Cold Hands, Warm Hearts

 MERRY CHRISTMAS YALLL!!! I love you all so much, I'm so grateful for you and the example you all set for me.

PEACH : 
- GINGERBREAD HOUSES! On pday we had a Lil Christmas party, we made some pretty BOMB gingerbread houses ngl! 
- ZONE BLITZ!!!! So funnn!!! Sister mills is a BEAST, is absolutely hilarious! We had too much fun. We also got HARDCORE rejected lots lol. So we decided to get creative and wrap boms and give them out as gifts, people were a lot more receptive that way! We had a couple really cool convos with people! It was a blast! 
- because we couldn't drive too far because of weather this week we had lots more miles than we had planned so we got to go make a few visits at peoples houses for Christmas! 
- on Christmas eve we were kinda down and everything was lowkey dead so we decided to try going to our friends house and it didn't feel right. So we said like 5 prayers till we felt good about a place to go and then as soon as we ended the last prayer I saw a girl crying in her car in my rear view. So we chased her car down( luckily she had just pulled over lol) and we knocked on her window and talked to her for a bit. She was super cool, we gave her hugs and prayed with her and shared a scripture with her it's so cool to see how God has everything mapped out even when we can't see it. 
- Christmas eve w/ the Bowens! It was soooo fun! They called it a "night in Bethlehem" it was so tender! 
- JESUS'S BIRTHDAY!!!! Sooo fun! I got to talk to my family and that was a party! Then we delivered Christmas meals for the crisis center. It was so tender and also heartbreaking. We were at and old folks home and those people would cry when we gave them their meal and would be so thankful. We said prayers with lots of them and just talked to them for a while. It was one of the most humbling experiences I've had. Although Christmas is hard and I miss my family. Seeing peoples faces light up when we talk to them makes it all worth it. I've never felt so much pure and lasting  joyful in my whole life!



PIT: ( all pits are potential peaches)
- it was absolutely FREEZING this week!! Like negatives in humility... no amount of layers will keep you warm enough but hey the spirit keeps ya warmer (-26 degrees to be exact)
- one day we got locked in because of the cold and so we just went crazy for a bit and then decided to wrap copies of the Book of Mormon, do stuff for our neighbors, make the most of it! 

Also imma start a Google photos for my pictures so here's the link : https://photos.app.goo.gl/V1gka56kjUTcATXt8

The Yosts from my home ward were visiting the ward we went to on Christmas Day

Merry Christmas!!

 HOWDY YALLL!! Wowza the past 2 weeks have been bonkers lol. Me and Sister Ritchie were on our death beds for most of it lol so I did not write an email last week. 5 MONTHS AS A MISSIONARY!!! Time flies man! Being a missionary is the best and funniest thing ever but also the hardest, but even in the hard times become funny eventually lol. Now when anything crazy happens I'm just like we'll it'll make my weekly more interesting

Tbh last week was a blur so this emails gonna be confusing sry 

Highlights from last week: 

- WES GOT BAPTIZED!!! Ahhh it was the best, most stressful day of my life 65 people came to Wes's baptism! I had no clue what I was doing but everything went pretty smooth! They had to dunk him a few times though because we didn't fill the font quite high enough for him... sorry Wes he made it all the way under eventually after a few tries! The spirit was SOOO STRONG in that room!! We had him bear his testimony at the end and he made me cry. he talked the still small voice and how his answer wasn't big but it was just as impact full as if it had been. 

- for a service project we got to cut out lots of fabric, it was so fun!!

- we helped a member make molds for his work, it was one of the funnest service projects ever! 

This week: 

Monday- Wednesday = on our death beds lol! Jk jk we just had some weird cold/ flu thing! Let me tell you nothing makes you appreciate being able to breathe more than being sick lol! 

Thursday:  We had a BOMB lesson with a new convert! And then we decided to go know some Apts the elders told us to knock. To spice it up we decided to use a penny to know what door to knock on ( heads= up / right. tails = down/ left.) The first door the magic penny took us to was this super cool  guy, he said we could come back and share a message with him and his girlfriend! So that was super cool! AND THEN!! Our friend who dropped off the face of the earth randomly called us!! He gave us his address and we were able to get him a ride to the activity we had that night! He's a stud! He has a some disabilities and is super close to the spirit! Afterwards he said "I feel Jesus in my heart" 

Friday: SERVICE!!! we got to decorate Christmas trees for the branch president's wife! BEST SERVICE EVER! She's SOO NICE, we helped her make lots of treats/ tried to help lol don't know how much of a help we were my cooking skills are lacking but it was wayy fun! Did make me miss my fam tho  I LOVE YALL SO MUCH AND MISS ALL OF YOU!!  then we had a couple FIRE lessons! It was a way fun day! 

Saturday:

We went around and gave all the workers at the mall candy canes w/ a passalong card! It was wayy fun, it was cool to see how something so small made people so happy! It really doesn't take much to brighten someone's day! We had a lesson after and it was super good! 

Saturday was also a very hard day because it was the 2 year anniversary of my cousin Maddie's death. Those who knew her knew she emulated the savior. I looked up to her so much, words don't begin to describe how much I miss her light in my life. But I know that I will be able to see her again. I felt so close to Maddie that day. I know she's doing an important work on the other side, I'm honored that we get to be missionaries together!  I found joy even when in pain at being able to help others see that they will see their loved ones again as well! mosiah 16:7  "And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no sting, there could have been no resurrection. But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death." 

There truly are so many angels around us both on this side of the veil and the other! I'm so grateful for all the angels in my life.

Sunday: 

We decided that we need to go through our teaching pool, lots of them are not interested so now we're on the finding grind so send us prayers and ideas por favor! CHURCH WAS SOOO GOOD!  There were some fire talks. And I've decided that I don't care how hard ysa is I never want to leave! I love these people sooo much, I'm so lucky I've been able to spend the past  3 transfers with them! 

Challenge: 

MAKE SOMEONE SMILE!

Super easy super simple! Share the light of christ with people. It can be as simple as a wave of a compliment. It could be offering service, forgiving someone, sharing the gospel with someone... the possibilities are endless! Pray for inspiration and act of the ideas that come. I promise that as you focus on others instead of yourself you will find true joy, you will have a deeper relationship with the savior as you do what he would do. 

LOVE YOU ALL!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  

Smoothies Door Dashed from Mom when your sick- perks of being state side

"Smiling's My Favorite"

 HOWDY YALLL!! Wowza guys I'm so tired lol! This week's been a wild one lol! 

Monday: PDAYYYY! We went and played card games with the Moffatts, it was soo fun! Then we had a huge event for Christmas where they light up all the Christmas lights! It was so fun, we talked to lots of really cool people! Then we had a lesson with our friend Wes, it was so good! 

Tuesday: BEING SICK IS THE WORST! I got hit with some kinda flu... being sick as a missionary is not fun! I have mad respect for the covid missionaries now because I felt like I was going crazy just being inside for a day 

Wednesday: SICK THINGS PT2! Yeah I couldn't sit still long enough to stay inside again so we decided to full send it anyway ( for my sanity lol) don't worry I wasn't contagious and actually felt a lot better once we got out!  We had some member calls, some service, a dinner with a member! 

Thursday: TENDER MERCIES! We drove out to Joplin 1st thing in the morning to meet a referral. Come to find out she lives way too far for us to drive haha. So we did a video call lesson, it was super good! Then we went and got our car fixed then had a lesson w/ an inactive. We had a few member calls and they were so good! Ahhh I love the ysa they are the best ever! We had a lesson with Wes whose on date. A few weeks ago we promised him that if he read the Book of Mormon every day for 5 minutes that he would know it's true by the end of the month. Well we had our lesson with him on the 1st and he said that he got his answer the previous night!!! He's on date for the 11th! 

Friday: ZONE BLITZ! I've been waiting and praying for them to come blitz Carthage! A blitz is where all the missionaries in our zone go finding in an area all day. We were able to find so many people! It was sooo fun! Also so rewind lol we go to Walmart a lot for finding haha! But apparently this guy saw us and remember how he felt when he saw us! Fast forward some sisters were in the parking lot and he stopped them and asked them to tell them more about Alma haha! He said one of the missionaries gave him a Book of Mormon and he read it and knows its true. He told the sisters that he had seen us around and knows people who are members. He said we have a "light" and are just happy and he wants that too. He's family ward so now the family ward sisters are going to start teaching him! Super cool! 

Saturday: I'M DUMB! We joke how Sister Ritchie and I take turns sharing a brain cell and this week I definitely didn't have it) LOL...  We decided it seemed like a great day to go finding at Pitt state, they were having a festival for the church so we were like bet, let's go! I did not realize that 1. it was a Saturday so campus was closed and 2. the festival was a non proselyte event. We made the most of it and went finding anyway. We got rejected hard-core and I was not in the mood lol! But we listed to some Nik Day to hype us up and we went into the dollar general. Which is where we met Carlos! We talked to Carlos for a good hour about the restoration, bom, plan of salvation! He was super interested so we set a return apt for that night at the festival. We go and he's like an hour late. But he came!! And we found a recent convert to come to our lesson, then Carlos's high school friend was there who's getting ready to leave on a Mission so we dragged him along too! GUYSSSSS!!! Ahh that lesson was so powerful, he just kept saying this makes sense, that this was God's hand that we were able to meet! Everyone in that room needed to be there, it worked out perfect! We put him on date for the end of this month! God truly does know exactly what he's doing so it doesn't matter if we don't have no clue! LOL!

Sunday: I LOVE TESTIMONY MEETINGS!! Today was soo good! There were so many bomb testimonies and then we had a really good lesson after! After church we did some planning, then we watched the Christmas devotional which was amazing!!!!

Challenge: SMILE!!!! People recognize the light you have, they feel the difference! So choose to smile and laugh!  To quote ELF... "It's my favorite!"