Throw Back Pics

Maddy, Dad, and Mom

Sealed at the Salt Lake Temple December 18th, 1996. Maddy was one.

Then back at the temple on January 20th, 2015, the day before she entered the MTC.

Email 3-30-2015

Well I have like no time to write you all this week and I'm not able to send pictures today so hopefully next week's email will be much better and you will get to see more of what I have been up to. :)

This was a crazy week! There is so much more to planning a baptism than it seems. Haha. But ADUT IS BAPTIZED!!! She was baptized on Saturday (3-28-15) and all her friends that we have been teaching went and it was so amazing. Adut is the best. As soon as she came up out of the water she just cried and hugged her mom who was waiting at the top of the stairs of the font. It was a very tender moment. She just cried and hugged and her mom didn't even care that she was soaking wet. It was sweet. The spirit was so strong. :) I love baptisms and I hope we have many more throughout my mission :)

We were also able to go to the Women's General Conference Broadcast and it was so wonderful. It talked a lot about the family and how we need to defend the family and how we all belong and play an important role in God's family. I loved it so much. Family is the foundation of this gospel and so important in my life. I love my family and I want everyone to be able to have a family they can lean on and turn to. I know that families are so important in God's plan and we need to do all we can to stand up for that. So those were my thoughts about that :)

I hope to be able to write you more next week. I pray you are all happy and well. :) Love you all

Sister Martin

Email 3-9-2015

Not a lot of time, but one miracle from this past week: our family of 8 that is investigating, the Obi's, all came to sacrament meeting yesterday! They only have a small car and can't take all of their family so we had to find a ride for the other 4 of them. And let me tell ya, that was harder than it should have been! No one from the ward was willing to do it and that was really frustrating and stressful since we promised this family a ride. But God always provides a way and one of our recent converts offered to take them. So she went out of her way to take this family to church then back home to pick up her daughter and her neighbour for church. What an amazing lady :)

The kids were all so good during church! They had to go somewhere after sacrament meeting, but they told us that next week they would love to come and stay all three hours! Wohoo! The church is true! I'm excited for them, I think they will love primary and Relief Society especially. They are progressing, slowly but surely. The language barrier is a bit hard, but we were able to find copies of the Book of Mormon in their language! What a miracle.

Oh and yesterday I dropped my bagel on the carpet, but it fell right side up, tender mercy of the Lord :) haha.

So that's my news for this week :) Stay updated on my blog :) Love you all

Sister Maddy Martin

Then and Now

Tracy and Maddyson and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on December 18th, 1996. She was just over one. The next pictures were taken on Jan 20th, 2015, the day before she went into the MTC.

Wow, I was so handsome!

Family Portrait

By Ariana Martin

Family fun in January 2015

Before Sister Martin left we went to a friend's cabin in the mountains for a weekend getaway with just the family. There was a lake nearby and we went for a short hike.

They actually took off their shoes and waded through a creek, in January, to climb to the top of the waterfall you see in the background. There were pockets of ice on the ground. I think they were prepping her for the great frozen north!

Tyler honored her with a short ride up the hill to the truck at the end of the hike. This is right before they both fell.