Wake up gentlemen! It's 3:00 a.m. in the morning! [Remember the Titans]

Hello all!  It has been another great week of talking to people and contacting nonmembers and members! Oh the wonderful world of missionary work!

We found two new investigators this week. An. is a potential that we couldn't contact until this week because she's been out of town.  She accepted an invitation to baptism without blinking an eye! Her daughter C. is absolutely adorable and loves us. We have a return appointment with them next Monday. Am. is the other investigator we found. We found her 2-2-5ving and she is awesome. She has a strong belief in agency and accountability. We taught Am. two lessons this week and have a return appointment this Wednesday. I'm way excited to meet with her again.

This bombing last week has caused a lot of people to ponder, with the result being that they either draw closer to God or push Him away. People have definitely been a bit more somber!

Exchanges were this week and I got to serve with Sister M. in the Highland Heights ward. I love being able to see the enthusiasm that other missionaries have for the work! It refreshes my own enthusiasm and boldness..... they get dulled down every now and then!

The weather is great out here. One day it's in the high 80's, and the next day it's below 40. It always looks deceptively warm outside, though. Everything is getting green, which is nice!

Next Wednesday (April 30) will be packing day, and on Thursday (May 1) I begin traveling around the mission to do "floater training" -- so this is my last real p-day! I still have not figured out my mail situation; I'm guessing the mission home will just hold my mail for me for the next four weeks, and I can pick it up whenever I pass through. You are all allowed to email me now, too, since the Church's policy recently changed.  You can contact my parents to get my email address.  I will be arriving home on May 30th.

P.S. Sorry, there are no pictures! I left my camera at the apartment on accident!!! :)

Sorry about the returned mail!

Hello y'all! It was a great week out here. We are so lucky to be emailing at our apartment complex's business center rather than driving all the way up to the library! So cool! Saves us a lot of miles and time.

First off, the mission office had our apartment address wrong. They had our complex office as our address. So the apartment office got all of your letters instead of me and sent them back to you. They said there were quite a few, so.....I'm sorry! When you get them back, know how much I wanted your letter. We were getting kind of worried about not having gotten mail in three weeks!! All is good now though, if you send it through the mission office address it will come to the right place... for the next couple weeks, then mail will get interesting since I'm extending to tour the mission and train in different areas. I'll keep you posted on how that's going to work.

We taught our investigator B. the Plan of Salvation and she loved it! She came to church on Sunday as well. She has a date of May 4th, but she's not sure about it yet. She can still make it! We're solidifying the date tomorrow. She's praying about it and reading from the Book of Mormon. My favorite moment from church was when the teacher in gospel essentials class asked B. kind of a tough question. The lesson was on agency and she basically taught him the Plan of Salvation in 15 seconds. Talk about simplify and intensify! We can learn so much from the people we're teaching all the time. We are constantly learning WITH them.

We're focusing on members this week. Members are key, and the demographics of our area make member work especially important. We have pretty solid relationships with some of them now; quite a few of them are building solid foundations with their friends, and we have a ward activity this weekend that several ward members are inviting friends and family to. This ward is amazing! The work moves at an amazing pace and so does time. It's all we can do to keep up with it. Heavenly Father doesn't truly need us to accomplish his work. He could accomplish it in other ways, but we have the opportunity and blessing to participate in this amazing work!

Sister P. and my GPS have a serious love-hate relationship. When she loves it she calls it Tompkins, which is what I call it. Tom Tom = Tompkins, yes? But when she is not happy with it, she calls it Doris, as in the evil hat  from “Meet the Robinsons”!

It’s been hot one day and cold the next here. Very windy, too....we've been pulling Marilyn Monroes all week! No snow though. Lot's of rain. The only thing I don't like about the weather warming up is that the mosquitoes are going to be out soon!!

My plan for preparation day is basically whooping the Elders at volleyball. We're having zone fun day and I made sure volleyball was happening! :) I hope I haven't lost my touch! :)

When attending priesthood session . . .

We had a fabulous week. Conference was awesome! I was looking through my notes this morning during personal study and I seriously can't decide which I liked best! I loved Sister Dalton's, so sad that she was released. I also loved Elder Ballard's talk about the priesthood. I have never heard so many references to heavenly parents before in conference. I wonder why that stood out to me? Elder Bednar has a way of just taking the bull by the horns and showing it who's boss. What an amazing talk on the law of chastity! I loved his insight that guilt is like pain – a safeguard from future harm. We feel pain when we put our hand on the stove so we don't keep our hand on the stove longer or do it again later.  Elder Nelson’s talk on missionary work was awesome, especially when he talked about the role of the ward mission leader.

Okay, sooo....PRIESTHOOD SESSION!!! I may or may not have asked the bishop and the zone leaders if we could go. They said that they didn't see a problem with it. So, we went all out and used a few fake mustaches to blend in. The priesthood holders had a good laugh, but it was really hilarious when the zone leaders disappeared for a few minutes and reappeared with mustaches of their own. Elder D. even had a monocle. No worries – he just keeps mustaches and a monocle with him at all times!

Oh, was that Kristen B. I saw in the choir Saturday afternoon? Because it seriously looked like her!

Back to priesthood session. Amazing! SO cool to see so many priesthood brethren gathered together and it was super awesome! Highlights: Elder Hales "Live the law of consecration by seeking a mission call." Elder Beck's talk about ministering was amazing, and President Uchtdorf is the best. "Satan would rather have you define yourself by your sins. Don't listen." His example of a toddler trying to walk and toppling in an effort to follow the example of his father. Awesome. Also, "Don't wait for a particular calling to get involved in this great work." President Monson: "A mission is a family affair"; "Love always wins."

Sunday, President Uchtdorf's talk was great. We can admit that darkness exists but we don't need to dwell there. Choose to dwell in the light. Trials and hardships coexist with light. Elder Clayton had that amazing talk about marriage. I loved his closing line, "Marriage is God's gift to us, the quality of our marriage is our gift to Him." There were quite a few talks on agency and obedience which was awesome. Elder Perry was particularly passionate and President Monson was hilarious! Then Elder Holland stands up and you're bracing yourself for awesomeness! He never disappoints, either. "Hold the ground you've already won!" "What we know always trumps what we don't know." It was fun to see Elder Porter speak; he was just here last month and I talked with him and his wife. His talk was awesome, too. "If our desire is to please God, then we will have inner peace."

In addition to the awesomeness of conference, we found three new investigators – all through records of former contacts. Two were Bi. & A. They are a wonderful couple with two young kids. We found them Friday evening and we're eating with them tonight and teaching a lesson. It is going to be awesome! The other investigator is Br. She's Catholic, but she referred herself quite a while ago at Temple Square. She says that she knew she was standing on holy ground. She's really cool, has quite a few kids and is a single mom. We'll let you know how it goes!

J. had to cancel our appointment because his work schedule got switched around, which was a bummer. We should be seeing him this week sometime, though. He does seem genuinely interested.

We finally have a dryer which is amazing! No worries, we just had to go through three before we got one that worked! Things are starting to settle down, though. They'll be truly running smooth-ish right when my six weeks are up! Fun times!

We met this amazing part-member family that we're working with. The non-member wife had been reading the Book of Mormon and then we happened to show up on her doorstep with cookies. (It is always safe to bring cookies!!!) We're hoping to visit with her this week.

Right in that same neighborhood we contacted a less active couple who want to come back and go through the temple. Basically, what seemed to be a super unproductive day turned into a super amazing day – all in an hour and a half. The witness comes after the trial of our faith!

Sister P. and I get along splendidly and we're getting into the groove of teaching together. We really just need to teach more lessons! Practice makes permanent!

I still need to write President, so I need to close! I love you all! Share your favorite conference talk with someone this week! And a special shout out to my sister A., whose birthday happens to be tomorrow!

On the day I got my tooth, I had to kiss my great-aunt Ruth . . .

Hello family! Super awesome week past and excellent week coming up. We had a huge week of contacting and testifying. Not that we ever have a week without contacting/testifying, but..... this week was soooooo long!

We found a new investigator named J. who is awesome. He's read the Book of Mormon before and has a lot of questions. We'll be visiting with him again on Thursday. There was another cool guy across the street who we'll definitely visit again in the future. He's in Salt Lake City fairly frequently for work and his Gma recently passed away. He was really close to her and has a lot of questions about the Plan of Salvation.

Honestly, one of the best things about this week was having a phone. Hooray!!! And we had a few copies of the BoM! Contacting is so much easier when you have a copy of the BoM and a phone number to give.

We were also able to meet our bishop last week. It was a visit filled with a lot of validation. I had felt like we were visiting so many people and yet accomplishing so little, but when we asked Bishop who he had on his mind that we should visit, all of the families he mentioned we had already visited and could give him an update. Hallelujah! Somehow out of all the random people on the roster, we'd visited the ones that mattered most to Bishop! :)

Sister K. came by on her extension training. It was super fun to be with her again, and Sister P. loved it as well. We did a lot of tracting with Sister K. (that's her favorite thing). It was good to talk with her. It's been ages.

Also, I've officially converted Sister P. to huevos rancheros and chicken salad. They are her favorite! I will be introducing her to Norwegian pancakes this weekend in honor of general conference, and she gets to try the delicious homegrown applesauce that Mom sent for Christmas! Yahooo! So excited for conference. We are so blessed. I love being able to tell people while we're out contacting that they can literally listen to a prophet this weekend!

Easter was wonderful! We ate with a young couple who had invited their nonmember aunt over. Her name was Aunt R, so I couldn't help but smile and sing Veggie Tales a little last night. It was too hard to resist!

We have cool preparation day plans today. We'll probably play a little kickball with the Elders if there's time. We still don't have a dryer, so laundry may take some extra time! :) I love you all! Enjoy this conference weekend. It is going to be amazing! We literally have the opportunity to listen to prophets and learn how we can personally change ourselves and our actions to draw closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. After all, it all comes down to the Gospel/ Doctrine of Christ. Life is all about changing ourselves through repentance!

P.S. My departure date is May 30.  I don’t know flight details yet. There are at least 18 sisters coming in the May transfer (more than usually come in a year) so I will have a lot of area to cover when I start floater training! 

We are ready to go prooooo!

Alright everybody....here's the scoop!!! I have a brand spankin’ new companion named Sister P. (who recently turned 19), and we have been doubled into an area in...... wait for it...... Kentucky!!!

So hilarious! I’ve always wanted to serve in Kentucky and I wanted to train a 19-year-old. Ta-da!! Two dreams fulfilled this transfer!! Transfers were a bit ominous, though. It was a little frightening to think that I'll be up there next transfer balling my eyes out! Oh well! So much to look forward to. :)

Basically, the zone down there is FOREVER away from everything, so Zanesville was a good transition. If I'd come here straight from Powell, I probably would have died.... :) I had heard that the missionaries got to drive trucks here, which made me super excited! That was only a well-spread missionary rumor, however.

It was heart-wrenching to say goodbye to people in Zanesville. I was there for 9-1/2 months and they became my family! Saying goodbye to the recent converts was especially hard. There was a lot of crying involved and the members were super bummed because they thought they were getting elders. Lucky for them they got Sister F. who is AWESOME! She will take better care of them than I did! They have probably forgotten all about me by now! :)

Sister P. quotes Nacho like it's nobody’s business and is as sassy frass as they come! We get along great and my guess is that she'll be training someone here at the end of this six weeks. She is going to be a super solid, energetic, awesome missionary!

We've already been able to meet a few part-member families, which has been great! There is one that’s especially promising, and we're visiting an investigator tonight who shows a lot of potential.

We had a really cool miracle last Monday. Sister L. has a daughter who requires a nurse at her side at all times, even at church, and she's working with one of the home health nurses. Well, we were 2-2-5ving a prospective elder out in the boonies and  tracted into this home health nurse's father, and she happened to be there. We had a great discussion and she told us how much she has enjoyed coming to church. She promised to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I called Sister L. that night and she was so excited and happy. I know that the nurse will eventually be baptized. I love to see Heavenly Father's hand in the work. It is amazing!

We have high goals for this transfer and we're going to "get down to the nitty gritty," "borrow some sweats," and "gooo prroooo!"

I'm being transferred!

Hello lovely family! It's going to be a quick one today! We just got transfer calls and we're being doubled out of Zanesville. I'm training AND being doubled into a new area, but I don't know where yet. So....lots of packing to do today. Lots of stuff to ship home! Being in one area for nine months is rough – I've collected so much junk! Anywho, I will update you on Monday as to who all is where – especially where I am! :)

D. is baptized and confirmed!! It was a wonderful baptism. Everything went fairly smoothly and the Spirit was very strong. I am sad that I won’t be able to be with her after all is said and done, but Heavenly Father knows what's up. The right missionaries will be in Zanesville for her.

In order for D. and M. to meet more people in the ward, we set up two game nights this week. They really loved it! I taught them how to play Cams and found it appropriate in memory of Uncle Bill. They love it and have already played it multiple nights this week!

Zone fun day was last Monday at the Dublin building and it was fun to see everyone. Many hilarious things happened... one of which was Sister K. (former companion) and myself ending up eating lunch next to President. I told him my dream of us two together again for a last huzzah in Powell.....or traveling the mission TOGETHER..... :) It didn't happen! Oh well....there's always after the mission!

I got to talk quite a bit with Sister Nilsen about my extension. They want me to stay about three weeks over, so I would be home around the 24th-ish. I will let you know when they've finalized a day. It is really happening, though!! Crazy!

Elder Porter came to the mission this last Thursday and it was wonderful! First off it was in Powell, so I got to see a lot of Powell wardies! It was a blast! One of the main points that stuck with me was his emphasis on the importance of keeping covenants. If we all get up every morning and think of the covenants we've made to Heavenly Father, and live that day to the best we could and strive to keep all our covenants, we will be so prepared to meet our God.

The lady's a poet!

It's the start of another awesome week in the Great OCM – more particularly in Zanesville. We had a good week last week. We found two new investigators, but I am most satisfied with our work with members. We have really been praying about which families we should specifically work with and have two of them excited about missionary work already. We have big plans for this week. I call it building referrals....good ones! We may not see the fruit, but future missionaries, as well as the members and their acquaintances, will see lasting fruit. Not just another referral, but awesome referrals who will have solid member fellowship. Plus, we're training the members to be missionaries, not just do missionary things. We're helping them to see that it's a part of us as members, and that we're always inviting. We are building baptisms out here!!

D. gets baptized this week. I'm so excited for her. We went over the baptismal interview questions with her and she is ready to go. The best thing about the Atonement of Jesus Christ is being able to see investigators act, and to see their countenances, confidence and attitudes change. It's amazing!

It was zone meeting this past Thursday, and we all got new gas cards for our cars. Well, the Coshocton Elders didn't take theirs and we ended up with it. So we had to coordinate with a member of a different area who is in Coshocton's branch presidency to get it to them. All sorts of confusion! Anywho, it all ended up being a super cool "coincidence." The way we got it to the member was through this man who was going out to his country home to work on his roof. This man just so happened to be a referral we'd received over a month ago, who would never answer his door. Well, we called him up and he agreed to take the letter up to this member. He HAD to open the door. It was awesome! He wasn't super receptive but the Lord gave him a chance. He will always give His children opportunities to embrace His gospel.

Elder Porter of the Seventy is coming this week to speak to our mission, but also to the ward mission leaders and ward missionaries in all the stakes. So that will be awesome. I'll make sure to keep you posted on all that!

100 Elders playing competitive games + my competitive genes = I'll probably do some really silly things tomorrow and be really sore afterward!! Oh well, I'll just embrace it. :)

F. went to the temple and did her own family names this past week. She had an amazing experience! I'm so happy for her. She is wonderful.

We tracked down a part-member family this week who has had a good relationship with missionaries in the past. We had a wonderful talk with them and are going back next Monday for a family home evening. The funniest thing was their 3-year-old, who kept bringing me lined paper and asking me to make specific things with it. I always managed to make something that somewhat resembled what he'd asked for. By the end of our meeting, he was calling me Aunt Mary for some reason! He kept saying, "Oh thank you Aunt Mary for making me things with paper!" It was adorable!