Chiggers and Poison Ivy



This emails long so buckle up! This week flew by guys. The time here is wack, the fact its almost September and I started in July is beyond me. This weeks been cool so ur gonna wanna read the essay I wrote ya'll!

Tuesday: we spent most of the day organizing our records and the people we teach! Not the funnest but it needed to be done lol! We were supposed to visit w/ this guy we've been trying to meet with for forever and we even got 2 members who drove 1hr to come with us to teach this guy! We pull up and his siblings are like he's at school! RIPPP It's all good tho cause we took them to go get ice cream to apologize and then we had a really good discussion about missionary work! One of them is an rm and the other one is getting ready to leave so it was perfect! It helped me out so much and gave me lots of new ideas and motivated me to be better about sharing the gospel when I get back. You never know the impact you can make on someone, that specific day I was low key goin thru it and the members totally made my week lol! God works in unexpected ways. I never thought being stood up for a lesson would be a miracle but here we are! There are tender mercies all around we just have to look for them! 

Wednesday: we did A LOT of service! It was so good a Lil draining but I felt super good after! We volunteer at the crisis center ( kinda like a homeless shelter/ place for people in unsafe situations to get help) and then at crosslines( a local food pantry). It's extremely eye opening and makes you so grateful! Lots of people are struggling right now. God truly does love all his children no matter what!

Thursday: we had zone conference and it was dope! I learned TONSSSS! just what I needed to boost my motivation haha! We talked about how members are sooo important in missionary work! GUYSSSS! A fat chunk of the baptisms we get in the ABM are from member referrals! It made me realize that I was not the best member and it made me so hyped for when I get back so I can be better at sharing the gospel ( in 17 ish months that's right guys I hit my 1 month mark lol actually last p day but I forgot!!) After we went to campus, it talked to everyone we could! I'm learning to get out of my comfort zone w/ contacting. At first I was so scared to come off as creepy/pushy or ingenuine but something that's helped is remembering that all were doing is talking to our brothers and sisters about what we believe and what they used to believe in the pre mortal life. It's made it a lot less scary haha! We talked to a few dope people but one in particular was SOOOO cool!! We stared talking to her and she was telling us about her life and stuff and what then we got in like a really good discussion about God! She's from Kenya and is going to be a nurse, WHEN I TELL YOU THIS WOMAN IS GOLDENNNN! She already had such a strong testimony of God and Christ! As she was telling us what she believed I was almost in tears because the spirit was so strong! She talked a ton about sincere prayer and having your heart in it and how Gods brought her so much peace in this world! We introduced the book of Mormon and softly taught the 1st lesson and she was like yea that's true after we recited the 1st vision! I was like shook and we bore our testimonies about the Book of Mormon and asked if she wanted one and she was like duh I was just gonna ask! She then told us that we were doing a great work and a good job and all this stuff and I almost started crying especially since being a missionary especially a new missionary you feel inadequate and like there is SOOO much to learn! And that was exactly what I needed to hear in the moment! We got her number and said a prayer w/ her! So we'll see- it was definitely one of the most powerful lessons I've had since being here! 

Friday: chiggers are the worst! Ahhhhh I was dying lol I got 41 from a members house we were standing outside for a bit talking and me n sister lacey were just like why do we feel like our legs are on fire. I would show you pictures but they make me nauseous so im not going to lol. If you dont know what chiggers are they're basically devil mosquitoes. Ive been told thay they burrow into your skin and basically feel like the worst sunburn you have ever had. Except it's OK now because one of the sisters said clear nail polish works so we tried it and it worked!!! We organized more records and then we had game night and that's always a party! This time we did capture the flag in the church which is actually really hard when you have very limited space!

Saturday: we had exchanges and it was a party!! Me n Sister Jillian went to the family ward and since miles are low we biked everywhere today! Kinda fun actually lol. We went to a girls house that replied to our service add and we pulled weeds/poison ivy out of her yard for a couple hours... none of us got poison ivy tho miraculously but doing yard work in 100° plus humidity it no Bueno lol! It was sick tho! And I felt super good after so it's worth it haha!  She was so nice tho she took us to lunch after and we talked about what we believe it was cool!  Then we went and did some tracting which was kinda intimidating at first lol but we talked to some super cool people! Then my bike chain popped off so we had to stop to try to fix it and some guy walks out and asks if we needed help we had already fixed it at that point but I felt like we needed to go talk to him. Sis Julian was like u wanna take the lead I was like I mean no but I will lol. So I walked up and I ended up introducing the book of Mormon and sharing a scripture! It was dope because it wasn't even me talking it was an amazing experience! I had been praying for an opportunity to intro the bom too so that was extra cool!

Sunday: Sundays are high key my favorite here's why: 1) church obv. But mainly the sacrament! I don't remember where I heard this but I've been starting to picture the savior actually giving me the sacrament. Sounds strange but it's made a big difference in not taking the sacrament for granted. Now I get a Lil teary every Sunday lol! 2) I get to see all the members at once! And they are all THE BESTTT! 3) ITS PDAY EVE!!!!! 

And it rained most of the day and the lightning here is nuts so that was dope! 

Sorry this one's a long one lol! Extra blessings to the ones who stuck around to the end of this lol ya'll r troopers!

Challenge this week:  

Memorize the first vision! GUYSSS this has grown my testimony so much! Yall know I have the worst memory ever so if I can do it you can do it!

Quote of the week: 

"I'm not texting anyone back till my braincells reload" 

Love you all! As the people of Missoura say, have a blessed day! 

 

Jokes on me... Should have paid better attention in Spanish Class...

HOWDY YALL! guys it's been a good week! We have seen so many tender mercies this week it's insane! I'm learning that missionary work is not just knocking doors and doing a gospel version of summer sales lol! There's so much thought that goes into it and a lot of it especially in the ysa is over phone! It really is the little things that mean the most to people! Summers in the ysa are a little slower which is fine. But school is starting this week and we have a few colleges near by that we go to for contacting so I'm hyped for that! Also I should explain a Lil bit about our area lol. We are in carthage which is tiny and a shocking amount of people here speak Spanish and Spanish only maybe a Lil bit of English if ur lucky so we have given lots of referrals to the Spanish sisters here (s/o to Google translate and the 3 words I know in spanish... jokes on me for thinking i wouldnt need anything i learned in spanish class) anyway our area is 2 stakes ... and parts of it are farther than we can drive miles wise. So lots of farm land and lots of driving! I've meet lots of people who have chick-fil-a chickens or Tyson chickens haha! Since everything here is pretty far apart we have to get creative on how we contact people and driving trips lol! But the people are AMAZING! Sooo faithful and respectful it's so cool everyone is willing to talk about God! 

This week :

• we mixed up the days we were supposed to go to Bentonville for a meeting so now we are over our mile limit this month... so we use bikes now when we can haha! Its actually super fun especially since the houses here are super old and the square is super cute! The best way I'd describe it is almost like the town from Gilmore girls! It's the best !

• we had a sick experience this week when we were contacting! We were driving around and all the sudden me and sister lacey were like we need to stop now. so we pull into this park and see a guy we've been teaching but we could only talk for like 20 sec before he had to go): We were high key confused at why we both felt prompted to stop so we walked around and found this little girl and her babysitter. So we be-lined for them and started to talk to them. the little girl was about 8 and the cutest ever! The other girl didn't speak any English so I whipped out my spanish skills aka the Google translate and we talked to her through that and the little girl! I tried to talk to her in like the very little spanish I know and the little girl just laughed lol rip! Oh well I tried! She ended up being GOLDEN! She already had a bom she wanted to go to the ysa, meet with the missionaries! She's teaching herself english by using the bom!! We got her info and referred her to the Spanish sisters! Then I asked the little girl if she had heard of the church and I gave her a bom and the look on her face! You would have thought she won the lottery! It really made me realize how lucky we are to have the Book of Mormon! She gave us hugs like 5 times and I about cried after that! It was so tender!

• GUYSSS!!! we had been praying for people to teach or new ideas on how we could find people and the coolest thing happened! We were out running in front of our apartment and we saw this girl w/ her daughter! We passed them a few times then went and talked to them! She confided that she was looking for a church and how she couldn't find a good one! Ya know who else had that question... perfect right! we got to know her better, come to find out she lives in our apartment complex!!!! We scheduled a time to meet with her so we'll see how that goes! 

Challenge this week: 

• say a prayer each day where you only say things your grateful for!

• read the title pages& testimonies in the bom! I used to skip over them but they are super powerful and have helped me grow my testimony of the Book of Mormon!

Random Quotes from Mission Life:

• "age is just a number but so is 911"

• "I can't wait to tell my journal how I suck as a missionary"

•"I popped a meli 3 min ago"

• "you know you've been out here too long when you know the Spanish part to the youth album songs"

 

FROM WALMART HEADQUARTERS

 This emails gonna be a long one cause SOOOOO MUCH HAPPEND THIS WEEK!!! Anywho I'm coming to ya from the Carthage Missouri Ysa area ( aka the best area) my comp sis lacey is an absolute angel, we actually went to high school together! Small world right?! This week has been a dream! There's forsure ups and downs but I'm learning that even the downs can be potential ups! I have yet to get Bible bashed so tender mercies for that haha!

Tuesday: GUYSSSS GUESSS WHATTT! we had a devotional w the one and only ELDER GONG!!!! IT WAS SOOOO GOOOD!!! literally an answer to my prayers! He talked a lot about seeking perfection in Jesus christ. And how we are not going to be perfect on this earth we need to turn to the savior and use the atonement daily and try to be better each day. He talked about the scripture that's "be tho perfect..." and how the jd translates it to complete. We can become complete in the savior. Let me tell ya that talk was just the boost I needed before headed out haha! I feel like as a missionary and just in life In general you can be extremely hard on yourself and fall into toxic perfectionism. But this kind of perfectionism can actually push us away from the savior and make it harder for us to hear the holy ghost. Let me tell ya the spirit in that room was soo powerful Elder gong was such a light u could feel it as soon as he walked in it was insane and at the end he walked up and down every row in the mtc building keep in mind we were at full capacity so like 600 people I wanna say don't quote me on that tho my math is not good as you all know lol ! But u could literally feel it as he came down the isles!

Wednesday: GOT TO BENTONVILLE!!!!! GUYSSSSS cool story sorry this is a long one but I've seen so many miracles this week so keep pushing through cause it's a good one haha!  So on our last flight to Bentonville I got seated next to this guy and we were sitting on the plan for a solid hour and a half and we talked the entire flight so about 2 1/2 hours just about life and the gospel. He saw my tag and said his sons friend came from our church and that he was a good kid. I finally mustered up the courage to give him a book of Mormon and he took it !!!! Reluctantly but still! 

Thursday: we had classes pretty much all day Thursday but I learned lots! The church in Bentonville is right across from the temple which is almost done! It's a big deal here and everyone is so hyped about it! It's really good to for non members cause it sparks curiosity so dubs only for that! Pres and sis Collins are literal angels and are the kindest people you will ever meet! Pres Collins talked a lot about the gathering of Israel and how we are the stakes and are sent to prepare people for the second coming in the area around where it will all happen! So no pressure there haha! 

Friday: transfer day!!! Moved to my new area which is sooo fun! The members here are sooo nice they go above and beyond for missionaries it's actually insane! Everyone even strangers is soo kind! Don't get me wrong we definitely get a few people that will glare or whisper things but the good far out ways the bad!  We went to Walmart and a guy literally stopped us and was like I used to meet with people from your church! He asked if he could meet with us! And he told his son we were good Christian people! My heart! We had to refer him over to some other elders cause he lived far and we have very limited miles! But still soo cool!!

Saturday: my first full day in the field! We did some mall contacting and a couple stopped me on the way out and said that I looked familiar then looked at our tags and said that someone w/ our tags used to come over to her house! We gave her our info and got her number so we'll see! Also crazy part was she said she met the last sister missionaries in that exact same spot! I for real had shivers! I'm telling you God is in the details!  Also it's crazy how much love I have for these people I won't even know them and I will just be able to see their potential! It makes me almost cry because I want them to be able to feel what I feel and have the gospel in their lives too! It's a really cool feeling! You have absolutely no judgment for anyone no matter what they look like or what their doing you just feel God's love for them and their potential!

Sunday: the members here wow! I have never met so many people that are so willing to share the gospel! A majority of our baptisms come from member referrals and our ward is killing it! They are all such amazing people!  This morning I had a prompting to write my testimony of the bom on a sticky note and put it in one of the boms we give to people. I almost ignored it but I did it and then a girl came to the ysa and she was an inactive and hadn't been to church in 6 years! She said she missed the way it made her feel and decided to come to church that Sunday! She didn't have a bom and so I ended up giving her the one I had written my testimony in! She asked us if we would be in church next Sunday and we were like heck yeah r u and she was like duh! Sooo cool! So act on promptings people! No matter how dumb or small it might seem in the moment! 

BYE MTC HELLO ARKANSAS

 GUYSSSS!!! I leave for Arkansas Wednesday! Walmart here I come! I'm soo hyped but also I'm gonna miss my district+comp so much! This week has been amazing! Also insane one of the elders in our district got covid so he had to get quarantined, thankfully no one else had to get quarantined! Here are some highlights/takeaways from this week :

• ISSAC AGREED TO GET BAPTISED!! He's probs an actor but me and sis Halle are still hyped!!! 

• we had a devotional and dalen bales sang savior redeemer and it was AMAZING!! also I listened to that song by him a lot before the Mish so it was so sick to hear him in real life! The spirit was so strong!

• we had a devotional w/ Elder and sister palmer and that was so sick there story's are so cool and they gave some great advice! One take away was that you never know the impact you make as a missionary sometimes you don't see the results but they're there.

• our silent lessons this week were BOMBBBB! Both were focused on the savior and I've never felt the spirt so strong in my life it was amazing! 

• Something I loved from class this week was "the first lesson you will ever teach is yourself" its our job as members of the church and as missionaries to teach by example. Be a light to others, go about doing good , strive to be more like christ each day. Love others unconditionally especially when it's hard 

• don't be afraid to be bold 

• the mtc is one of the prettiest places I've ever been! The murals are amazing! The views from our classroom/study areas are 20/10 !

•it's been raining and that's been heaven sent because we're outside a majority of the day 

•our personal and comp studies have been so good i'm learning so much! the spirit is so strong here! each day i'm surprised at how fast our study flys by! 

Quotes from this week:

"I thought he was homeless"

"You guys look like siblings"

"Don't forget about jesus"

"And that's why we where closed toe shoes"

"Can you taste the difference between melted ice and water" 

"Its a scavenger hunt"

Challenge for this week: 

Read preach my gospel! I know it's for missionaries but there's tons of stuff in there that I never even knew till I read it haha! There's also tons of good resources to any questions or problems you may face!