Changing Hearts 1/13/14

What a great week! I have learned so much!

We had Zone Training Meeting down in Mad-town on Tuesday! I was SUPER bummed that it was a Zone Training and not a Zone Conference. Elda Beech is now an AP, so I was excited to see his stupid british face, but NOOOOOOO. President was in Madison East Zone doing interviews, so we just had training instead.

But. It was great. Truly the best training I've been too. I don't think it was anything special, but that I let my heart be more open to learning and changing. We talked about obedience, effectively setting up return appointments, giving away open copies of the Book of Mormon, and focusing on bringing families into the gospel.

Our mission has been trying to reach 300 baptisms for like...ever. Guess what we FINALLY did in 2013?! 300 sons and daughters of God entered into the straight and narrow path that leads to the Celestial Kingdom! #yayeternallife

Our goal for this year is 400 baptisms! Fitting for 2014.

Oh, and ZTM was awesome because I love missionary meetings! All of missionary friends in one place = the greatest. Elder Dickey and I became friends on Facebook before our missions and when we saw each other in real life in the mission field, we were like, “hey….I know you!.....kinda….” and it was great. He was in Madison Zone for his entire mission so far (he came out a transfer before me) and then got transferred…to the Madison West Zone! Hahahaha. I saw him and was like, “What the heck are you doing here?!” He was like, “I’m asking the same thing!” So that was fun. I like having missionary friends.

AND. *drumrollplease*.

I found my uncle-in-law Elder Zachary Hadlock! His sister is my aunt. So that was crazy. My family had been telling me to find him and I had no idea where he was serving (he just got here this transfer). I walked into ZTM and guess who was sitting right in front of me? #miracles #smallworld. So, to Aunt Beth, your brother is alive and kicking and doing well! He made us take 4 different pictures together because he didn’t like any of them. So. He’s doing just fine!

After ZTM, I went home to PDC with Sister Vance because we had exchanges! Exchanges usually STRESS ME OUT so hardcore, but this transfers was super chill and great and full of miracles. And I drove all day in -16 weather and ice and didn’t kill anyone! We saw so many little miracles! We got a new investigator! Jonathan committed to read the Book of Mormon for 10 minutes a day! We taught Tiffany Lafave and went over the baptismal interview questions! And. I got a package from Elder Kimzey’s mom!

hahahahaha.

Once upon a time, I was serving in Appleton and it was interviews with President and he brought Sister Cutlers famous cookies. Literally, everyone worships these things. Elder Kimzey is like, “these cookies aren’t even THAT great. I’ve had WAY better cookies”. And I was like, “Yeah right. Prove it.” SO. He said he would have his mom send me the best cookies ever for my birthday. Now that I’m in PDC and am not allowed to talk to him, I had very little faith that he would actually remember. When my birthday came around and no presents came, I completely forgot about the birthday cookie promise. Until Wednesday when my Sister Training Leader is pointing at a box addressed from “Elder Kimzeys Mom” and is like, “so…uhm. WHY is Elder Kimzey’s mom sending you cookies…?” hahahaha. #dontjudge

So that was great! Mom’s are so nice. They do so many nice things that I am sure they think are crazy. But. They are very appreciated. Best surprise ever. Thank you, Elder Kimzey’s mom!

Oh! I got glasses! So far, nobody has anything nice to say about them, but I like them.

So. There!

Saturday we went to a member baptism! It was so precious. Attending baptisms as a missionary is like the literal greatest thing ever. Especially when investigators come! Jonathan and Robert came and they loved it! Jonathan leans over and says, “Sister Butler. I can really feel the Holy Spirit in this place.” #tender. We had an awesome lesson with Robert afterward and I think he really impressed Sister Fitzner. He has so much faith. So much potential. So great.

Sunday we went to Branch council and got a bunch of ideas worked out and it was so great to be working  with the branch! Church was great too! Crystal and her girls came! But we didn’t have any investigators :/ But. It was super spiritual and I love PDC branch!

Oh! Best line of the week!

*little girl looks out the window*

“UH OH! GIO’S ATTACKING THE AMISH AGAIN!”

*she goes and gets him (Gio is a dog, btw) and comes in and yells*

“GIO ALMOST ATE THE AMISH’S HORSE!”

Hahaha!

Yes. I live in a place surrounded by Amish. And I love them. I love seeing their little black carriages driving down the road. I love that it’s perfectly normal for a little girl to have to go get her dog away from the Amish horse pulling a buggy full of Amish folk in front of her house.

I’ve been slowly coming to the realization that I am just super super prideful. I knew that my heart needed some softening, but I wasn’t quite sure how to get there. I love to be myself. I love to be real with the people I teach and talk to every day. I firmly believe that God sent me here because of who I am. I try to be as real with people as possible because I know that if I were on the other side, I would straight up hate any missionary who acted like a robot and I didn’t feel like I could actually connect with. The hard part is separating the not so good stuff about your personality from the good parts. It’s tough to try to be yourself, while also trying to fit this mold of a Preach My Gospel missionary, a consecrated missionary, a 4^th missionary, an exactly obedient missionary, ect. So. That is what I decided to work on. And it was so amazing! As soon as I just decided that I wanted to work on it, God has stepped in and is helping me change my heart!

I can tell a difference already! The other day Sister Asper was struggling and it was a bleh morning and I really just wanted to take lunch and take a nap, but instead I was like, “Get dressed! WE’RE GOING TRACTING!” And we did! And it was so great and we got a new investigator and I just felt like I was doing what God wanted me to do and I was on FIRE. I was worried that if I let go of those petty things that I felt made me me, I would feel different and stiff and cold. BUT. God is way smarter than me and knows me even better than I do and I actually feel more like myself then ever!

“You can’t convert anyone past your own conversion”. This is true. I thought I was pretty good, and then this week happened. As I am working on changing my own heart, other hearts are being softened, and then those hearts help my heart and its this big happy cycle of changing hearts!

Miracles!

I have one favor to ask of all of you, my friends, my family, my friends’ family, and my family’s friends. We are putting on a fireside for the Prairie du Chien branch about missionary work. What questions do you have about missions, how to be better member missionaries, doctrine, mission life, ect? I want this to be the greatest member missionary fireside ever and I would love to hear from you about your questions so I can answer them and also bring them up to the branch out here.

Happy New Year, eh! 1/6/14

oh boy. I am pulling a major blank on what happened this week.

#thedaysallblurtogether

Well. We spent New Year's Ever with the Fitzners. They are a member family from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada! I love them. So Canadian. Reminds of my good friend Kayla who is also from Edmonton, and my friend Justin who is currently serving a mission in Edmonton. They say things like "mum" instead of "mom" and "aboot" instead of "about" and "university" instead of "college" and I LOVE IT. I've decided that I'm going to move to Canada. Or Wisconsin. Either way.

Anyway. They invited us over to eat Chinese food and play games. And we were like, "YES WE WILL COME OVER TO EAT CHINESE FOOD AND PLAY GAMES WITH YOU ON NEW YEARS EVE!" But, we had lessons planned all evening and we were sad. 

So. We went to our first lesson at 5 and he wasnt home. So we were like, "whatt the heck, let's see if Tryon can meet an hour earlier?" And then he was like, "AWWW man! My friends came into town and I totes forgot we had a lesson tonight, ya know?! It's New Year's Eve, ya know?" So we were like, "maaaaaaaan. Well. Lets see if the Lafaves can meet and hour and a half earlier..." So we went to their house and they were like, "YES! Come in Sisters, we'd love for you to teach us right now!" So, that is precisely what we did. We answered a lot of their questions and taught about the Book of Mormon and why it is essential to their conversion and how reading it every day will help them to be sure of their decision to be baptized. And we had a great time and I just love them. 

Then. It was a little after 7 and we got to go party with the Fitzners!  We ate said chinese food and played a card came named Janitor and it was a riot. They are a bit older and have one son still at home, so it was just us 5 and it was so funny. It was so great! I love them. They respect us as missionaries, but also treat us like real people who do like to have a little bit of fun on occasion. SO NICE. 

Then we went home at 9 and celebrated New Years with the people in Halifax Canada at 10 and then went to bed. Party animals, I know. 

I went to the doctor this week! My month-long cold finally turned into a sinus infection and ear infection, so I finally got permission to see a doctor. Got some good antibiotics and an inhaler so I can breath in the cold and I love modern medicine. That's also why I'm pulling a blank today about what happened this week. I've been sleeping a lot. haha.

We've met with the Lafaves a lot and they are progressing toward baptism! 

OH!

We had a lesson with our friend Kevin who wants to come back to church and it was SO good. I love teaching him. He already knows the doctrine and stuff, so we can go right into how he can apply it in his life to make him happier. That's my favorite part of missionary work. Getting on someone's level and seeing what they are thinking and how they are feeling and then recognizing that that is real for them and them helping them see how the gospel is going to help them! We helped him desire to come to church and invited him to come fasting so that he could feel the spirit. And guess what?! He came and enjoyed it!

Jonathan came to church this week to and the branch just scooped him up and made him feel right at home and it was so precious. 

LastP-day we went bowling with the Senior couple to celebrate my and Sister Parkinsons birthday and it was so fun! 

It's really cold here. We have been instructed not to street contact or tract until Wednesday. Apparently exposed skin will get frostbite in 5-10 minutes. So. Thats fun. 

I don't really think it's that bad though. With my coat and leggings and hat and scarf, the only thing that gets cold is my nose hairs. And those arent that important anyway. haha. 

God has definitely blessed this desert rat with thicker blood to survive Wisconsin winters. I think it feels kinda good outside, to be honest. I know, that's weird! But I'm giving all the credit to God, because I am from Arizona and I know that without some kind of divine help, I would have frozen to death in October. 

I've been reading the Book of Mormon in english and spanish. Have I ever told you how much I love that book? I love studying the gospel. I read Jacob 5 recently and learned that I actually love that chapter. It gets a bad wrap sometimes. But it is so good! God is so good! He loves us so much and is so patient with us even when all we want to grow is bad fruit. He keeps giving us the chance to be good. Lets be good, friends. That will make us happy. Kay? Kay(: 

We Didn't Have to Dream of a White Christmas. 12/30/13

I have come to the official conclusion that missionary Christmases are the best kinds of Christmas. 

We woke up at 6:30 and opened all our presents. Holy, thank you! I have the best family and friends ever. I am definitely spoiled. 

We went and had breakfast with Elder and Sister Parkinson. Sister Asper called home first. Her brother is engaged! 

I got to talk to my family and it was great! It didn't make me all sad and homesick and all! It was like, "YAY! I love my family!" And then I went about my normal day.

We had a Christmas dinner at the church with the Parkinsons and Kathy and Wade. We were hoping for a better turnout, but it didn't quite work out the way we wanted. But. it was great. Sister Asper played the sax and it was great.

After dinner we took the leftovers and took them to our friend Crystal out in Fennimore. We got to visit with her and her two little girls and it was so fun. We read the story about Jesus I had just gotten and then we read about Nephi building a boat in the Book of Mormon. And then we gave them each a copy for Christmas. It was so precious. I loved helping people feel God's love on Christmas. It was awesome. 

Christmas Eve was cool too! We had district meeting and then had dinner with a nonmember family. They got us presents and everything! So nice! And I sang Justin Beiber karaoke with the 12 year old girl because I felt like that was an acceptable thing to do on Christmas Eve. We've spent a lot of time with that family. We went there for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and yesterday for my birthday. They are the nicest people and I have been so thankful for them. I'm working on building trust so that they will be more open to hearing more about the gospel. 

Speaking of which: the Lafave family set a baptism date!!!! March 1st! It's funny, when Sister Asper and I were praying to discern a date for them, December 28th kept popping up. But then we never felt right and the opportunity to invite them to baptism never came around. And then ON DECEMBER 28th, they set a baptism date. The Lords timing is great. 

I am so excited for them!!! 

My birthday was great! We were supposed to get a bad freezing rain storm, but we didnt! Yay for birthday miracles! We went to church and it was so great and I cried because I just love the PDC branch and they always bring the spirit so strong and I received a lot of answers to questions. We did studies and I read Jacob 5 and it was so great. Jacob 5 as a missionary is SO much more powerful. I spent a whole hour just reading that chapter and cross referencing it to PMG and Conference talks and Jesus The Christ. Those kind of studies are my favorite. It's gonna take me forever to get through the BoM again, but thats okay. 

One day this week was HOT. Seriously, I carried my light coat around all day because wearing it was too hot. Guess what temp it was? 40 degrees. hahahahhahahaha.

I had the best time ever volunteering at the nursing home on Friday. I helped my friend Orva write letters (she can write or speak very well) and she is the sweetest person ever. I just wanted to cry with love all day long. Her letters were all so positive and so faithful in God and seeing her family again in a better life. She kept saying, "you are such a precious soul", "may you be most blessed for your beautiful heart".  It just tore my heart right open.

Basically this week I have realized how blessed and fortunate I am. I can speak on my own. I can write my own letters. I can walk on my own. I can have snowball fights whenever I want. haha I have a bed and food and a warm apartment. I have people who throw me birthday parties because they know that I don't have family here. I have the knowledge of the gospel. I know who I am and why I am here and where I am going. I know there is a God who loves me and a Savior who died for me. 

What can be better?

NOTHING, my friends. 

Nothing at all.