There's no raining on this parade!

Hello all! Hope your week was great! Ours was good! Quite a lot can change in one week. This week is living proof.

D. is working towards a baptism date of March 16th. We are so excited for her. She is so sweet! She is one of those people who Heavenly Father has been working with for years. I don't think we had any influence in her decision to be baptized! She's had a lot of interactions with missionaries in the past, and she's ready now. Awesome!

We're still working with Ha; we taught the law of chastity yesterday and it went well. The law of chastity is my favorite lesson to teach, oddly enough. It is so straight forward and quick!

My interview this week with President was great! It was wonderful to see him and Sister Nilsen and talk with them. It's been a long time since I was able to do that. President couldn't get over how much I've changed.... the mission kind of just does that to you, I guess! Near the end of my interview they asked if I would extend my mission to do floater training with the sisters, kind of like Sister Cash did this time last year. I told them “of course”! It would only be a few weeks, but I'll take what I can get. The only problem is that I’ll be home after Mother’s Day instead of on May 10, which was my previous release date. I'm sorry I won’t be home for it Mom!!!

The Nilsens told me that there are 16 sisters coming in the May transfer!! Wow! And Sister Nilsen says that last week the number was 8...it will have doubled! I’m guessing it will keep increasing for a while, too! There literally won’t be enough sisters to do training! I wonder if they will train in trios?

The last highlight was seeing Elder and Sister P. (friends from back home, who are now serving a mission in my district)!!! It was awesome! Super blast from the past! I'll attach a picture!

Mmmm . . . shopping channel?

Wow! What a week! First off... .transfers went well! I did not go to them, however! It's official: at the end of this transfer I will have spent over half of my mission in Zanesville!!

A few weeks ago I developed this weird dry skin on my elbows. I tried using lotion, but no good. Well, we went to Walmart to look at lotions and were contacting at the same time. We met this one lady who recommended a certain kind of lotion, and we talked for a while. So this week when we went to Walmart, that same lady was there again and came up to talk to us! She asked if we were Mormon missionaries. She said she'd felt something special about us as we'd talked with her last time. Turns out she's a less-active member whose 1st husband didn't like the Church. Her 2nd husband, however, doesn't have too much exposure yet. I asked if we could stop by sometime and we got her address. Her name is E. We're stopping back later today! I'm so excited! Super miracle. Also, the rash randomly went away all by itself after that. Perhaps we were just meant to meet E. on the lotion aisle?

In other news I currently have no voice. I've had a viral infection of some kind since late November. I'll get better for a few days and then move on to the next symptom. I could probably kick it except I'm constantly outside and shaking so many hands! The ward is teasing me mercilessly for not having a voice though.... probably has to do with how vocal I am about my opinions or something... :)

As far as studies/spiritual learning goes. The February Ensign is amazing! In particular the article by Elder Oaks about tolerance and truth, as well as the article on integrity by Elder Callister. They are amazing! Read them! Here's my favorite part from the integrity article:

“Integrity is the foundation upon which character and a Christlike life are built. If there are cracks in that foundation, then it will not support the weight of other Christlike attributes that must be built upon it. How can we be humble if we lack the integrity to acknowledge our own weaknesses? How can we develop charity for others if we are not totally honest in our dealings with them? How can we repent and be clean if we only partially disclose the truth to our bishop? At the root of every virtue is integrity.

“Christian author C. S. Lewis noted that once we make a mistake in a mathematical equation, we cannot just keep on going: “When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start over again, the faster I shall get on.”

“Likewise, we cannot continue to fully acquire other Christlike virtues until we first make integrity the granite foundation of our lives. In some cases this may require us to go through the painful process of ripping out an existing foundation built upon deceit and replacing it stone by stone with a foundation of integrity. But it can be done.”

Isn't it amazing? It reminds me of the house analogy that you shared with me, Dad! It’s from Mere Christianity, too!

Well, I love you all! I'll send some pictures! Send me letters and pictures! I love hearing from you. :)

We must be protocoligorically correct!

The temple last week was amazing!  So nice to go to the house of the Lord and seek revelation for our ward, investigators and companionship.  Always wonderful!

Transfers are Thursday . . . Valentines Day!  Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for all the info on the origin of Valentines Day; I actually never really knew where it came from.  I'm not sure what will happen with transfers.  If I stay here, I'll have been in this area for over nine months of my mission!  We have 24 new missionaries arriving, eight of which are sisters!

We had a wonderful Sunday with four member-present lessons.  We also found two new investigators this week.  One (C.) is the wife of a prospective elder; we've been wanting to teach her for so long, so that is very exciting. The other (E.) is a former investigator that I met eight months ago.  E. has come to church periodically in the time I've known her, and when she came to church yesterday, there was light in her eyes and she asked us to start teaching her!  We're going by later today!

We were able to teach T. last night; we hadn't seen her for over a month.  The Spirit was as thick as peanut butter and the member we brought with us was absolutely inspired!  T. is coming to a chapel tour this Friday with her son and her son's girlfriend.

Ho. came to church for the third time!  Yay!  She still won't stay for the second or third hour, though.  She needs to go to Sunday school and relief society -- she would love it!  I really want her to be able to progress.  Come on!  You can do it!  Trust the Spirit!  We also taught Ha. twice this week, once to read the Book of Mormon with her and the other time to teach her the Ten Commandments.

I'm out of time!  I love you all!  Stay safe and remember that we always have an opportunity to share what we know with those around us, whether they are already members of the Church or not!

Here is my absolute favorite quote by Elder Richard G. Scott: "You become who you want to be by consistently being who you want to become."

I am the Frito Bandito!

Hello everyone!!! It's been a wonderful week in the Great Ohio! How's it been for yous? "Yous" is actually a term out here, similar to y'all. :) I really hope I don't come home from Appalachia with an accent and a new vocabulary! :)

It has been snowing consistently over the last three or four days. The roads have been exciting and our car is DISGUSTING!!! I will never buy a white car! We don't have preparation day today, except for emailing, because we get to go to the temple this week!! Yay! I'm so happy! So, for all of you who sent me letters, I will hopefully get to them Thursday, but we may not have any p-day left after the temple experience!

It has been an exciting week full of miracles and amazing missionary opportunities. Always –  even if they're small.

Ho. came to church yesterday! She only stayed for sacrament, but I caught her crying during a member’s testimony. I think she really enjoyed it. We had a great lesson on Saturday about the Great Apostasy and the Restoration. She has agreed to begin the Book of Mormon again (we gave her a reading assignment). She just needs to read and Pray!

We've started a new activity with a few of our members. No one has really hopped on their member-missionary commitments, so we're putting out a challenge. We made them this little envelope to hang on their fridge. The front of the envelope says their name and is super cute. Inside the envelope are pump-up scriptures for them to read as a family every morning and on the back there is a little chart with three tiers. The bottom tier (Telestial) has 15 boxes. The second tier (Terrestrial) has 10 and the Celestial has five. Each box is a for a person or family that they invite to church! The Telestial reward is that the Sisters will do their most despised chore. This was probably a very bad idea . . . out here people have farms. I have a feeling we'll be shoveling a lot of manure. Hey, if it gets them to invite . . . awesome!! I love manure!! The Telestial reward is another despised chore and a delicious baked treat. The celestial reward is a reward from God. We can't give those rewards! I'll let you know how successful it is!

That's about all of the updates that we have for the week! Sister H. and I are hitting our stride. I hope neither of us gets transferred next week!! I've been here for 8 months....I hate transfer time. I'm always so uneasy!

Stay safe out there! Love you all!

What about second breakfast?

Good morning from Rainy Ohio!! It has been very, very cold. Now the snow is being washed away by the cold rain. Sister H. feels right at home now....it looks just like Washington. Hope your week has been awesome! Our week has been pretty sweet!

Ho. came to church! We made her breakfast that morning -- blueberry pancakes! Yummmm! She seemed to enjoy it. She says that she wants to keep coming, but she wants to stay nondenominational. I really want to re-teach the Restoration and explain that we are nondenominational! We believe that there shouldn't be any denominations; Christ set up one church and he still leads that one church through a living prophet! :) I'll let you know how that goes! It should be fun!

We found 2 absolutely solid investigators this week!  Be. was a referral from a nonmember (her daughter) who we taught a while ago. I'm so glad that we contacted her because she is amazing! She is excited to read from the Book of Mormon.

Ru. was found tracting and we got a return appointment with her for the weekend. She's met with the elders in the past and already has a Book of Mormon. She's planning on coming to church this week. We'll definitely be making her breakfast!

We had Sisters Specialized Training this week, which was amazing. All the sisters who will be departing before the next one bore their testimony. It was odd, because they asked me to do it as well, but none of the other sisters in my MTC district did....I hope they don't think I'm going home THAT soon! No way jose! There are quite a few things from that meeting that Sister H. and I want to implement into our work.

I have found that the Lord has blessed me with a greater ability to recognize the Spirit and to discern certain things in the past couple weeks. He has blessed me in many areas, but especially that one. I'm currently working on charity, humility and patience in my personal study. I'm also reading through the Book of Mormon and highlighting all the inspired questions, which has been amazing! I think I'll start doing that in the Doctrine and Covenants as well.

One of my favorite moments of the week was when a member that we were visiting said that she and this other member refer to me as the Tall Blond Amazon Warrior. I kind of liked that!! It was hilarious!

The work is progressing! We're refocusing on part-member families this week and I'm trying to help Sister H. meet everyone in the ward in case I get transferred.

The photo is of me and E.S., who was one of our mini-missionaries last summer.  She now has her own mission call to California Carlsbad!

Oi! Pea Brain!

Super short on time...I was contacting in the library during my computer hour...hopefully the blessings will make up for my short email!

Lots of internal struggle and growth this week. We struggled and struggled to find new investigators. We didn't find one until Sunday evening, 2-2-5 ing a prospective elder. We're trying to work even harder with members because that is where a lot of the prepared people are.

I know that this isn't a lot of update, but we are excited about this week. The zone leaders are coming tomorrow to do training with us. We get to choose what they train us on. So many decisions! We also have Sisters Specialized Training! Yay! Sad thing is that it's my last one I think..... :( No good! Not allowed!

The mission is amazing. I'm so glad that it doesn't have to end after the mission. As missionaries we invite others to come unto Christ -- not just nonmembers, but everybody! Missionary work is the best. Sorry about the short one this week. I promise to do better next week!!

Love ya!!

"The deer we need for the . . . uh . . . venison stew!"

Hello all! The reason for the subject line – I did indeed have venison stew this week! It warmed my heart. I will be eating a lot of deer meat over the next few months. Everyone is using the deer that they shot themselves, during the hunt! Fun times. Dad, I promised Brother B. that you would let him take you out when we come back to visit next fall.....be a good sport!

I have been keeping you all in my prayers, especially the Shurleffs as well as the Richardsons. Please keep me updated on how things are going. It is hard to wonder what could be happening! The weather was freezing at the beginning of the week and warm at the end – and now it's cold again. Warm is 50-60 degrees. It's been weird and my sinuses are going crazy!!!!

Crazy long week this week! I forgot how hard the first couple weeks are for a new missionary. We all think we know what is going to be hard about the mission, but it turns out to be completely different than we imagine it to be. The psychological difficulties and discouragement don't come from the expected sources, instead from the unexpected ones. Sister H. is doing really well, though. We had a lot of appointments cancel this week and a lot of other random things happened. But we also saw a lot of miracles. The hard thing about the mission is helping those smaller miracles to overshadow the often outnumbering crazy things that happen! Sister H. has so much desire to share the gospel and to be a successful missionary. I hope I can be successful in helping her at the beginning of the mission. Being a trainer is such a responsibility – it's ridiculous!! :)

Ha. came to game night on Monday, which was great. Her tire blew on the way! The hilarious thing was that she realized exactly what was going on -- she knew it was the adversary! We taught her the Restoration yesterday. She knows it's true, but she also knows that if she admit she knows, she'll be held accountable for that knowledge and has to act. Teaching her is going to be interesting because she already has quite a bit of experience and knowledge about the Church. There are a few important things that she still needs to learn, though. I did broach the subject of baptism straight away. I told her that as missionaries we help to prepare people, so we'd talk about it, but that she should understand that we only want her to be baptized when she has the desire to do so.

We taught A. & T. earlier in the week and watched The Restoration with them. We also taught them on Saturday.

I've been trying to harness the potential of store contacting because people are already out – we don't have to knock on any doors, and depending on where in the store they are, they’re usually just browsing so they're not harried/stressed like they would be at the grocery store, etc. We worked a lot on store contacting this week and had an amazing experience with a lady named D. We found her in the baby department at Kohls. Her daughter had told her to forward a text to a certain amount of people and that she would receive two angels that day. It was great! I think that there's a lot of potential in store contacting; I'm just trying to figure out how to make it productive all the time! This particular experience was great, except this lady lives in Coshocton (out of our area) and was open to us stopping by, but not the Elders. She said she'd read the Book of Mormon though.

We took a recent convert who is waiting for her mission call tracting with us. I prayed so hard for a good experience and we were able to find two new investigators, J. and her daughter H. We taught them the Restoration and have a return appointment set for this Tuesday. The recent convert was so excited and is even more impatient to get her call!

We taught D. last week and invited her to church. She came!! We were so happy. She's coming to game night this Thursday! We were also able to teach Ho. with a member this week. She's been reading the Book of Mormon...yay!! The hard thing is that she's an English teacher and is reading it...like an English teacher. Any suggestions Mom? :)

One of my favorite moments of the week was sitting in gospel essentials with all five of the recent converts who have been baptized in the last five months. It is so amazing to see how their lives have changed since they've been baptized! They are all so wonderful. The gospel changes lives!

I love you all. The gospel is amazing. The most amazing thing that I've noticed is how much the Spirit guides us. I have been emphasizing a lot with Sister H. that we just have to learn how the Spirit talks to us and then follow the Spirit. He helps us to know how and what to teach! It is interesting to me that that is exactly what we teach our investigators. Applying what I teach to investigators has been amazing. We are constantly relearning the Gospel of Jesus Christ over and over in new ways! Everything comes back to the Gospel. Every time! We learn it differently as a missionary, differently as a student, a parent, a child. I guess what I'm trying to say is, “Keep learning the Doctrine of Christ!” Faith, Repentance, Baptism Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the end! I love you!