2 Amys!!

It suddenly got so cold here and so rainy but we still kept working. We met this guy Curt and we couldn't step too close (because he said his dog would bite) so we were just yelling as we stood there in the pouring rain teaching about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. Even though we were soaking wet by the end of the day and we were so cold- it was so worth it for JESUS!! We met some awesome people and taught some great lessons. 

We had exchanges this week; I was with Sister Campbell and it was super fun!! We taught this guy Stuart and he looks like an older version of Ross Lynch- he's so funny. We met him in a parking lot and he's already read the Book of Mormon!! Hopefully he continues to learn more and can come to church!

We found lots of new people to teach this week which was so awesome. We also had Zone Conference on Thursday and it was so fun!! I got to see my MTC companion Sister Beach, which is always so fun to catch up!! We learned lots of good things and I'm excited to keep teaching our friends and help them progress!

Also, I'm going to try and explain this crazy miracle that happened. We did blitzes with the Sister training leaders a week ago, so Sister Kington went with another Sister missionary to visit some people previously taught. They found a girl named Amy who was interested in learning more. A week later, we pulled up to her house for our lesson and Sister Kington was like "this isn't the right house." I was like "yeah this is Amy's house, I've literally taught her before and I've come to this house." She was like "idk this doesn't look like the same house I came to last week." It was really dark though so we just knocked on the door. When Amy answered, she was not happy to see us. We definitely woke her up from a nap or something. cause she closed the door before we could even say anything. Anyways, turns out that Sister Kington found the next door neighbor Amy! They went to the wrong house and an Amy just happened to live there and just happened to have also met with missionaries years ago. Nothing is a coincidence though so God definitely placed us in the "other Amy's" path lol. Hopefully that made sense haha.

Love and miss you all!!

Sweet 16!

This week was so much fun!! We found 16 new people to teach, literally miracles straight from God!! On Sunday we had a pretty open afternoon so we just prayed and asked God to lead us to those that are ready to hear the gospel and literally within the next hour we found Nelly, Tracy and Jessica! These three people have truly been prepared by God. Nelly and Tracy are married and the Spirit was so strong as we testified to them about the Book of Mormon! We invited them to pray about the Book of Mormon and they were so down for that. He was like “there’s something different about y’all, you might be right.” We are so excited for them!!

We also did some member blitzes, and they were so fire. We met some interesting people this week and it was super fun. This guy Michael called us for an hour, and it was just him yelling at his cat named "pilgrim marie.” He was super lonely though, so we just listened as we did other work. We also met this guy named Randy who said his wife was Hella from Thor Ragnarok and how he possibly could be Jesus, but he's not sure. He tried giving us this notebook about aliens, but I declined. I was low-key getting creeped out because he followed us for a bit lol.
 
My cousins Kenzie and Haley also came and took us out to lunch!! That was super fun and we got to see her new baby, which is so precious. Anyways, I just love being a missionary and I always say this, but I just love sharing this gospel with others!! The spirit is always so strong when we testify to everyone.
 
Love and miss you all!

Exotic Cats & New Comp.

This week was crazy with transfers and getting a new companion. Sister Bird said bye to lots of members and it was sad but we got some cute photos. I've mentioned our member that breeds exotic cats but we finally got to see her cat house where she keeps all her cats. I've only ever seen the baby kittens so I finally got to see the big ones. They're literally mini cheetahs and they're all so cute. I'll put some photos so you can see them. She was cleaning out the whole cat house so we got to see all of them. I love Melissa she's so funny. 

Transfers were on Thursday and it was sad saying bye to Sister Bird. I had to wait two days for my trainee to get in, so in the mean time I was comps with Sister Wilson. Wednesday night she got bit by a pit bull (long story). Anyways she went to the ER that night but then the day after we started her rabies shots because turns out the dog wasn't up to date on his vaccinations. It was a long day in the hospital but I'm glad Sister Wilson is doing better. 

On Saturday I met my new companion!! Her name is Sister Kington and she's so cute- I already love her. We had some good lessons and we met some nice people. I'm excited for this new transfer it's going to be fun.

Love and miss you all!!

Staying in Gardner!

Our friend Earron got baptized on saturday!! It was such a special day and it was amazing. I've mentioned Earron before but basically his girlfriend Rachel is a member of our church and she invited him to start coming to our church a few months ago. Then we started teaching him and it's been amazing to see him progress and grow closer to God! The more Earron opened up we could see how God had been preparing him and helping him along the way. The baptism was a really spiritual experience and Rachel's dad got to baptize Earron which was also so precious. Our friend James also came to watch the baptism which was awesome because he's on date for baptism as well!! 

We got transfer news on Saturday and... I'm staying in Gardner!! I really thought I was going to leave because I've been here for a while but I'm staying lol. I'm also going to be training again so I'll be getting my new companion this week! Sad times to say bye to Sister Bird but I'm excited to meet my new comp. 

Also our phone/sim card is kinda broken. We realized that some people weren't receiving our text messages so that's a problem we're trying to fix. I kinda wanted to leave the area so I wouldn't have to deal with the problem but now I'm staying so I gotta fix this lol.

Anyways, short email but love and miss you all!!

Goals, Conference & Feast

So many miracles this week! Our zone had this goal to have each companionship get 3 people on date for baptism by the end of September. It was a big goal and it did not feel achievable. BUT I truly saw how exercising faith and giving our best effort made it possible! When we had two days left to put 2 more people on date, Sister Bird and I knelt down and prayed and just asked God to lead us to someone who was ready for baptism. Literally 20 minutes later we called this girl Alisha, who was taught previously and put her on date for baptism! We also put our friend James on date for baptism as well!! 

General conference was this past week which was so exciting!! It's so amazing to get to hear from God's living prophet and apostles! It's so much fun as a missionary too because we get to watch it with our friends and they get to experience it for the first time. We watched the Sunday afternoon session with our friend James at one of the member's homes here and it was so fun. He really resonated with one of the talks and we taught him some things after. He said he's excited to come to fast and testimony meeting next Sunday- we love James he's so precious. 

Saturday morning we did a service project in Lahart, which is a tiny tiny town in Kansas but the people are so sweet. We watched the morning session of general conference as a district and ate waffles and ice cream which was yummy.

Also our friend Nova, who we stopped teaching but we still are good friends, invited us to her family's celebration of the Feast of the Tabernacles. We got to eat some yummy food and meet new people and sing worship songs. I've never participated in the Feast of the Tabernacles but it was really cool to see how Nova and her fam worship the Lord and I loved it! I also loved seeing her kids, especially Basil!! We haven't seen her in a few weeks so she ran up and gave us a big hug and it was so precious. Even though we're not teaching Nova anymore I'm glad we still get to be good friends:) There's photos below of us with Nova and Basil.

Love and miss you all!

Nova and her daughter Basil

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!