Cookies Galore🍪

Hey guys!!

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but the members in our ward here feed us so well! I'm literally stuffed to the max every night which is definitely a blessing 🙌 In spite of that Sister Bird and I still wanted to make cookies so we made a bunch but sadly our second batch got burned because we forgot we put it in the oven haha. But the next day we got a package from Sister Bird's mom and it was full of 50 banana chocolate chip cookies. Tender mercy because they were amazing!!

We met some cool people this week and we're excited to start teaching them! We don't have a lot of miles so we can't drive a ton so we just walk everywhere. Walking is so fun because you chat with everyone you see but also Kansas heat is brutal. It's been over 100 °F the past few days. We also had a crazy storm last night and there was a potential tornado- but sadly I still haven't seen one :( 

We're teaching this mom named Nova who is literally the nicest person ever and her kids are literally so adorable. However, she asks a lot of deep doctrine questions that are really hard to answer. I've definitely been studying the Bible and Book of Mormon a lot lately while preparing for every lesson with her but I've also learned the importance of just being honest with her about how I don't know everything. She obviously doesn't expect some 19-year-old girl to be a scripture scholar so she understands when we don't have a perfect answer to her questions haha.

Anyways love and miss you all!!

Photos of Sister Bird and I (also me wearing her glasses and I literally could not see anything lol)

    

Singing at the Royals Game!!

This week was so busy and so stressful but also so amazing and I loved it! On Tuesday our whole mission got to sing the national anthem at the Royals baseball game! We all got to ride on party busses to the game and it was pretty cool. Singing the national anthem was pretty nice but not gonna lie- I was most excited for the $1 hot dogs😁 It was dolla dog night and I love hot dogs so it was a dream come true. Watching the game was pretty cool but eating cheap hot dogs is better lol. 

Thursday was transfer day! I still had to wait two days to get my new comp so I was in a temporary trio and it was fun! On Saturday I got to meet my trainee, her name is Sister Bird! She's so sweet and I'm so excited to continue to learn together! It's kinda scary sometimes being the trainer even though I've only been out for 6 weeks but like my mom always says "just fake it til you make it!" Confidence is key so I'm just rolling with it haha. 

We found 12 new people to teach this week and it really just goes to show that the Lord works with a desire! I felt so motivated and ready to teach people that we would not let one person walk past us without sharing a message about Jesus Christ! This week has been so hectic but we met a lot of cool people! 

I love and miss you all!!

(Also to all the missionaries on here- add me to your weekly emails!!)

How the Tables have Turned

The title of this email is very fitting because guess what... I'm going to be a trainer next transfer🫠 Reminder- I've only been out for 6 weeks so I'm still a trainee myself. Normally on a mission you're in training for 2 transfers, but we have so many new Sister missionaries coming next transfer that me and another trainee have to train as well. I just couldn't stop laughing when I found out haha. It's just comical that I've only been on the Mish for 6 weeks and now I'm going to be training someone else!! I'm kinda scared but it will be fun- I'm also just so excited!! 

One of the best parts about teaching our friends is that they actually are our friends! I mentioned how we started teaching this mom named Staci- well she's literally so funny and if I wasn't a missionary I would so just go hang out with her all day. We blew up balloons for her daughter Willow’s 5th birthday while teaching her about the Plan of Salvation. It was actually a pretty good lesson even though we were multitasking trying to make this Ballon banner thing. Anyways, I love her and her kids and I'm just so excited to continue teaching them!

We had mid-trainers this past week, which is basically when all the training companionships get together and hear trainings and chat. I got to see my MTC comp Sister Beach again which was so fun! Trainings are good but they low-key make you realize how much you need to work on- definitely a humbling experience. Also Mid-west storms are no joke. We had members messaging us to be safe while driving and we were like "pshh we're fine"- we were not, in fact, fine. We started driving home from mid-trainers and we literally could not see anything with the rain and wind. We had to pull over and wait out the storm in some other missionaries apartment. No one died which was a tender mercy- but I felt like I was in Wizard of Oz or something and was about to be swept up in a tornado. Luckily there were no tornadoes but I still want to see one:/

Anyways, I love and miss you all!! 

Ella is "Grace"

It was 4th of July on Tuesday and I was so excited!! I haven't celebrated this holiday in like 5 years because I was in England and you can't really celebrate a holiday to its fullest when you're celebrating your independence from the country you're living in lol. Anyways, we couldn't do much as missionaries because we still had to go out and teach people and be in by 7 pm, but I was still so happy with the tender mercies from God!! Fireworks are illegal in the surrounding areas but they're legal in Gardner (where I'm living) so a lot of people come to Gardner around 4th of July to do fireworks and oh my... it was like world War 3 or something. There were fireworks going off in every direction so my comp and I watched them from our backyard😁😁

We got to meet our new mission president and his wife, the Sommerfeldts, this week and they are so cute!! Right when I hugged Sister Sommerfeldt she was like "oh my you look and sound just like Grace"- so apparently I have a doppelganger and I remind them of this girl they used to teach in Sunday school but they said that's a good thing lol. Overall, they just seem like the sweetest people ever and I'm so excited to get to know them more!

Also we started teaching this awesome lady named Staci and she has the cutest kids ever. I literally almost cry every time I meet someone new because hearing their conversion to Jesus Christ is just so beautiful! This past week definitely had some highs and lows. I've kinda gotten used to rejection when people are quick to tell us no, but it just makes it even better when someone does say yes to hearing our message!! Even when they say no, we try to leave them with our number if they ever do want to deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ! I just love talking to strangers and talking about Jesus Christ with them!!

Also I wanted to share this scripture verse because it brought me a lot of comfort this past week:

"Wherefore be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you"

D+C 68:6

Some things are out of our control but when we have a positive outlook and continue to do our best, we can find that comfort even during our trials!

Love and miss you all!!

Cousin Lunch

Hey guys!!

My cousin Kenzie and her fam took us out to lunch this week so that was so fun seeing them! They live in another town in Kansas and they drove 45 minutes to take my comp and I to get Mexican food and it was so yum! (Look at the cute photo below) Also my mom sent me a cute package with 4th of July stuff so that's the photo of us with cool glasses:) 

We had exchanges this week, which is basically when you switch companions for a day. I went to Olathe with Sister Jones and it was so fun! We had a phone call lesson in the evening with this guy named Shaun, who clicked on one of our Facebook ads saying we help people come closer to God. He said he took it as a sign that this is Christ's true church because he keeps being led back to this church. He's been through a lot and said the only reason he's happy now is because of God's hand in his life. He had a really amazing story of his conversion to Jesus Christ. We talked to him for an hour about baptism and how we truly believe this is Christ's true church restored on the earth today. The Sister missionaries in Olathe are going to keep teaching him, but he already has a baptismal date set! 

This was definitely a rare scenario that we put him on a baptismal date on the first lesson but he's been in contact with missionaries previously and had friends who were members. It just goes to show how everyone's journey is different. Even though it's crazy that we invited him to be baptized the first lesson, we felt the Spirit so strongly so we just had to follow that prompting:)

Also I just love going up to strangers and asking if we can share an uplifting message with them! It's so fun because we can just testify of how the gospel has brought us so much joy and blessed our lives! It was definitely hard at first but it's gotten a lot easier because I just realized I've gotta be myself and listen to the Spirit! Not gonna lie we've met some people who are not so nice this week but we've also met some amazing people this week! Overall, I love them all and I just love sharing this message with everyone!

Love and miss you all!