Week 2 in Prairie

Prairie life is good. 

It's been a struggle to feel like I fit in and have a place here, but it's coming. We have seen lots of miracles this week and I have started to build trust and relationships with investigators and branch members.

On Tuesday we drove with the Parkinsons (the senior couple here in Prairie) for an hour and a half to go to Richland Center for District Meeting. AN HOUR AND A HALF. Each way. Ridiculous. Anywho, that was fun. There are 2 other sets of elders in our district. They are hilariously weird. But awesome. I made a cake at the request of Elder Rudarmel (DL) for Elder Schenk's birthday. It was great. Instant brownie points to Sister Butler. Our district seems pretty fun. It's weird that we are all spaced out so much, but it seems like we are all working hard. 

It was freezing that evening, but we went out walking to contact some people. While we were out, everything happened just perfectly that we would pass a guy twice. The first time we just smiled and said hello cause it was dark and he had headphones on and we were in a creepier part of town. But. Like an hour later, we crossed the street at the EXACT right time to run into him again. God was like, HERE HE IS! TALK TO HIM! So we did. And. Got a return appointment. It was great. There is no doubt that everything that happened that whole evening happened the way it did so that we would run into him right at that second. #miracles

Wisconsin is so beautiful. We drove out to Boscobel (which is Wisconsin's' wild turkey hunting capitol, donchaknow?) Holy beautiful drive! The things I see here remind me of a travel magazine of some place that is woodsy and rustic and beautiful that you never think you are actually ever going to see. It is breathtaking like every single day of my life. And! The trees dont even have leaves and the grass is all dead. I cant even imagine summer or spring or fall here. I think I'd die.

We've had a lot of appointments fall through. Well, first we got a lot of return appointments to begin with. We were so excited. We've seen miracle after miracle, and then no one is home when they say they would be :/ It's been a little tough, but I know that everything happens for a reason. So. We will just keep trying all those people until they are home and let us in. 

Oh! We did get a new investigator though! We were looking for a potential investigator named Isaac, but found Robert instead. We have an appointment with him tonight and it is going to be sweeeeeeet.

We went out to visit a less active sister out in the middle of nowhere. They have the cutest little farm out there. Like. Legit, middle of nowhere, old little farmhouse, farm. AND. The best part was that she had kittens! KITTENS. I love kittens. I just had to hug them and give them all the love I could cause who knows when I'll see another? haha. 

We taught a family. It was great. I got to teach the 8 year old boy about the Restoration and I just loved it. I feel like teaching children is so much easier. They have such a natural understanding of the nature of God and such innocent desire to do what is right. He kept asking if NOW he could get baptized. I had to explain to him that he still needed to learn the other lessons, and all that. He was like, "Teach me now!" haha I love it!  I really feel like I am sent here to help this family. Actually, I KNOW that I am here to help them. I'm excited. 

Yesterday we had a Linger-Longer after church with the branch. It was awesome. The branch out here is great. Theres a pretty good mix of younger families and older people. But. There are so many kids. And they are all so close and everything we do together is just so fun. They've gone through a lot to get a building to meet it. Some even still have to drive for hours to come. And everyone makes really good food. hahaha.

Prairie is a lot different because I dont have a lot of fun stories to tell. haha. We work HARD here. We walk a lot and I love it. Walking is so relaxing and it gives us the opportunity to talk with a lot more people. And it makes me happy. Even though its cold. We drive a lot too because the towns we are over are so spread out, but thats nice too because its beautiful. The other day we saw a cute little 3 point buck in the road. Sister Asper is pro at driving, cause she saw him way ahead of time. 

I love working this hard. I've seen a change in myself as I've just hit the pavement. I am exhausted, that's for sure. 6:30am comes earlier and earlier every day. But its just plain AWESOME. The Lord has blessed me so much. My studies have been getting better and better. I am rereading the Book of Mormon while cross referencing it to Preach My Gospel. Holy cow. Gold mine! Who knew that the Book of Mormon teaches so much about how to be a good missionary? Its awesome. I'm seeing things I've never seen before.

All in all, life is good. Just working hard and loving the people. I have yet to eat Mississippi catfish or see a river otter, but it will come. I'm probably gonna be here for another 5 months or so, so I have a lot of time to get a lot of work done and do lots of things. It's gonna be great. 

Prairie of Dogs!

Prairie du Chien translates to Prairie of Dogs. 

It's great.

Apparently there used to be a lot of prairie dogs back in the day. But alas, I have not seen any. Probably cause its snowing. What?! Yep, today marks the first snowfall. AND I LOVE IT.

I'm learning to love Prairie. Its small. We're the only missionaries for an hour and a half in any direction. We live RIGHT next to the Mississippi and Iowa is closer than anything else. But we aren't allowed to go to Iowa. Iowa is wicked. Apparently :P

The branch is small. Well, obviously...its a branch. But the families are really strong and they have basically all been here forever. We have some really solid families that are investigating, so that is really exciting! We get to tract a lot. And drive. Our area is huge. So we walk as much as we can while in Prairie du Chien and then as much as we can anywhere else. We cover Beetown, Bloomington, Wauzeka, Fennimore, and some other little towns. 

Funny story: We were tracting in Wauzeka the other day. It has population of 711. We were walking in a neighborhood and come by this cute little house that was in great condition and then looked at the big tree right in front. There were two deer hanging from that tree. One was skinned and the other was just gutted. It was disgusting but hilarious. Never in my life would I have thought that I would be walking around in Wauzeka, Wisconsin, knocking on strangers doors, while running into a couple of dead deer hanging in a front yard. I laughed so hard. It just made me smile. #onlyinwauzeka

It's beautiful out here though!! There are actually hills! And it's so rural, so drives in between towns are just to die for. I can't wait for the snow to stick and build up. That's going to be beautiful! And the Mississippi river is cool. And there are SO many squirrels. And river otters, I hear. And so far I've seen some Bald Eagles and a fox!! 

If you are ever in Prairie du Chien, ask a native about catfish. It's the greatest thing ever. I have heard more about Mississippi catfish here than I have anywhere else. They LOVE their catfish here. While volunteering at the nursing home, I brought up that I've never had Mississippi catfish, just to see what kind of feathers I could ruffle. Oh, did those little old ladies tell me! "The only reason for the Mississippi River IS the catfish!!" #thingsyoulearnonamission

Oh. And this winter is going to be a bad one. How do I know? Cause "dem muskrat houses are tall and fat and the squirrels out der are fatter den ever!" Again, the things you learn on a mission.

The accent is a little different out here. It has a lot more Iowa in it. But they still say "You betcha" and "Ya know" all the time. I miss the northern accent though. My favorite is the Gresham accent. Well, its tied with the UP. I've caught on real well. I say things so Wisconsony all the time and it makes me happy. Like "oh gawsh" and "oh noooh". Oh! And they use "yet" in a way that I have never heard before. I still havent quite caught on to how to use it correctly, but for example: while working at the thrift store, the manager asked why a volunteer was throwing away a bowl. She replies, "I'm not! See? It's still good yet!" Or I've heard, "Oh there's still snow on the mountain yet". Its like..."still" except it doesnt apply the same all the time. I'm working on it. 

Tracting is fun. I like walking. It is relaxing. And you get to run into people you never would if you were driving. While walking to church yesterday a guy was sitting on his porch and said hi. We said hello and kept walking, only for him to chase us and ask us what church we went to and if he could go to cause he was mad at his church. But, he didnt come :/ BUT. We know his name and his house number...(: #missionariesarestalkers

We went to a fireside that was being broadcast from Madison. The BYU football team was playing UW here. And apparently they do a fireside before all of their away games. It was awesome. It was super spiritual and I got a lot of answers from it. 

I've been having a hard time getting my feet on the ground and feeling like I actually belong here. I mean, I know I'm here cause God needs me here.  I just don't know what strengths or talents I have that will be needed here.  I've been studying real hard and really searching for how I can best be used here. My studies this week have been about spiritual gifts and working hard and how to turn desires into righteous works.

I guess I havent been here for long, so I should probably just chill out and it will come.

My new comp is Sister Asper. We came out here together from the MTC 3 months ago. We were in different districts in the MTC, but I knew her. She's been here in Prairie du Chien the entire time we've been out. She's awesome. She works hard and tries her best to be diligent. She's kinda stressed with having to be senior comp and make me feel comfortable with a new place, so I've been trying to adjust as quickly as possible. She's great. We get along great and laugh a lot, but we have great studies too.

As of right now I am just trying to really get my feet planted to that I can know what the Lord needs me to do for the people here. I'm trying to be the best I can so that I can do His work efficiently. There have been missionaries here in the past that were not obedient and ruined the trust the ward had in us and made the town kinda hate us. haha. But I think that I got here at a good time. I want the branch members to trust us to do our best and to help them. And I want to build positive relationships with the people. 

Leaving Appletown was hard. It rained because it was sad to see me go. Leaving my missionary friends and Stephanie and Kira and the ward just made me so sad. But. It was exciting at the same time. I'll see those people again. 

All in all, this week has been crazy emotional and I'm finally getting used to the area and I'm going to love serving the people in Prairie du Chien. <3

GOODBYE APPLELANDIA

Transfers are the absolute worst. 

The anticipation kills. 

Leaving all the people you love is just terrible.

Waaaaaaaah.

The way transfers work here is that on Saturday morning, the Zone Leaders send out a text with everyone who is leaving. Guess who's name was second? :(

THEN.

You have to wait until Monday morning to find out where you are going! I literally JUST found out that I am going to Prairie Du Sheen. 

It'll be great.

But I'm SAD ;(

I love Appletown. I love Stephanie. I love my district. I love Appleton 2nd ward.

Anyway. This week was great! It was a super fantastic way to mark the end of an era.

Tuesday was the Trunk or Treat activity! MY FAVOOORRRITE. It was an awesome turnout and I just love everyone. Our trunk was LEGIT. We had color changing lights and a disco ball and a sparkly sign that said "Feast Upon the Words of Christ" with vampire fangs and we passed out copies of the Book of Mormon and pass-along cards and pamphlets and movies and candy of course. Oh! And we were bumpin' Popcorn Boppin with the bass all the way up. In the words of Elder Kimzey, it was "SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET!" The kids LOVED it. Everyone was like, "We can take this!?" And we told them we could take whatever they wanted as long as they shared with a friend. #sistermissionarywork

It was also super fun because the ward like...made us play the games with them. We were watching the kids and some of our investigators play the game where you have to eat a doughnut off of a string and they were like "Missionary competition!!!!!!!" So, obviously, we obliged. And did I totally lose? Absofruitly. My string was like ridiculously longer than everyone else's and it was swinging around like crazy and I argue that it was a very unfair disadvantage. But. We also have to let the Elders win at soooooomething.... (;

Wednesday was awesome because we got to see the fruits of our Trunk or Treat efforts. The Bishop's wife texted us this, "Just wanted to share- Izzy, our nonmember friend we have brought to several church things (with her family sometimes) was at the trunk or treat and got a book of mormon from you missionaries. I talked to her mom today (she is only 8) and Izzy had told her that she wanted to read the BoM. Her mom, Angelina, said she would love to chat with me about our church because she really doesnt understand it. So excited, please keep Izzy, Angelina, and our family in our prayer as we share more with them... :) Thanks for being great!"

Stop. Thats the greatest thing I have EVER heard! 

#trunkortreatmiracles

We had two dinners on Halloween. Not the best idea ever. hahaha. I ate WAY too much food. I look WAY too fat. Oops. but it was fun!

We also had correlation on Halloween and it was GREAT. Steph is now a ward missionary and she is so great. Have I mentioned that I love her? 

We cleaned the world grossest house on Saturday. Literally, gross-town. But it was fun because we did it with all the Elders. It was a fitting way to end the era since we all became friends/met while cleaning up the tornado induced Treemagedon 3 months ago. MAN. I just love them. Best friends ever. Best team ever. 

My last Sunday in Appleton was so bittersweet. We had dinner with the Marx's. Oh boy, they are great people! Steve is the cutest. He proposed again. And did my hair. And we read about Nephi killing Laban. #bestnightever. 

hahahahahaha OHkay. 

Steve was sitting by me in the foyer before church and looks at Elder Kimzey and goes, "Is he your boyfriend? You can't marry him." And I was like, "Trust me, he is not my boyfriend". And he GETS UP AND GOES OVER TO HIM and says, "You've been kissing my girlfriend?! You cant kiss my girlfriend anymore and you CANNOT have her!" #awkward. hahahaha. I love that little guy. Idk where he comes up with half of the stuff he says, but he makes sure that his point is made. 

So now I must pack and move to Prairie Du Sheen. I wonder whats in store for me over there. I hope its as great as Appleton. I've learned a lot here. 

#sickdistrict / The Team is Broken / DO YOUR PERSONAL PROGRESS!

What a week!

Guess who was quarantined for the whole week because she had the legit flu? 

Yay, me. 

Staying inside as a missionary basically sucks. Excuse my French. 

You basically just die because you can't do anything that you normally do when you are sick. There is no Mom to bring you medicine or make you good food or go out and buy you your favorite snack. There is no one to cuddle with. None of your favorite stuffed animals to hug. No good movies to watch. No nice boys to hug you. No fun. AND you feel guilty because there are all of those children of God walking around outside that need you to help them be happy and you CANT! Uggghhhhhh. It's THE worst. 

And literally, everyone got sick this week. Elder Kemper even went home :( He has been sick for about a month now and they couldn't figure out what was going on. Sister Proffit and I were so sad. We had a dance party funeral for him all alone in our apartment, mentally montaged all our great moments, and we are going to wear all black to District Meeting this week because we are still mourning his loss. He was our friend and we love him. The Team is broken :/

The days that we werent sick, we had really awesome miracles happen in regards to missionary work. The Spirit was really prompting us to do certain things. And so...we did them! AND GUESS WHAT?! We were like...always in the exact perfect spot at the perfect time!

Hey!

Remember our friend Chris who I felt prompted to talk to and he showed us his garden and then gave us flowers and was super nice? Yeah. We ran into him again and had the greatest most stereotypical missionary discussion ever! We were bundled in our coats and scarves and just walked past and said hello and then realized who he was and started talking. On the corner of the street. He asked us a bunch of questions and we testified and it was so legit. Seriously, if someone had taken a picture, it would have been straight from a New Era article. #sistermissionarywork

We had a bunch of things like that happen. We really started to just get to work. I LOVE IT. I made some flyers for the Trunk or Treat activity this week and invited EVERYONE. We felt prompted to stop by members homes and ask if they had any friends or neighbors that would be interested in coming and we got a bunch of referrals. I think it was good for them to see that we would immediately go knock on doors. It was good for me too. Everyone invited us in too! One family was in the middle of dinner and I was like "uhhh, lets not knock on the door.." and the spirit was like "NO! KNOCK ON THAT DOOR!" So we did and we got ushered in and were given homemade rolls and passion fruit jam from Hawaii and guess what? They had their nonmember friends over for dinner! #perfect! So we just had a nice little chat and talked about church and then talked about zippers and pens and Christmas tree bonfires and laughed and laughed. #thankyouholyghost

We are really hoping for a good turn out to the activity this week. We are so excited. We are going to decorate our trunk and pass out Book of Mormons and pass along cards. We are going to put fangs and say "Feast upon the words of Christ!" GENIUS. Sister missionary work at it's finest. (: 

Christmas is soon! I just wanted to throw it out there that the December transfer is RIGHT before Christmas, so be sure to send any Christmas packages to the mission office. And honestly, gift cards and money are the best. I know, they feel lame and not personal. But carrying a bunch of boxes plus three suitcases across Wisconsin is going to be ca-razy! They will also hold our mail right before transfers, so if you are sending things, try to send it early(: Some things that I have thought of that I could use: 

downeast shade shirts (size medium)

Walmart/target gift cards

Vanilla tootsie rolls <3

Pilot G-2 0.38 pens (missions make you a pen snob)

Scarfs

Warm socks

Stamps!
College ruled notebook

But really, I have access to buy basically everything here. And I wont be offended by gift cards. Or just a nice card! Letters are gold out here. More letters, the better. 

Oh hey! Sister Proffit and I gave talks in Sacrament meeting this Sunday and it was so fun. Speaking as a missionary is great, I have learned. I spoke on how the YW values helped me be a missionary. I felt very inadequate because I was a terrible child while I was in Young Womens and I didnt finish Personal Progress and I was just not into all that. But. I studied and realized that it really did help me, and can help all of us. Living the YW values (divine nature, individual worth, virtue, knowledge, ect) are the same as living the Christlike attributes. And becoming more like Christ is what it is all about. The theme says that "as we accept and act upon these values, we will be prepared to strengthen home and family, make and keep sacred covenants, receive the ordinances in the temple, and enjoy the blessings of exaltation". THIS IS WHAT MISSIONARIES DO! We try to strengthen families, we try to help people get to the temple and make covenants (baptism, anyone?), and we ultimately want everyone to enjoy the blessings of exaltation. We must first prepare ourselves with these things so that we can help others. We cannot convert past our own conversion. Funny, it's like we have inspired prophets, seers, and revelators who know what programs we need at different stages of our lives to prepare us for what is coming. OH WAIT, WE DO! The Young Women's program is inspired. Preach My Gospel is inspired. How great that all of the resources we have work together because they all come from a Heavenly Father who loves us?! 

Life is good my friends. 

Do your Personal Progress and see for yourself :P

(PS. EVERYONE BETTER WISH MY MOM A HAPPY BIRTHDAY BECAUSE I LOVE HER AND ITS THE BEST DAY OF THE YEAR AND ITS ON OCTOBER 29TH! Thanks<3) 

I can handle Tingle-Town, but I can't take the heat!

Preparation Day again!

Guess what I have spent this week doing? Being sick! Yaaaaaaaaaay.

I WOULD be the first to get the darn flu. 

But. All is well.

You gotta have the bad to enjoy the good.

At least, that's what they tell me. 

And. I forgot my camera today. I am totally spacing out on everything. So. Just accept this as the lamest blog post ever and we'll all be on the same page. I'll try to be extra funny to make up for it, but we'll see what happens.

Okay. Let's talk about Stephanie.

I might be a little biased when I say that she is the best recent convert ever. #dealwithit

Remember when she got a fever when she got the gift of the Holy Ghost? Yeah, that happens every time she feels the Spirit. How special and pure do you have to be to feel it THAT strongly? At FHE on Monday, we were asking about it and if she still felt hot and she said, "No. Just tingly". But guess what happened as soon as we started talking about what she learned from the Book of Mormon? FIRE. It's like...so precious and so sad. She literally gets HOT. She goes, "Seriously. How long is this going to last??? I can handle Tingle-Town, but I can't take the heat!" hahahahahahaha.

You wanna know what else is AWESOMELY POSSUMLY? She already got assigned home teachers, has a calling waiting to be extended, and is PUMPED about missionary work! We had a lesson/lunch with her at a members house (bless her sweet little Southern Belle heart) and talked about missionary work because she had asked us how she could get her parents interested. She already carries her Book of Mormon around work and tells people about it and her baptism. #automaticmembermissionary. She just wanted to have some ideas on how to best share the gospel with her family. And! She got a Preach My Gospel! 

So we took advice from Conference and made a missionary game plan. #EXCLAMATIONPOINT. 

Oh yeah, remember how I made that legit chocolate cake last week? 

Elder Beech loved it! It was pretty AND it tasted gooooooood. 

We had Zone Training in Neenah this week! I just love missionary gatherings. Actually. I have a love/hate relationship. One day when I am not a greenie and I actually know most of the people, I will love it more. But for now, I still really like them. Missionaries are SO FUN. And we get to learn together! 

Sister Proffit and I had to do a role play in front of the zone! It was great. We had to teach doctrine from the Book of Mormon and invite to commit to read the Book of Mormon for 10 minutes a day. Did we do it? Absofruitly! (Got that one from Elder Larsen. That one's for you Larsen clan!) 

Then we had to do a role play on how to follow up with the commitment we left. We rocked that one too. 

#roleplayqueens

And we CANNOT forget my favorite Elders. Neenah Spanish!!!! Elder Cuevas and Elder Muceus are theeeeee best. Elder Cuevas is going home in two weeks. How sad! 

Basically, we are best friends. Every zone gathering equals Sister Proffit and I being excited to talk to Neenah Spanish Elders. Because they are so precious and so funny and SUCH great missionaries. 

So yeah. I have lots of pictures of them and us. You'll have to wait a week to see them. #takethat

Okay.

Funniest thing of the week.

We volunteer at the Habitat for Humanity Restore. Our manager is hilarious. Some people are really awkward around us, but he treats us like normal human beings. Which is funny because he is SOOOOO Catholic. But. Anyway. We have been measuring so many doors. I repeat. SO MANY DOORS. It's driving us crazy. But. We asked for a yard stick and he hands it to Sister Proffit and says, "Whoa. Something about handing a Sister a ruler. *shudders* Flashback to Catholic school!" 

hahahahhahahahahhahaha

Wisconsin is great. 

Remember my little encounter with being kissed on the mouth by an 11 year old boy? He's precious. We had a lesson with him and his family this week and the second he saw me, he BURST into tears. Apparently his Aunt had told him that he wasn't allowed to kiss me and that's just the worst. 

Our lesson was awesome though! They are a recent convert family and we wanted to get them in the habit of family scripture study. So we came up with the most awesome game ever. We MADE A LIAHONA. Did we just so happen to have a small gold balloon laying around from that one time the Elders attacked us with balloons? Yes! So. We read about the Liahona and Nephi breaking his bow. The game is that every time is says, "And it came to pass" the Liahona gets passed. Guess what chapter has a MILLION "and it came to pass's"? 1 Nephi 16. #makingthebookofmormonfunforallages

We asked what kinds of things God has given us today that it like the Liahona. The daughter started talking about temples and eternal marriages and Steve goes, "IM GOING TO MARRY MY GIRLFRIEND!" Well. There it is. I am engaged. Should I tell President? 

hahaha. He refers to me as his girlfriend and refers to Sister Proffit as "girlfriends friend". 

I don't know what they're gonna do when I get transferred. (Which might be soon, btw. So if you are sending me mail between now and November, send it to the mission office since I wont know if I am moving until right before.)

The rest of the week has been spent mostly in bed. The flu is not fun. I basically feel like death consumed my soul. hahaha. But. I should be on the tail end of it and back to hard work soon. #prayforme

Oh! We had an awesome lesson with Bishop Weed's family last night. They always invite two other families over when they have the missionaries over for dinner, so it's always a blast. Houses full of children make me so happy. And Elder Croft and Elder Kimzey were there too. We taught about faith and the power that comes from it. (We call in Faith1 and Faith2 in missionary-land). We split into teams (boys vs. girls of course) and brought whiteboards to draw an example of miracles brought by faith from the Book of Mormon. The boys picked Nephi shocking his brothers and the girls picked the story of Abish waking the queen and basically saving a nation. It was awesome. It was fun, spiritual, and was the perfect segway to ask them to talk to one person about Christ before Christmas (a la Elder Ballard) and promised that God would give them power to do so. 

So. Life is pretty good. 

Just living the Sister Missionary life. 

It's the best<3