Happy Birthday Week to Jesus and Me!

GUESS WHAT?!

The next email I send out, I will be a whole year older. 

Eww. 

TWENTY.

How did that happen?

The big 2 - 0. 

Gross. 

But. Happy. Because I love my birthday. (And a big shout-out to Rachel Malgren for ALREADY emailing me happy birthday. And sending me the most hilarious memes every week. You win) I'm already celebrating my birthday week and have made sure that the whole Prairie Du Chien branch knows that next Sunday will be my birthday. SO. It'll be great. 

idk what face this is....but I promise this is the best picture OF ALL TIME.

And I get to call home. Thats scary. hahaha. And exciting. I'll probably bawl my eyes out and just want to crawl into bed and sing all the worldly songs that I can remember (which isnt very many, btw. Mission life erases everything you once knew. AND. I dont know any of the songs on the radio in Walmart anymore. Or the movies that are out. Its really strange #wholenewmeaningto'intheworldbutnotoftheworld') 

This week was both kinda sucky and awesome. 

Winter is hard for me. There is no sun. haha. And its cold. And no one wants to talk to you when its below zero outside. And I got sick again, so it was just kinda blah.

This is my best friend Dalton.

But! Then I got better and we did all sorts of fun things! 

The Fitzners took us out to dinner when our friend Robert didn't show up to our lesson. It was fun getting to know them a little better. And eating food that I didn't have to make.

We went Christmas caroling with the Stout family and the Oates family and the Gallager family who arent members. It was so fun! We caroled to a bunch of their friends and all of the kids were just SO precious and it was just so fun. And then we went back to the Stout's home and drank hot cocoa and ate Christmas cookies and talked. It was so good. I think it was really good for the Gallager family to see that missionaries truly are just normal people. 

yes, I decorated my room with snowflakes.  Yes, its snowing outside, its fine.

And! We went to decorate Christmas cookies with the Lafave family. They are so ready for baptism. I can't wait. But. I LOVE THEM. They have the cutest children whom I just adore. We put on a Nativity play with everyone and we all dressed up and wrapped scarves on our heads and read from Luke and baby Dailey was Jesus, and Tiffany and John were Mary and Joseph, and Sister Oates was the angel, and Dalton and Eric were Wise Men, and Dustin and I were Shepherds, and Brother Oates was Herod. And it was so precious and I died with love. 

A two year old took this picture of our Nativity play.  precious, right?

Like seriously. I am falling in love with everyone in PDC. #sistermissionaryproblems

Last night I literally broke down and bawled my eyes out because we were listening to "The Work" CD and the song about the hardest thing he ever loved to do was on. It talks about all the stages of mission life and then about how hard it was to go home and leave his heart in a place he grew to love. And I was like, "NOOOOOOOOO". And cried. I never ever ever want to leave Wisconsin. Sister Asper was like, "....we still have like 13 more months left....why are you crying about going home........???" And I was like, "CAUSE ITS SO SAD!" She thinks I'm crazy.

Whatever. It's true. The day I have to leave and take off my name tag will be the saddest day of my life. 

BECAUSE I LOVE ALL THE HUMANS IN WISCONSIN. <3

I don't know how God can love so many people so perfectly. Its exhausting. And then they make poor choices and it just breaks your heart. Idk how he does it. 

Oh, PS. Tomorrow is my 5 month mark from entering the MTC!

HOW IN THE WORLD DID THAT HAPPEN?

OH! We got like 7 inches of snow on Saturday night/ Sunday morning. Church was cancelled like everywhere in the Madison West Zone. (Oh yeah, they split our zone..) There was SO much snow. As soon as we got the news that church was cancelled, I was like "I'm putting on SWEATS and we are going out and shoveling everyones driveways!" (Any reason not to wear a dress in public is a good reason to not wear a dress in public..) So. Off we went. On the unplowed roads... hahaha. #winterslipandslide.

Yes, that is 7 inches of snow on the ground.  Yes, I shoveled it all!

Then we got news that church was back on for just an hour at 11. So we went and shoveled all of our investigators out so they had NO excuse not to come to church. Guess who had 4 investigators at church this week!?! 

Except now we are super sore. Snow shoveling takes a whole different set of muscles. But I think I'm gonna go home pretty ripped. I am a snow shoveling champ by now. 

Oh. And I didn't know that it was possible for it to rain while it was 20 degrees outside, but it totes is. Now I understand what an ice storm is. NOT FUN.

Raining ice, ugh

Church was awesome because our little branch (and our friends Jonathan and the Lafave family) met and just sang our favorite hymns. There weren't any assigned speakers, we just got up and shared our favorite hymns and why it was special and then we sang it. I was bawling cause it was so spiritual and I was just overcome with love for everyone there. 

Today we are going to decorate more cookies with the senior couple in town and then write letters and then go teach the Chase family about Jesus! Its going to be so great! 

 I love Christmas and I love Jesus and I love Prairie Du Chien and I love Appleton and I love teaching people about the gospel and I love helping people and I love reading the Book of Mormon with people and I surprisingly love the snow and I love all of the children in the world and I love my family and I love the families that I teach and I love singing and I love everything about being a missionary. 

ONLY IN PRAIRIE  DU CHIEN, WISCONSIN CAN YOU FIND A CAMO RECLINER!

Peace and love, friends! Have a very merry Christmas! 

Miracles!

It's been a great week! 

I already talked about House on the Rock and how legitimately awesome and fun it was. Uhm, because, it was. (:

Tuesday was great because we spent the day in Mad-town at Zone Training! I LOVE MISSIONARY MEETINGS. Mostly because I love missionaries. But also because they are awesome and spiritual and we always learn a ton. We focused on helping our investigators coming to sacrament meeting. Did you know that for this mission right now it takes 36 new investigators on average to lead to one baptism? #TALKTOALLTHEPEOPLE Being in Madison is crazy too. It's like...an actual city. With stores. And people! Totally a different world.

We also had exchanges. Sister Christenson came to Prairie with me and the Parkinsons. We had a great exchange on Wednesday. She taught me how to talk to people better on doorsteps. And we got a new investigator. And taught a nonmember family the Restoration at a member family's house!!!! And we saw Jonathan and we just love him. And we taught so many lessons and knocked on so many doors. And shoveled so many driveways and sidewalks. AND I DROVE IN THE SNOW AND DIDNT KILL ANYONE! #beproudofme

On Thursday we had a super awesome lesson with our friend Kevin. It was cool because Sister Asper and I felt like we just kept saying the absolute wrong thing and saying things over and over again and we just felt like it wasnt working out. But at the end of the lesson, Kevin was in tears and told us some things that he was working on and that he was prompted by the Spirit to tell us. It was a really cool experience. I literally thought that I was tripping over my words, but it sure showed me that it isnt my words that matter. My words are simply an act of my faith and God makes up for the rest. I am not the teacher. It was humbling. 

On friday we were trying to knock doors and contact some formers and potentials when there were a TON of people around. (and by a ton I just mean more than 5 or 6 :P) We thought something was going on on the island or the Villa Louis, so we parked by the bridge and started following the people. People finally around = street contacting. We hardly ever get to contact in Prairie du Chien because 1) its freezing and no one wants to be outside unnecessarily, and 2) there just isnt anything to do here and not much population anyway. SO. We took the opportunity and ran with it! And guess what!? There was a Christmas parade! It was so fun. We talked to some lovely people and got to talk to some members. It was great!

Saturday was the branch Christmas party and it was the greatest thing ever. SO MUCH LOVE. I have officially fallen in love with Prairie Du Chien. Thats a true story. I just love everyone. Our investigator Robert came and had such a great time! OH! And Doris came too! And the Richland Center Elders came and it was just a grand ol' party. Oh! And Sister Asper and I did a musical number. I sang Angels We Have Heard on High while she played the saxophone. Was it totally legit?! ABSOFRUITLY. So fun.

Basically. We taught a lot of lessons and got new people to teach and worked with the branch a ton and saw the Elders a ton and fell more and more in love with Prairie du Chien and missionary work in general. 

I Wanna Build A House On A Rock

Hello friends! This email is late today because we spent the day as a district at a totally legit place called House On The Rock! I know, I know. House on the rock? That sounds weird. I thought so too. Especially after the Elders were like, "Yeah! Some guy liked this rock. So he built a house on it and kept a bunch of his collections up there!" I was like....."That sounds....weird". NO! It was the most legit thing I've ever seen. I took a million pictures to prove it, which my mom will insert here: 

This week seemed to breeze by, yet take forever at the same time. 

Tuesday was so great. District meeting is always great. This week was even greater because for role plays we had to just talk to each other and get to know each other. Did Elder Rudarmel get totally awkward and blushy and shy and just completely awkward because he was talking to sisters about not missionary things? Yes. Did Elder Shenk totally pry into my ex-fiance situation? Yes. Did that make Elder Rudarmal even more awkwarded out? Yes! Was it the funniest thing of my whole life? YES. 

We also had dinner with Derald and Anita and I just love them and I love reading the Book of Mormon with them and I just LOVE them! haha. 

Wednesday was fun. We volunteered at the thrift shop and we just had a ton of fun doing it. We laughed soooooooooooo hard. 

Best line: 

*sorting through/pricing purses*

Sister Asper: Hey. This one is a Jennifer Lopez! .....Is she famous?'

Me: Hahahahahahahaha. Good one.

Sister Asper: ......wait. Does that mean she is....?

HAAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAA

Idaho'ans...I tell ya. (:

We spent all day Thursday in Boscobel. We went to a "Christmas Tea". A bunch of ladies in the town get together and do Bible study, apparently. One of our members goes and she invited us to come to this tea. It was at the Methodist church and it was SO good. It was nondenominational, ladies from all different christian faiths were in attendance. But there were speakers on how Christ can give us hope. And we sang Christmas songs and prayed and heard one girl's experience of her mission trip to Guatemala and read from the Bible. It was so spiritual uplifting, it was a great experience! We didnt necessarily proselyte or teach anyone, but we were seen in the public as people who really love and worship Christ. It was a really neat experience. 

We spent all day working in Boscobel and had dinner and a lesson with the Johnston family. I just love them. They are members in our branch and they do SO much. 

Oh! And we had a lesson with Kevin! It went really great! We talked about hope and how we can brave the scary parts of the rollercoaster we call life. It was really good. It was the first time I have had the chance to actually sit down and have a lesson with him. It was really good. hopefully we can help him start coming back to church!

Oh. And Sister Asper took a bunch of crazy pictures of me. So many pics this week.

Friday was great. We helped our investigator Doris put up her tree and christmas decorations. Talk about a good time! We are each others' pseudo-family for the time being(:

Saturday was a crazy day. I just woke up and felt so blah. Like just sad and empty. It was a not fun feeling. It was like all of my testimony and my energy and everything just disappeared. I've heard it happening to other missionaries before, and that its normal and just happens. But I still did not like it. I took a long shower and when that didnt help I just took a nap. We werent that productive that day, but I needed time to just chill out. I read like ALL of Jesus the Christ this week. Best book ever. Well. Second to the Book of Mormon. I'm glad that I have focused on Jesus the Christ for now though because it makes Christmastime more about Christ in my head. I learned a TON about Him and His life. 

Sunday was great. I have decided to bribe all of the Primary kids to remember my name by handing out stickers. Soon I will just be known as the sticker sister. And that is fine by me. One little boy named Cam is like 2 years old and every time he sees me he gets SO happy and puts his hand out for a high five. #itrainedhimwell.

I'm gonna hit the pavement even harder this week. #letsdothis.

Its also freezing. Just fyi. hahaha. 

And I love everyone<3 I 

It's Snowing in Prairie of Dogs

Its officially looking like winter here in the Prairie of Dogs. We woke up to snow and its actually stuck around today. Its only the third snowfall. But it was good because it actually made it warmer. Its been freezing. We'll see how I feel about it when it gets down to -20 like everyone is warning me about. 

This week was so great! 

Remember our new investigator Robert that I mentioned last week? We met with him last Monday night and it was SO GOOD. Golden, even. We taught him the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon and he was soooo in tune to everything we taught him. The Spirit was so strong and he was like "Yeah, I believe everything you are saying". He is such a nice and humble man. We are so excited to work with him!

I also cut Sister Asper's hair. Eeek! hahaha. She wanted a trim but didnt want to pay for one and I was like, "Hey. I could probably do it." So I did. And the next day she was like, "Hey. Cut me some bangs and some layers!" AHHH. But I did and it looks great. So. Theres that. 

We also went to Cabelas here in Prairie du Chien. Holy moly. If this is the Holy Land of hunting, I don't know what is! Deer season just opened and I have seen more people in orange all over the woods than I care to even count. Prairie people LOVE to hunt. And fish. Even in the snow and ice. They love it. It's like what everyone and their baby and their great grandma does for fun. Its crazy. 

Speaking of deer, there is this one little 3 point buck that we see all the time. He's so cute! 

Tuesday was zone conference and I just about died with love towards everything and everyone. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon in conversion and how we can use it more effectively in all aspects of our work: teaching, finding, ect. We learned how to use the illustrations in the front of it in our teaching, which was great because Sister Proffit and I had started to do that on our own months ago in Appleton. #wayaheadofthegame.

The Madison Stake President spoke to us about what the members in the stake wanted us to know about working with them. He said that members WANT to help us but they aren't good at it, are scared, or busy. Basically he told us to keep trying and be patient. We got a BOMB cd called "Missionary Next Door". OH MY GOODNESS. I'm sending it home because it is the best thing I have ever heard. It pumped me up to do missionary work...and I AM a missionary. hahaha. Working more effectively with the members is a big push right now. We as full time missionaries need the help. Especially right now when no one wants to stand at their front door in 11 degrees and talk about Jesus. We need your friends to teach. You dont have to ask them. WE can ask them if they are interested in learning more. If they hate us, thats okay! We're getting transferred! But your relationships with your friends do not have to suffer. Bring them to things. Ask us to come over when they are over. WE do the inviting to learn more. WE have been trained on how to talk to people about the gospel. WE are the ones in charge of spiritual conversion! All you have to do is be fun and friendly and invite them to do fun things! 

Anyway. I'll get off my soapbox... haha. It was just SOOOOO good. If we could get people that way, I wouldnt have to tract as much and that would be a happy day. hahaha :P 

We've been teaching a part-member/less active couple named Derald and Anita. They are hilarious. I just love them so much. Derald makes us the BEST food and Anita is just so sweet. Anita is so ready for baptism, they just have to take the leap of faith and get married first. But it will come. I have loved reading the Book of Mormon with them. Ahhhhh. So much love. My eyes are literally full of tears because I love them so much right now. hahaha. #crybaby

Oh hey! We got two more investigators this week! #miracles. Jonathan literally found us a couple weeks ago when we were walking to church. He didnt come with us, but we stopped back by the other day and got a return appointment and taught him the Restoration and then he came to Sacrament meeting! (Which was the Primary Program and it was the CUTEST one I have ever seen. I love the Prairie du Chien branch children. So precious!) And Tyron is awesome. We havent been able to have a sit down lesson with him because his work schedule is crazy and he doesnt have a phone. BUT. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to read it and he TOOK NOTES on his reading. He's kinda a challenge cause he's never home, but if he's reading the Book of Mormon, thats a huge sign. People who read the Book of Mormon feel its powwer and are more converted. True story. 

We went on a run down to the Mississippi the other morning. It was cold, but fun! I love living right next to the Mississippi River. I think its legit. 

You know you live in a small town when everywhere you go, you know someone and they know you and everyone knows each other and talks about everyone elses business. hahaha. Or when two people are having a fight and not talking so they call the Sisters to be the middlemen. Yeah, that happened too. hahaha. Its great. If Prairie du Chien had a tv show it would be a mix of Duck Dynasty, That 70's Show, and Glimore Girls. Just think about that. (:

I got to cuddle the cuddliest cat! 

Pretty much, the work is picking up here. Sister Asper says that since I got here, she has seen more progress and miracles than ever before. So hopefully that means I'm doing SOMETHING right. haha. We have been working hard. Harder than I have ever worked. The other day we were struggling to place a Book of Mormon to fulfill a commitment we made to our Sister Training Leaders to place a Book of Mormon a day. We tracted in two different towns, visited formers and potentials, visited people we knew, asked members for referrals...literally EVERYTHING we could possible think of and we just couldnt place a Book of Mormon. Even though we didnt, it felt really good to work so hard and give it our absolute best even though we skipped dinner and it was freezing and we were having a kinda rough day. It was great. 

I love the Book of Mormon. It is truly the means of becoming converted. Through it we can get answers to any question or problem. I have to admit that before my mission, I took it for granted. I never REALLY cared enough to really read it and ponder it and ask if it was really all that it claimed to be. I WAS DUMB!!!!! Read it TODAY and ask God TODAY to help you know of its divinity. Read it. I dont care if you start over or start where you left off or what. Read it today. It will bless your life in ways that I can't even explain. It will give you the "peace of God" (Alma 7:27), "eternal bliss" (Alma 37:44), hope and a better life (Ether 12:4), ect. 

Oh. Doris, our other investigator gave me an otter stuffed animal and I laughed so hard and I love it. 

Until next time, friends! Stay radical. Hurrah for Israel. Choose the Right. Is there sunshine in your soul today? God be with you till we meet again. 

Oh! And have a great thanksgiving! Remember to be thankful for all God has given us. He truly loves us. I'll be partying with Brother Wentz, an 84 year old man who loves practical jokes, and his family. #ilovewisconsin. #hopefullytherearefriedcheesecurds #ilovefriedcheesecurds