Jan 27...now we are 3

So on Wednesday we got a new companion added to our area. Her name is Sister Horne, she is from Mesa, AZ. She has been out for 3 months and she is awesome! She loves shopping, dancing and movies.

This week we decided to go to the seminary and teach the students about how they can and should be missionaries now. Some of the senior boys thought it would be funny to flirt with us. That made things awkward, but we just turned the topic back to missionary work. We have lots of things going for us. We also had one of the most amazing stake conferences on missionary work. President McCune and his wife were there and when President spoke he invited me up to stand by him. He told everyone all about me and how I was serving here in the UPM for a reason and he talked about the Candy Mountain Missionaries. LOVE IT! I had so many people ask me lots of questions after that. I also think that the stake's missionary work is going to be picking up a lot this next little while which is exciting! Well I don't have much to say this week. But it was good. It was definitely a week of building and understanding more about myself.

LOVE YOU!

Jan 20...what a success

So this week was simply inspiring. We started off right with a trip to the temple as a District. I love being able to go to the house of The Lord so often because it really makes me feel his love so much stronger. After the temple trip we got to go on exchanges with the sister training leader. I think these are so fun because I usually get to go to the Spanish area for the day and I get fed really well and get to try to see how much Spanish I know. Well the answer for how much I know is almost nothing. But it is still fun. On Wednesday morning I had probably one of the most revelatory experiences on my mission. I learned that each of us, as children of God have a purpose and as missionaries we have a purpose that is given to us and we are told how to be. If we strive our best to be diligent and faithful and work hard then we are promised so many blessings, and we get to bless others while we are at it. Our Heavenly Father has given us so many tools to help us in this great work. We have the Book of Mormon which is convincing evidence that this is the restored gospel. We have the spirit to guide us in all that we need to do and say. We are never alone, we have our older brother Jesus Christ by our side to show us the way and the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. We are so blessed to have this light and knowledge in our life now we need to find a pure desire to go out and share that with the people around us. Instead of letting rejection pull us down, it should give us motivation to work even harder. I love having moments like these that help strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Wednesday was also such a beautiful day and we didn't have many set appointments so we went out tracting and it was nice not having to use our car. On Thursday we had a great training by the zone leaders in the district training meeting. It was all about how to use our iPads and trust me it was super helpful! It was also probably the fullest day appointment wise that I have ever had in this area. This week in general felt super successful because we were able to be really productive and busy and we were able to not only reach the goals we set but pass them. On Saturday we had a baptism of an 18 year old girl. She was so excited to be entering into such a special covenant with God. Also on Saturday I got to speak in the adult/youth session of stake conference. It was such an amazing night full of powerful and inspiring talks. Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon we didn't have any set appointments and so we did some more knocking and to keep my self motivated I gave myself a treat for each door I knocked on. This probably sounds silly but when you knock so many doors and find no one home you have to make things fun. So each door we knocked on I got a Hersey kiss and if we got in and shared a lesson I got two. It was really fun. But we ended our night off with some really amazing lessons and we were able to plan for a good day today. Transfers calls came and here is what's happening.... Me and Sister Jones are staying together but we are getting another companion! So its back to a trio. We are hoping this means Sister Jones gets her visa soon.

I can't believe it has already been 6 weeks. Each transfer goes by faster and faster, and before I know it I will be in my last transfer. But I don't need to worry about that it's awhile away:) And today is my 10 month mark!!!  WOOT!

Jan 13...surgery

So I don't really know how to explain this week in very many words. I am hoping this next week will be more worth talking about. On Monday I went and met with the kidney specialist and he told me that the best thing would be to get me in for surgery to get the kidney stone out of there. This seriously terrified me and I honestly felt alone. Tuesday was a good day to start because we actually got to teach a lesson. This investigator has been gone out of town for about three or four weeks now, so we were able to finally meet with her again and schedule her baptism for next Saturday. Tuesday night the pain in my kidney started coming back and so I called the elders to get a blessing. They told me that before they gave me a blessing they wanted me to try something, they told me to drink two water bottles before they would leave, so I did and I ended up drinking them maybe a little to quickly or my body didn't know what to do with that much water in my body. So the pain worsened and got so bad I ended up in the ER. I have never felt more like death in my life. The ER wait felt like forever being in that much pain, luckily I got a familiar face for my nurse. It was the same nurse I had the Friday before. She was not happy to see me back but was quick to get me in and hooked up on an IV with really good pain medicine. President and Sister McCune joined us down in Payson for a little while, it was really good to have them there since they are the closest thing I have to parents in the mission. We got home really late from the ER and on Wednesday I slept literally all day almost! I have never slept so much in my life but my body is just so worn out and ready to be healthy again. We also got to talk to all the ward mission leaders and get them excited about the work.Thursday was the big day. I got to go in for surgery. I was so nervous all day. We started early by going and getting a CT scan to find out if the stone was still there, and then went to a doctors appointment. We had some time between the doctors appointment and the surgery so we were able to make it to DTM/President interviews. I always love talking to President McCune to just see how he thinks I am doing, to see if there is places I could work harder, which I always have something I could do better at. Then it was time. We headed into Provo which took longer than expected because the roads were crazy. The whole surgery part went by so quickly, at least it felt really fast to me. When I woke up I would tell the nurse about every 30 seconds that I needed to go pee. Then I was told that as soon as I do use the bathroom and I take my pain meds and keep them down I could go. Now I was on a mission because I wanted to leave so bad. I finally was released and we headed to the mission home to spend the night. The great thing about the surgery was that I was able to see my Aunt Rhonda. She was able to be there with me since she lives so close. Friday morning Sister McCune made us German pancakes and had lots of fresh fruit. This was the first meal I was able to eat in about a week. We then got ready and headed to Zone Training Meeting. I was pretty out of it due to the post-surgery pain meds. But I was still able to learn some pretty good stuff that I am excited to apply to my work. The rest of Friday and Saturday I slept. My companion was able to find some splits so that she could still teach and I got to hang out with my land lady who just got shoulder surgery this week. Sunday I tried to get back some what to normal. We went to our 7:00 mtg, sacrament, and then I was able to go to Salem for the home coming of Nathan Christensen. And I saw grandma and grandpa Woolf and Rhonda. Sunday night we went out and tried contacting people, we weren't able to get any lessons in but we still felt like it was a successful night because we were able to set appointments. I am ready to get back to the swing of things, and it's so crazy that it is the last week of the transfer already! Thank you everyone for your prayers during this crazy week. I am doing ALOT better! Love you all!

Jan 6...birthdays and kidney stones

Happy 2014!
It has been a different week than most. I actually wanted to go and knock on random people's doors so that we could find more people to work with. I tried to make it fun and different so that we wouldn't get tired of doing it after 3 houses. This week we now have 2 new investigators. One is a woman from Ohio, she is living with a guy who is a member of the church and she has had a lot of questions at he doesn't know how to answer because he is a newer convert to the church. The Elders actually gave us their names because they met them at a gas station. The other investigator is a lady who has lived in Utah for awhile but she is catholic. We asked if her and her husband would be willing to learn more about the LDS faith. She wanted the lessons but her husband said no, but we think he might come around as soon as he see the difference in her. We invited both of our new investigators to the waters of baptism the first lesson like we are supposed to do and they both accepted which is so exciting.
We also had some really good lessons with some less-active members. We were able to teach the Law of Chastity and the guy we were teaching it to definitely brought humor into all of it since him and his girl friend are living together. They are such an awesome couple though and they really do want to come back and be strong in the gospel again.

Well I am now officially 20 and my last day as a 19 year old was very unplanned. I woke up at 5:15 in so much pain and knew right away I was passing a kidney stone. So my companion called our mission nurse and she said to take me to the hospital emergency room in Payson. So we headed down there and the doctor got me hooked up on an IV and got me some morphine, well that wasn't doing its job so they kept giving me more. I finally went in for a CT scan and they were able to find out for sure that it was a kidney stone. They also found out through some other test that I have a kidney infection too. He said the stone I was passing was a 2.3mm which is pretty large. He also gave me some good news, I only have 1 kidney stone left in my kidneys to pass. Which is better than when I was told the results a few years ago. The pain was still not going away after 4 doses of morphine so they gave me something stronger. Well that relaxed my body a little to much and made it so I wasn't breathing very well so I got hooked up on oxygen. In the middle of all this chaos we were able to get the zone leaders to Payson to give me a priesthood blessing. They were also kind enough to go get my prescription filled. I am grateful for a companion who was willing to stay by my side and get me anything I needed. I can honestly say I don't think I have ever felt so much pain especially after being put on so many pain meds. I was able to be released from the ER after 4 hours of being there. I think I finally passed the kidney stone and my body is taking a while to recover from so much trauma. I get to go see the mission doctor today to see if they can figure out what all is going on. I know that many people are praying for me and just want to thank you and let you know how much I love the power of prayer. I pray that I can figure things out so I can go back to work. Last night I finally convinced my companion to find a split and I would just stay home with our land lady so that we could still help people come unto Christ.

Dec 30...2013 review

I have never felt more blessed than I did this Christmas. So many people made sure that since we were away from home that we still had a good Christmas. On Christmas Eve we went to the Festival of Lights here in Spanish Fork. There was so many lights and it was so cool. I thought since I was on my mission I would sleep just fine on Christmas Eve but I was wrong! I woke up about every hour because I was so eager to talk to and see my family via Skype. We still had to get up at 6:30 and it was the longest 3 and a half hours ever waiting for 10:00 to roll around so I could get on Skype. The rest of our Christmas was pretty great! We got to go see lots of people and see how their Christmas was. On Christmas night our district got together and we went caroling. We each got to choose 2 or 3 of the families we work with. So I got to learn how to sing in Spanish since two of the companionships in our district are Spanish speaking. I don't know if I was even close to pronouncing things right but I think the people got the message. The day after Christmas was awesome. We were able to catch so many people at home, and we even got a new investigator. We had a really good lesson with some less-actives that we work with. They opened up to us and told us some of the struggles they have. They have progressed so much the past few weeks, they come to church every week now and they are really growing in they gospel. Friday we got a call from the mission office telling us that our car registration was about to expire. So we got to make a trip to Provo. The rest of our week was spent knocking on doors and not finding many people home. But it's okay because we were diligent and we were showing our faithfulness.
So I decided since this is the last PDAY in 2013 I would review the highlights of my year month by month:

-January my life changed for the better. I turned in my mission papers and got my call to the Utah Provo Mission. I was also able to join the Candy Mountain youth in a winter snow outing down in the Oregon mountains.
-February me and Jessalyn made a trip to Idaho Falls to say our good byes to all our friends and families. I got my endowment in the Columbia River Temple.
-March I got ready for my mission, this includes selling my car, getting 4 inches cut off my hair, quitting my job and packing my life in to two suit cases to go and three boxes to stay home. I entered into my new life as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and entered the MTC with my best friend/older sister who has been by my side my whole life!
-April I entered the mission field and opened my first area in wonderful Roosevelt Utah. I made life long friends, aka Sister Quist and Reynolds who made life a lot easier.
-May I got to make my first Skype call home and she how my wonderful sister was doing in the Winterpeg(Winnipeg). Then it was transferred back to the valley to open the YSA Stake in Springville/Mapleton.
-June my companion and I got to be part of the mission experiment and we were given IPADs to help us in our missionary work. I was also able to attend the World Wide Broadcast on Hastening the Work of Salvation.
- July I got transferred to Orem and put in my first trio. We got to march in the 4th of July parade and feel like heroes. We also got to be a part of the temple to temple run in Provo for the new temple being built.
-August I got put in a new trio and we all got along and loved each other. I got to go to the MTC for my companions visa and decided to stop in and see Harrison Ostler.
-September was a harder month but definitely helped me become stronger. My companion went home early and so I got a new companion mid transfer.
-October Summer got married and that weekend I got to see my parents while I attended General Conference in Salt Lake. I found out I am going to be an aunt to a cute little baby girl in April! I also got the opportunity to be a trainer of some one fresh out of the MTC!
-November was the wonderful month of gratitude and I got to stuff my face. I also got to have some fun playing some football in the annual Turkey Bowl!
-December I got transferred out of Orem after being there for 6 months. I got to Skype my family for the 2nd time while on my mission and only have one more before I go home. I got to experience the very bipolar weather Utah has.

It has been an incredible year full of life long memories! I love 2013 and can't wait to see what 2014 has to offer! love you all!

 

Dec 24...almost christmas!

It's almost Christmas!
So this past week has been hard as far as lessons go just because everyone is out of town for Christmas. But it has been a pretty great week full of different miracles.
To start off with some amazing things that happened this week, I got to finally use the wonderful technology Heavenly Father has given me. I got to Skype with Corbin, a good friend from college who has a friend that is not a member. The lesson was amazing being that it was over Skype. And I didn't think I was going to be able to see my friend while on my mission!
On Thursday we had a really good zone conference with Elder Arnold from the 70. We talked a lot about working with members and how important this work is. We broke down Jacob 5 and 3 Nephi 11. It was really interesting to put those two chapters into a whole new perspective.
After zone conference we decided to go to Provo to get a new phone since we still could not find ours anywhere. We had to wait in the mission office for 30 minutes for the elder over the phones to get there. He gave us a new phone but we had to wait until the next day to get it registered. So we got home and found a post it on our door from the Sister who used to be in this area before me because she came by to pick up her shoes she forgot. The note said to look on the couch, so we opened the door looked on the couch and found our phone sitting there. I guess she found our phone in the snow because it had been warm enough that day that the snow started melting. And not only finding it was a miracle in its self but it still worked!
On Friday it was December 20th! This means that I made it 9 months! I seriously don't believe it every time I say it, because I feel like I have been out for just a few months. As I look back on the past 9 months I don't look back with any regrets, even the mistakes and trials I have made and had I don't regret but I am grateful that I have been able to grow from them. I have grown so much as missionary and not only that but as a person. I am so much closer to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and I know that I need to depend on them no matter if I am having a good day or a bad day. I have grown a huge love for the Book of Mormon, I know that as we read daily we can gain a stronger relationship with our savior. I have also learned very well how to adjust quickly to new and different situations. All you have to do is turn to Heavenly Father for the strength.
Saturday was an early Christmas for us and so much fun. We got to start off our morning with a Christmas party with a ward. It was so fun but I think that Candy Mountain ward wins for the coolest Christmas parties. It was snowing a lot this day and since we didn't have set appointments we decided to do service. We shoveled drive ways in our neighborhood. And then after dinner we were invited to our neighbors family party. It was so much fun and at the end we got to share a message with the family about the true meaning of Christmas. One of my favorite mormon messages right now is "Kids and Christmas". It is so cute and really helps us understand the true meaning. The family also surprised us with a gift. I can not tell you how blessed and loved I feel this Christmas even though I am away from home. I know that it is not because of the spirit of Christmas but the spirit of Christ.
Our PDAY got postponed because of our Christmas celebration. It was so much fun! We watched a slide show of pictures and then we had a guest that came and he was a world wide piano performer. He was incredible!! We then had a talent show. I was so happy to be able to pull out my pointe shoes and show off some twirls and leaps. The other talents were amazing too! Who knew missionaries could have so many unique gifts. We then got to watch the movie "UP" I totally forgot how cute that movie is. We then got to get presents. It was a really wonderful surprise and I got presents from people I don't even know. I think it is incredible how well we get treated here. I feel so blessed. I am looking forward to my Skype date with my wonderful family tomorrow and I wish you all a very merry Christmas!