November 4, 2013

okay TRANSFERS. 

goodbyes are stupid.

holy moly you guys it was nuts.... sooooooo i didn't realize how much i loved everyone in that area. haha and how much i loved everyone in the district, we were all way close, and saying goodbye to those sisters was the WORST THING IN THE UNIVERSE. haha okay i won't be a downer much longer just one second.

so they tell you.... love the people with all your heart! give them everything! dedicate every minute to them! so... you DO!!!!!! and then..... they rip your heart out......................... and you basically never know when you're gonna see your investigators and everyone ever again... :( haha ooooh man i'm being dramatic but I'M NOT. but no i am, you guys know me, don't worry! 

I got assigned to Valrico spanish, with my companion hna meldau! but turns out we just cover two english wards, and we translate for anyone who doesn't speak english! this area doesn't have much spanish... it's way sad, we met the bishop's wife and the handshake thing gets me EVERY TIME, haha she went to shake my hand and i gave her a hug and i almost CRIED cause i was like ooooh man this is not a spanish area or ward or people aaaaand i feel like i just got switched to english. nooot what i expected. BUT. the wards are amazing, they work so well and really are supporting the mission work. and we got permission to teach english too, so hopefully the teaching pool opens up now. i'm actually really excited, i've learned a ton already this week! being humbled every day, and learning to trust the Lord, and i already love the people here, they're amazing and we have a lot of work to do!! WOOOOO!!!!!

OKAY LET ME JUST TELL YOU. i met two famous people already... pretty much... i feel like i'm in hollywood!!!!!!!! so ya know when that ship got taken over by pirates? a few years ago? well..... the main engineer in the ship that APPARENTLY stabbed the pirate captain guy is TOTALLY IN OUR WARD!!!! and i met him and shook his hand... probably the same hand that fought the deadly battle on that dark dangerous ship!!!! so cool. hahaha AND i met this kid who is totally on nicklelodian... not how you spell it. whatever. but he's an actor and ittttt's pretty cool.

SO HERE'S A COOL STORY. a member has been wanting us to visit their less active son who's into fire spinning and slack lining and african drums and cool stuff! and so we went on an adventure to find him through this offroading trail into this WAY gorgeous land and it was way cool, and found this old house in the depth of the trees :) and it was exciting, we knocked and met shannon, she's way awesome, she lived there but not the son, he lived in a trailer on the same land a little further up! but she's awesome, totally gonna get baptized. anyway JUST SO HAPPENS that this LA comes walkin down the hill! his ride for work hadn't showed up and so he was gonna come and wait for him, so we barely caught him and were able to talk a bit, and we're goin back this next week aaaaand i have a vision of him being reactivated and her being baptized and them falling in love. :) and then getting married in the temple. so that'll be fun. 

there aren't a lot of stories this week, we met a ton of people and leadership from the ward mostly, and i learned about all the people in the area! there's definitely some work to do, i'm excited to do it. 

OH!!! mom! ya know the orange dress with the yellow stripes? how you said you could be a candy corn in that! and i said yeeeah... WELL I WAS A CANDY CORN FOR HALLOWEEN. haha so i did that for you :) 

oh man everyone sorry this is so short! you're all probably glad actually. haha i feel like this week was boring in the email BUT IT WAS STILL GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! sorry! 

I learned a lot though, and man i'm just so grateful for everything i do have. there was an amazing lesson on gratitude in relief society and sometimes things just FILL YOUR HEART AND MIND SO FULL and i was just like yeah we DEFINITELY need to live every day in thanksgiving! this life is amazing! there are beautiful trees and a sun and nature and people and technology and everything!!! what the heck?? why does anyone ever complain?? why do i ever complain?? haha it makes you miserable and lets satan RIGHT into your heart, to make you unhappy. life is so good, even when it isn't it is. there is so much to see and recognize. 

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH. so dang much. SOOOOO DANNNNNNG MUUUUCH!!! 

I am SO GRATEFUL for this mission. and for what it's teaching me and the people i meet and everything. definitely not a sacrifice, i recieve SO MUCH MORE than i give. that will never be a question. I am sure of it, this is a blessing. 

MAN. i just love you all. 

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!!!!!!!!!!! 

be happy, smile, laugh, serve, love, all the good things you can do. 

byeeeee :)

I'm a candy corn for Halloween!

Sister Meldau

October 28, 2013

HELLO WORLD. 

i dunno what to write this week... 

guess what?

I'm being TRANSFERRED!!!! first time in my whole mission. 8 months. it's super nuts, i can't wait though, i'm actually way excited to meet new people and see a different side of everything! new ward, new missionaries, new area, everything! so that'll be way fun. sad saying goodbye to everyone... BUT! i'm just super glad i got to know everyone here. i love these people so much. it's insane. 

SOOOO here's something cool and humbling. so every day out here, you think you learn so much, which you do! but then you go out and realize you have sooo much farther to go. haha but! it's not a discouraging thing! it's a wow!!!!! i cannot WAIT TO LEARN MORE. you guys. KNOWLEDGE IS AMAZING. oh my gerberfibners. i can't even explain it, I love learning things. i love just understanding it, not just knowing it, but studying and having that moment where you just feel it in your heart and your mind and it makes SO MUCH SENSE and you just KNOW it's pure truth. with the simplest things! i'm learning how to really study and search the word for myself, I used to think i was doing that! but noooo no no. haha it's amazing!!! 

anyway that isn't what i was gonna say.... what was i gonna say?.... OH YEAH. so anyway. wait. OH! okay no i do remember. so there was a guy who moved in with a less active we were teaching and i TOTALLY PRE JUDGED HIM. not juuuudged him, but i was just like... WHO IS THIS GUY. i wanna call him and tell him not to move in! NOOOOO!!!!! BUT. now that i've met him and we've actually been teaching them both and YES he is catholic forever.. (he says :)) and yes he has our LA going to the catholic church now, BUT, he promised us he'd read the whole BoM and he's doing it. AND he's just the nicest guy. he's like a cute little grandpa. haha i bought something from teresita and i didn't have the cash right then and he just slipped it under the counter to me, hahaha trying to be all sly. anyway long story noooot really short, I love the guy. and I'm just still learning how to love everyone right away, and immediately see them with the eyes of Christ, faith, love, etc. woo! 

oookay so one of our other less actives, his wife died.... we went to see him and he told us and he was so devastated. we just stood outside for an hour listening to him, and standing there with him while he cried, and saying whatever the spirit told us to say, cause nothing we wanted to say would really help... it was a really awesome experience though, cause we're both (me and hna despain) sitting there cryin with this guy and just, man it was hard to see him like that with so much pain, but it was amazing cause i gained more faith from it. he was super angry with God, and didn't understand why this happened, and kept saying over and over how he didn't deserve this and how it wasn't right. and afterwards when we left we were just driving in silence listening to a song about christ's love and trusting in him and i was just like oooh my gosh... i trust in him. i still feel that joy, i still feel that peace, cause Christ truly does make it possible to feel that sadness but still feel that peace and know that everything will be okay. i was so grateful for that. 

SO. whenever you all are feeling that sadness, that hopelessness, discouragement, frustration, stress, anything, DO not forget Christ. do not forget that it is possible to feel peace in the midst of that. remember the big picture, and the plan of salvation, the Book of Mormon, the atonement, the gospel. and just feel that peace, know that it'll be okay. know that he is here and that everything is possible. cause we are NOT alone. we aren't. 

OKAY GUYS. i know there aren't many stories.... haha BUT uh. well lets see. OH. something way cool! we brought two huge boxes of food to church to give to other missionaries since we're moving out, but as we went outside to unlock the car for the other sisters there was a family outside asking for food, and they had to leave cause i don't think that's allowed or something i dunno... BUT. before they left we were able to give them that big box :) so that was super cool. the mom looked so relieved and man it was just awesome. AWESOME TO BE AN INSTRUMENT IN THE HANDS OF GOD.

hmmm lets see anything else? anything funny? well i laughed a lot this week but i don't remember the stories why... haha ummmmm. 

WELL. sorry this is super boring... haha JUST LAUGH CAUSE LIFE IS GOOD. go ahead, chuckle a little bit! no reason not to! 

alright i'm headin out, gotta send like a billion pictures of our apt. to the mission office cause president wants to see how clean everything is from everyone! hahaha here's something funny, he sent us an email and said to everyone that, well let me explain first.

SO the office elders went around and surprise inspected all the house, (MOM DON'T WORRY OURS WAS CLEAN.) and took pictures! and then in the next MLC showed the worst pictures... haha so president emailed us and said that he had a private picture group on the new facebook for our mission, and he said something like "so i have this private facebook group for the pictures of all your apt's. I'd hate to see what would happen if this group went public and all your family and friends saw how you were living....... hopefully the apt's get a lot better in shape." HAHAHA i was laughing so hard, oh my gosh. he's so funny. but he's dead serious about it!

okay ANYWAY.

i'm really going now!

don't send any mail till i know my address! or just send it to the mission home address!

LOVE YOU ALL SO DANG MUCH.

LOVE HERMANA JESSY RUSSELLLLLLL!!!!

Transfers, saying gooodddbyyyeeeee TO EVERYONE! there are a bunch more but i don't wanna send them all... 

I LOVE THESE PEOPLE! the big family are the Morenos :) LOVE THEM. and uhhhh a bunch more, i don't remember what i connected now... 

October 21, 2013

OKAY FOLKS. first of all. my BIG SISTER LEAVES IN A WEEK TO HER MISSION. crazy. can't believe it, everyone pray for her! 

aaaaand today i am RUNNING short on time. haha so this MIGHT BE SHORT. but last time i said that pretty sure it was my longest email yet....

ANYWAY.

today was SOOOOO awesome. what should i share there are TOO MANY STORIES....................... 

okay! well we had an AWESOME lesson with this super great guy Anthony, he is so full of the light of Christ it's insane. anyways we did the restoration, and the spirit was SO DANG STRONG. he got goosebumps and it was awesome cause at the beginning of the lesson we asked if he'd read and he said no he doesn't have much time, so we challenged him to two minutes a day after work at LEAST. and he said okay, and by the end of the lesson he looked at us and said with a big smile.... ya know... i have a lot more than 2 minutes a day. ..... HEEEEHEEEE!! :D so cool. 

OH PS DANDRE THAT COOL GANGSTA WAS BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EVERYBODY STAND UP AND DO A LITTLE DANCE AND SING HALLELUJAH! (is that how you spell that?) anyway SOOOO COOL! haha I LOVE THE GOSPEL!!!!!!!!!! 

oooh man so we have this great less active lady who is amazing, and she is on her way BACK! anyway she asked us if we could bring elders to the lesson that day cause the owner of the house (dad of the family she lives with) was super super sick, and he needed a blessing, and their family isn't too fond of our church so we were like YEAH! she was so excited, she was like, oooh man this is gonna heal him and it will be a HUGE testimony!!!! and he will start on the path... :) haha so we brought some elders and they gave him such a great blessing. it was so powerful and the spirit was SO STRONG. Luz (our LA) was crying through the whole thing, and the guy he could barely sit in the chair and was in SO MUCH PAIN but completely stopped wincing and moving by the end of the blessing. and then the elders left and we stayed to talk to Luz, and five minutes later he came out of the room, and started eating food and sat down to watch some tv, (mind YOU he hadn't been able to get out of bed or eat food ALL DAY cause of the pain. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!! MIRACLLEEEEEEEEE!!!!! hahaha it was so awesome. just another testimony to the priesthood power.)

OOOH so i went on an exchange and into an english area. suuuuper different teaching in english to english people, but it was way awesome. I uh am STILL trying to be more understanding and just lovin everyone and being patient cause we tried to go see this lady who has records in the church but refuses to admit she was baptized but she totally was.... haha and we were giving her the info of the bishop s that she could call and get her records removed and the husband came out and starts yelling at us about how we need to STOP and i was trying to explain that we were just getting it settled so no one bothers them again and he kept cutting me off and yelling and i was just thinking DUDE. are you for real?? OH MY GOSH I WILL PUNCH YOU IN THE FACE RIGHT NOW LET US TALK. hahaha but no i am LEARNING. don't worry, anyway it was weird though. 

OKAY MAN i am just learning so much about how to trust Christ, it's something we say all our lives, that we have faith in him, but HOLY i did not understand what that meant till now! it is insane. i am so grateful. I just really am starting to understand that he will not leave us behind. All my fears and stuff sometimes overpower my faith a little  bit, but I was just studying this morning and I just felt so strongly how much he will not leave us behind. we're trying to follow him on this straight but very narrow path, and we go off the sides a bit sometimes, but he will never leave us behind. he waits, and he is there. always. he loves every one of you so much. I LOVE EVERY ONE OF YOU SO MUCH. we can't give up, we can't stop because something is hard, or shrug something off because it doesn't fit our life style. He is here for us. please trust me and my testimony when I say that there is so much joy in this gospel. it might be hard to follow sometimes, and we might get weak and give out a little, but just keep going. and RELY ON HIM. this life has so many blessings waiting. i am eternally grateful for what i've learned so far, and everything i am going to learn in these next 10 months. 

THIS IS THE LIFE. 

farewell until next week!!!!!!!!!

sign making for the HUGE spanish festival!!! :) SO SWEET. we felt like we were in highschool again. haha

our bishop can SHAAAAKE his booty. better than me. hahahaha so funny. 

NOCHE DE LA HISPANIDAD!!!! so awesome, hahaha I LOVE THIS CULTURE. 

halloweeeeen!!! :D 

OH mom so a cuban family taught me to eat with my hands...........sooo............. hahaha i thought you'd grimace at that so i sent it toyou :) hehe LOVE YOU!

ummm i decide to be healthy and the world decides to give us NEVER ENDING JUNK FOOD. ............

Crunches and cookies, they cancel each other out!

our two month mark! yaay! 

October 14, 2013

oh my GOODness. HELLOOOOOOO!!!! hello folks. time is FLYIN. for real. i can't believe oct is already half way over. WHAT IS HAPPENING. so sometimes in the mornings when the skies are covered and it a little cool outside it feels like fall in utah! and i love it. 

anyway, okay FIRST OFF..... i feel like everyone in florida just gets a car and drives.... they don't learn how... they don't need a license... they just are set free! haha the roads are crazy here, we see a huge accident that shuts down the entire road like 4 times a week i swear! it's nuuuts. but anywho uh lets see. i never know where to start... 

hehehe here's something funny. we taught Jose wanted to learn some slang cause he wants to talk like normal teens and stuff... so we taught him how to say what a boss, and that was a MISTAKE. hahaha he was goin nuts with it at church yesterday. everyone he hugged, oooh what a boss when he patted them on the shoulders and stuff, so funny. hahahaha we were crackin up. HE GOT THE PRIESTHOOD FINALLY!!!!! WOOO! he was gettin discouraged cause he just didn't see how he was contributing to the church and then he got it the next hour :) WOO! he was so happy. 

uhhh so REMEMBER that story forever ago when i went on an exchange and we talked to a cool gangsta kid that intimidated us at first but we DID IT??? and then i said and now he's being taught so it's cool! well he is GETTING BAPTIZED!!!!!!!! WWOOOOo!!!!! the other sisters told us and i flipped!! haha baptisms are SO EXCITING!!!! so thaaaat's real awesome. 

so we're teaching this lady victoria, she's super sweet, and GUESS WHAT SHE HAS A DATE SET!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! she immediately just accepted baptism and everything.... we are takin t slow with her to make sure she understands everything, but OH MAN!!!! she was referring to the church and said "our church" and paused and said, i say our church cause i already include myself as a member :) oooooh MAN victoria you sly dog!!!! haha she's so cute. they have a monster in their house though..... a devil dog..... he is honeslty like.... evil i feel like. haha he hates us so much and wants to eat us!!! and his tear ducts take up half his eyes so they're half red!!! and they always put him in another room before we come in so he doesn't attack us, but one time her husband just opened right away cause he though it was a friend that the dog already knew... and then..... it was basically survival mode. 

the dog..... came SO FAST.... teeth out, death sounding barks and screeches, and starting trying to eat me alive and i'm like in this thought of mind thinking.. hm.... if i run it will chase me and then i'll look like a fool running and screaming down the street or jumping into a tree or something. and if i stay here and just take it like a man i'll just have to see what happens.... so i braced myself and then it went after hna hermana despain and she's like falling over trying to get away from it, hahahahaha so funny and then it comes back to me and jose grabbed it. OH MAN. it was nuts. super funny. HAHA, i crack up every time i think about it. so yeah take this as a lesson... that even (don't know how you spell this) chiwawa's can be deathly. yes it was only a chiwawa............ but TRUST ME you would understand if you saw it! haha anyway.

we have so many people progressing so well. and we love them SO DANG MUCH. i seriously can't even tell you guys! transfers are comin up, two weeks! and i'm pretty sure i'm gettin transferred, so i probably won't be able to see these families baptisms but i just PRAY THAT THEY GET THERE. they are so awesome. i don't have time to go into everyone! haha but anyway, i'm out of time, i love you all SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

this is all worth it, i learn so much every day, I'm really learning how to trust God and to put my pride away and learn from everything he gives me. I can't wait for everything more i'm gonna learn, i am ETERNALLY GRATEFUL for this mission. seriously... please everyone, DO THE BASICS. but do it with your heart in it, go to church and honestly search for answers and ways you can go, read your scriptures and REALLY try to learn and progress! say your prayers and say them with real intent! talk to your father! give him the time of day! i love you all so much, i pray for you all every day!!!! adios :)

My little brother wrote me a letter!!!!

 this is adorable joanna from the moreno family :) so dang cute.

 one of our investigators cats got stuck in a tree. and it was just really funny. haha and that big garden place is that guys mini rain forest! it is SWEET! bananas and everything!! 

we picked STAR FRUIT!!! with a cool fruit picker thing and i felt SO COOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

October 7, 2013

ooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH. my gosh.

Conference.

was.

so.

good.

I can't even... just. oh my. holy... what the. how? i don't!.... even... i'm gonna.... AH! .......................................

well i just can't say it in words enough. so uh. yeah. haha it's probably because for the first time in my life i think..... I STAYED AWAKE THROUGH ALL OF CONFERENCE!!!! WHHAAAAAAATTTTTTT!!!! it's the TRUTH the truth i say!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not a lie i speak none such thing! WOOOOOOO!!!!! i'm super proud of myself IF YOU CAN'T TELL. it's just a big deal. haha anyway uh if any of you didn't watch all of conference FINISH MY EMAIL AND THEN GO WATCH IT ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for real it was SO GOOD. anyway, I especially loved... well all of it. i can't even pick favorites or i would type out every one of their talks... and then this would be a really long email. but that's nothing new............ hehe :) 

ANYWAY. i'm gonna move on before I go on a big rant.....

BUT JUST WATCH THEM OKAY???? I was watching and SO MUCH STUFF was answers to my questions, AND to my investigators and to the less actives we're teaching and it was so sad because most of them didn't come or didn't watch... and i was just like... man. HOW often does God give us the answers or help we need, and we just aren't even paying attention? how many opportunities do we miss out on because we don't wanna take the time to do what the Lord asks? don't miss out on the opportunity to hear from the servants of the Lord people! and don't forget to live what you learn :) one of my favorite lines in conference was something like, you can't get good at basketball or in shape by watching a basketball game, and you can't get spiritually in shape by just watching conference. OOOH man. he NAILED IT. it's true. i love it. oh shoot... i went on a rant. OKAY SORRY I'M MOVING ON NOW. 

so here's a cool story that made my day. well we were going to exercise, and we walk over to the gym in the apartments, and we usually go over around 6:15 but this morning I left the alarm for 6 instead, and so we got out a few minutes early, and this guy was walking into his house, and i was like HEY! how are ya? and he looked a little taken aback and was like... uh good! how are you? and chatted a bit, then we left, and then in the gym, he's suddenly at the door trying to get in and i'm like WOAH. ooooh scared me a bit, haha but he comes in and he says "hey, i just want you guys to know how much it meant to me that you said hi, you won't know the reason why, but it really made my day, it meant a lot." oooo hmy gosh THAT made my day! I love simple moments like that! those are sometimes better than the big miracle stories! anyway, God is so good :) 

oooh so uh there was a night where we had a really rough lesson with a less active that has been makin some bad choices... we've been working to get her to the temple for a long time, and suddenly out of nowhere this huge thing comes up and she's just takin 10 steps backward knowingly... she knows it, but she wants to do it, she thinks it'll solve all her troubles, it's just... complicated. anyway, it was the first lesson me and sis. despain just cried through the whole time... haha but I COULDN'T CONTROL MY STUPID EYES. anyway we left that lesson though super down, just cause we love her SO much, and it's so hard just watching people take those steps.... when you KNOW how much happiness they could have if they would just follow your counsel. how hard must it be for God right? how often do we disobey cause we want something? or we think we know better? it makes me remember how important agency is, he gave up a lot of his kids so that we could have our agency. we gotta learn how to use it right! ANYWAY. after that though, he gave us... well like a puppy or something. haha we went to a lesson with some referrals and they were just amazing. the husband was SO HAPPY to get a BoM in spanish, he started reading it right away and was like man god is SO good... :) so cute. it's hard watching people you love move away from what you know, but like Uchtdorf said, we respect and love them no matter what. and like henry b eyring said!!! in the story, what God said to that lady "I gave him to you because i knew you could and would love him, no matter what he did." guys our responsibility is JUST to love, and serve, and do all we can, never shut people out, never turn them away, never let a grudge or harsh feelings control you and the way you treat others. that is not our calling. remember our calling. 

WELL we uh went to our first mexican fiesta! hahaha the dad in the moreno family had his birthday on saturday so we stopped by to get a few referrals and remind them about conference, and it was like... food. food. food. food. food. music. and beer. hahaha it's funny cause we STILL haven't been able to teach them the WoW and every time we've seen them they've been drinking. hahaha anyway i love them though, SO MUCH. 

WEEEEEEEELLL you folks i think i'm gonna sign off soon! I ATE STARFRUIT THIS WEEK! i don't know how i didn't know about it before but it's amazing.... haha and it's in the shape of A STAR!!!!!!!!!!! so even if it tasted like dead fish i'd still eat it cause it's super cool. 

also. well. nothin else too funny this week... probably actually. but i can't remember. 

hey! hey you guys! listen to me. keep going okay? remember that it is not worth it to end the fight, I know it is hard and i know sometimes it doesn't seem worth it but I promise with all of my heart that you will not regret the decision you made to keep going. i love you all so much. i miss you, so much. stay strong. 

WOOOOOOOOOOOOO IT'S TRUEEEEEEEEE! 

French toast on Conference morning

Whipped Cream

Loving me some french toast!

handshake practice

September 30, 2013

that grass thingy looks like a dementor!!! WOOOAH! 

 i sewed a little!!!!!! okay sis despain did it most but i did the last two stitches!!! WHAT??? be proud i know :)