Golden Biker!

I'm just loving being a missionary at the moment!! I love seeing our friends progress and become so happy the closer they come to Christ and learn that they're truly children of God!!

Sister Bird and I saw some awesome miracles this week. Let me tell you about our friend James! We were walking into the library for a lesson with one of our friends and we hear this guy coming up on a bike say "hey are you the missionaries". Hearing someone say that always makes me smile but also worried because they might also want to bash us and tell us we're wrong. But this wasn't the case!! We started talking to this guy and he's like "yeah I used to take the missionary lessons but then my phone broke and I lost the Sister's number and I moved so they didn't have my address so I haven't been able to contact you guys". Apparently he's been thinking about us the past few days and was like I really want to do the lessons again but he had no way of contacting us!! But then tender mercy because God literally placed us in his path!! The next day James came to church and got a ride with one of our members and we had a lesson at the member's house later that day. Shout out to stacey and Marty- they're literally so awesome. They drove james to church and let us do the lesson at their house. Sister Bird and I couldn't stop smiling because James is just so interested in learning more and coming closer to Christ!!

Also while we were talking to him our friend Jerry pulls up in his military jeep and was like "hey sis" and we chatted to him for a bit. Jerry is this 70 year old man by the way who is our bestie and he gave us some cool dog tags. Anyways I love Jerry, he's so funny. He has this cool white mustache and he looks like someone from top gun. 

We had some awesome Mexican food with one of our members this week also so there's a photo below of that. Also our friend Nova came to church!! I don't know if any of you remember but a few weeks ago we stopped teaching her because she said she couldn't agree that God and Jesus are separate beings. Anyways she promised she would still come to church and she did!! All the members were so nice and were coming up and introducing themselves. It was a busy Sunday but it was also so amazing!!

Anyways, I love being a missionary and I can't stop smiling when I get to literally teach people about the restored gospel. Telling them that we can be with our family members after we die and telling them that God knows them personally never gets old. I love testifying of Jesus Christ's love for them and I just feel His love for all the people here everyday!! Love and miss you all!!

Missionary Family Feud

Hey guys!!

First of all I just had to mention- we had some yummy food this week!! Little did I know that moving to Gardner Kansas would allow me to taste some of the best food ever. The members here can cook some GOOD food. Anyways I just wanted to mention that.

We had zone conference and that was so fun!! We played family feud and competed against the other zones. All the questions were about mission rules and standards. Sadly the Olathe zone (our zone) lost, like really badly. Remembering all the rules is hard and I definitely can't recite them word for word. 

We also did a Blitz with the Sister training leader trainers and that was so fun! I was with Sister Lawder and she was so funny. We found 3 new people to teach in the first 10 minutes of the blitz!! It was so cool and I love blitzes because it gets you so excited to talk to strangers and share the gospel. 

Also our friends Staci and Aaron came to church!! We've been teaching Staci for over 2 months now and she's never come to church. Every week she's said she'll come but doesn't end up coming. However this week she finally came and she sat with one of the members that always comes to our lessons and she met her family and everything. It was also the Primary program so Staci got to see all the kids sing and talk about Jesus. It was so precious and Staci loved it. 

Sister Bird and I saw lots of miracles this week and it was amazing to see how the Lord is preparing people to hear the gospel!!

I love and miss you all!

 

Baptism & Temple

Our friend Aaron is on date for baptism!! Basically we've been teaching this guy Aaron for 3 weeks because his girlfriend is a member. She invited him to church a while ago and he wanted to learn more. She answered a lot of his questions and then Sister Bird and I came into the picture when he wanted to take the missionary lessons. We didn't think it would move this fast but these lessons have been so Spirit filled!! Our last lesson we asked if Aaron prayed to know if the Book of Mormon is true and he said he's been doing it for a while and he believes that it's true!! There was a lot more explanation but it was an awesome lesson and in the end we put him on date to be baptized on Oct 7!!

We also got to go the temple this week and it was amazing!! I love the temple and it was definitely a great blessing because I could just take a break from the world. Anyways, I love the Kansas city temple it's so pretty.

We did some member blitzes as well. A Blitz is basically when we visit a bunch of people for 1-2 hours and we try to find people to teach and help come closer to Christ. We did two blitzes with some members and it was really fun. We also had exchanges so I was in Olathe for a day and that was pretty fun too. 

My mom told me I should get more photos with the members because the only photos I had were of Sister Bird and I lol. So here's some photos from this week!

Love and miss you all!!

Hi's & Lo's with Nova

This week was super fun and busy!! Every day was packed full of doing service, lessons, meetings and it was all so exciting!! We visited this girl Vanessa and she was so funny. She talked at us for 45 minutes about her visions and Sister Bird and I just stood and listened to all of her stories. Definitely had some interesting perspectives on the Bible but I loved listening to her. 

We had lots of lessons with members from our church here and it was amazing! We had a lesson with our friend Jerry, who used to be taught by missionaries but was too busy so they stopped teaching him. We brought one of our members who was also a veteran from the Vietnam War and they could relate and connect on some things. Jerry is struggling with a lot of things at the moment but we showed him how the Book of Mormon can truly help us through those difficult times and can help us feel God's love for us. We were doing the lesson in a coffee shop so it was kinda funny how we had this really deep spiritual discussion while "I wanna dance with somebody" by Whitney Houston played in the background. I'm not complaining though because I love that song lol.

We've been teaching our friend Nova for a while now and she's the one who asks really deep doctrine questions that are very difficult to answer. She's literally the sweetest person ever though and her kids are so cute. She goes to this non-denominational church in Gardner and she invited us to one of their worship nights where they come together and just sing and praise Jesus. I was so excited because I've always wanted to experience a non-denominational Christian band worship service (if that makes sense). They also invited us over for dinner before and we had this Korean BBQ take out and it was amazing!! It was so nice to get to know their family more! The worship service was definitely something I wasn't used to but it was cool.

We had a lesson with Nova the next day though and sadly she told us her true thoughts on everything we've been teaching her. She couldn't understand how God the Father and His son Jesus Christ are two separate beings. She had a lot of other questions about the Godhead and our beliefs. In the end we had to tell her we wouldn't be able to continue teaching her if she's not interested in learning more and she understood that. She's going on vacation for 2 weeks but still wants to come to church when she comes back so that's a positive. I've had to stop teaching people before but this was the hardest one yet. Sister Bird and I had a good cry after our lesson with Nova. We've been teaching her for 2-3 months and she is literally such a good friend. I was so excited for her to continue to progress towards baptism but it's just not going to happen at this time. Hopefully, in the future Nova will gain a testimony that the Book of Mormon is true but for now I'm just glad I could cross paths with her:)

Anyways, I know this email is so long but I love and miss you all!!

Also I know my photos are so repetitive and they're just selfies of Sister Bird and I, but I just keep forgetting to take photos but here's some.