2nd to Last Email 2/2

Oh gosh.

Hi (:

Is it annoying if I comment on how fast time is flying or how I feel like this week was one big blur again?

Probably.

Oh well.

Time is flying and this week is one big blur.

I legit am sooo out of time so I will just paste what I wrote for my "final paragraph" that will go in the book of missionaries at the mission home.

" Everyone says that time flies when you serve the Lord. It isn't until you live it do you realize how true that is. This past year and half has truly been a blessing, a refiners fire, a miracle, a challenge, and a privilege. I'm not sure how anyone puts their mission into words. It has been the hardest, most rewarding thing I've done so far. My mission has taught me about God's infinite wisdom. He knows me. He knows me so much better than I know myself. I have learned to trust in Him. He knew I needed to serve a mission eons before I ever did. He made it possible. He knew that I needed the people of Wisconsin. He knew that I could do it. I have come to know my Savior, Jesus Christ. I have come to better understand His Atoning sacrifice for me. I learned how to do hard things with His help. I learned what it means to have weaknesses become strengths, and how that is possible. I learned the importance of covenants. I have seen the power that comes from righteous living. I have been humbled. I have been broken. I have felt strength when I needed it. I have seen and witnessed the literal, tangible light that glows in peoples' eyes as they come closer to Christ. My mission has become sacred to me because it has taught so much that I didn't even know I didn't know! I have a long way to go and I many more things to do in my life, but my mission has taught me that I can have hope and confidence in my future. I have learned how to help others, but most importantly, I have learned how CHRIST is the only one who can heal and change hearts. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve the people in Appleton, Prairie du Chien, Janesville, Lake Mills, and Racine for Him. In turn, He has changed my heart. And I am eternally grateful. "

Rollercoaster'ing 1/26

Is today REALLY the 26th of January????? Oh my good golly gee whittickers, I just might just freak out.

So like, HI!

Time is ticking and it's stressing me out.

This week was so good.

And that stresses me out.

My good friend JayQ once said that at the end of your mission is when you FINALLY start to feel like you are getting the hang of things, and thats when they send you home.

JayQ is right.

Like, I am having so much fun. haha. And everytime I'm like, "WOW, this is so fun! I'm so glad I just got here!" I remember that I have ACTUALLY been a legit set-apart missionary for 18 months and 2 days now and I DIDNT just start. And then it becomes a sad day.

But at the same time, I am so tired.

Evidence:
 Pday last week consisted of a 3 hour nap by the fireplace. And that didnt even cut it.

But then I remember that I love this place and I love being a missionary and I love teaching people the gospel.

Evidence:

District Meeting the other week when we set our yearly goals for the mission. Oh wait, what do you mean I wont be here for 90% of 2015? Sister Cutler (the mission presidents wife) happened to be sitting next to me and I said, "Sister Cutler, I dont ever want to leave!" To which she very happily reminded me that I can sign up again in 6 months!

I started to get sick on Tuesday this week.

Which is hilarious.

Because I went on exchanges on Tuesday.

Translation: I am ALWAYS sick on exchanges. I'm pretty sure every exchange I go on, I look like the worst missionary in the world because I'm always just coming down with something. 

#ithappens

But the good news is that is was just a cold and I am feeling much better and it didnt prevent me from working.

We've done some super great things. We've been tracting a lot. And its been pretty hilarious.

Last night we went out with a goal to get four other lessons in a short amount of time. So we were just doing everything we could to get people to talk to us. At one door, a man answers and opens the screen door. I smile real big (but not cheesily) and reach out my hand and say, "Hi! My name is Sister Butler. What is your name?" ............ AND THERE IS SILENCE. Just this big dude staring at me. In silence. With my hand, nice and warm and toasty in my big pink mitten, just hanging there, juuuuuuuust chillin'. For like what was probably 5 minutes. When I realize that he was NOT going reciprocate my handshake, I awkwardly said, "ooookay, I wont shake your hand.... Well, Sir. We are missionaries...." And he says, "we're eating dinner" and closes the door. Then Escobar and I proceeded to laugh our faces off. 

We kinda laid down the law with Tessa. She is not progressing and she is lying to us about a bunch of things and its really awkward because we KNOW she is lying, but she refuses to tell the truth, even when we ask her about it and teach the principle and everything. So we have been praying really hard to know how to help her. We made the sweetest baptismal calendar eveeerrrr. We used sticky notes and wrote all the lessons we need to teach and scheduled lessons for them. This way she knows what we'll be teaching and that if she cancels or doesnt show up, its going to push her date back again. Its been suuuuuppppper helpful so far.


Oh. I should probably explain my picture and the comment about almost being shot...(: I like to joke and say that I almost got shot this week. But its kinda not funny cause it could have happened. We went to visit our friend Tessa this week. We pull up next to her house (I always feel awkward in her neighborhood and other parts of the "hood" cause we drive a new white 2013 Ford Fusion and we always wear skirts or dresses, and I'm just a total white girl and it just looks bad..haha) So. We pull up and there are like 20 shady looking characters pointing and yelling and pretended to shoot a gun toward her house. I'm like, "Sister Escobar, we are about to get shot!" (and she laughs cause she aint scared of nothing here {excuse my grammar...it's just what happens when you live in the hood} and thinks it would be fun to get shot. She's crazy and wants to be a cop or something.) But, we have an appointment and important things to talk about, so we get out of the car and walk through the crazy and knock on her front door. She opens it like an inch and tells us, "you dont wanna be here right now. LEAVE. People here gots guns. You two pretty white girls gotta leave. It aint safe for you. Dont stay in the part of town." So...we walk back and get in the car and laugh and drive away. The end.

Fred is still awesome. We asked him to sing for us this week when we were at his house with Sister Dalley and it was crazy good. Like.... he opened his mouth and we all like....jumped, it was so good.

OH! I gave a talk in spanish! It was the proudest day of my life. I have been working on it for a little bit now. I decided to write as much of it in spanish as I could and then have Hermana Calderwood help me edit it. I was soooo surprised at how little corrections she made. I spoke on, "sacrificios de uno por Cristo" (sacrifices we make for Christ, essentially). It was so fun. Everyone told me it was so good and that I can't get away with saying that I dont speak it anymore. So...now I guess I have to actually talk to people in spanish now. I also volunteered to translate for Bro Warner when he goes home teaching this week. So.....I'm terrified about that. I'm not THAT good.

This is what I just told my mission president about this week, "This week was good! We have been focusing on finding. We havent had a bunch of success yet, but we will! Its been fun to see how much I have grown in my ability to talk to people and to testify. Testifying makes me happy. It reminds me of what I know and why I came here. Its been a fun week to be a missionary."

oh! My homecoming talk will be of Feb 15th! Uhm, I dont know what time or where...but I'm sure you can ask my dad or you already know because you are in my ward anyway. But if not, ask el Padre gue see llama Shane. Hope to see you all there!

Jan 20, 2015 (where did January go?) 1/20

Hey!

This week was a really good week! This email wont be very long because we couldn't email yesterday since the libraries were closed for MKLJ day and we have to be at District Meeting in an few.

Monday was a fun Pday. The elders had a nerf war. It was pretty epic. We had a lesson with Cheryl Johnson and her family and that was legit. He husband recently returned to activity, and he was on fire. She is less active too and is struggling with a lot of t hings, and he ended up being a big help to her. It was cool because he like literally had JUST started coming back. Like..the past two weeks. But he knows its true and good and he knows how much living the gospel blesses him. 

We saw Fred twice this week. . He is SO cool. We taught him a bit of the Plan of Salvation, but he had questions about so many things that we didnt get very far. They were super good questions though and I'm glad we had time to help him. He struggles with things and keeping the faith, and so I asked him to read 2 Nephi 4 when he had time. He opened up to it and says, "Hey! That the page I'm on!" Which means in 1 week he had read 63 pages. Thats legit. This guy is so prepared. We taught the rest of the Plan of Salvation on Saturday and it went really well. Then he went to a get-together at a members house and apparently had a super fun time and even sang for everyone. We didnt know he sang. 

We werent able to go to said party because we went to a baptism in the spanish branch. That was really cool. Little Yudiria got baptized! Her father is really against the church and swore she would never be allowed to get baptized while she was under 18. She had been praying since she was 6 years old for her dads heart to softened so she could get baptized. Isnt that the tenderest thing ever? She was precious. She came to the church without any baptismal clothes and without any idea how the actual ordinance worked. I helped her pick a dress and braid her hair back and she asked me to stand by the steps in the font while the ordinance was performed. It was so precious. And of course, anything said or done in spanish is 100% prettier and more spiritual than in english. 

I also made a little friend named Chase who is 3 years old and only speaks spanish. We get along great because I can speak 3-year-old spanish pretty fluently, actually...its probably all I speak. 

We had interviews with President this week too. It was a little crazy that it was my last one before like the... "go home, stay active, and get married in the temple" interview I will have in three weeks. But it was good. I usually bawl my face off for who-knows-why, but I didnt! I've had a lot of experiences this week where I was able to see how much I have grown. Some of them are silly things and some of them are awesome spiritual things. 

One of said silly experiences was when we got TOTALLY stuck in some snow in a ditch. Sister Escobar tried to turn and we ended up in like 3 feet of snow. We were STUCK. BUT! This Arizona girl knew what to do. I got the floor mats from the back seats and got them under the wheels after digging out the front half of the car. We had to call the elders to help me push, because I am weak. But I totally didnt freak out. Usually, I would. But I was calm and collected and it was kinda funny, actually. 

This week is going to be awesome too. We will try to stay out of snow banks though (;

Miracles happen 1/12/2014

Hey friends!

This week has been REALLY cold but REALLY good. 

One of the highlights of this week happened on Saturday and Sunday and involves our new friend Fred and the Dalley family. 

Earlier in the week, we had set up an appointment with Fred for Saturday. We tried really hard to find a member to come with us since he is a single man and we can't visit him on our own. On Thursday, we thought we should call one sister, who was unable to come. So we asked another sister. Who never got back to us. On Friday we were feeling a little more desperate. We literally asked 4 more sisters. No one was free. Saturday morning we were stressing. Sister Dalley texted us about this coming thursday when we are going to the family history center with our friend Mackie. We had just seen Sister Dalley, but it was worth a shot - we asked her to come to our lesson with Fred later that day. She said she could!

We got to the lesson and it was perfect. I havent been the best at having members present at every lesson, but this week I gained a testimony of it. It was one of the best 1st lessons I've ever taught. Fred is super prepared. And Sister Dalley is an awesome member missionary. She could explain things in ways that we never could. SHE invited him to church.  And he came!

So the next day we are welcoming people into the building and up walk the Dalley family and Fred. literally, they looked like THE HAPPIEST people on earth. 

Did Fred love church? YES. Did he say he'd come back? YES. Was Sister Dalley the person God needed us to take with us to teach Fred? YES. Is that why everyone else and literally their mom was busy? YES. Is God totally in charge of His work? YES.

17 months down and I feel like I'm finally starting to get a hang of this. haha. Sometimes...

We got to meet with Tessa again finally too. She came to church too. The lesson was crazy spastic and all over the place because there were like 4387345 other random people and children at her house and she was trying to braid extensions into her girls' hair. Did she teach me? Yes. It was the greatest thing ever. All of the little kids were like, "You know howta braid?" And I said, "Uhm, yeah. Does it look like I know how to braid?" And they laughed and said, "Noooooo, youre a white girl!" Well, I showed them. White girls can braid too. 

Oh heavens. We also met with our friend Pat. We tracted into her a few weeks ago and we've seen her a few times. I love Pat. She is the nicest soul. This week, she dropped us. But I still love her. She sat down and told us that this would be our last meeting, that she thanked us for the things we taught her and helping her, but she cant see herself changing beliefs at this point in her life. Yet she said, "So what are you teaching me today?" and we had planned on reading the Book of Mormon with her, so we did. We read Moroni 7 which was PERFECT for the situation.

...

" 22 For behold, God knowing all things, being from everlasting to everlasting, behold, he sent angels to minister unto the children of men, to make manifest concerning the coming of Christ; and in Christ there should come every good thing.

 23 And God also declared unto prophets, by his own mouth, that Christ should come.

 24 And behold, there were divers ways that he did manifest things unto the children of men, which were good; and all things which are good cometh of Christ; otherwise men were fallen, and there could no good thing come unto them.

 25 Wherefore, by the ministering of angels, and by every word which proceeded forth out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise faith in Christ; and thus by faith, they did lay hold upon every good thing; and thus it was until the coming of Christ.

 26 And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God. And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying:Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.

 27 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men?

 28 For he hath answered the ends of the law, and he claimeth all those who have faith in him; and they who have faith in him willcleave unto every good thing; wherefore he advocateth the cause of the children of men; and he dwelleth eternally in the heavens.

 29 And because he hath done this, my beloved brethren, have miracles ceased? Behold I say unto you, Nay; neither have angelsceased to minister unto the children of men.

 30 For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.

 31 And the office of their ministry is to call men unto repentance, and to fulfil and to do the work of the covenants of the Father, which he hath made unto the children of men, to prepare the way among the children of men, by declaring the word of Christ unto the chosen vessels of the Lord, that they may bear testimony of him.

 32 And by so doing, the Lord God prepareth the way that theresidue of men may have faith in Christ, that the Holy Ghost may have place in their hearts, according to the power thereof; and after this manner bringeth to pass the Father, the covenants which he hath made unto the children of men.

 33 And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me.

 34 And he hath said: Repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me, and be baptized in my name, and have faith in me, that ye may be saved.

 35 And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased?

 36 Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved?

 37 Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain.

 38 For no man can be saved, according to the words of Christ, save they shall have faith in his name; wherefore, if these things have ceased, then has faith ceased also; and awful is the state of man, for they are as though there had been no redemption made.

 39 But behold, my beloved brethren, I judge better things of you, for I judge that ye have faith in Christ because of your meekness; for if ye have not faith in him then ye are not fit to be numbered among the people of his church.

 40 And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?

 41 And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.

 42 Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.

 43 And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.

 44 If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

 45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

 46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

 47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.

 48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen."

The spirit was so strong. She just kept looking at the page and we let there be silence for quite awhile. Sister Escobar asked her what her favorite story of Christ was, and she said it was the Sermon on the Mount. Even more perfect! I showed her where Christ teaches the Nephites the exact same things in 3rd Nephi. We read it together and it was so great. Pat still dropped us, but we got her to keep the Book of Mormon and to commit to read the rest of the chapters that cover the sermon on the mount in the America's. And it was awesome. 

I was just emailing my cousin and he asked me how much more time I have on my mission, when I realized that today is january 12th and I got home on Feb 12th. AHHHHHHHHHH. Stress. Sadness. I want to do this forever. 

missions are great.

go on one.

Love you all! Thanks for everything! I feel your prayers! 

1/5/2015

It was my birthday! I cant even believe I'm supposed to be 21 now. Thats crazy. 

My birthday was SO good. We emailed and then we went bowling with all of our missionary friends from Racine and Kenosha. Bowling party for 14 people? Why, yes please! It's become a tradition to go bowling on my birthday. I did it last year, and I did it this year. 

It was so much fun. I bowled the greatest game I've ever done. It was a birthday miracle, I tell ya! 

4 people left by the time we could take this pic...

​

​

Okay, I forgot that myldsmail hate missionaries and I can only send inline pictures like once per email. 

The rest of the day on my birthday was so good. We had dinner with the Costabiles and I even got to blow out 21 candles on a birthday cake! And I did it in one breath! 

This week was so good. We've tracted a lot. It finally snowed and got cold. We were supposed to have a baptism, but that didnt work out. I guess that doesnt go under the "why the week was so good" category. But it was part of the week. Tessa has kinda fallen off the face of the planet. We're pretty sure she is keeping some secrets because she hasnt come to church or made any of our appointments and shes kinda avoiding us. Hopefully we can get in contact with her soon and try to figure out why she wasnt ready for her baptism. 

We partied really hard on New Years. We had dinner with the Furner family and had missionary correlation meeting and set some goals for the new year and were home by 9:30 and went to bed at 10:30. Living life on the edge. haha. But it was actually really fun. The Furners are a great family. I dont understand how they are still living on the earth right now...they are practically perfect. They should be taken straight up to heaven. haha. They really are just so good and do so much for us missionaries and our investigators and the ward and their family. They are truly an example to me. 

Its finally cold here. There's a wind chill advisory right now. We arent allowed to have any skin exposed for more than 15 minutes. So....our plans of building a snowman probably wont happen today. Its cold. I kinda love it. It feels like a Wisconsin winter FINALLY. I came into the worst winter in 20 years and this year has been super mild, so I've been pretty disappointed. But now its here and I'm kinda eating my words. haha. 

I am excited for this year. Its going to be so good. I made some goals to work on my personal prayers and to make them more earnest and sincere and meaningful. I feel like doing so will help me in all other aspects of my life, whether I'm a missionary or not. 

Love you all!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! ....oh! And Happy Birthday to me! 12/29/2014

Hi friends!

I'm tooting my own horn today and saying. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!" 

21! 

j

I kinda wish I was 22 so you could all sing T-Swift in your heads, but that will have to wait another couple hundred of days. 

Life has been so good. 

I apologize for my lame excuse of an email last week, but I really did get sick.  I caught the 24 hour flu and it had me real good. When I said that I was going to go hurl, it kinda really happened. Like all day. TMI? oh well.

The good news is that I was only sick for 24 hours. And that we live with members who can pretend to be your parents and get you medicine when you want to die. And that the elders can give blessings of healing. And that it was P-day and we really didn't have anything planned anyway. All tender mercies of the Lord.

So many things this week.

Christmas Eve was fun. 

We did service at Bethseda (a thrift store, for you non-Wisconsinites) and organized the shelves. Which was sooooo fun because I love organizing shelves. Especially shelves with Christmas things on Christmas Eve. 

We visited our friend Reagan and her kids and shared a message and got to know her and had a jolly good time. Those kids are hilarious. One is literally a miniature Will Smith. They are so witty. I was rolling on the floor the whole time. 

We did a lot of walking and tried to talk to everyone. The only problem was that no one was out. haha. So we went downtown and tried street contacting down there and we had a little bit more success. We also ran into really cool things along the way, so that was sweet. 

We had dinner with the Bishop and his family and other people from the ward. It was so cute. 

We had a really good Christmas dinner and talked about Bishop and his wife's missions in the Philippines and it reminded me of my dad. Then we played a game kinda like Catch Phrase, but it was Mormon-edition. And I TOTALLY ROCKED it. haha.We played missionaries vs members and it was super fun. I'm pretty sure we won, but bishop wouldnt tell us because missionaries arent allowed to keep score. haha. 

Then we went to the Linsley's. They are a senior couple in Kenosha. They had all the missionaries over in the area and we had chips and salsa and snacks and played some games. We almost got Elder Reynolds to beatbox and Elder Clark to rap, but to no avail. Then we had a precious little Christmas devotional and we read the Nativity story from Luke and all shared insights and it was super spiritual and one of my favorite moments. Probably one of my favorite Christmas memories in my 21 years of living. Just precious and spiritual. 

Christmas was fun too.

We had breakfast with the members we live with and chatted with them for a bit. Then we studied and got ready and then we weekly planned all day. haha. Then we called home from the Riley's house. That was great. Can't believe it was my last call home. 

And I got to play with a dog while my comp talked to her family, so I was happy. 

Then we had dinner with the Grover family. That was a blast and a half. They are a super fun family. 

The rest of the week we mostly just walked around Racine trying to find people to teach. Its hard when no one answers the door, but its also fun because you never know who will answer and what they will be like. And its not very cold, so thats good! 

We taught all the youth yesterday for Sunday school, and that was super fun. I love the youth in Wisconsin. They are super strong. They live their beliefs so fiercely every day.I also loved it because it showed me how much I've grown and learned and changed. We taught about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and missionary work and it was really cool to see how much more I knew and applied that I had even a year ago, let alone 8 years ago. 

I cant believe I have spent the WHOLE year of 2014 as a missionary. I mean, I totally can believe it cause it just happened... but... you get what I'm trying to say. 

Time flies. 

And I have learned SO much about the gospel and about myself and about life and about Christ and about my purpose on earth and so many good things. 

I know that living the gospel of Jesus Christ is the best and only way to truly be happy. I know it because I've lived it and because I have seen it in so many of my friends here in Wisconsin. 

I know that the Book of Mormon is the truest book on the earth. I know it is of ancient origin and that it teaches us SO much about Christ and how to live in a crazy, fallen, war-torn world. 

I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God in 1820. I know that by the power of God, he translated the Book of Mormon.

I know that God still loves us and still has a very active role in our lives. He answers prayers. He still calls prophets and apostles to help us. 

I'm in Racine 12/22/2014

Hey, friends! This email is going to be super sucky because I feel sicker than the hills and any level of motivation and concentration I had previously is completely shot.

Leaving Lake Mills was hard. As I was driving out of town I had to keep telling myself not to bawl my face off. I came real close a couple of times, but I kept it together. I didnt get to see everyone that I wanted to before we left, but thats okay, cause I'll see them again. 

But. Good news! I also Love Racine! 

This place is soooo different than Lake Mills. There's like....diversity. haha. Yeah, it's kinda ghetto, but way less scary than everyone makes it sound. So far we've been able to teach a whole variety of people. 

And we live with members!!! Thats weird. But awesome too cause its like....a home. 

We get to attend the Spanish branch, which is a dream come true. They had their Christmas party on Friday and it was claaaaaaasic and awesome. Lots of good food. Spanish music. Happy people. A pinata. Perfect. We combined with the Milwaukee Spanish branch too, so I got to see some missionary friends. We sang a christmas song with the branch president's family and the Racine and Kenosha Spanish Elders. Highlight of my day. Reminded me of home. Heres a link to watch it:

 https://www.dropbox.com/s/819jzabqht28azw/DSCN0022.AVI?dl=0

We were teaching a recent convert named Kayla and after 30 seconds of being there, her 5 year old nephew grabbed my hand and said, "You're going to be my laaaaady." *insert melted heart here* 

We taught primary on Sunday in the Racine Ward and it was the greatest thing ever. We taught the 7 and 8 year old kids and they were just hilarious. The lesson was on Christmas and the true meaning of it and those kids were spot on. So cute. I asked them why they thought it was important to  celebrate Jesus' birth and one little girl raised her hand and says, "Uhm. Because He's our Savior...?" and so I asked them what they thought the word savior meant, and another little boy raised his hand and says, "Uhm. Someone who....saves...people...?" Gah! So precious. We talked about the Wise Men and how they knew that baby Jesus was going to be someone really important because they probably read scriptures about him coming and they went, "WHHHAAAAAT?! There is a scripture that tells the future?!?!?!?" They were excited about that one. (:

There is NO snow on the ground. And apparently we arent going to have a white christmas. :((( Pray that it snows here, friends. We all want a white Christmas. 

I wish I had energy to write more. But I think I'm gonna go hurl now. Just kidding. Kinda. 

Sad, sad, day. 12/15/2014

My time in Lake Mills is at it's end.

*insert ugly crying sad face here*

Like.
So sad.

But I'm also super stoked to go to Racine. 

I GET TO WORK IN A SPANISH BRANCH!

And see Lake Michigan! 

And make a bunch more friends and teach them the gospel!

This week has been a real-life struggle. I don't even know what has gone on though. haha. We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to contact everyone that we need to before we close the area.

 We went on exchanges.
I saw my favorite Blanca.
I laughed my face off at dinner with the Luccion family.
We helped Jenn move. Twice.
 Drank hot chocolate with twenty-million mini marshmallows.
We've prayed on a lot of doorsteps.
I set up a Christmas tree for the Kilngaman's.
I've left lots of notes on doors.
I ate a world famous-Wisconsin's-own paper-bag-caramel-apple-pie.
Watched the "He Is The Gift" video at LEAST 15 times more.
 I got to hold an orange kitten.
We went Christmas Caroling with the Law's family and made new friends.
I prayed in Spanish.
I laughed my face off again at the Earl's house.
 I've successfully avoided wearing winter boots or winter coat again.
I ate dessert for dinner with the Jacobs family.
We went to district meeting.
 I traveled back in time and made an appearance in Bethlehem.
I got to hold a seahorse Cheeto.
We stalked a few people that have been avoiding us.
I've been praying for snow.

We taught a new investigator about the Restoration.

We used fire as an object lesson.
We made cards with the Donnelly's to learn about our baptismal covenant.

I had way too much fun with the youth while cleaning up after the ward Christmas party.

I've checked an empty mailbox at least once everyday.
I cut a bunch of strings off of dance costumes made by Rio Lockerman.

  We've jammed out to Christmas music er'day.

I learned that I hate driving in the Wisconsin countryside in total fog.

I spoke to a bird via whistling.

I've drank way too much Dr. Pepper. 

We've seen lots of people that don't usually let us in.

We got Jaysin and Dwight to come to the ward Christmas party.
 

Thats my week in a nutshell. 

I basically just partied while teaching all sorts of people about the gospel and the meaning of Christmas and re-fell in love with this area and everyone and everything in it.

But.

Racine is going to be great too.

(:

One week left in LM :/ 12/8/2014

Hi, friends!

This week has been a crazy one.

As you already know, we found out that Sister Hatch was going home on Monday. We spent the day packing and cleaning and frantically trying to get everything together. It was a miracle that we got everything done and Sister Hatch's bags packed and under 50 pounds when we did. We went and had pizza with Jaysin and Kareena at our usual choice of pizza-eating.

Then we drove to Oconomowoc and had a sleep over with the Kettle sisters. Oh my heavens, was that a crazy time. We got there and talked for a bit and drank some really gross sparkling apple and peach cider that we all decided was what beer would taste like. But we drank it anyway because 1) it wasnt actually beer, and 2) just because we could. haha. We chatted for a bit and then we went to bed. They pulled their mattresses into the living room and Sister Hatch and I got the couches. The Kettle sisters fell asleep right away. Sister Hatch and I COULD NOT fall asleep for the life of us. There was too much in our brains and we were running off of too much adrenaline. But we laid there nonetheless. Then at some point in the hours of laying there, Sister Hatch and I decided to go into the other room and talk for a bit. I knew that she was stressing about flying home and figured getting her mind off of it for a bit would be a good thing. So we chatted and laughed and tried not to cry and just sat there. It was 3 in the morning when we decided to try to sleep again, when we heard the sisters talking in the other room. We thought they were wondering where we went and so we decided to scare them. Turns out they both just woke up because they were hungry and didnt even care that we were gone. They went back to bed pretty quickly after that.

So with practically NO sleep, we woke up at 6 and headed for the mission home. Sister Hatch and I got in the car with Sister Cutler and we headed to the airport. I bawleeeeeeeeeeeeeedddddddddd my face off saying goodbye to that girl. She became my really good friend. That was hard to watch her leave. Like, a little bit heart breaking.

Life with Sister Griffin has been good. She is totally different than Sister Griffin.

We've seen lots of people this week. We got a list of sisters to visit from Sister Laws, the RS president and we have been spending all our time with them. We have seen some pretty cool miracles. People that I have never met and have never been able to contact have been SO nice and have let us in. We have found some new families that moved into the ward kinda under the radar who need some strengthening, so that was sweet.

Jaysin is doing so good. He came Christmas Caroling with us for the christmas gram thing and at first he hated his life, but by the end he was having a blast. He was playing with the Jacobs dog and laughing and smiling. And then he bore his testimony about it on Sunday. He's FINALLY making friends. Bro Luccion asked him to teach Gospel Principles next week and he is being super precious about it. He told me that his sons came over on Saturday night and tried to get him to go party and drink with them and he said, "No way, I have church in the morning. I gotta go to bed." That in itself is a HUGE change. I was kinda worrying about him and how he would take the transition of us leaving, but I'm starting to think that he will be okay.

The ward members are being extra precious. They are soooooo sad that we are leaving. They have been so helpful. I am soooooo sooo soooooo terribly sad to leave.

This week... 12/1/2014

So, hello again! 

I have sad news. Sister Hatch is going home tomorrow. :( And we just found out THIS MORNING. So we have a super busy day of packing ahead. 

My new companion Sister Griffin is currently in a trio in Milwaukee YSA right now, but will be here tomorrow. She goes home in legit 2 weeks, so her and I are going to close Lake Mills. What?? We will both be here for two weeks transitioning our investigators over to the elders and helping Jaysin reach his baptismal date and getting the ward to wrap their arms around him and help him stay active. And then in two weeks I am moving to Racine and will finish my mission there. #saywhat?

I am stokeddddd to go to Racine! It's ghetto there. hahaha. I like teaching people in sketchy places. Its way more exciting and people are usually super humble. And like...3/4 of all my companions have served there so I feel like I already know the area. AND! President told me specifically that he wants me to use my Spanish there! #dreamscometrue

We really didnt do much this week...again. We tried to go on splits buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut everyone and their mom was out of town for Thanksgiving. So. That didnt work out. 

I did go out one day while Sister Hatch slept at a members house. I went to the Fullmers house and did some service. They are finally getting to adopt a baby!!!!! (: (: (: Best news ever. So I went and helped them paint and move furniture and stuff. It was nice to get out of the house and nice to help them. They are freaking out. I cant imagine finding out you are bringing home a newborn baby....in a week. 

We had Thanksgiving with Sister Peralta and Sister Stevenson. It was crazy but a ton of fun. At one point Christmas music was put on and we had a dance party...? I promise it was approved music. haha.

Jaysin is doing really well. This week was hard for him because he doesnt really have any family or any good friends. So he got really lonely. And went Jaysin gets lonely, he makes poor choices. But he came to church and was loving every second of it. And then we had a surprise birthday party for him at a member's home and like...the whole ward came. Jaysin was in tears. He's so precious because he has never really felt love before, so seeing all the people from church there for HIM was really special. It made his life. I dont think we even understand how much it meant to him. I'll send links to the videos in my picture email.

Its starting to look a lot like winter here. And idk how to drive in snow..! haha. Its been cold, but this time I know that its about to get like 50 degrees colder. SO I refuse to wear my winter boots or winter jacket until December. And....I guess today is December.... awkward. Maybe we'll see how much longer I can hold out. Its a fun game. I've also spent the last 3 weeks inside...so we'll see. haha. 

So yeahhhh. 2 more weeks in Lake Mills. That's fun. 

Also: watch this video and share it with every living thing that you know. I promise you wont regret it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjFEMmM0Xs 

Annnnnnnd. I'll talk to ya soon!

Surprise! And Happy Thanksgiving! 11/24/2014

Sister Hatch actually stayed here and didn't get transferred! So I don't have a new companion. 

Sister Hatch is still really sick and is under doctors (and President's) orders to sleepas much as possible. So we have not done much this week either. 

I've had loads of time to study. Thats been fun, I've learned a lot. I've got to research some things that I've had questions about that I haven't had time to study before. 

And since there is only so much studying a  person can do in a day, and stay sane, I've done lots of other things. I cleaned the apartment like 7 times, put up and decorated a Christmas tree, cut out paper snowflakes, wrote in my journal and glued in a bunch of pictures, added lots of good quotes to my quote journal, had a lot of good lessons on the phone, made lots of cookies, and soup, and smoothies, paced around the apartment, laid on the floor, watched snow fall out the window, sleep, ect. Its been REALLY exciting. haha :P

It's been hard, but I also understand. It's very easy as a companion to be bitter when your companion is sick and you are stuck inside. You kinda go stir-crazy. But I've also been the sick companion before, so I know what its like when people judge you and think less of you and your missionary work. Its hindered a couple of relationships and it just sucks. So I have learned a lot about patience and humility and charity. And diligence. We have plans for Sister Hatch to stay with a member sister while I go out with another sister for appointments next week, so that will be good. 

We have lessons on the phone with Jaysin and Kim and other friends, and they are doing well. Jaysin came to a member baptism and even brought his oldest son, Dalten. We gave him a Book of Mormon, but he ended up leaving it in the church foyer. Sad. He came to church too and even stayed for priesthood, something we've been trying to get him to do for weeeeeeks. And miracles happened! He agreed to play on a team at the Turkey Bowl on Thanksgiving morning and got invited to spend Thanksgiving with a member family! Booyah! Members in Lake Mills know how to fellowship.

I finally finished my applications for school today. I decided to apply to BYU Hawaii too. That was my original plan after my mission, and I figured I might as well apply. So, theres that. 

We're spending Thanksgiving with two single sisters who would both otherwise be alone. So that should be fun.

Yeah. These emails have been super lame lately. Sorry! I'll try to do more exciting things this week. And I'll have more time now since I dont have to worry about my BYU applications anymore. yay. So, until next time! <3

Sick week :/ 11/17/2014

This week has been crazy.

Its been a really boring week because we spent it inside. Sister Hatch is super sick. Her mono came back and she's probably going to have to go home. :(

I've been sick too, but not nearly as bad. We think that we both caught the flu and hers just got a million times worse cause of the mono. So. thats been fun. We've both had fevers all week, so we've been on house arrest. Its been reaaaaaaaaalllll boring. 

I had to give my "dying testimony" at zone conference since it was my last one. Thats gross. It literally was the last thing I expected to do at that zone conference. There is no way it was my last one. I also got my "trunky papers" which is just a packet of papers that tells you, "You're going home soon! ....but dont think about it!" And that means I'll be getting my flight plan information soon too. Gross gross gross. 

I'm getting a new companion, Sister Silva. She came out with me, so we will probably finish our missions here in Lake Mills and close the area. 

I've been working on my BYU application essays today, so I'm like...brain dead.

We've seen lots of miracles even though we were on house arrest all week. We dropped Jaysin last week because he just wasnt willing to keep any commitments, and this week he called us and wanted to set a new baptism date. So that was SWEET. Hopefully it works out this time since it was HIS idea. We also got a couple of awesome referrals! One of them is a family that actually WANTS to be taught! #score! I'm excited to not be on house arrest anymore so we get to finally contact them!

Time is flying. 

Oh hey familia, since I go home so soon after Christmas and my birthday, I am requesting only cards or super small packages for presents, so I dont have to take so much stuff home. I have plenty of winter gear and clothes and supplies and things to finish out my mission here.  Sorry if its rude to request the type of presents I want, but I feel like this will work much better for everyone - both money and time wise. So your challenge is to find the funniest, flashiest, unique, most awesome card you can. (:

Love you all, miss you all! Go do something awesome today! <3

11/3/14

This week was fun. I honestly can't remember half of it cause it all blends together.

We have some super promising people and families and things. We've been trying to stay busy. We've been utter failures on some things, but we're going to do better.

We had a super fun lesson with a family where the dad is not a member of the church and the mom hasnt been active in a long time and she has two kids. We had dinner and a lesson with them and we talked about what Jesus meant when he says, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." And it was WAY fun because we did it by carving pumpkins! We took the guts out and said that before we can be a good example and let our light shine, we have to take out all the bad stuff inside of us (lying, hitting, yelling, fighting, ect). Then we carved a heart for an eye and talked about how we should love everyone and serve people, and the kids gave examples of how we do that. Then we carved an in the shape of a star to represent being good examples, and they gave more examples of how to do that. Then we carved a big smile to remind us that we should be happy and we talked about some of our favorite family memories that make us smile or laugh. We talked about how when we do all those things, our light can shine through, just like our jack-o-lanterns! Hopefully that helped them internalize that principle. It was way fun!

We've been knocking on a lot of doors. Like...lots. And no one this week was interested or would give us the time of day. One guy was pretty nasty and was telling us we were wrong and going to hell. That was fun. haha. Its always an adventure.

We woke up to snow on Halloween morning! It melted by the middle of the day, but it was still freezing all day and super windy. Bit jealous that (most of you) get to be in the desert warmth all winter. I'm still refusing to break out the winter stuff. It still has a long way to go before I'll break out the tights and winter boots and snow jacket.

We went on exchanges this week. Sister Silcox is so fun. We visited our friends Beverly and Blanca and Jenn. Then we tracted and people were rude. Apparently the rudest people she's come across her whole mission...and she goes home next month. So that was fun. We had a good day and had a lot of laughs and talked about our lives and it was good. One of my favorite exchanges.

Jaysin is doing pretty good. We dropped his baptism date though. He doesnt desire baptism yet because he doesnt quite understand that he can actually change. So we had a "do or die" lesson with him and told him that we've taught him everything he needs to know now its his turn to act. It was really good though. He has changed SO much already. It is understandable to see why he thinks that he's "good enough for now" because anyone else  in any other situation would say the same. But we can see that it is just the adversary "lulling him away into carnal security" or whatever that scripture says. But he is still doing well. Keep praying for him. He needs all the help he can get.

Kim's date got moved to Nov 22nd. She's doing pretty well too. We will start seeing her 3 times a week starting to day. She didnt come to church though and we dont know why :/

Church yesterday was SO spiritual. Fast Sunday in Lake Mills is always a good Sunday. It was just really good and I just love how everyone here loves each other. Sister Buth's mom died on Saturday night and everyone just reached out and there were lots of hugs and kisses and tears. But it wasnt SAD. It was just spiritual. Everyone was just on fire with keeping their baptismal covenants yesterday. I loved watching people help other people with their kids, or helping old people walk up the stairs, or crying with one another. The stake president was there and he even commented on how tight this ward is. Its just so good. I hope we can all do our part to make our wards wherever we are more like that.

We've been reading the Book of Mormon together as a mission and its been really good. I realized that I was starting to get lazy and just go through the motions of things and so this week I made an added effort to be present and consciously apply things to my life. As a result, my morning studies have been way good. So its been a good week.