Week 66: August 29: I love my calling and I love you all!

Sorry that I didn't email a group letter last week...I'm pretty terrible at this whole thing but on the bright side, this week was really good!!

We found a new investigator named M, who is awesome! We met him last Tuesday and then had a return appointment on Sunday and now are seeing him again this Thursday! We taught him the restoration and he loved it and is reading the Book of Mormon! He just moved into an apartment above a gift shop and is decorating it with all this snazzy art.

So there are 3 sweet old ladies in our ward who are sisters and all live together because their husbands have all passed away and they have horses and live on this ranch in the middle of nowhere. It is the cutest thing. We'll apparently their house flooded this week and so we went on Saturday and pulled all the carpet out of their basement and took it down into the middle of a field in a wheel barrow. That night, they had an ice cream social in their yard that they have been planning for the ward for months. They made tubs and tubs of homemade ice cream and literally had probably 20 dozen homemade cookies (ALL made by them) for us to eat too! It was crazy! And we have dinner with them tonight so im sure that we will get many more. 

We had an amazing lesson with V this week! She is progressing really well! She said that she thinks she has already received her answer that the church is true and is going to call her son to see when he can fly in to baptize her! She is praying about a date. Literally the biggest miracle and a huge change from last lesson where she ran into anti material. The Lord works in crazy ways but it always works out for the best! 

The senior couples here spoil us and always come up with random excuses to throw us parties. So they threw a party for all the sisters that didn't have a birthday this transfer. Literally everyone. haha they are the best!

We had zone conference this week, and it was sooo good! President Love showed us this super cheezy video about cheese...haha it was ridiculous but it helped me to recognize the importance of trying different things to find! It helped me to see that a good attitude is so important to have! He also shared a great analogy about the sacrament. He said that every sunday when we go into sacrament meeting, we have rocks in our pockets. Each of us carries rocks each day and they pile up throughout the week. He said that we must empty ourselves of these burdens as we metaphorically put them on the sacrament table. He pleaded with us not to leave sacrament meeting with rocks still in our pockets and not to carry burdens that the savior has already paid for. It made such a big difference as I reflected on this during the sacrament this week and my love and appreciation for the Savior and His Atonement grew. I hope you all can do the same. 

I also read a great article from the ensign this week called "a better way to measure myself" from Sept 2017. Super good! 10/10

A super sweet couple came into the jail from my home stake yesterday! They haven't been to church in a long time and said that this trip helped them to recognize the sacrifices that others made so that they could have the gospel in their lives, and they felt like they needed to show more appreciation for the blessings they have. So they are going back to church and I am keeping in touch with them via teaching center! 

I love my calling!
and I love you all!

Week 65: August 22, 2017:100% Eclipse

We got photos from Erin this week and some personal letters but no mass letter to send out. She is having a great experience. The following is a part the letter Erin wrote to me about the Eclipse.

 "One of the senior couples bought glasses for all of the sisters in the Jail so I did have a pair and I got to watch the eclipse and everything! It was 100% here and was really cool! It got super dark in the middle of the day and I just kept thinking about the story dad always use to tell us when we were younger that went something like "One dark night in the middle of the day, 2 dead boys got up to play. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords, and shot each other. If you don't believe this story is true, ask the deaf and blind woman, she saw and heard it all" haha.
Ill send you some pictures that I took of the eclipse. It was super cool! People traveled like 20 hours to get here for a 2 minute eclipse and then just drove home afterwards.
The jail was PACKED because of the eclipse though. All the mormons traveled out here to watch it and see church history while they were at it."

Eclipse!

Week 64: August 15, 2017:The PIANO GUYS came into the Jail yesterday and my companion and I took them on a tour!

This week was super good! Honestly, I don't have much motivation to email today haha so I'll just send some highlights We had a lesson with a less active in the ward who is really struggling physically and emotionally and she was so sweet! We had never met her before but she said responded back to us and said that we could come over. We had no idea what to share but as we were planning our lesson during comp study and a random mormon message popped into my head so we downloaded that and it was literally perfect for our lesson! I'm so grateful for promptings like that because it was exactly what she needed at the moment. 

The PIANO GUYS came into the Jail yesterday and my companion and I took them on a tour! They are just starting a tour and have a show tonight in downtown Kansas City but decided to come a day early to see the jail and then head over to the stake center and do a family home evening type thing there. So we got to spend about an hour with them and get to know them and hear their testimonies as well as share ours. It went super well and they are so great!  

Piano Guys visit the Liberty Jail

Seriously. It is so cool to be able to serve in a mission where I get to meet people from all over the world! 

We got a new ward mission leader this week that I am way pumped about! He will do such a great job! 

I love you all so much and thank you for all of the support and love that you show me! I am so grateful for my mission and for the miracles that God sends every day! Have an amazing week.

Week 63: August 8, 2017: This week was way good :) I don't have a whole bunch to tell you but I promise it was!

This week was way good :) I don't have a whole bunch to tell you but I promise it was!


Some cool things happened on Thursday! A Hispanic family came into the jail and I got to take them on a tour, which was a huge blessing because it was the 1st tour that I've taken around the jail in Spanish and one of them spoke both English and Spanish so she was able to teach me some of the words that I didn't know. And then at the end of shift, right as I was about to go into my area, a GIANT bus tour of about 70 Spanish speakers walked through the door and we had no idea they were coming. Well, considering I am the only Spanish speaker serving at the jail, I got to take them! and it was SUPER intimating and I probably said a ton of things wrong but it was way fun too! There were a handful of non members in the group too and they loved it. They wanted to watch the Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration movie first so we watched that and everyone was crying and then i took them into the jail and the spirit was so strong and it was probably the most powerful tour i have taken since being at the jail. I can't guarantee it was the same for them cause I was just praying they would be able to understand me haha but it was so good!

We had Interviews with president and sister Love this week and they are just the absolute sweetest. I love them lots!

So when I came into the area, they had been working with the same 2 investigators for like the past 4 transfers and that was literally it. So we have been working a TON to try and find more people to teach. We found D last week and unfortunately, she wasn't there for the return appointment and she won't answer our calls... but we'll keep trying her.

We have found a couple other people to work with but so far nothing too crazy has happened. We have been meeting with some less actives and members that are struggling to try and strengthen them and hopefully we can get one of them to the temple soon!

We are working with a lady named A who is super sweet! She is dating a returned missionary in the ward and they are planning to get married at the end of October! She was planning on getting baptized only about a week before the marriage but keeps moving it up and up every time we meet with her so that is great!

We didn't get to go to the temple on Saturday but it was okay because we got to go today and it was incredible! Most missionaries don't even get to go to the temple on their mission but its a huge blessing to have a mission president that lets us and one that it only about 10 minutes away from where I live. Its the best.

It was a great week! I love and miss you all lots! Thanks for your emails and pictures :)

District Meeting "Title of Liberty"

Temple!

Voges visit!!

Week 62: August 1, 2017: I was transferred to the LIBERTY JAIL!!!

Hey fam!


This week was great! We had transfers this week and I was transferred to the LIBERTY JAIL!!! I was so sad to be leaving Santa Fe so quickly but it has been a great experience serving here. It is such a special place and I have already learned so much. I'm absolutely exhausted at the end of every day haha


I have been studying so much history and have been taking tours on my own since the 2nd day in the jail and just pray that I am not being apostate and teaching false doctrine haha but seriously it is a lot to learn (history wise) and then when you include the doctrine and teaching people not lessons, it gets to be quite challenging. I felt like this when I first got to the visitor center (even worse though cause i literally knew nothing..) and so this isn't bad and i know itll just get easier.


It has been great getting to know the members, they are all so sweet! We had a mission coordination meeting on saturday morning and I was so impressed that a representative from each of the ward auxiliaries was there to talk about the missionary work that they are doing and offer help and support, WAY better than any other coordination mtg I have been in on my mission (or ever)


We found a new investigator this week named D! She said that she had been meeting with missionaries a couple years ago and that she had missed meeting with them. We taught her the restoration at the door and she loved it. We have a return appointment this week and hopefully we can start working with her whole family. That was such a huge miracle!


Since coming to this area, I have been trying even harder than I was before to really try and talk to everyone. and it has been paying off! We were in Walmart doing grocery shopping today and I invited this man to come to the liberty jail and he said that he lives right by it and has always wanted to come in but never really knew if he was allowed. So hes coming this week!


Things have been going really well with sister Godfrey! She is from Utah and is so cute and sweet! She is hilarious and we have lots of fun together! It doesn't even feel like I am really training her cause she is doing so well!


We had a trainers meeting this week and it was great! i absolutely love my new mission president and his wife! I continue to learn so much from them!


Oh and guess what! I finally get to go to the temple this saturday! I haven't been since early December so it's been a long 8 months! Im so excited.


Sorry that I don't have much time to write AGAIN. but know that I love and miss you all!!! have a great week!