The one where I finally went to Nebraska

 Hello everyone! I am the worst at writing weekly emails as you probably already know. But it's transfer week this week! And I am leaving Concordia. I am so sad to leave this area. It is an amazing branch and I will forever miss it so much. But I'm excited to see what the next two transfers hold for me. 

Monday call and Adam & Cami wanted to say hi!

Thanksgiving was amazing! And we still don't have snow here in Kansas. It's just been rainy. It's still cold though. 

Thanksgiving call with the fam

The past couple of weeks have been crazy! We went on exchanges and I once again was with sister Marlatt! We had so much fun in Manhattan together! 

Sister Marlatt & I

Clyde, Kansas mural wall

We have been able to put a lot of our friends on date for baptism lately. We received a training this transfer about having the faith to put our friends on date. And we have been much better at doing that and have seen lots of miracles.

Sister Fuller and I have recently been focusing on trying to find families. The majority of our teaching pool is made up of single men. Which as a Sister missionary can be pretty hard sometimes.  But we were about to discover 3 families that are interested in meeting with is. 2 of them are part member families. MIRACLES! And last night, we were able to find a family!!! ANOTHER MIRACLE!!!

Varsity donuts in Manhattan

Sister Fuller and I have also been blessed of being able to get our friending coming to church pretty consistently every week. The Elders in our district struggle with church. But lately they too have been seeing a lot of miracles for church! But we have an amazing group of people we are teaching and have been blessed for it!

Sister Fuller and I in Chester, Nebraska

We have now entered into the Christmas season! This was my favorite time of year when I was a kid. To a little kid, the month of December was always the slowest. I loved all of the traditions my family used to do around this time of year. My Dad's favorite tradition was to go to This is the Place in Salt Lake City and visit the pioneer Christmas village. I always went because he would buy me the doughnuts at the doughnut shop and candy at the candy store . Just kidding!! And my Mom's favorite was to go to temple Square every year and see the lights. And look at all the fun Christmas displays temple Square always has. 

Christmas is magical! It always has been and it always will be. The church made a new nativity within the last couple of years called the Christ Child. I love this video! It's not your typical nativity video. The church made it as historically accurate toward the text. I really enjoy it. It's something that I want to make into my own Christmas tradition. I invite all of you to watch the Christ Child with your family. And watch the joy that Jesus Christ brings to the lives of the people he touched by coming into the world. My favorite character is the main wise man. When he meets the Savior and weeps at his feet. I feel like I will have a similar interaction when I am at the feet of my Savior for the first time since leaving my Heavenly home. I know I will remember him when I see him. I know he lives and that he is coming very soon. I know that he came into the world so that he could give his life for each of us. We have Easter because of Christmas. I am forever grateful for these two significant days where the Savior's love is shown to us all. 

Cane's....it's soo good!

Border of Nebraska....

Ice Cream break

The one where my parents are in Kansas

This week was a pretty long week but a lot happened and it was really good!

We had zone conference in Tuesday in Salina. It was really good. We talked about consecration. We also used the analogy from the story of the anti Nephi Lehis. We "buried" our swords and President Barr buried them in his backyard. At first when he said he was going to bury them in the backyard of the mission home, I didn't believe him. Then he roasted me in front of the entire zone. I love President Barr so much! 

We found 2 people this week! Woot woot!! And we have 3 of our friends on date for baptism! Woot Woot! It wad a huge miracle. We also found a part member family that wants to start meeting with us! Which was a huge miracle! We are just trying to find a time to meet with them. 

My parents are driving through Kansas and they went to church in a ward that's in the stake I am serving in. I got a text from the Stake President of the Salina stake saying that he met my parents and loved them. It was cute:)

Thanksgiving is this week!! I hope y'all eat good food and spend time with family. I love you all! Sorry this email wasn't very hype. 

I had to give a talk in Sacrament:  Concordia branch talk

Chick-Fil-A is our go to

District Lunch

Teapot chandelier at Gallup's home

Farm in Kansas

The one where I almost had to teach a lesson in Spanish

 Happy November! I cannot believe it's already November. I bet my mom is excited because now she can decorate the house for Christmas and listen to Christmas music. But who am I kidding?? She's been listening to Christmas music since July. 

This week was a miracle filled week. We went on exchanges again. I was in Manhattan with Hermana Luke. Half of their teaching pool speaks Spanish. And I do not know one lick of Spanish. So I was pretty useless. But that's okay. I did all I could but she is an amazing missionary. It turned out okay. 

We found our new friend Larry. The first thing he told us was that he wanted to he baptised. We taught him the Restoration and gave him a book of Mormon. He loved it and by the end of the lesson, he was weeping. He felt so much love. He came to our friend Tracy's baptism on Saturday was he was sobbing the entire time. He feels the spirit so deeply and strongly. He is incredible. 

So the baptism did happen on Saturday! It was an amazing service. Everything turned out so good and everything ran smoothly. As soon as she came up out of the water, she paused. She then thanked the Lord out loud. My companion and I got pretty emotional. She had come so far and wanted this more than anything in the world. It was so incredible. And the confirmation yesterday was amazing! 

It is transfer week! And I am.....staying in Concordia with sister Fuller. We will.be together for 3 transfers! Yay!  Enjoy the scenery from Concordia in my pictures:

The one where I haven't written in a long time 😬

 Everyone knows by now that I am the worst at my weekly emails. But the last 4 months of my mission I promised myself that I would do better! 

Today is Halloween! Happy Halloween! One year ago I was in Valley Center at a trunk or treat the ward did. I cannot believe that was a year ago.

The work in Concordia is growing! Last week, we got 6 of our friends to church. That is the most people missionaries have gotten to church in a really long time. We found 5 new people and we have 2 friends on date. Our friend Tracy is getting baptised on Saturday! This will be my first baptism that I am apart of. I am really excited. Tracy is amazing and she is so excited for her baptism. And I am excited that I have been able to be apart of her journey. 

We had a HUGE miracle. It was a couple of Saturdays ago. We had only found 1 person and our goal was 4. We were about to walk into a lesson with 2 potential finds. We walked in and they had a less active and 2 other non members there. We were able to teach them all the message of the Restoration. And the next day, they all came to church! It was insane!! The Lord does really provide for us. And there are people prepared everywhere to receive the gospel. 

We had zone conference 2 weeks ago. We were asked to prepare 5 minute talks about our favorite general conference talk. I decided to prepare mine on Elder Christoffersons talk called "the Doctrine of belonging". Well President Barr called me to be the last speaker at zone conference. It was cool! I have never spoken in zone conference before. I was nervous. I do not like public speaking. 

While eating lunch at zone conference, I received some really sad news. A friend of mine that I taught in Ridgepoint passed away. She was older and it was her time. She was still meeting with the missionaries and she was very close to baptism. But I am grateful for the knowledge of the plan of salvation. And even though she was not baptised here on earth, that she will be given a chance to be baptised in the spirit world:) 

This past week, we were walking down the street taking cute fall pictures. As girls at this time of year do. There wad a guy walking down the street. We said hi and he got to talking with him. He ended up being interested in the message we share as missionaries. So we found a new person just being dumb. I thought it was really funny. I walked away laughing from that experience. He's a really cool guy! But he ended up not being interested in meeting us more. Sad! 

Giant pig of a recent convert

I have a deep love for the book of Mormon!! It answers the questions we are all asking. I kmow it does! Even if you think it won't, it somehow always does. That's how God speaks to us. We speak to him when he pray. It's amazing how it all works. 

Exchanges with Sister Marlatt, my MTC companion

The one where I thought Kansas was flat

 Hello everyone! My mother went from chastising me privately to doing it on facebook. So I figured it was time to write a weekly email. 

Lunch meeting with President & Sister Barr

I left the wonderful Ridgepoint ward. I left some of my best friends behind. I left some of the best missionaries that I have ever served with. I made some amazing memories in Ridgepoint that I will cherish for the rest of my life. But...

P-day picnic from Ridgepoint

Sister Booth took us to get our nails done on P-day before transfers

Sister Booth had this made for me before I life Ridgepoint

 

I am still companions with Sis Fuller. We both moved to a new area. We are in Concordia Kansas. Which if you are wondering where that is, it is near Nebraska! We are an hour away from the closest missionaries. We are in what the mission calls exile. And it has been interesting so far. We whitewashed in and lets just say that it has been a nightmare...

Half of our teaching pool dropped us. Our most progressing friend told us that she did not want to be baptised. She blocked our phone number and also blocked us on facebook. And we made 2 DO NOT CONTACTS for safety reasons. But the Branch members are the reason why Sis Fuller and I are still standing. They are the sweetest people in the world. 

Concordia is a very small town. It is not flat at all!!! It is full of hills. So whoever told me that the whole state of Kansas is flat, LIED! 

Downtown Concordia

Even though it was hard coming into this area, the Lord has been with me and I have been able to see his hand. Saying goodbye to Ridgepoint was really hard and I have been struggling. If you know me at all, you will not that I hate change. So these past couple of days have been hard. We found 2 people. 3 of our friends watched general conference. And we put our friend Brett on date. We had no zeros! I am forever grateful that the Lord is with me. As a member in Ridgepoint said, "What's wrong with hard?" It means that we are growing. Comfort is the enemy of progress. We need to get uncomfy in order to grow. That is what I am currently experiencing. 

New Salina district

I am down to my last 4 transfers. Which is crazy to me. 5 and a half months left as a missionary. I do not want it to end. I love this work with all of my heart. It is definitely not easy. But this has been the most rewarding experience of my life. I would never trade it for anything. I know Jesus Christ lives. I am striving to become a better disciple and representative of him each and every day. I know without a doubt that Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet in the sacred grove. The first vision is real. I have felt the Spirit confirm it to me several times. The fastest way to help someone feel the Spirit is to testify of Joseph Smith and the First Vision. I have seen that come to pass. 

Zone Conference lunch 

 

Exchanges

Exchanges

The one where I was waiting on a miracle

 Anyone got that movie reference?

Hello everyone! So sorry it has been a while since I have written an email. I've had multiple family members call me out on it. My sister and my brother were a lot better at weekly emails than I am. 

These past few weeks have been a roller coaster. Our friend Denae that we had on date for this month is no longer on date. Something happened and the soonest that she can get baptised is December. Which is really sad because we were so close!! It's okay. She will get baptised when the time is right. 

Sisters Fuller & Ellis

We have two more friends on date that are really awesome! Lori and Amber! They both have really hard lives, but they love God and they want to get baptised. We are excited! 

Kansas is full of crazy people. The Elders in our area had one of their friends that got hit by a car. Come to find out that his friends pushed him in front of a moving car and let's just say, it didn't end well. The guy is still alive. But poor thing. 

We helped a family move out of our ward this week and took lots of pictures. See mom, I did better this week!! 

Moving day lunch

Service on moving day

Elder Blanchard got stuck in a cage

We had dinner with a member as a whole district this week. The Elders had all left and it was us, the members who fed us, and a returning member who the zone leaders have been working with. His name is Phoen Sao. Phoen has the most craziest story. He was baptised when he was 8 and then he forgot he was baptized when the Elders found him a few months ago. He said that he has totally changed since the Elders gacr met with him. He has been to the temple with them. He has the priesthood. He has passed the Sacrament. Phoen is amazing. We ended up sharing a message with him about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I felt prompted to talk about that with him for some reason. I shared with him a talk called "The Atonement of Jesus christ" by Tad R Calister. It's a really good talk. And then I read to Phoen D&C 122:7-9 and told him that no matter what he has done, is doing, or will ever do, Christ suffered below ALL things. We may have hard times, we may make mistakes, we may think we are alone. But we aren't. A being so much greater greater us knows what it is like to be truly alone. He knows so that we don't have to know what it truly feels like to be alone. He overcame it ALL. 

This is my testimony. 

The one where I have been a missionary for 1 YEAR

 The Ridgepoint District has been my favorite District of my entire mission. The Elders teased me like Sister Reid and I were their little sisters. We have made a lot of memories that we will cherish for a long time. 

Sister Reid moved to to Lawrence and two of other elders left. My past District leader became my zone leader but he is still in my same District. So 3 of us ended up staying instead of just 2 of us like we thought. 

My new companion is Sister Fuller! She has has out 3 months. I am follow up training her. Meaning I will help you complete the last half of her training. She is from Dallas Texas. 

I hit a year on my mission TOMORROW!! I cannot believe I hit a year tomorrow. I have gotten to the point where I feel like I am going to be a missionary for the rest of my life. I absolutely love being a missionary. 

This week was a harder week. We didn't really see much success. We didn't have anyone come to church. We did put one of our friends on date for baptism! It was spontaneous! But it was a miracle that we needed this week! 

This will be my third transfer in the Ridgepoint area and I am excited for it! I already know that I have a lot of work to do. I'm super excited! 

Recent convert who went through temple with Elders

Elder Nelson

Brother & Sister Booth