OCTOBER 23, 2017

DON'T BLINK!!

This week went by insanely fast I don't think I even had time to chew my food. It was a total blast. Sister Dimond and I were so oddly full of energy this week (especially compared to last week) so whoever has been praying for us to have more energy-- we can feel it and THANK YOU. 

We have been trying new things in our missionary work and just mixing things up and we have seen so many awesome miracles because of it. Life is just so great. I went on a few exchanges with the sisters in my sisterhood and they are all just such awesome missionaries. It’s so great to be able to learn from all these amazing sisters. 

ROBERT IS GETTING BAPTIZED this weekend!!!! He is so solid. It’s been so awesome teaching him. This upcoming week is going to be crazy with the baptism and zone conference and exchanges and we already have all of our days filled up so we are just going to try to chill today and gear up! but I am really not complaining because busy is wonderful as a missionary. 

I saw a really cool miracle this week while on my full day exchange with Sister Davis. It was an absolutely crazy day with lots of traffic and lots of driving and rushed appointments but the end of the night we were left with "nothing to do"/ no real appointments. I felt impressed to visit someone who has been taught before that I really knew nothing about but just had their address. We typed it into the GPS and as we got closer it got harder to figure out which side of the busy road we needed to turn into to get to this person. I felt like we needed to turn right and found a gated neighborhood. We parked outside of it and walked in. We found the house number and there also a man sitting outside in a lawn chair in the pitch black. We started talking to him and turns out that it was actually the wrong side of the road. I knew we were there for a reason though, so we began talking to him about who we were and why we were there and the gospel. Turns out that he has been searching for a church for a while and told us "yeah, I’ve been wanting to get baptized and I really feel ready and if I get baptized that means that my entire family needs to too." soooo that was cool!   Crazy miracles happen when you just follow the spirit and take a few "wrong" turns or two every once and a while.

​I don’t have a whole lot from this week. We are still teaching Scott and he is super cool and we are teaching basically his entire house which is always a party! He is going to get baptized on November 18th and so we are just taking out time with him and making sure he understands everything. ​

Life is just really good! My scripture this week comes from Helaman 3:35, one of my favorites lately. It says "Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God." 

I’ve been studying a lot about the concept of continual discipleship. How can we endure that we are standing as a witness of God ALL THE TIME. I’ve learned a lot.

I hope you all have a great week! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. and pray for you every day! 

PICTURES:

The Old Key Lime house 

aka my favorite restaurant EVER. Its right on the water and the BEST. Must try!  We went here last P-day.

OCTOBER 16, 2017

IM NOT TIRED AT ALL….

Psyche!!... There seriously must be a gas leak or I must have mono or something because this week was exhausting. It’s like I'm a greenie again or something. I have hit a solid wall. but the work marches on!! So so do I! 

BUT ANYWAYS, HELLOOOOO!!!

Other than being extremely tired, this week was super awesome. We are working with a whole lot of super cool people right now and so our days have been so great. I think the Lord is just pushing us to our limits to see if we can handle it and its been fantastic. 

We had a super fun zone activity this past P-day at the beach for a few of the missionary’s birthday's. I just want to say again just how inspired it was that I am here in Florida. This place is always so pretty and sunny and happy and tropical and GREAT. It’s hard to ever be sad here. EVERYONE NEEDS TO VISIT. Although, on a similar note, we went to visit a less active this past week and her only excuse for not coming to church is that "it’s too hot".... yup, it’s just "too hot". Sister Dimond and I both walked out of that house completely confused but hey, I guess it is pretty hot. 

Right now, we are teaching this really cool 18 yr. old guy Robert and his girlfriend Taylor. He actually has been living in a member’s house for the last 4 years and has been going to seminary every morning and mutual every Tuesday night and honestly just knows everything already, but he wasn’t able to get baptized until he turned 18. He turned 18 a few months ago but just didn't feel like it was his time or that he had any desire yet until he finally felt in his heart that it was all true a few weeks ago. We have been teaching him everything and he is just the most solid kid. He has been through things that no 18-year-old should ever have to experience in their lives, but he has truly been strengthened for it. He is planning on getting baptized on the 28th, we are so excited for him! 

Lots of other hilarious stuff happened this week and I promise I’ll write it all down in my journal and talk about it later! 

I just want to end with a quote that my Dad actually sent me this past week from general conference that I really love a lot. It’s by Sister Oscarson and it says

"I have tremendous love for and faith in those of you who are in your teen and young adult years. I have seen and felt of your desires to serve and make a difference in the world. I believe that most members consider service to be at the heart of their covenants and discipleship. But I also think that sometimes it’s easy to miss some of the greatest opportunities to serve others because we are distracted or because we are looking for ambitious ways to change the world and we don’t see that some of the most significant needs we can meet are within our own families, among our friends, in our wards, and in our communities. We are touched when we see the suffering and great needs of those halfway around the world, but we may fail to see there is a person who needs our friendship sitting right next to us in class."

May we all try a little harder to open our eyes to serve those that are closest to us. For some reason it’s harder to do that I guess. It’s such a weird phenomenon. We love to fly half way across the world to serve complete strangers, but we don't find that same satisfaction in serving those that live under our same roof.  LET’S BE BETTER.

I love you all and pray for you every single day. Have a great week! 

OCTOBER 09, 2017

WE'RE BACK IN BUSINESS!

Hello all of my favorite people! Just another awesome week in buh buh buh boynton beach. 

I still love life and we are still finding super awesome people and just trying to go where the Lord wants us to go to help the people he wants us to help. 

We had a crazy amount of meal appointments this week which is always fun to be with the members. Deitra fed us GOAT on Tuesday. I felt a little weird. We were talking during dinner and it turns out that her husband Lee'von likes to catch gator and rabbit and other weird wildlife and eat it. We told him that we are so down to eat any of that so stay tuned. 

We also had interviews with President Garns this week. That man is just so inspired. 

OH! I don’t know if I wrote this in last week’s email but ALICIA AND FREDI GOT MARRIED.... I AM STILL SO EXCITED! My joy seriously cannot be expressed in words. I feel like I just watched Alicia transform throughout the whole teaching process and to now see her after her baptism making even more steps to be able to get sealed in the temple and have an eternal family is just amazing. She has also been such an awesome missionary. She is always looking to help and share the happiness that she has gotten from the gospel with other people. ahhh, i just love her so much. 

Scott is progressing super well. He is seriously so awesome. The gospel CHANGES LIVES. If anyone doesn't believe I just want them to follow me around for a day. I am constantly reminded that as we actually live the gospel, live the things that we were taught since primary, life doesn't get easier, but the way to deal with it for sure does. 

We got to watch half of general conference finally! The biggest theme that stuck out to me is just being an instrument in the Lord’s hands. I mentioned this earlier probably but my phrase that I’ve been saying a whole lot to myself and to other sisters is that " God just calls us to put on foot in front of the other and open and shut our mouth when prompted." And I’ve seen that as I’ve really just been an instrument as Gods work gets done in the way that HE wants it done. 

This amazing woman Sherly showed up to church yesterday after not coming for almost 7 years. She moved away and her life just got flipped upside down and then God just sent her back to church yesterday. I’ll explain more of her story later, she’s seriously amazing. 

That’s really all I have the time and energy for this week but I just want you all to know how true the gospel of Jesus Christ is. It works. USE IT. Listen to the things that were talked about in conference and actually DO them. 

I love you all so much and pray for you more than you know! I hope you have an awesome week!!! 

OCTOBER 02, 2017

FAITH CAN MOVE MOUNTAINS, BUT DON'T BE SURPRISED IF GOD GIVES YOU A SHOVEL!

HELLLOOOOOOO 

Just another crazy week of the mission flew by and I find myself yet again at the computer trying to express it all in an hour and half over email. 

Life is just so good!!! AHH!! I don't know if it’s the Florida sun or just the fact that I'm a missionary or whatever but I am just so happy! 

Sister Diamond and I are just having a party and its for sure only beginning. It’s going to be a blast of a transfer! She is from Cedar Hills Utah and is freakin' hilarious! She left on her mission a transfer before me so it’s so nice to be with someone my "age" in the mission. Sister Isham , my trainee is in my "sisterhood" (the sisters that I go on exchanges with, etc.) and I am so excited to be back on the same side of the state as her! She’s so hilarious and such an awesome missionary! 

We are meeting super cool people lately. Two people just kinda came to church last week and we had the opportunity to teach them this week and they are super cool! We are teaching this guy named Sergio. He was in a car accident a few years ago and is now a quadriplegic. He has been through so much. He just has this excitement about the gospel that is so cool to watch. He just wants to reconnect with God. We taught him the Plan of Salvation and I don't think it’s ever been so "fitting" to anyone in my life. We are also teaching this man named Scott. He is such a "gentle giant". He is recovering from some crazy addictions and feels that God has just led him to us. He is so cool! The both have super solid desires to just "know God" and use Him in their lives.

CAMPING ROUND 2 

I never thought my mission would include sleeping in the chapel for 6 days and camping but now I've done it twice... sooo... 

This weekend was another filled with handwork and sweat. We met such awesome people though! We met a really cool lady from the Ukraine named Luda. She had just moved here less than a year ago when the hurricane hit and she didn’t have anyone to help and needed it badly. When we pulled up she just started crying and saying under her breath that "no one ever help me" and was just in shock that God cared about her enough to send us to her. She was amazing and had such an incredible house. 

As I was pulling some trees to the curb an older man on a bike stopped me and just asked "what is this? who are you guys?" I explained to him who we were and why we were there and he was just as equally "in shock". He went on the say how his wife suffered from spinal cancer and he was 86 years old and his house was just destroyed and he didn't know where to start his clean up and needed a whole lot of help. After we finished with Luda (and she bought us like 8 pizzas and some beer... don’t worry we didn’t drink the beer) , we headed over to this man’s house and we were just shocked to see what we found. The whole place was wrecked. Sea weed was in every nook and cranny of the bottom of their house and so man trees had fallen and there was incredible water damage. We all worked together and cleaned up as much as possible and they were so grateful. He is some famous artist, look him up. His work is incredible. 

I think more than anything that anyone has said to me over these past three weekends down there it’s just the look of amazement and wonder that they have in their eyes to know that people care and that God cares. My favorite quote I heard this past weekend was from Ann, Lawrence's wife, she said "You guys are a walking talking testament of Jesus Christ". I have never felt like such a Christian. 

My scripture this week is in 1 Peter 4:16 and it’s been an overarching lesson I've learned throughout this whole experience. It reads " Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." Let us all be true Christians. Do not be ashamed but rather glorify God with our actions. 

The church is true. Christ lives and loves us. He is aware of us and our circumstances. 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!! And pray for you more than you know! 

P.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM, BRYCE, AND ADDISON! YOU GUYS ROCK. 

P.P.S. Yes, I do want to jump in the water so bad. 

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES..JUST NOW WITH A FEW MORE BUG BITES!

This past weekend was amazing. I don't think I've ever been so physically, emotionally, and spiritually drained in my life. 

On Friday morning we woke up pretty early to get to the temple for the first session of the day. I cannot explain the amazing experience that we all had in the temple. It is without a doubt the house of the Lord. Ahh, I missed the temple so much. It was so life-changing and exactly what I needed. I learned so much. 

Right after that we headed back to our areas to get ready to go down to the Keys again for the whole weekend. It was all really fast and crazy. Due to traffic we didn't get down there until around 10:45 (past missionary bed time...ahh). We had to set up all of our tents really fast and figure everything out in the dark which was quite the adventure. We got settled and then woke up bright and early the next day to get a start on the projects for that day. 

The 2nd project of the day was at this trailer/mobile home park right on the ocean. I have no words for how horrific this place was. It was so.. I don't even know. Just horrible. Entire houses were swept into the canal that leads out to the ocean and the smell was something I've never smelt before. Sister Jensen and I just couldn't stop crying. It was so much to take in that really all we could do was put our heads down and get to work.

 That was pretty much how the whole entire weekend went. We did everything we possibly could. These people are amazing but this circumstance is insane. I just feel sick thinking about it and then thinking about the people in Puerto Rico. I am so grateful to be able to help in such a way.

We camped there until Sunday night and then headed home. It was overwhelming and exhausting just the amount of people that were affected. I am forever changed. 

Last night we had transfer calls and sadly Sister Jensen is going to be leaving Boynton Beach and going over the West coast of Florida in Estero YSA. I will be staying (which i am SO excited about) and I'm going to be with SISTER DIAMOND!!!! We have been wanting to be comps since we met each other and so I super excited. I will miss Sister Jensen SO much. She is such an amazing missionary and seriously one of my best friends.

I love you all. A WHOLE LOT. This is such an amazing work. I’m not sure what I did to get here but I'm glad I did it. God has blessed me immensely to be here and now doing what I'm doing. I love this work. Have a great week! 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2017

I'M GOING CAMPINGGGGG!

HELLOOOO!!!! 

Sorry my email schedule has been crazy weird and inconsistent. Absolutely nothing about life lately has been consistent so it’s all a result of that. I finally have more than 10 minutes to email so ill try to make this one good! 

Before the hurricane we spent hours putting shutters up in an entire 55 and older community and preparing for the hurricane. It was super awesome! We met really awesome people who were just SO grateful that we could help. The whole week before everyone we talked to was just freaking out about the hurricane but for some reason I didn't actually think that it was going to come! I kept denying the fact and had a really "I’ll believe it when I see it" attitude. (which is really ironic since that's how most people are about the gospel...) 

On Friday we got sent to the chapels. We were in there till Wednesday and it was quite the adventure! We weathered the storm really well. We got to play board games and on the first day we could play soccer. We showered with buckets in the bathroom and used a lot of baby wipes but it was still just really fun! I started getting really "antsy" to get out and WORK towards the end of our stay but it for sure wasn't as long as a stay as the Missionaries in Naples. We lost power for a day or so but flashlights are awesome and as long as we weren't all too close it didn't get super hot! On Sunday we had an amazing spiritual sacrament meeting and it was something I’ll never forget. 

It took everyone a while to get back to "normal" but we are just now seeing that people are starting to open their doors again and that the hurricane really humbled a lot of people! 

We met and amazing family last night. We usually don't knock super nice neighborhoods but yesterday we really felt inspired to go to this one neighborhood. We started knocking and got rejected a whole lot until finally we knocked on the door of this super cute mother-son duo. They immediately let us in and started explaining to us how they are just so distraught because they haven't heard from their mother/grandmother in Dominica (or some other place...not sure) since hurricane Marie and they have just been worried sick. We said another prayer with them and then after they just kept staring at us. They said that they knew God sent us to them and that this is all true..etc. We explained about Mormon Helping Hands and shared "Prince of Peace" with them and they were just so amazed at everything. As we were walking out they asked, "how can I be a part of your church?". They are such an awesome family and I am so excited to go back! 

We have been doing a lot of service down in the Keys. We have been clearing out entire houses that were flooded and it is SO sad. The destruction is insane but I'm just humbled to be able to help. We spent all of Saturday and Sunday down there with the rest of Mormon Helping Hands crew and went home during the night. This weekend we will be going down there again and that's actually why my P-day got moved to today. Tomorrow we are still going to the temple in the morning but right after we are heading down to the Keys for the whole weekend but this time we are most likely CAMPING down there all weekend.  I am so excited!!!! They are on a "boil water" so we went and got a whole bunch of water again today and are excited to head down there as soon as possible to just go help. 

I just wanted to share a scripture that really stood out to me in my scripture study this morning. It’s in Matthew 25:35-40 it reads,

 "35 For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

May we all open our eyes a little bigger and seek out opportunities to serve our Savior through those around us. I love you all, SO MUCH. I pray for you daily and know that we are all in the Lords hands. Have a great week! I’ll send lots of pictures!

1. A gas station

2.This house was supposed to be on the other side of the street

3.The Keys

4.We completely cleaned out this house that was flooded (that sand isn't supposed to be there.)

1. Day 5

2.We did a talent show as a zone one night during the hurricane it was hilarious

3.  The district

1.  Companions loving service

2. putting up a fence

3. district 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017

IRRRRMMMAAA!

Hello all!! 

I am still doing really great. President gave us another 10 minutes today because we won't have P-day until Friday. 

I am super grateful that things have somewhat "calmed down". All the traffic lights are working again, the air conditioning is such a blessing, and I am just thankful that I have a house to live in and we didn't get the worst of the storm. 

We have been in the Keys all weekend serving. I don't think I could've imagined the type of destruction that we saw. A lot of the houses were just completely wiped out. It was an amazing life changing experience to be able to serve in such a way. As soon as we pulled up in our Mormon Helping Hands yellow T-shirts people kept saying "We knew you would come.". I was so humbled by the whole thing. I don't feel like we did nearly enough but we already have word that we will be going down there a lot more to go and help. 

Count your blessings! 

Other than that we are just trying to get everything back to normal!! 

I'll email again on Friday after the temple! 

LOVE YOU ALL!! 

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

HURRICANE IRMA IS NOT CHILL!

ALL IS WELL! DONT WORRY!!!! WE ARE FINALLLLLLY OUT OF THE CHAPEL. 

Everything is completely fine! We have been doing a crazy bunch of service for the past day and a half and we only have about 10 minutes to send out a quick email.

We stayed in the chapel for a 6 days and had a total blast but we are SUPER excited to get out and get to work! These people need it! The hurricane absolutely shook us up a little but it’s nothing that we can’t handle.  It’s for sure been quite the adventure! 

I won’t have another P-day until next Friday, but please don’t worry about me! (just send prayers to my favorite people in Naples) 

Also, pray we don't have another one! 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! 

PS thanks dad for teaching me how to use a ratchet and a Philips-head screw driver. 

SEPTEMBER 05, 2017

HURRI-CRAZY IRMA!

Attention! Attention! This is a public service announcement.....

As of right now, we are totally safe! The only bad thing that has happened so far is that Walmart is out of water and that everyone is CRAZY. 

The mission has been super good about making sure that we are prepared for whatever comes our way and I’m really not too worried. Just pray for us! 

Well, this week has been wonderful! We were able to go to the temple with our Recent Convert Alejandra on Friday night. It was amazing! The Spirit was so strong as we were there. Alejandra just felt so much peace. She just kept looking at us and smiling. She also has been reading the Book of Mormon every morning and she told us that it is one of her biggest blessings. She also told us that she can't wait to serve her mission in 2 years. :) We are so excited for her! 

I went on two different exchange this week and they were both such awesome experience with such amazing sisters. Yesterday I went on an exchange with Sister Harrison and we got to bike! Bike days are still my absolute favorite thing even in the Florida heat. So many miracles happen when we get to just "be with the people" for the day. Although, I really have never been so grateful for the inventors of HydroFlask....life savers. 

We are also teaching the coolest lady ever! Her name is Kim and I just love her so much! She has such an awesome personality. We taught her a few times last week and she came to church on Sunday and LOVED it! She is progressing super well and wants to get baptized on the 23rd! She is so sweet! 

We are also working with Deitra's kids Anthony and Justin and teaching them is so fun! I love teaching kids because everything is just so simple-- the way that the gospel should be! Deitra's whole family is so awesome. 

The past few days I've found myself thinking a lot about the Savior and what he did for all of us. I think a lot of the time we don't stop to realize the impact and the power that it has on us. Jesus Christ is the light and life of the world. I just invite you all to ponder more about it. The atonement of Jesus Christ can change you if you let it. 

I love you all so much!!! Ill be praying for you! (pray for us too and all my friends in Puerto Rico and other places that will be affected!)