lord redeemeth none such that rebel against him and die in their sins; yea, even all those that have perished in their sins ever since the world began, that have wilfully rebelled against God, that have known the commandments of God, and would not keep them; these are they that have no part in the first resurrection. Therefore ought ye not to tremble? For salvation cometh to none such; for the Lord hath redeemed none such; yea, neither can the Lord redeem such; for he cannot deny himself; for he cannot deny justice when it has its claim." I love these verses because it brings so much comfort knowing that because of Jesus Christ the bands of death are loosen and we can have the wonderful gift of Eternal Life and it is amazing!!!!!

What a wonderful week!!!!!!

On Saturday January 16th was probably one of the best days of my life! I had the honor to see one of Heavenly Fathers Children enter the waters of Baptism. It was truly amazing!!!! There is nothing better then getting to share the gospel!!!

So to start off our wonderful Saturday! We finished our talks. Sister Walker spoke about Baptism and I spoke about the Holy Ghost. It was so much fun, Being able to give talks as a missionary is so much fun because you can see truly how much the spirit can speak though you.

Larry was so happy, after he was baptized all he could do is smile. He truly has been prepared to accept the message of the Restored Gospel! I am so happy about this there really isn't enough words to explain how wonderful it was to see Larry enter the waters of Baptism and receive the Holy Ghost!

Also some of our investigators came to the baptism, Bill and Sarah came! It was amazing they spirit testified to them so strong. They even came to church on Sunday!!! Oh my Goodness, I love to see the Lords hand in his work.

Also me and Sister Walker had so much fun! We had a snow ball fight and built a snow man!!! Sometimes after a crazy week you just need to have a now ball fight and have a bunch of fun!!!

Being here in Watertown is such a blessing, and being a missionary is even more a blessing because I get to share the message of the gospel the same gospel I have come to know and love with all my heart!!!

I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church and has been re-established on the earth again through the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and is another testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ . I know the it is through Jesus Christ that we are able to find peace and that it is though his Atonement that we are able to be completely forgiven for our sins. oh how I wish I had enough time to email you all everything I have learned on my mission but sadly I don't. But the most important thing that I know to be true is that our families can be together forever and that is the best thing in the world. To have that simple knowledge that we are able to see our families again is the best knowledge we can ever have.

I love you all and I am so very grateful for all your thoughts and prayers!

Love,

Sister Maraiha Loveland :)

MY FIRST BAPTISM THIS SATURDAY!!!!

This Saturday is going to be so much fun!! Our investigator Larry Colton is getting baptized on the 16th!!!!! I am so excited it is my first baptism since i have been out on my mission. After 8 months of diligently working and striving to be a obedient servant of the Lord I get the blessing of being able to witness one Gods children make a life changing decision as they enter the waters of baptism.  I cant express how happy i am right now!!!!! This is like the Icing one a freaking amazing chocolate cake!!!! 

So nothings really new, right now we are just really busy and we haven't had much time to do anything really. We have so many people to see just not enough time in our week to see them all. President Rogers advice us to focus on 5 investigators and help those 5 to keep progressing. So we are going to try that out this week and see if by some miracle we have more time in our week to find new people to teach. But other then that everything is going great! I love being a missionary i really wouldn't trade it for the world! This week has felt like it would never end mostly because I want the 16th to come faster! But we do have a new investigator, her name is Bethany! She is 20 and has had a really hard life. She is going back to school to get her high school diploma and that is awesome!!! She really wants to be able to make something of herself. It was amazing to see how prepared she is. She was a referral for the Elders in Pulaski. The taught her the Plan of Salvation and wow i have never seen someone Heavenly Fathers plan so much! I cant wait to teach her more about the Gospel Tuesday! I love being able to see the Lords hand in his work :) there really is nothing better!!!!!!

So as I have been studying this week I have found some of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon. Today I was reading out of Mosiah 4 and wow I love that chapter!!! I love learning about repentance and i was so much fun being able to read of how King Benjamin was able to teach his people and how the spirit touched the heart of the people and helped them have a desire to change. I know that we are able to be forgiven and have a change of heart all through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It truly is amazing to see people here in New York have a change of heart and start to repent. I absolutely love verse 2 in Mosiah 4 it reads, " and they had viewed themselves in their own carnal state, even less than the dust of the earth. And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying; o have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins and our hearts may be purified for we believe in Jesus Christ , the Son of God, who created heaven and earth and all things; who shall come down among the children of men." then in verse 3 it says, " and it came to pass that after they had spoken these words they Spirit of the Lord came upon then, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience, because of the exceeding faith which they had in Jesus Christ who should come, according to the words which king Benjamin had spoken unto them." Just as these scriptures testify I know that Heavenly Father will always forgive us because he does love us and wants us to all return to him :) 

I love you all and I am so grateful for all the love and support you have shown to me! Thank you for all your prayers!!! :)

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Well we finally got snow and goodness it has been coming down hard. With in the last 3 days we got 7 inches of snow, and we are suppose to get at least a 1 1/2 feet this coming week. It is pretty crazy!!!!! We have lake Ontario not to far away form here so we are always on lake affect warning and with the lake when it rains it pours snow. There was one day with in a hour we had 4 inches it was pretty crazy!! But still so much fun!!!!

Everything is going good here other then the overwhelming amount of snow. We get the awesome opportunity to snow shovel tract, that's where we offer service and we shovel peoples drive ways for them :) its pretty awesome to see how peoples hearts can be softened though acts of service. We haven't really gotten any new investigators form it but it is still fun to do service for people.

Morgan is doing great he is praying a lot now is what he has told us. He let me and sister walker know that he now catches himself praying though out the day asking Heavenly Father for help or to answer a question. Its pretty awesome! He sadly is out of town right now but we are teaching him on Facebook which is lots of fun! But yet it is a lot harder because we cant explain things as well as we would like to though Facebook but luckily he comes back in town this Wednesday.

So I recently was studying about faith and why it is so important to have faith. In the relief society here they are working on the women's in excellent program the they church has made for relief society members who want to earn there Personal Progress Madeline again or hasn't yet. we first are starting with faith. I think that's awesome because that's my study topic for this week. One of my most favorite scriptures about faith is Alma 32: 21 " And now as I said concerning faith - faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true." Faith is so simply, infact it is one of the first basic principles of the gospel. I know that as we act in faith our faith will grown so much more and we will see the Lords hand in our lives in overwhelming amounts. I invite you all to act in faith and you try to increase your faith in the Savior Jesus Christ and in our Heavenly Father.

Love you all and hope you all have a wonderful day!!!!
(sorry no photos this week the computer wouldn't let me send any)