Miracles – April 6, 2015

Hey, crazy family!! 

Let me start out with a huge thank you for the Easter presents! The pie made it! I ate it so fast that when I finished it I was so sad. The depth of my despair was exquisite. Every bite was a memory of home and a taste of the best pie ever! Seriously. Nobody can make a pie like that. At all. 

Next time...send a whole pie? ;) 

Also, I love my necklace! Thank you so much! You have no idea how much it has helped me to keep that perspective and love the work. I wear it every day. :) 

I want to see Josh perform so bad! He had better do more plays and musicals after he graduates so that I can watch them. You got Footloose on film right? I had better get an update from him! Slacker! 

Easter was the best! It was sunny, warm, and conference just topped it all off. I loved all the talks. We were watching it with Sister Gosnell on her Roku and we missed the part where people opposed the prophet because it short circuited for a moment. Glad to miss the drama. My favorite part about conference was finding how all the talks worked together and the general unintentional theme. There were a lot about families, marriage, having an eternal perspective, and finding strength to endure to the end through Christ. It was such a breath of fresh air! 

Sister McCall invited us over for Easter dinner! It was great because we probably would have microwaved our leftover pizza otherwise. She and Brother McCall made turkey, potatoes, seasoned asparagus, candied sweet potatoes, and the best gravy I have ever tasted. The turkey literally was so juicy it fell apart (and I'm talking about the white meat) and they are big about their potatoes. It pretty much filled up half my plate. It was delicious. For dessert we had almond cake with fresh strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, homemade whipped cream, and chocolate shavings. Good thing I wore my stretchy skirt. 

However, I can't help but miss the food from home...sad face. 

I love the Easter dinner decor, Mom! That is always my favorite part. :) 

Alrighty, onto story time...:) 

So, my hope for this area was, as I said last week, absolutely ka-put. When Tuesday rolled around I was still struggling to find just a sliver of potential and we were biking and finding furiously to find one person who would hear our message. I was trying so hard to be positive, but I didn't feel it yet.  It go to the point where I pulled over, got off my bike, tossed my helmet on the ground, sat down, and buried my face in my hands. Sister Bush slowly sat by me and talked to me for about an hour. Eventually, we got back on our bikes and continued onward, feeling a little bit more motivated and least a little more hopeful. 

It wasn't until Wednesday, when there was a huge thunderstorm, that I felt something again. The rain and hail was torrential, and the thunder shook our car. When it subsided we were able to get out and find the formers and potentials we were searching for. 

Then, I noticed the flowers. The trees were blooming and the humidity and rain was carrying the sweet scent of them. It was beautiful for those few moments after the storm. Even as someone closed their door on us and we walked away I couldn't help but smile as I took in a huge breath of air. Suddenly, all my prayers were answered and I felt complete hope again. Not slight hope, but fully fledged faith. 

Now, I'm starting to notice those little miracles that are so often overlooked. And as we've kept working and going out with that faith, even if no one wanted to talk to us, we feel fulfilled. Granted I'm still far from perfect and am still trying to learn more ways to better myself at finding and teaching. But, everything is going to fall into place as I exercise that faith in Jesus Christ. 

Practice makes progress, but Christ makes perfect. 

So, in the white handbook it says to protect your scriptures by putting them in a protective case. I left mine at home, but my scriptures were already bending at the pages from being handled and sitting with my planner and other Books of Mormon in my bag. So, I decided to place it in a cut up cereal box. It works great! But, it was plain and boring. I am sending pictures of what I did to it. :) 

On Friday, Sister Bush and I were going to start weekly planning at 10 and then leave after a couple hours of planning to go out and work, but Sister Gosnell told us that there was going to be another thunderstorm wave coming in at three until 7. After praying about it, we still felt impressed to go to Buckner, but earlier before the storm. It was pouring down rain as we biked there until we were absolutely soaked, but it was perfectly clear and the sun was shining the whole time we were proselyting. At exactly three pm the rain started to fall again and we started to bike back as the dark clouds rolled in and the lightning started to flash. 

And then..it showed up. 

We named her Shadow, because she wouldn't stop following us! She was a black lab and was overly attached to us. She followed us around from house to house when we were tracting and as we hopped on our bikes she ran after us! For the six miles home! In the rain, the thunder, and the lightning! 

We couldn't help but sing the song from 'Annie', "Dumb dog, why are you following me?" 

She had no collar or tags so we couldn't find out where she lived so we locked her in the back yard. I was about to call an animal shelter or something, but Sister Bush was afraid it wouldn't be an authorized phone call. (We have this issue where she won't do something just in case it might be against the white handbook). So, she let the dog out and let it run around the neighborhood never to be seen by us again. 

Good times. 

Dallyn sent me a copy of the first pages of the Book of Mormon original print. It was so cool! It wasn't in normal verses, but was in paragraph book form. I loved it! Lucky ducky gets to see cool church history sites. 

Speaking of which, Sister Gosnell is taking us to Churchill Downs today! Hope to get some good pictures and maybe a souvenir. Excited! 

I love you all and miss you!! 

Have a great rest of your week!! 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! 

Foreva, and eva, and EVA! 

Raye :) 

#BecauseHeLives - March 30, 2015

Sooo, I'm just gonna start this off with a big ol' HALLELUJAH IT'S P-DAY. 

I'm so glad you're wearing the proper attire.  I hope UK keep up with their undefeated streak. That would be awesome! Another reason I am so blessed to not be in Lexington right now. 

I haven't been using the rubber band because I can't find one, but replacing the negative with positive thoughts helps. :) 

Tell Grandma I love her and that I'm writing a reply to both her letters today! 

AW! I want to watch Joshua's play!  Do they sell videos of it afterward? 

We'll probably watch Conference at our home with Sister Gosnell. We'll also be feeding ourselves on Easter. Neither of us are excellent chefs so it should be interesting what we come up with. 

Don't be sad Sam! We get to talk on Mother's Day! Which, by the way, is in two months. Yo holla! 

Sister Wayland, the RS president makes Snicker Salad. She gave me a tub of it to eat at home. It was not the same as yours, but it was nice. *sob*

OK, onto this week. 

It has been BRUTAL. Spiritually, physically, you name it. 

We are so low on miles. We have only 36.8 left for two days. Luckily, we are going to be in Buckner all day Tuesday and we have turned it into our bike area. Goshen is most definitely NOT a bike area. So, earlier in the week we biked to Goshen to save 28.8 miles on our car. Kentucky is not famous for it's rolling hills for nothing. We biked about 14.4 miles to get there in the rain. Sister Bush's bike started to not catch on the chain so it made an annoying clicking sound the whole way because the gears were out of whack and made it difficult for her to bike. Halfway, I offered to ride it, but her legs are a lot longer than mine and I couldn't lower the seat any farther. So, she had to suffer the rest of the way. I had her ride in front so that I could keep a better eye on her. It took us a lot longer than we thought it would, but we made it in time to do everything that we planned. Sister McCall, after we had dinner, refused to let us bike back and she stuffed our bikes into her Escalade and drove us home. My handle bars are now off-set, but I am grateful she did that for us. It became dark a lot faster than I thought it would. So, we will not be biking there or Prospect...ever. Buckner is only five miles away so it's all good. The second day we biked to Buckner it was pouring down rain and the day after was when we discovered the short-cut. 

My legs are rock solid though! Best work-out ever! 

On Monday we were crunched for time because D took us to lunch at...wait for it...Sisters Tea Parlour and Boutique. Apparently, it's a tourist hot-spot for our area. Despite my apprehension at coming to the girliest place on earth I actually had fun. The Hermanas were there as well and we had a really good time. It was really fancy and nice. Nobody wanted to wear the fancy gloves and hats, which was disappointing. I'm not a big tea person because I find it bland, but I had the blackberry and raspberry tea which was good, but I added five cubes of sugar, two lumps of honey, and some cream until it was basically hot Kool-Aid. Delicious. The food was awesome! Seriously. I'm taking y'all there, 

The best part about our area is that every time we come home from Prospect we get to pass the temple. Great motivation! 

We got a referral for a man who lives in a barn. Took us minute to find his place, but I had to smile at the scenery. It was a small door with his name painted on a little wooden sign and the door was closed with a knife. There were also knifes sticking out from under the lip of the roof. He didn't answer, but we left him a card and our church address and time. He didn't come and I was extremely disappointed. 

The Women's Conference was pretty awesome! I liked it. Except that the whole thing was on FAMILIES. Sigh. At least I got some good notes anyway.

The K's are doing great! V's cancer has stabilized. It's not gone, but at least it's not spreading. The bad news is that they won't be able to come to church until April 30th. So, V's parent's visas expired last week and they left back to India. So, until Kh's parents come, she has total responsibility for the house, meals, morning rituals, ect. And Indian meals take all day to prepare. So, we will wait very, very patiently. -_- 

My faith has been seriously tried this week. We have been pedaling and working so hard and...nothing has happened. Sister Bush is still trying to adjust to how slow the work is out here. It almost makes me jealous of all the missionaries who get the humbler areas. The Zone Leaders started this thing where a companionship in the Zone sends a miracle story through voice mail to the whole Zone. It's supposed to help our confidence and drive, but it has made me pretty sad when everyone else has all these miracle stories and we have none. But, Sister Bush noticed my frustration and recommended that I use my Tender Mercy jar more often. I have a jar on my desk that I used to place a miracle in every day. I haven't put one in since February. So, she told me to read one and write one every day.  

So, Dallyn told me to read this talk by Elder David A. Bednar and when I read it I felt like I was being punched in the face. 

"The natural man tendency in all of us is to demand impatiently and insist incessantly on the blessings we want and believe we deserve." -Bednar 

"Partaking of a bitter cup without becoming bitter is likewise part of the emulation of Jesus." -Neal A. Maxwell. 

"Do you have the faith to accept God's will to not be healed?" - Bednar 

And, I realized that I was refusing to have faith in our work unless I saw a miracle. I would walk out every day and not expect anything to happen...and nothing did. I would talk to everyone I saw, knock on doors twice, and still not be surprised if nothing came out of it. So, this next week I will be working on my faith, because otherwise I am standing in my own way.  

Testimony meeting was yesterday and for some reason I decided to write down notes from people's testimonies. 

"It's never too late to be who you might have been." 

"We're not perfect. We make a lot of mistakes. But, we're still undefeated." 

"Everyday there is hope through Christ." 

"He knows exactly how it feels."

It's going to be hard, but I'm going to be relying so much on the Atonement this next week to help with my faith and hope. Without it I am going to be an awful missionary.  

So, pray for me please. 

Other than that the sun is shining and spring is coming! Woohoo! 

Also, #BecauseHeLives has started! Jump on that bandwagon! This is the best missionary opportunity ever! We are so excited to see the miracles from this Easter initiative. 

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!! 

LOVE the pictures! I miss you all! Can't wait for my package! 

All my love forever! 

Raye :) 

#becausehelives

#uk

#blessings

#generalconf 

Greetings from the Source of March Madness – March 23, 2015

Hello my gorgeous family!! 

Ready for March Madness?! Because the madness part is coming from here. We actually try to coordinate our tracting time around when UL and UK games are because no one will let us talk to them during a game. Thus, the inevitable has happened. Basketball is more important than Jesus. I'm just glad that I'm not serving in Lexington. They burn couches there and run around naked. Poor Sister Ward. 

Honestly, this week went by so fa-

Oh my gosh, Dad sent me an e-mail!! Wait real quick while I read it...

Ok, back to where I was. Thanks for the beautiful feet comment, Dad. I always knew they were,even though they're a bit smelly sometimes. ;) I can't believe you found your letters! That's so cool! I can't wait to read them. :) Way to go on personal study! You're awesome! Also, Dirty Diana looks gorgeous. They grow up so fast. Nice selfie. ;)

Congratulations, Josh, on giving an awesome talk! Way to be, bro.  

So, highlights of the week! We had interviews on Tuesday with President and Sister Brough. Honestly, they are so inspired and awesome. They changed my week. So, I've been upset about rude people. You can tell from my last e-mail. So, I talked Sister Brough about it and we had a great talk. Basically, I can't control how other people feel, but I can control how I feel. So, Sister Brough told me to walk away from those bad times and say to myself, "I choose not to be offended at this time." and leave it at that. I have been doing it all week and by golly-gee-whiz, it works! Sister Brough also recommended that I wear a band around my wrist to snap every time I have a negative thought. I have yet to find one...because I lack the hair to have a lot, but I'll find one! 

President Brough is the best President in the world. I don't care what anyone else says. He's the best and you'll see why in a moment. We had a great discussion on how to be happy all the time especially out here in the field. He told me that I control my happiness and I can decide to be happy. But, every once in a while you need to go to Dairy Queen. Then he said, "When the going gets tough, the Brough gets going and so does the Brough missionaries. Now, go rip some Satanic lips off!" 

He's the best. 

Sometimes, I feel that Sister Bush doesn't like me...hopefully I can fix that. 

We had no success with investigators last week even though we had a ton of people that we talked to. But, Heavenly Father is blessing us so much as we continue to work diligently. We found a family, and three other new investigators. Hopefully, at least one of them is prepared and ready to receive the gospel. 

We have almost as many less-actives as we do members in the Branch and we are desperately looking for all of them. Basically, our schedule consists of finding the lambs and rescuing the lost sheep. 

The weather has been sunny and great. We've been walking around and biking. 

It's going to rain this week a lot, which usually doesn't make me upset, but this week we might have to stop driving. So, our area is ENORMOUS! It takes us about a forty-five minute drive to get to the opposite end of our area. That has just sucked away our miles so much. We were given 1,100 miles for the month, but we are now down to 136. So, we will be biking everywhere. Including to Goshen which would probably take about an hour and a half to bike to. There is no way we are biking to Prospect though. Luckily, our investigators don't live there. 

Best work-out of my life! 

So...nothing else to report on. I'm happy and working. I'm choosing to be happy.  

I love you all and miss you terribly!! Keep up the good work and keep having fun! 

I LOVE YOU! 

Raye :) 

I Have Discovered Icy Hot – March 16, 2015

It's P-Day again and it came really fast! I feel bad about being excited that it's P-Day again, but YAY! 

I LOVED the pictures from Nationals! Made me really sad that I couldn't have come with you. It must have been really hard to have not been a part of PBD, but in a sense you still are. :) Did you get any pictures of the Standard dresses? I saw the top part in Emilee's photos, but not the whole thing. :/ 

Congratulations to Emilee and Jevohn for killing it! I wasn't at all surprised though. They always do good. :) 

Oh, okay, so, I was showing Sister Bush my book and my family members and I realized that Sally has not sent me a letter or anything. Not even once. I would like her write me or something. Thanks! 

So, this week was busy. We had basically no investigator lessons all week except with the K's on Sunday. The H's won't be able to meet with us until next week. :( 

It was busy, because we ramped up our finding efforts. We were talking with the ZL's on Sunday night and Elder Langford jokingly started talking about a 100 train. 100 contacts per companionship per week. Now, in this area people have been hibernating in their homes and we barely would scratch 25 contacts a week. But, I found Elder Langford's joke to be a possibility and we started the district #100train #twetrain (twe=talk with everyone). 

On Wednesday the sun came out and it was amazingly warm and we dusted off our bikes. We rode all day and talked to 43 people about the gospel. The ZL's were so shocked and happy about it that during Zone Meeting on Friday we shared our story and goal with the whole Zone and they jumped on the train. This week we made our goal of talking to 100 people. The district talked to 441 people and as a Zone we talked to 1056 people in one week. Now, the #100train is rolling along and we are the Inconvenient Hunters of Men Templetown Royals. 

I do have to say though, because I have not had real exercise in three months, biking all day on Wednesday basically destroyed my legs. They hurt so bad. Luckily, my trusty bike, Wednesday (because I first rode her on Wednesday and she's dark like the Adams family), had these awesome traction pedals that helped me up the two thousand hills that were in every neighborhood. But, I was rummaging through our box in the bathroom cupboard looking for epsom salt and, lo and behold, I found Icy Hot. Why I have not ever tried this miracle of ingenuity before I will never know, but it felt so good. That was the worst day, but ever since then biking has been so much fun. Missionary work was definitely more fun this week than it has been. We haven't gotten any return appointments from it yet, but we're hoping that with all our hard work that Heavenly Father is going to bless us with a miracle. 

I do have to say though, that even though many people profess to be Christ-like, good Christian people, they can be so RUDE. Some of the people we talked to were so nice to begin with and then would suddenly turn into something nasty with really crude and unnecessary comments. My patience is definitely being tried as is whatever charity I am trying to have. Honestly, I'm trying to love these people anyway and forget about what they say, but I thought I'd share what we've been going though this week.

Sister Bush's driving skills are getting better. We were stuck in traffic once and we had a really good conversation which has helped our companionship. I can't say that we are really good friends yet, but we're seeing more things that we have in common. We laugh and have a good time together though. 

We managed to get in touch with A, the less-active cat lady, this week. She was nice, let us in, and we go to know her better. She didn't participate in the short scripture reading we had with her parents, but she sometimes could be seen peeking to listen in the kitchen. She let us hold her three day old kittens. They were really cute. She seemed to like us and hopefully we can love her back into activity. She's really busy with work, taking care of her cats, and taking care of her two year old son. So, we'll see how it goes. 

We met with the K's again and set up another baptismal date. We committed them to come to church and hopefully they'll make it. V had his scan last week and we don't know the results until Monday.  Hopefully, the cancer is subsiding and the chemo therapy is working. 

We found the mansion again and I took a picture! We also were trying to find a certain place in Prospect and we got lost, but saw the biggest houses I have ever seen. The were unnecessarily massive! 

There was also this really cute neighborhood that was built like a little town/city thing. It actually reminded me of Park City a bit because of how close the houses were together. It was super cute and had all these little shops in it. Sister Bush and I might go there for a P-Day later in the month. 

I'm enjoying being here. I can somewhat say that I'm immersing myself in the work. I definitely have more things I need to work on, but I'm changing and that's what's important. 

I miss you all so much! Good luck with Footloose and voice lessons! I can't wait to read your e-mails and see more pictures next week! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! 

Love, 

Raye
#100train

#blessings

#templetownroyals

#realtalk

Snowmaggedon Part Two – March 9, 2015

Hello my awesome family!! 

It has been the longest week of my life. 

I LOVED the pictures you sent! Emilee and Josh looked so awesome! Was there an award for best costumes? Because I'm pretty sure they won. Hands down. Man, I haven't smiled that big in a while. Thanks guys! 

Also, that was a funny party story. I'm so glad y'all are having fun and making friends. 

Which reminds me, could you please thank Brother Steve Rummler for sending me letters? I love them and get so excited to see them in the mailbox. Also, apparently one of the couples who also wrote to me in our ward is the parents of a Sister in my branch. 

Which brings up another point. We got the new Harmony Branch! So we now cover all of Buckner, Goshen, and parts of Prospect. We are now called the Harmony sisters instead of the West Wind Sisters. We lost Crestwood which means Br and N. I'm happy that the Elders get N, but sad to lose Br. The Elders will take care of him though. We got a new Zone Leader. His name is Elder Langford and he has more energy and faith than I think is possible in a single person.

So, Transfer Meeting was basically the worst day of my mission so far. I felt so sad and awful and it didn't help to know that I embarrassed myself in front of the missionaries there by crying. I don't think that I will ever be as close to any companions that I will have as I was to Sister Ward. Plus, I was scared and worried about taking over a brand new area with a brand new branch. It was not a good day and I think I hugged Sister Ward goodbye about five times before we had to leave. She's such a sweetheart and asked the Elders in my district to be extra nice to me. 

Because I was sad, Sister Gosnell bought me flowers and a card and made tortellini for dinner. She was so nice to me I almost cried again. 

My new comp. is Sister Bush. She's from Stockton, California and is the fifth of seven children. She is the exact opposite of me in personality and looks. She has blonde hair, blue eyes, is happy, light, and cheerful. 

I think someone is praying for me to have patience because I am being tried. Sister Bush got her license three weeks before she came on a mission and has been in a bike area for the nine months that she's been out. But, since she's the senior companion she is the driver. At least I can say that I now have the skills necessary to teach my future children how to drive. 

We're getting along though and coming up with good ideas together. I can't say that we are friends yet, but it'll eventually happen. 

Man, I sound so mean right now. I like her. She's very nice.

It snowed again about a foot and people didn't go into mass panic, but there still was panic. We weren't allowed to drive anywhere which sucked because the only way to get to our area is to drive. There are no sidewalks to walk on and it didn't feel safe to bike with all those crazy Kentuckians who can't drive in the snow and ice. So, we weekly planned and shoveled driveways all day. 

I can definitely say that I am learning so much more by being in charge of this area and Branch. What you said makes absolutely perfect sense. I'm seeing how capable I am to do these things and even though our area is so huge that it is overwhelming I'm taking it one day at a time. Especially when I run into really rude people. Seriously, there's a lot of rude people. 

We went to Prospect to the first time and you wouldn't believe how big these houses are. I though Goshen was nice, but this place beats it. I'll have to bring my camera next time, because I saw a marble mansion. Like Downton Abbey mansion. It was gorgeous. Too gorgeous. How do people live in those? 

The problem that I think here is that everyone is so well off and 'happy' they shoo us off like we have nothing new to offer. I'm trying to come up with a new door approach to boldly declare who we are and what we have. Especially since no church here in Kentucky can claim with an unshakeable testimony to be the only true church of Jesus Christ with His authority. 

After they announced that we were going to be in the branch I decided to set up a meeting with President Stevens (who is the coolest man I've met here) to talk about how we can help with the branch. His son is so cute and told me I have the powers of Jesus. He also drew me a picture of all the things Jesus made. I will treasure it forever.

I don't think I'll get a branch as excited about missionary work as this one. I know that members are the key to everything we do. Tracting is not the best way to find people, but the members are and they do such a great job. Brother Hill, our new Branch Mission Leader, challenged all the members on Sunday to find one family per family this year. He is so awesome. Brother Hill came up to us after church and was telling us that he's going to try super hard to get us into less active homes and part member families. 

I am so excited to work here. Something awesome is going to happen, I can feel it. 

We tried to go see a less active member, but only her parents were home. They are active and let us right in and we chatted for a while. The less active's name is A and she is professional cat breeder and show person. She had a whole wall covered with the ribbons and awards she won from her cats. Also, there were about twelve cats walking around and the 'studs' were in large cages in the another room. They are Oriental Short Hairs and look like Siamese cats, but cuter and very quiet and friendly. If I was to get a house cat I would want one of them.

I am so jealous that you get to go to Nationals! Send loads of pictures and give everyone my love. :) Also, give Ethan a Book of Mormon and tell him that Raye wants him to read it once. Don't know why. The thought just came to me. 

Sister Wayland, the Relief Society President, came up to me and told me that I am not the same person I was when I came and that I have grown so much. That made me feel really good because I would have considered myself a failure if I returned home the same person and hadn't changed into what Heavenly Father wants me to become. I have a log ways to go, but I'm making progress. 

Tell Grandma France I said thank you for the hat and scarf! They are so cute! I love them. :) I forgot to take a picture of me wearing it, but I will send one next week. 

When you told me about Dottie and the 'shocking moment' I imagined that scene from Fun with Dick and Jane when he gives Spot a bark collar. ;) 

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILEE!!! I know it's on Saturday, but I had to say it. :) LOVE YOU! 

I LOVE YOU ALL and MISS YOU SO MUCH! 

Take care and keep being awesome! 

Sam, I still expect a missionary comic strip. Don't let me down. 

And guess what family? I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOOOOVE YOU! 

-Raye :) 

I'm Listening... March 2, 2015

Heyo!

I'm done with training! But...

Sister Ward is leaving and I am NOT OKAY. She's being transferred to Lexington in Nicholasville where she will be a Sister Training Leader (STL). She completely and totally deserves it, because, well, she's amazing and will help so many of the sisters become better. I know she has done that for me. She is amazing and has helped me grow in more ways than I can even express. Sister Ward has shown me obedience, diligence, charity, and has helped me truly come to understand the Atonement.

On Saturday I was pretty much freaking out because I had no confidence in myself to take over the area. Especially since the boundaries for the wards have changed because they're opening a new branch. The branch has taken half our area plus Prospect and President still hasn't called to tell us what area we'll be covering. So, either way, I'll be opening up a brand new Sister area. Ah! I was also worried that our investigators and ward members wouldn't like me as much as they like her.

Needless to say, Sister Ward had to call me to repentance really quickly. Basically, she said, "Sister France, that is crap. Those thoughts aren't yours, they are Satan's. This whole past week you have been complimented and you're not listening. President even called to say that you were the best greenie in the mission and President doesn't just do that. God is trying to tell you something and you're listening to Satan instead. So, stop and think about who you need to listen to."

I'm summarizing of course, but she is always right. we have this pattern of her telling me something, me doubting, and then she ends up being right. Now, I've been really trying to focus on what Heavenly Father is trying to tell me instead of thinking that I am not ready or qualified to do this. I'm sill nervous, but I know God will help me. The best part about being a missionary is that I don't have to rely on myself for anything.

But, I will miss Sister Ward so much! Gah! Luckily, she is going to UVU and BYU so I will definitely see her in the future. :)

That's awesome that Connor got the Priesthood. Tell him I said, "Congrats!" I didn't know that Josh and Logan got to be in the circle, but that is so cool!

Oh my gosh! Emilee is wearing glasses! She's so cute! I loved the picture so much!  :) By the way...if you could just take a picture of your food that would make me happy. I just want...a few little pictures of home every week. :)

Br is still doing well...we think. He lost his Book of Mormon so he didn't read by himself, but we taught him the Plan of Salvation and he gave us this really confused look a lot. But, because he's a wall he wouldn't open up unless we asked him if he was confused. Overall, he found it very different, but at the end he understood it. When we left Brother Button had Br read with him from the Book for Mormon for fifteen minutes. I think that Br just needs to read and pray about he Book of Mormon or he isn't going to progress.

So, Br's ex-wife doesn't want us to teach M and has probably threatened Br to not let us teach her with him which sucks, because we have to comply with her wishes. But, I'm planning on trying to meet with her and say hello before she thinks we're wierdos or something. However, Tr, the Elder's investigator, was baptized on Saturday and we invited Br to it...and he came and brought M with him! He wasn't going to come at first because they were both in jeans and t-shirts, but Brother Button decide to come in his full-on police uniform to help Br feel not so out of place. The baptism was really spiritual and was really nice. By the Elder's request, Sister Ward, Hermana Wilkinson, and I sang 'Oh My Father' to the tune of 'Come Thou Fount'. It's really pretty. I kept the sheet music. After the baptism was over, Br said it was really nice and he met the bishop as well. He said he would try to make it to church next Sunday so we hope that actually happens. He's starting to open up little by little (it's like watching grass grow) which is great!

By the way, I almost can't wait to swim in our pool. That is going to be awesome! Worth waiting for though. ;)

We met with the K's yesterday and we had such a good time with them. V looked extremely tired, because he just finished his weekly chemo therapy, but he was laughing and wasn't as shy as he usually is. They won't know if the therapy is working until he goes in for another scan later this month. But they told us some cool stories. They've been to London, Paris, and Switzerland. The first time that Kh came to the U.S they lived in Iowa which made her not like the American landscape very much, haha.

Vi told us a short Indian story about a prince who fought a demon with ten heads to save a princess. It was quite cute. They showed us a little picture book of all these Indian stories and legends from their culture. Totally awesome!

We found out why V wasn't reading the Book of Mormon. He has a hard time reading. But, he loves listening so we're going to get him the Book of Mormon on CD. The next step is trying to get them to church. It's hard because V is sick a lot, but they can't be baptized unless they come to church. 

They were extremely sad to see Sister Ward leave, which made me nervous about them being as comfortable and happy around me, but I'll just be myself and it will work out. :) Besides, I love them so they should like me, right? 

Before I forget, the mission has a blog with pictures and stuff! Super cool! Hopefully, you know the address to it because it's for parents... 

We have been richly blessed with new investigators this week. 

On Friday night we were on a street where we were looking for some former investigators, but we didn't feel like we were supposed to be there. So, we got in the car and as we were driving Sister ward saw something glitter out of the corner of her eye. She decided to not ignore it and quickly pulled over. We then walked over to the house that it came from and when the lady answered the door she said she would love to hear our message. Wait, what? Literally, we didn't know what to say because we usually don't get that reaction, haha. Seeing her, J, sometime this week. :) 

Also, there was this one guy named N. He was a former investigator so we decide to find him. I was not expecting an extremely pretty 26 year old to answer the door. But, oh my goodness, was he Baptist. N is a music minister for his church and we knocked on his door just as he and his friend, Bo, were discussing aspects of the gospel while making pulled pork sandwiches after practicing some gospel music together.  

We stood outside on their porch and talked to them for about 45 minutes. Basically, Bo tried to rake us across the coals and tried to make us deny the Bible as the word of God. Plus, he compared us to radical terrorist Muslims. That was fun. 

This is when I was grateful for the boldness training, because when he asked us what his church was missing, without thought, I started teaching them the Restoration and about the priesthood. Kind of surprised myself. At the end all we could do was testify of what we know to be true as Bo tried to bash with us. For some reason N wanted a return appointment with us. So, we are meeting with them again on Tuesday at 8:45. Pray for us. I do not plan on bashing with them, especially Bo. In fact as we left I felt this immense weight of sorrow because of how prideful they were and how much their words stung. I shouldn't expect less from two 26 year old boys who have 'everything figured out', but it just hurt. Especially when someone tries to rip apart your testimony like that. 

I plan on trying to love them as Heavenly father would and teach accordingly. It took me all week to get to that conclusion, because I wasn't feeling charity toward them. 

But, I know what I know is true and those who say that I am wrong cannot change what God has manifested to me. Everything about the gospel just makes sense. I have a divine witness that it is true, because of immense study and prayer. Perhaps I can even say that "in a coming day" when I see Christ and God the Father I will not know any better than I know now of the truthfulness of what I testify of.  

Please pray that my new companion will be nice. I'm  super nervous about meeting her. 

As of March 9 I'll have my 3 month birthday...man, time flies so flippin' fast! Ah! 

I love you all so much! I miss you! 

Sam, can you draw me a missionary cartoon and send it to me? I would love some letters from you. :) 

Can't wait to e-mail next week! I love you all so much! You're in my prayers all the time! 

To the moon and back, 

Raye :)