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. 

Spike Ball Lesson

This week was pretty busy with lessons which was really fun! Our biggest struggle is keeping our lessons short. We're only supposed to stay less than 30 minutes which seems like a lot of time but it goes by so quickly! Especially with some of our friends we just get into really good discussions and lose track of time. So that's our goal this week is to keep lessons short and brief so our friends can better understand what we're teaching them.

Also our friend Nova got us a gift and she put her phone number and email in it because she knows we get switched out pretty often. I'm so excited to keep in contact with her even after the mission!!

We had zone conference this week, but it was a bit different this time because general authority Elder Wong joined us! He did this whole object lesson with spike ball and we got to watch him play with the Mission president. It was pretty funny and I learned so much about becoming a better missionary. Members are truly the key and I've seen it with our friends. We read one of our member's testimony of how she came to know the church was true and she loved it! I also love having dinner with the members as well- the food is always so yummy! One of the families is from Brazil and we had dinner with them last night and the food was amazing!! I forgot what the dessert was called but we had this pastry thing filled with banana, cinnamon, and cheese- it was so yummy!!

It's also the end of the transfer so we found out if we were staying in our current area or moving somewhere else. Sister Bird and I are staying together in Gardner for the next transfer yayy!! I'm honestly so excited to stay here and continue teaching our friends and get to know the members more!!

Oh wait also I totally forgot to mention that one of our members crashed into our car. We had just had dinner with them so Sister Bird and I were parked outside of their house. They pulled out and didn't see us and ran straight into the side of our car. They had this big dent in the car and I was so scared our car was damaged. But tender mercy because they literally hit the tire so nothing was damaged!! (Except their car because it was pretty bad) anyways that was a tender mercy from God!!

Love and miss you all!!

Miracles!!

God truly provides!! The past couple of weeks have been kinda hard to find people interested in listening to us. We have our consistent lessons with our two mom friends Staci and Nova but besides that we haven't had much luck with people wanting to learn more about the gospel. Until... Kayce and Srey!! We met this mom Kayce and she was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and we have a lesson with her tonight. 

We also met this girl Srey in the Walmart parking lot two months ago but she said she was really busy so we haven't been able to meet up until yesterday. She's been reading the Book of Mormon and we asked her what her thoughts were on it. She loved it and said it has brought her so much peace and filled a hole she never knew she had. Sister Bird and I were so excited for her and we taught her all about the Restoration and where the Book of Mormon came from. We have another lesson with her and her mom tonight! We could feel the Spirit so strongly while teaching Srey and we could just tell that God has been preparing her to hear this message!

We had mid-trainers this past week which is basically when all the missionaries in training get together to listen to the mission leaders speak. I was just at mid-trainers like a month ago but this time I went as the trainer and it felt weird. Anyways it was super fun and I got to see my mtc comp Sister beach and my previous comp Sister Frehner!

Also the blue angels came to Gardner and they're basically these fighter pilots that do cool stunts in their jets. Everyone was outside to watch them even though it was over 100 degrees outside. Kansas heat is brutal but the sunsets are so pretty!! Anyways, this past week I truly saw how God answers our prayers on His timing and according to His plan. We just have to trust in His plan for us!!

I love and miss you all!!

Mom Connections

This week went by fast and it was pretty fun! We had zone p-day last week, so all the missionaries in our area came together and we ate nachos and played games (I'm actually so bad at volleyball but that's ok)  We had interviews with the Mission President this week and that was fun. We also had exchanges so I was with Sister McCumber for a day!! We met some cool people including this guy Kyle who dresses up like someone from the 1800s and he puts on a British accent. He also has a cane that he walks with and he's pretty chill. 

We had really good lessons with our friends Nova and Staci this week! We introduced them both to members of our ward here and they are already besties!! For Staci's lesson we brought Melissa who is the exotic cat breeder and she's so funny, I love her and Staci loves her now too!! Anyways I think we have some special connection with moms because we're teaching three different moms. I love them all though they're so cute!!

Love and miss you all!!

First Baptism on the Mish!!

This past week was crazy busy but it was fun overall. First of all, let me tell you guys about last Monday night- it was a rough one but also a spiritually strengthening moment. We went to visit our friend Carla, but we ran into her two daughters instead- one being similar to our age. Well the first one was super chill and nice but the second one just started bashing the Book of Mormon. Long story short she kept telling us how we're not Christians and how the Book of Mormon is false. I tried to testify but she wouldn't listen. I told her we didn't want to argue with her and if she's not interested then we'll leave, but she kept going at it. I started to get emotional because it's hard when you've chosen to give up 18 months of your life to serve Jesus Christ and then someone just tells you your beliefs are wrong and your testimony is not true. It was a long day and week and I was already exhausted so I was trying so hard not to bawl my eyes out. It was so sad to hear how someone could be so bitter about a book that has brought me so much joy and comfort in times when I needed it the most. Her mom Carla showed up half way through and told her daughter to apologize for making me cry lol. Carla said she would read the Book of Mormon and see if it's true. Even if her daughter ignored our testimonies, I hope Carla listened and can come to know that the Book of Mormon is true. Anyways, that was very long but it was a very interesting night. 

One hard thing about being a trainer while still being a new missionary is that I don't know some things like how to plan a baptism lol. It was very stressful but once we reached out to the leaders they were so helpful! Our friend Tori is 13 years old and she was baptized on Saturday! It was a stressful day with last minute plans and changes but I'm SO happy for Tori! We had a great turnout and so many ward members came to support her- even some of the young women came! I love this ward and how they came together to support Tori even if they didn't fully know her. 

This week was a struggle but I also just feel so blessed to be out here in Kansas serving the Lord!! I've never felt closer to my Savior and I feel His love for me and the people around me every day. I love sharing this amazing message with people and helping them come closer to Christ!

Love and miss you all!!