Week #22 October 27, 2016 Pray Everything Works Out!

Hola,
It sounds like you guys had a great time at ragnar though! That is awesome that you did so well! I knew that you would! That sounds like a really fun group that you were with! The pictures that you sent are really cute! 

Jason and Malery looked great in the pictures before Homecoming! So cute! I bet that they had a great time! That is so crazy that they are seniors now. Wow. 

This week was great! Our mission president had a mission conference here with a bunch of mission presidents so we got to take 50 mission presidents here and their wives came as well so it was really cool to get to take all of them through the VC on Friday morning! There were also a few general authorities here that we got to give a tour to. That was really cool! I only had like 15 or so of the mission presidents but they are all SO nice! 

We started teaching this couple named J and L this week and we took him to a baptism on Saturday. L is a member and J is not. 

We went to a baptism in Kaw River and that is where Sister Gonzalez is serving right now so I got to see her again! That was great! Sister Rowley is great but I really miss sister Gonzalez. 

Sister Rowley and I have been going through our Area book and so we wrote down all the people in a notebook that only had a phone number in their information and we have been calling them while we drive and trying to weed out people that way and get a little more organized. 

We called a man named I  B and he is like a 70 year old cuban man who is so sweet! We went over on Sunday night and taught him the Restoration and he committed to being baptized on Nov 12th! He said that he believes it is all true! He then came to our trunk or treat yesterday and was so happy to be there! He said that he "wants to be in this church forever" and is so excited! So pray that everything will work out for Nov 12th! 

We also put another couple on date for Nov 19th this week. They are named L and C and are super excited as well! We are going to have to teach them a couple of the commandments pretty soon, if you know what I mean, to help prepare them for baptism but we are excited for that as well!
Things are going great here! 
Love and miss you!!

Week #21 Oct 20, 2016 Action Prayers Instead of Object Prayers

Hey Mom :) 

I love getting letters from you as well! I look forward to being able to read your talk for stake conference! I am sure that it is great and that you will do a great job! It sounds like you and dad had a great time in NY! That is so fun that you got to go on a little vacation and take some time for yourselves. You look great! We really are blessed to have these flight privileges and that cool that you got to go on a trip with him as the pilot. I hope I can do that when I get home. I told dad that it would be another motivation to learn spanish well if i got to travel to spanish speaking countries with you guys...

You're on your way to Ragnar right now? I am sure that you will do a great job! I want you to email me about it and let me know how it goes. I know I probably don't need to say this but, don't forget to take and send pictures. I look forward to doing that with you as well! That's cool that Scott and Patti are doing it with you as well! 

It was really neat being able to go visit one of the most sacred places on Earth and being able to go where no one else is allowed to go. They gave us a really cool tour and took us where only the missionaries that serve there are allowed to go. Super cool. I definitely think that I was supposed to be called to this mission and I have loved being here. It still is kinda hard occasionally to see a lot of my friends in foreign countries and in really cool places around the world but I know that I am supposed to be here. I love serving in the VC so much. 

I was able to write dad partially in spanish and that was good. It took a lot longer than it would have to just write it in English but I know that it will help me to learn it as I use it more often. I definitely have a LONG way to go but it is coming slowly. It is hard, especially because I am around people that speak english like 90% of the time and I am always just giving tours in english.

This week was good! We had zone training on Friday and they talked a lot about prayers and how we need to have Action Prayers instead of an Object Prayer. We can't just pray for things to happen and expect Heavenly Father to just do things for us and we take no action. We need to tell Him what we are going to do (following the spirit) and ask for His help and His spirit to be with you as you do it. We have to act and not just expect.

After zone training, we went and tried a headquarters Bible referral but he wasnt home so we went to one of our swahili speaking families that was in the area and they were home, which like never happens! We were able to go in their home and teach them I Am a Child of God and super basic things. They were so cute! 

We had exchanges on Saturday and got to set up for a halloween event that is going on in Independence. We went and contacted a less active that hasnt been to church in years and he was super nice and came to church on sunday! He said that he had been thinking about coming back for a while but he didnt have anyone in the branches number and it cant drive because he is an amputee (plus no one here has cars. its so weird). But we were able to arrange him a ride and he loved it!

On sunday, we had a little run in with the cops. Again. This time though, the cops were called on us. We went to contact a LA and no one came to the door so we went and talked to the neighbors and that was a success! He has been to BYU hawaii and knows a lot of mormons and was super interested. We talked to him for like 20 minutes and as we were getting in our car, cop cars pull up with their spotlights shining right at us. Turns out, the lady in the first house was home and she panicked when she saw our car sitting in front of her house for 20 minutes and called the police. The cops had a nice little laugh when they realized that we are harmless because all we do is talk about Christ and our car is full of scriptures. It all worked out but the lady was still upset that our car was in front of her house for that long...oops.

Yesterday we had district meeting and our district leader gave us the invitation to invite someone to be baptized every day for the next week so that will be interesting! So far, its going well! I'm excited to try this out.  

Pday today has been good! I love hearing from you and I hope that you have a great week. 

I love you lots!

Week #20 October 12, 2016 This Week Has Been Really Good!

Hola!
This week has been really good! Things are going well with my new
companion! She is so sweet and charitable. She's from Utah and has a
huge family. Her and all of her siblings are adopted which is cool. We
have been able to get to know well and she is super sweet and great
for being willing to get up and run with me every morning. This week
we got to go running in the rain with another companionship and it was
so fun!
We have had a pretty good week with our investigators but we had to
drop one of our top investigators, which is always sad. She has a
daughter on a mission and seemed like a golden investigator. She was
so prepared and willing to learn and meet with us often but then we
found out that she had some fears and insecurities that she wasn't
willing or even trying to overcome so it wasn't going to work out. We
had to let her go and give her some time but it'll all work out
eventually. We found a really cute family that we have started
teaching that is progressing well and we are super excited about them!
Today we had night pday because we got to go to Adam-ondi-ahman as a
VC, which was great! We went there and to far west and to Liberty
Jail. It was such a cool experience. The spirit was so strong. I love
all these sisters so much...
So I'm out of time... you can just pull things from my letter to you
and my letter to dad if you want to add more about that. Love you
lots!

Photo a person on a tour texted me of Erin and the other sisters.

Photo from a person on a tour.  We love getting these.

(Since Erin's letter was short this week I am including her letters to me and Brian as well.  She is really expressive, complimentary and loving.  We can see her growth and maturity. She even tries writing in Spanish! We sure love and miss her.)

Hey mom! I love hearing from you too!
My new companion is going well! She is really sweet. She is so nice to
get up early and run with me too. We woke up the other morning and
went running super early in the rain and it was really fun! Another
companionship got up and met us there as well. Super nice.

It is always so sweet when they want to send pictures to you. A lot of
people have been really nice lately and I have been able to take some
awesome people on tour. The other day I ended up talking to a couple
for seriously over 2 hours (because it was super slow and no one else
was in the VC and they wanted to just keep talking after their tour).
I definitely think that it has made me a much more social and outgoing
person. I know that this will be a huge benefit for me when I go home.
I think im turning even more into a mini Paige haha. Ya being at BYU
would be really fun but I am definitely learning and growing a lot
more here than I did at BYU. BYU will still be there when I get home
so Im not too worried about it. Sometimes it is hard to not reminisce
and think about things before the mish and things that will happen
after the mish but I try my best.

I am sure that you will do great at stake conference! I think the
hardest thing for you will just be to keep your talk in under 10
minutes haha. You are going to do great! When is it? Let me know how
it goes!
Love and miss you!
Hola papá! Cómo está? Suena como su última semana fue súper bien!
Si, tengo una nueva compañera y ella está muy amable. Ella está súper
simpática y dispuesta a despertarse muy temprano entonces podemos
correr en la mañana. Su español es muy bien y puede enseñarme mucho.
Es muy diferente que cuando estado con hermana González pero todavía
está bien. Está chistoso cuando hablamos en español porque soy súper
blanca y ella es... Otras personas no piensan que hablemos español.
Me gusta mucho cuando estoy sirviendo en el centro de visitantes
porque tengo muchas oportunidades para usarlo. Hay como cinco otras
hermanas en el centro de visitantes que hablan español también y hay
una que habla español para su idioma nativo. Ella es de Colombia. La
misma hermana jugó tenis a BYU antes su misión y su compañera jugó
voleibol profesional en Germany. Me gusta ellas mucho.
Tengo tiempo a enviar una parte de mi correo en español porque voy a
estar en un carro por mucho tiempo hoy. Vamos a Adam-ondi-ahman y Far
West hoy porque los directores del centro de visitantes siempre
muestran las misioneras nuevas la historia de este área. Salimos a las
7 en la mañana y vamos a regresar a las 5 y después tengo día (noche)
de preparación. Entonces no vamos a tener mucho de la obra misional
hoy pero tuve la oportunidad a sentir el espíritu mucho.  Sé que mi
español no está muy bien (y usted puede corregirme si no tiene
sentido) pero no voy a aprender si no trato.

BUT now I am running out of time so I am going to switch to English.
Because we went to Adam-ondi-ahman today I have night p-day again. But
we just had time to email and grocery shop tonight.

That's good that moms stitches aren't bad anymore! I hope that it
doesn't leave too big of a scar.

Sounds like Jason has some good schools that he is applying to! That's
a great thing to pray and fast for. I know that it will definitely
help him to know what he should put on his application and help him to
have a clear mind about it all. He is a smart and dedicated kid and I
know that he can do it :) Love you all so much! 

I am sure that mom will do an amazing job in stake conference. It will
be a challenge for her to speak in under 10 minutes but she will do a
great job haha! That is great!

That's fun that you got to see Celina at the temple. I didn't know
that she was even serving in Texas.

The ragnar is so close! That is so awesome! I will definitely have to
do some with you both when I get home. I am sure that you will both do
a great job!

The bench looks great! Mom is definitely really creative and talented
at that kind of stuff. It looks great! I remember when she made my bed
for me. That is awesome.

Ya lately, I don't know if it is because it is more slow or what, but
I have been getting a lot more people lately who have been wanting to
take pictures of me and send it to you. It is really sweet of them! I
have been able to meet some really cool people lately and have some
great tours and conversations.

It is so good to hear from you! Love you so much!

Week #19 October 6, 2016 Not Much Time To Write, Transfers Today

Hola Family,
That was a cute way that jason got asked to go to homecoming! So cute!
How is Malery doing? And how is jason doing? He getting ready to apply
for BYU?
Looks like you guys had a great conference weekend! That food looks
delicious and Rachel looks super cute hahah! My conference weekend was
good! We watched the 2 Saturday sessions at the church building and
Sunday morning at the church as well but we had shift at the VC during
the second session and so we were all gathered around a little laptop
as we sat on the main floor in case visitors came in. All of the talks
were so incredible!! I loved all of them! I feel bad that before my
mission I would sleep through so many of the talks because I really
missed out on a lot.
I dont have much time because transfers were today and so we literally
only got 2 hours for pday. The new missionaries came in at 1:00 for
transfers and so I spent my whole morning packing up Sister Gonzalez
and then spent the whole rest of the day unpacking and cleaning up the
apartment for my new companion sister ROWLEY. She is so sweet and I am
so excited for this transfer! She is english speaking but has learned
quite a bit of spanish here on her mission (she goes home in December)
and so she is still able to help me learn Spanish. It'll be good! She
is the one in the middle in the black skirt in the picture.
I hope that you are all doing well! Love and miss you all so much!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I love and miss you so much! I wish that I could
be there to celebrate with you but it looks like you had fun at top
golf! You are so sweet and I have loved being able to hear from you
each week here on my mission. Thanks for all your advice and words of
wisdom! You have really helped me to be confident in myself and focus
on those around me. I am so grateful for your amazing example and for
your support. I hope that you have a great day! I wish I could write
more but I have to go...LOVE YOU

Transfer Day: Goodbye Sister Gonzalez and Welcome Sister Rowley