April 21, 2014

HELLOOOOO! okay so i forgot my ipad. therefore I forgot everything i wanted to say because i write reminders of cool things sometimes. BUT alas I SHALL TRY!

okay SOOOOO!

my new companion!!! HERMANA PEREZ!!! she is SO FUNNY! and SO FUN!! hahaha i love her, we get along a little too well I think, It's so hard for us to focus, BUT! we are taking the work really seriously and both want to work hard and be exactly obedient to the END! we go home on the same plane :) COOL HUH!!! hopefully we just have these last three transfers together, that would be awesome.

We made our bedroom a parkour gym. hahaha we just moved our beds in different shapes so that we have to do parkour over them to get to the bathroom and to get on the ground to pray. it's pretty fun. but i'm starting to be like this... "oh i have to go to the bathroom!......... oh man... i'm too tired to parkour right now.......... i can wait." hahaha BUT! We are going to get really good!

anywho. so yeah. good stuff. Hna Meldau moved to bradenton even though that means nothing to you! she's happy, so i'm glad. me and her came a LOOONG way! we both admit it, and I'm way grateful for everything I learned with us being companions :)

ANYWAY. 

this week was awesome. 

we had a church tour with the guy named Hector, and it was great!!! let me just say this.... :) in the closing prayer, he was like, please help me to get baptized into this church and learn to follow the rules!" and me and hna perez both opened our eyes and just looked at eachother with dropped jaws, hahaha, we were like what the?? it was awesome!! but..... he called us after that and invited me to the movies and we said we can't go as missionaries.... and he hasn't talked to us since....

BUT! it's okay! because he probably just had a busy easter sunday with his family. hahaha more updates on that LATER!

also we had the COOLEST EXPERIENCE EVER!!!!!
oh my heeeeEEECKKKKK!!!!!!

I want to be an MTC teacher real bad because of this. I had already wanted to! but now. it's like.... a firm desire. haha 

there was a mini MTC for all the youth, and we were the "teachers" and we were able to kind of train them and teach them and help them learn how to teach a lesson and use the spirit and all this cool stuff, and OH MY HECK. seeing these kids prepare themselves so much. there was a tri-panionship of boys, and I was helping them figure out a lesson plan, and they were kind lost and having a hard time and they ASKED PERMISSION if they could go and have a companionship prayer.... what?? i just thought that was really cool. they were dedicated and they weren't even missionaries yet! haha and you could see the spirit work through them just because they had prepared and worked out. MAN if only everyone would just put their whole hearts into things like that, then the spirit would be able to help us SO MUCH MORE. we get WAY too worried about what others are gonna think about us, and wanting to be cool, yada yada yada. WHATEVER BEING COOL IS FOR DWEEBS!!! just kidding, because you can be cool AND be smart! ya know? you don't have to lower your standards for anyone or anything, and you can still love people and have fun. DON'T GIVE IN TO PEER PRESSURE! haha it's super lame and I just feel really passionate about this right now for some reason!

okay ANYWAY. so yeah that was pretty neat.

hm lets see... okay sometimes, it is really sad out here. seeing so many people turn away from the gospel, feel the spirit, and then back away, or just not give it a chance. I cannot express to you all the anxiety I feel sometimes for these people... haha! Just like nephi, how he cried himself to sleep all the time for his people! and jacob I think who could hardly even write because he was so anxious about their wickedness, I do not feel it to that extreme... BUT! I feel it. It is hard. and it is a burden. sometimes your heart just aches. There was a lady we were talking to, she wasn't christian, but she asked us if our purpose was to just convert people and stuff! and i was like..... uh... yeah! haha pretty much! and she said man why don't you just leave people with their beliefs alone if they're happy..? and It made me think! I was like... we respect anyone who doesn't share our beliefs, and we don't force anything. but man, asking me not to share what I have with others.... that would NOT BE GOOD! 

You guys, we have something different. we have the priesthood, and I don't leave people alone because that is truth. and TRUTH IS TRUTH AND IT DOES NOT CHANGE. it cannot change, it is eternal and infinite and real. and we have the truth, the apostles say it so boldly, and the prophet, and people when they bear testimony, you might not know it for yourself and that is okay. you might just believe it, and not be sure, and that is okay, you might not know if you even care to know, or if you even believe in God! we are all at different things in our life when it comes to our beliefs, I just want to testify that truth is truth. Whether you know it is truth is dependent on the work that you put into it to know. Sometimes God requires more work from you than he does others, and only he knows why. but truth exists whether you act on it, believe, and search for it or not. do not give up that search, do not give up the fight to find light. or to share light. 

I have been so fascinated with light lately, and SO OBSESSED with it's qualities and it's strength and like i mentioned in previous emails, that darkness in no way can overpower it. darkness exists, but if you have light, it will overpower the darkness. the ONLY WAY that there can be darkness, is if light is absent, or has dimmed, or turned off. we have light within us, do not let your light dim, because darkness will creep in. you can't be in the middle, when your light dims, darkness comes. so keep your light strong, fight for it! LIGHT!!! i love light :) 

EVERYONE! this life is hard sometimes! there are LOTS of questions. and trials and doubts, but just hear my testimony right now. I know that there are answers, I know that you will find peace. I know that it'll be okay.

anyway. I LOVE YOU ALL! i'm sure there were more awesome stories, but i can't remember.

time is flying. I just want to really focus 100% and give it my all... i can't afford not to. 

I love this mission life. I would give anything to start back in the MTC again and just do it all over again. 

MAN. what a blessing. it has changed my eternity, literally.

LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOOO FLIPPIN MUCH!

smiling! this one is for you grandpa!! hahaha

Sis Perez is the Bomb!!

April 14, 2014

okay NOW that i have spent all of my time sending pictures one at a time... i have 5 minutes for this big email... shoot.

okay ONE STORy right here!

there once upon a time, was a huge gigantic hideous spider named Harold. and he made a very large web near the sidewalk to our apt. by a miracle I nearly missed running right into him! I was terrified and SCREAMED AND FLIPPED OUT AND RAN INSIDE. nxt morning. no web. 

that night, i come to the apt. about to walk up to the path, and see... yet again. Harold. with his FREAKING HUGE WEB.... directly covering our path to the door. so. freak out again. (my fear of spiders has ACTUALLY gotten worse unfortuantely... hahaha) and go around the other way. SO i decide to warn other people who go up the stairs, and i make little signs on either side of the web saying WATCH OUT! BIG SPIDER! hahaha 

NEXT DAY! no web........

that night..... we come up.
and Harold. was in the process, of making his gigantic web again. BUT. i saw him making it, and suddenly, i was like.... WOW! that is so beautiful! what a creation! that is so awesome! and all of a sudden, harold was to me, like Charlotte was to the pig in charlottes web. hahaha and i was like okay buddy you go ahead and make your web. so i added to my signs, don't kill it!
next morning..... we come out. i see a sign written by our great neighbor brian! 

"don't worry! your little friend is gone forever... he put up a good fight."

......... :( so. harold died....... which in the end, was actually really sad.
but man that was so nice of our neighbor right! he totally came to church once.... we gotta get him baptized. 

ANYWAY. 

uhhh

OH MY HECK FLIP there are so many cool stories from this week i just realized!!!!

AND I WASTED ALL MY TIME ON THAT SPIDER STORY!!! WHAT I AM THINKING!!!

hahaha okay wow well just know that it was awesome and we taught a guy named John and the spirit was SO STRONG during the restoration and it was INCREDIBLE and he came to church and WOW WHAT A STORY!!!!! i wish i had more time!!! ahhhh!

and also there is another cool story with some inspired questions and the spirit and a jehovah's witness and stuff and MAN I GOTTA GO THOUGH!

AHHH HAVE A GREAT WEEK I LOVE YOU ALL! FLIP NOT EVEN A SPIRITUAL THOUGHT IN HERE!!!!!!!
lame email. lots of pictures though! 

BYE LOVE YOU!

Transfer Day!!!!!!

okay so we were walking around trying to street contact (since we can't knock) which in the rain isn't very productive cause nobody is outside.... BUT, I had to go to the bathrrom SO BAD! and english people aren't as welcoming as spanish so i couldn't ask a random stranger for their bathroom... and i was literally praying to heavenly father like.. uhh i am GOING TO PEE MY PANTS if i don't get a bathroom! and then... i look up, and see this :) HEAVEN SENT!!!! hahahahah so... i used it!
it was a trial in and of itself though.... there was a spider hanging from the toilet paper.... you can imagine what Hna. Meldau heard as she waited outside for me laughing. hahaha!

awww man I love this obuelita :) she's the one with Alzheimers and she wouldn't let my hand go when Lucrecia (our investigator) was feeding us dinner so she brought me a little table and then she kept stealing my utensils! and then after han meldau took this picture she starting trying to take my shoes off and eat my feet...... hahahaha I LOVE HER.

Here is a picture of your beautiful missionary daughter. I promised her I would let you know that she is doing well and is happy. We are the Redd’s - Will and Peggy. My husband was serving as stake Patriarch and I was the Stake RS president before we moved. Because of my calling I spent much of my time out of the ward, so was not around as much as some, but we always loved being able to share a meal with our missionaries.

You can be proud of her. Please say hello to her when you write her next time.

Sincerely,

Peggy Redd.

yaaay another race! me and sis. Ormsby ran with our friend Sandy, she did a two minute run, 1 minute walk kinda system... and we say we did it just to proselyte and ya know.. convert... but we found the walking part very appealing. hahaha #outofshape flip. did i just hashtag on my mission? WHO AM I!

so we were on exchanges and uh whilst we were reading the story of Ammon in spanish study i had to go to the bathroom and when i came out they were starting a real play :) hehehehe so we narrated and acted out the scenes!!!!!

the conversion of the king... :)

The BATTLE!!!

i put a cupcake on my head..... the birds came SO CLOSE to grabbing it. but unfortunately... no success. hahaha

bird lady.

WOW could there be more pictures? YES there could.

April 7, 2014

CONNNFFFEEEEEREEEEENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

......................... I can't even describe.... THE GREATNESS. 

i love. conference. more. than. christmas. it is worth more! i'm serious!!! haha 

anyway, MAN. it was good.

EVERYONE! tell me your favorite parts!!! share!!! haha
i don't have much time so i gotta write fast. AH! flip!!! 

okay well i just REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVED the Dieter F. Uchdtorfs talk on gratitude! seriously i think it was my favorite!!! it was SUPERB! man really helps you change your point of view and try to just be a grateful person, not just grateful for blessings and for things in your life, but to just.... be grateful! just have that... what's the word about you, that attitude at all times! man that's what i want to strive for more, i loved that talk!!! 

anyway, i also LOVED Linda Reeves talk, i think she tied it all in so awesome with daily family study and prayers and family home evening.
AND pres. Monsons talk about love and kindness. OH MY HECK I COULD GO ON!!!!! EVERYTHING WAS SO GOOD! we all have to work to apply it all in our lives now!!! we've been given the tools so lets get to work!!!

okay well everyone I'm just pumped up on conference so I can't think of everything I was gonna say! i'm so distracted! haha I just really am grateful for it all. I am! to THINK THAT MILLIONS were out doing other things while the PROPHET AND APOSTLES OF GOD were speaking directly to us in this time for these days and challenges!!!
anyway...

okay but seriously. go read those talks again, study them out, one every week or something! and just apply it to yourself, there was a reason for every single one of those talks. they apply to us! so don't miss the opportunity to hear the message the Lord wants for you.

ANYWAY. moving on from conference! haha it just gets me so excited!

okay so we have been finding SO MANY FLIPPING MEN. single men.... and when we can't get members with us we have to have them pull out their dining room chairs to their small patio outside, or often we just have to sit on buckets in their open garage. hahaha, it's so funny. I feel so bad for these people! we just gotta get more member presents! but hey it's still really cool. we've been having cool experiences!!! We're teaching this one guy spencer, and he's from jamaica! I LOVE JAMAICANS!!! i love their accents so much. it's one of my favorites. he's great, he's heard some interesting theories about Jesus.... haha but he has a lot of faith and we're getting him to read the Book of Mormon, the only problem is that he doesn't wanna pray about it... he thinks he'll be able to make a conclusion based on his own knowledge! people. let me tell you something that we learn from Preach My Gospel. NO SPIRITUAL TRUTH can be learned with prayer. I testify to that, and i know that even when it seems worthless and unnecessary, it is very important to confirm decisions, particularly spiritual decisions with prayer. often heavenly father will trust us, but we need prayer. SO MUCH. do not underestimate the simple power and actually taking that moment to pray. AFTER you have pondered on something.

So our lunches have been really cool lately! we've been meeting a lot of people and inviting them to sit with us and eat, and we teach them :) whenever we eat out i mean. we went to the best bakery in the universe on Hna meldau's birthday and invited this kid to sit with us, I didn't even start conversation with him i just immediately asked him to come to church and listen to our message! I felt such an urgency about it, it was crazy!!! we didn't get too far into the lesson cause his friend came to pick him up but he got the Book of Mormon and was actually leaving the next day to the army. SO UH YEAH he'll be mormon.

We've been teaching this one kid, and he came to conference with us! he is a very ponderful kid, and throughout conference he would put his head down and say a prayer, or open the Book of Mormon up and start reading. he had just recently been baptized in another church, and he doesn't take a lot on very well, he's been kind of overwhelmed, because he feels something and sees that this is kinda a big deal but he's scared of separating his family and betraying his mom. so he's kinda stressed about it all, BUT, he said that conference told him exactly what he needed to hear. so ya know... we'll see! I know that he'll accept it one day, maybe right now he isn't ready, but it's cool teaching him. 

AND he gave us his aunt as a referral and we were able to go teach her a bit and she was AWESOME! apparently the hermanas had knocked this door before and been rejected so it's cool to see NOW the potential they have :) she said she needed us at that time and was grateful, and that she was gonna reactivate in her church because of us... hmmm..... hahaha not exactly what we were going for but HEY! step by step right?

anyway. I GOTTA GO!!!

but i LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! I REALLY DO!!!!! I miss you and love you and i'm grateful for everything. 

I hope you all really believe how much i love you, and how much your heavenly father loves you. i would do anything for you all, whoever you may be! and man.... i just really you each know that. 

LOVE YOU BYEEEE!!!!

Sis Meldau's bday!

Wild life!!

conference cinnamon rolls

my favorite woman in the world :) I love barbara so much!!! she let us come watch part of conference with her, she hasn't come to church in years but i told her she can come and stay with us and go to the conference center when i'm home from my mission mom! at first she laughed jokingly, but i kept bringing up so i think i'm beginning to convince her to actually come..... :) hehe hope you're okay with thaaat :) she loves hand stitching all that stuff you see on her walls! i think you and her and aunt debbie would love each other!!! :)

March 31, 2014

HeeellloooOOOOOOO!!!!! everyone!!!!

okay i'm really struggling lately with remembering what i want to write about! or cool stories!!! it's my old age in the mission....

OH well we ran out of miles on our car so bikes baby! but we're actually kinda lazy and have been getting members to give us rides... but NOT because we're lazy actually i take that back! just because our appointments are too close together and too far apart so we can't make them!

but anyway we did have a really awesome bike day where we met SO MANY great people! and man endorphins really do make you happy! haha me and sis. meldau are always way happier and work a ton better together when we bike! BIKING! WOO! i'm gonna use my bike reeeeal good at home while I save up for a car!

lets see, this week was pretty great. We're teaching this family, minus the dad, and they've been wanting to be baptized for months, but man she is just really flaky. hahaha and doesn't know much about the church! so we keep trying to teach but it doesn't happen and they never come to church, BUT! we set a new baptismal date with them so hopefully it HAPPENS! WOO!

oookay PEOPLE I LEARNED A BIG LESSON THIS WEEK!!!!!

consequences. are..... REAL! haha 

let me tell you something. SOMETIMES! on my mission, I slack off or am not prepared and the time comes when I need the spirit or inspiration and I'm like SHOOT! Heavenly father help me out!! I'm so sorry i realize I slacked off and I didn't do what I needed to then but i'm repenting! help me have the spirit!....... and. actually a lot of the time he still helps me out! haha, BUT! sometimes, he can't do anything. ya know? sometimes we do it to ourselves and we have to just take the consequences for our actions! and I missed a really awesome opportunity to learn a lot from the spirit and I didn't get much out of it because I hadn't prepared! and I had missed a point of something. anyway this might not make a lot of sense but long story short, the atonement is real, but we cannot expect to get the same blessings as others, or that we want, when we are not doing our part. We gotta put in a little more effort sometimes.

anyway, I'm so sleepy! my eyes are drooping. so i'm struggling to think of stories... did i say that already??? AH i'm losing it.

anywho.

..... hm......

it was a gooood week....

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat... happened...

OOOOH here's a cool story!! WOO! 

so we got a referral from the tampa spanish sisters (who one of them is my MTC comp, sis. miller :) love her.) and so we went to go contact it on our last 10 miles and realized it wasn't even in our area! haha lame! but we contacted it anyways because the others sisters in that area couldn't make it that day. SO! we bravely travel through the monsoon that was currently occurring in Florida, haha, and knock on the door! and it wasn't the lady... but we invited her to the women's general conference session! and she was like... oooh GREAT! wow i'm so glad you guys came!! nobody knocks our doors over here! like church people! and we've been looking for a church lately and something just like this! i am so glad you came!

and we were like WHATTTTT THAT'S SO COOL HI COME BE BAPTIZED!!!

and she was like OKAY I WANT TO! when can we set a date?? 

just kidding that part isn't true. but REALLY THOUGH she was great!!! i'm excited to see what happens.

okay man I know i promised a better email this week but my brain is so foggy! i probably have some sort of disease from all the mold and cockroaches over here....... 

hm.....

OH MY GOSH! the other sisters had picked us up from somewhere and we went to their apt. for dinner after, and we found a dead cat by the apt. :( it was sad! the poor thing, they thought it was their neighbors so we were trying to decide if we should knock and tell them their cat was dead or not...... and me and sis. bowe didn't want to cause we both smile in serious situations! (literally, it's bad. A lady we know told us her husband is divorcing her and took all their money and i broke out in the biggest grin and immediately was like oh my gosh i'm so sorry i smile in serious situations!!! hahaha and then i dropped to a shocked serious face... and then i smile again! oh my. it's the worst!) anyway so they weren't home thankfully and we texted them and THANKFULLY it wasn't their cat. just a poor stray that they were trying to help out that died :( we said a few words for it!

also... DAD DON'T KILL ME! but i fed a cat the other night... hahaha it was crying for 20 minutes outside our apt's and i couldn't help it! every time i peeked outside the window it would look STRAIGHT AT ME and beg for food! so i did.... but it hasn't come back yet so IT'S OKAY!!!

anywho.

We're also teaching a great less active who is comin back FULL FORCE and she is so great :) i love her. we started teaching one of her neighbors and there was something off about the lesson so i stopped it and we just asked her about her faith in Christ, and talked about that, and then we asked her to give the closing prayer, and she wouldn't, and then amanda was AWESOME and testified about the importance of prayer and how she thought she shouldn't pray because she wasn't worthy and she never realized how bad she NEEDED to be praying in those times! and she was crying and the investigator was crying, and then the inv. said the prayer :) it was so sweet. i loved it.

I love these people. I really do.

BEING A MISSIONARY IS SO COOL. 

man, i love it.

I love you all, so much! i gotta go, next week will hopefully be more exciting! haha i just have a bad memory.
LOVE YOUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!

caption:

me-"Mr. frog make a funny face with me in this picture!"

mr. frog- (in an english accent): "I will not. and I am not amused."

hehehehehhe it made me laugh really hard. look at his face! and he looks like he's tapping his finger in annoyance. HAHA. so funny.

anytime i can do anything that makes me feel like a spy or a ninja I do it!!!!

and you can't see but whenever it rains our sidewalk to our door floods like 4 inches and i was sick of my feet getting wet. haha

success :)

March 24, 2014

oooh WHY HELLO my friends. my family, my LOVED ONES!! and anyone else in the world that may stumble across these words!!!

what a week i do say what a week.....

okay first I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM AND TO SAM AND TO ALL THE PEOPLE WITH MARCH BIRTHDAYS CAUSE THERE ARE A BILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL AND yeah happy birthday :) haha

okay second in honor of my mother turning 38 (...... :)) I want to tell you a cool story mom! I just remembered a day back in the day... when I had kind of lost the spirit a little bit. Not by doing anything horrible, but just slowly and because I wasn't doing my daily things that were needed to keep your spirit alive and healthy. So I was starting to feel more distant from the spirit and from church and from juuuust stuff, ANYWAY, the worst part is that i didn't even notice. BUT. one day I was in a bad mood and walked up the stairs and stopped to listen to a video you were watching, one of the patterns of light videos! and i listened and just felt the heaviness on my heart lighten a little bit, and i suddenly realized that there WAS a heaviness on my heart. and I felt that light of Christ touch me again more than it had, ANYWAY so it made me remember slightly what it felt like to have the spirit with you always and i changed some things that day cause I realized I was starving my spirit! haha SO I JUST wanted to say, that because you did something to bring the spirit just in public for anyone to see, just that simple act of your example! you didn't even say a word to me, it effected me a lot, and I'm grateful for you mom:) I LOVE YOU!

anyway!

okay so this week was amazing and difficult and ya know all the normal stuff. 

it was amazing cause the Lord blesses us a lot, and gives us so many opportunities to work hard and show him who we are.
it was amazing because we found so many people this week and taught so many lessons.
it was amazing because I'm building relationships that were hard to build because Heavenly Father is patient with my weaknesses and helps me out.
and because so many people are inspired by God and he does the littlest things to make you feel better, even when it's not a big deal.
and because I get to study the gospel for two hours every morning, and I LOVE IT.
and because we have a prophet, and we get to hear him soon.
AND BECAUSE MY MOM SENT MY MOTAB AND NOW THE CAR RIDE IS SPECTACULAR AND IT LIGHTENS MY HEART THAT ANGELICAL MUSIC!!! haha
and because i still haven't run over a squirrel in my whole time of being here in Florida! (knock on wood) or a cat or any animal of that sort! 

and because we get to see a sunset every day, and a sunrise every morning.
and because I get to testify of what I know to be true, freely and all day every day! 

and because I get to be a missionary. because i get the opportunity to participate in God's big master plan to save all his children :) 

I'm grateful because Heavenly Father loves us, and he cares about us, and there really is a purpose to it all. that's why I'm grateful, because there really is a purpose. and the pain is not for nothing, it's not useless. the trials are not a waste. those moments of defeat do not last. because i know that there is victory. I know there is peace, and I know that we all are becoming the people God wants us to become, when we depend on him. people that are SO MUCH better than what we see ourselves becoming.
anyway, I'm grateful for it all, just to be able to see more clearly and understand it deeper. It's a huge blessing.

This week was hard because Kristen decided to shut us out. Her baptism was this weekend, and gosh let me tell you we love her so much. I was so thrilled that she was coming to Christ, that she was gaining a testimony, that she was pushing away the negative feedback. And man sometimes it's the worst loving people so much, it's makes it the hardest moments on your mission when things like this happen. But, something happened, we don't know what, and now it's in the Lord's hands. 

It was super hard and always will be when you see someone you love reject something you know would bring them happiness. It's hard when someone you love turns away and you can't do anything about it, and ya know just in general there are lots of hard things in the world, right? so many trials, every person we talk to has a trial in their lives. and life is just so full of them. each of you reading this is going through a trial, big or small, whatever it may be. there might be something you are struggling with. I just want to say, that big or small, it'll be okay. do not give up hope. Satan will take all the hard things in life and try to convince you that it is too much, and that you can't do it. Do not give in to his cruel and ridiculous lies. do not give in to his endless and pathetic attempts to stray us from the path of to our Heavenly Father who is waiting to give us everything. DO NOT let him take your peace. Fight back, and fight back hard. this is definitely a daily battle sometimes but heavenly father DID NOT leave you alone, I promise as a representative of Jesus Christ, as a daughter of heavenly father, and as another person who also goes through trials and doubts and fears, that it is never the end, and you are not alone, if you fight through it and hold onto Christ there is nothing that could ever replace what he has to offer you. hold on to what you know, hold on to confirmations you have had, and hold on to the light. because light will always chase away darkness. there is not even a question there. light overrules darkness. so do not let go of the light or you will absolutely get lost in the darkness.

I love you all, so much, and I'm HONESTLY SO GRATEFUL TO BE HERE! 

I know there weren't many stories in this email so I'M SORRY FOR THE BLANDNESS but i love you all and NEXT WEEK WILL BE BETTER! haha 

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER MY FRIENDS! HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!!

love hna Russell :)

pretttyyyy bird :)

hna Meldau with the bird! his name is carl!

hahaha, this is my favorite grandma here in Florida, she has Alzheimer's, and she is so cute. She stole my glasses though and wouldn't give them back... haha! she still has them!

this is an awesome nerf gun war battle that we had. we got some pretty great pics... haha! but i'll only send one!

March 17, 2014

OH MY GOSH EVERYONE BIGGEST NEWS EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this is kinda long by the way.. sorry!)

so i'm starting with this story cause it's so cool.

and I feel like I have this vision/day dream of what is going to become of the story, meaning all of them get baptized. and if it doesn't happen i'll be crushed.... so i GOTTA relax and leave it to God and whatever happens happens. haha!

anyway. okay.

so One day me and Hna Meldau and driving and we see a spanish family walking so we stop and offer them a prayer, we pray with them in the street, offer the lessons, they aren't interested. etc. bummer! but then we see this cute little old lady raking and so we go to offer help and she starts speaking in a language I don't understand.... and she was saying she was or asking if we were jehova's witnesses and i was like what....? haha and THEN!!!!! I understand the word.... ALBANIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i'm like... wait.... ALBANIA??? pointing to her!! and she says yes and I say... oh my gosh.... what is the word for sister??? mota.... mrota.... MOTRA!!!! it was the only word i knew since Missy is serving and it's what her name tag says! So i say it! and she's like MOTRA! and i'm like motraaaa! haha and i tried telling her my sister is in albania, and i think she understood it. and then she got her daughter in law who speaks some english, so we start talking, and they start teaching us all these cool albanian phrases and one word is like a sentence sometimes and holy moly i was like.... my sister is so cool. THIS IS SO COOL! wow this language is beautiful! wow this language would suck to learn... haha and then we start talking about the church and Valbona doesn't really like the church because we have prophets and because of polygamy, she thinks we choose the prophet and that only God could possibly choose one. and that they have too much power over the people. BUT they are willing to hear the lessons and try and learn more so they can understand! oh man and it was so cool we had her read a paragraph from one of the pamphlets about the holy ghost in albanian and translate it into english for us, and the spirit was so strong! it was awesome, hearing it in that BEAUTIFUL LANGUAGE and her explaining what she is reading to us, she understood it and we think that's how we're gonna do most of the teaching. have her read what we discuss, and translate it, so that the grandma can also listen! even though she is orthodox and i mean orthodox... haha but GOSH I REALLY THINK IT WOULD BE THE COOLEST MIRACLE if they got baptized!!!
me and my siblings missions are so connected! haha it's so awesome! me and Aaron are both in Florida, Albania came to me, and we all have a baptismal date on the 29th! so awesome. anyway. 

MAN though. it's funny. hahaha cause the cute grandma always talks to me and hugs us and I just look at her and after she says a bunch of stuff i'm like........ what.....? haha and she starts talking again and says a bunch of stuff and i'm like...... yeah... I uh, still don't speak Albanian but okay! I'll just hug ya and laugh! hahaha I understand Missy's emails now... 

anyway ALSO the grandma wants to take us to Albania after our missions... so. cool!

Also I think I'm allergic to figs.............

anyway. so that's pretty amazing......

OKAY! next topic. KRISTEN!!! holy moly I love her so much!!! she came to church on sunday and I almost passed out with joy! haha she loved it and is just progressing so well. and we are making sure we have the daily contact that Preach my gospel says we're supposed to have, and it makes a HUGE difference. everything is going so smooth and everything is more confident and she is getting past questions and problems, etc. it's the best. AND OH MY GOSH wavaney and Orion went to the temple yesterday... :') WOOO!!! It's so awesome to see them continue on strong, I love missions. just being able to be a part of someone coming into the gospel is the biggest blessing. seriously, we do nothing! It's all the Lord, and we just get to be blessed enough to be an instrument in that. GEEZ THIS IS THE BEST.

Okay and ANOTHER MIRACLE!!! WE FOUND ANOTHER SPANISH PERSON!!! they are like GOLD TO US up here! haha I love white people just as much.. haha!.... but man my heart just feels at home when I'm with the spanish people and teaching them :) 

anyway we knocked cause we had taught her son outside a while before, and wanted to follow up, and she was struggling in english to tell us he wasnt there, the minute we started speaking spanish though she was like OOOh come in come in!! so we go in and we teach her the first lesson and the spirit is strong and she's like man I LOVED your message! and the way you teach and talk and it's so peaceful! I feel it and I think it's true I really do! and we invite her to be baptized and she's like... well I dunno if I'm gonna switch to Mormon, haha, and we're like the SPIRIT IS LITERALLY CONFIRMING THE TRUTH OF THIS TO YOU! haha but sometimes people just don't really understand the significance of that. 

BUT! it was awesome. and she is excited for us to come back :)

hmmm i can't think of too much else in this very moment... but it was a good week. went by really fast! too fast.................................

something that really stuck out to me this week though was church. every week that is my favorite time, because I get to soak in all this awesome knowledge and i learn SO MUCH from it. and we have 5 hours of it plus 2 hours of meetings so it's a long time and that doesn't even bug me! haha I just honestly love it. and we had an incredible lesson on the sacrament, I invite you ALL to go to the gospel library and look at lesson 6 in the Joseph Fielding Smith teachings of the gospel book, about the sacrament. actually just the whole book... he is an awesome teacher. but It really changes your perspective. well at least it did mine! I really think I'm getting the hang of things and then I realize I still have SO MUCH TO LEARN. I've really been trying to make the sacrament mean more to me and get something out of it but I wasn't doing it the right way, or... well. i can't explain it, haha! but after this lesson, MAN. mind blown. there is just so much more to it than so many people understand. and that is so sad. honestly, how many people partake of the sacrament completely unaware of the significance of it all, and the importance and seriousness of that renewal of covenant that they are making. SERIOUSLY YOU GUYS GO READ THAT  LESSON! it's good. i don't have time to talk to much more about it!
haha anyways my whole point to this all is that the church has been teaching the same doctrines and principles my whole life. and all of a sudden I feel like all of this is GOLD and I want to soak in as much as possible every sunday! before my mission, for a lot of my youth, I was not a bad person, but it didn't mean as much. i didn't get as much out of it, but they didn't change what they teach! I just changed me, or rather the Lord changed me. And now, because I cherish knowledge and wisdom and the gospel, it makes all the difference. So when you go to church, be prepared to listen. When King Benjamin started to speak, in Mosiah 2:9, he says that he didn't tell everyone to come and listen to trifle with his words. but that he was speaking to them so they would listen, and HEARKEN to his words. and asked them all to open their hearts and minds so that they could actually hear. I love that, and I challenge all of you to prepare yourselves to hear. there is so much to learn that we miss out on.

ANYWAY. i gotta go but I love you all so much!!!!! remember to love each other, and serve each other. that's the point of this life, so don't miss the point! pray for charity :) 
LOVE YOU ALL A TON AND A LOT AND SERIOUSLY LIFE IS THE BEST!!!!

OH! p.s. attach this part to my email.

we are allowed to read emails any time during the week now! can't respond still till monday, but since we have ipads! so. if you have anything any of you need me to know that day then send it and i'll read it! and know! hooray! daily letters!

my favorite little puppy in the trailer park :)

my favorite little girl in the trailer park!

MOM YOU ARE THE BEST EVER!!! thanks for the pie!! PIE DAY!! WOOO!!!!

the albanian family :)

yaaay this was this morning! happy leprechaun day! 

March 10, 2014

OOOOH MY GOOOOSSSSH HEY EVERYONE!!!! can you believe that it is march 10? man. the sun is shining, it's gettin pretty hot outisde!! how's the weather over in utah?
.......................... :)

okay SO i don't have much time at all like basically ten minutes... so that's lame.
some QUICK AWESOME STUFF!!!

uh okay so we were driving one day and there was a guy in this big field weed whacking and hna meldau wanted to go talk to him so we turned around and chatted and turned out he was gonna get evicted if he didn't maintain this HUGE FIELD of overgrown weeds and grass and i was like oh shoot.... lets see if we can help. haha but he had only two days to do it. 

SO! we made some calls. and sis. meldau was like this is a really big project to ask of the ward (because they couldn't take lawn mowers through it cause there are metal tie downs scattered through from old trailers that used to be there) and i was like NO! we have to do it! and at first no one could do anything, we were calling all the leaders and it was too short of notice, but i was like. i'm gonna exercise my faith here, I WILL!!!!! and i know we can do it! and so then HOPE!!!! things started coming together and it was gonna work out!!! lots of men and weed whackers!!! but the next day.... rain..... NO! FAITH!!!!! and it stopped :) AND IT GOT DONE!!! which was a miracle in itself because that field was horrrible and huge aaaaand yeah. hahaha anyway so that was cool. and NOW we're teaching the mom that lived there!!! WHAT!!!!!! MIRACLES!!!!

okay NEXT!!! we taught two spanish lessons!!! WHAT!! okay and we had members with us and it was dinner and they were all talking spanish and i realized all of a sudden that being in these two english wards has REALLY hurt my spanish... hahaha which is part my fault cause i don't practice as much as i could. SO when we had to start talking and introducing the church i was like uhhhhhhhhh FLIP how do i do this again?? seriously it felt like i was a new missionary all over again! it was so funny! hahaha and the guy he put his hand on my shoulder and was like..... hey. BREATH. hahaha we laughed so hard, but anyway i'm gonna practice more......

okay SO WE TOTALLY HAVE A BAPTISMAL DATE!!!!!!! long long ago during thanksgiving there was a basket activity where we took the baskets of food to people, and there was one lady, Kristen, who we took it to and she cried and everything with gratitude but neither of us felt prompted to talk to her about the gospel! weird! and so then. months later! i got a super subtle but strong prompting that we should visit her! and we do!!!! AND IT WAS AMAZING! we brought a member and said a prayer with her and the spirit was RIDICULOUSLY STRONG! even the member was crying! it was awesome. and then we committed her to baptism and she was like man you guys came at JUST the right time. (literally and also spiritually, cause she had JUST been about to leave to the store when we pulled up, hahaha) and she is trying to come closer to God and do this but she has had no support and everything, and the member was PERFECT with friendshipping and oh my heck... march 29th. JUST LIKE MY LITTLE BROTHER WITH HIS FAMILY!!! man I love my siblings! haha it's so cool reading all their emails and stories too. man i just wish my little brother would write me or something so we could talk about all these amazing things happening.........................................

anyway awww man i just love people. and the gospel. and happiness. and blessings. and trials. and my family. and my friends. and food. and my bed. and the sun. and overcast and rain. and the spirit. and cute animals. and will power! and EVERYTHING. life is good and hard and all of the above but it overall is just the best thing. ya know? i love the mission life. so much.
and i love you all! i have to go i am out of time!!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

we stopped and talked to this kid and his dad and he made me draw all this stuff with bark! haha it was so fun :) i asked him for the last thing he wanted me to draw him, something really cool! and he said sand................. haha!

my one year mark! yaaaay! at my favorite mexican restaurant!!! WOOHOO!

ooooh gosh every time i see these sisters my HEART GETS RENEWED!! i love them so much.