Monday, March 21, 2016

Week 19: Anthony is baptized AND HAS THE PRIESTHOOD!!!

Ugh. Oh my gosh this week. Was. So. GOOD. There were lots of little miracles and lots of moments when you just knew you weren't the one directing the work.

- There is a fresh strawberry stand and it's CHEAP. SO GOOD.
- Thank you so much for the packadge!! I am sending a video of me opening it. You'll giggle.
- We had corn beef and cabbage on St. Patty's day! Woof.

- Anthony got baptized this Saturday!!! It was such a wonderful day. We have been going over every night for the past 2 weeks over to their house and we have become so close with the whole family. I love them so so much. Everything went wonderful with the baptism (except the water was ice cold #polarbearchallenge) and the spirit was there. The next day, Anthony got confirmed AND received the Aaronic priesthood.

And then the greatest moment of my life happened. They told us that they are going to get sealed next summer like July 21st in the Salt Lake Temple and they want us to be there for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously this is what life is about!!!!! I am so so so so so so so so excited. Seriously this is a dream come true!! I love them so much. I can't wait for them to be sealed and to see Anthony grow as a patriarch of his home and received the Melchezedek priesthood soon and give his kids blessings and stuff! So so awesome. The gospel rocksssss.


Also can we just talk about patience? Sister Bigler has it with me. We are so close.

Oh my gosh we had the most amazing lesson with Don EVER. We talked about race and the priesthood and he told us in the lesson that, "I've never seen a church so devoted to Christ as your church". It was so goood. And yep, I cried like a baby in the lesson. Don is the best.

Well it's that time the year again.... IT'S JIMOTHY'S BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I'm sending you a special package filled with lerve.

Kkkkk well i have a ton of pics for you this week so HOLD ON TIGHT AND ENJOY THE RIDE!

love you allllll!

also you are the best family ever. please CTR while I am gone.


                                                Lovin' everything about Bakersfield!!

                                   Outside the RV park in our area.  I love RV parks.



                                                     Um, it's only March 21, people.






Week 18: ANTHONY IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!

I feel like Oprah right now-- "You get a car! You get a car!! You all get a car!!!!!!!"

ANTHONY IS GETING BAPTIZED. I REPEAT. ANTHONY IS GETTING BAPTIZED.
Ugh oh my gosh I love them all so much. Anthony has had what we like to call an MCOH, or a mighty change of heart. He is amazing. We visit them every day and you can see his progression. The spirit works wonders. And so does a little bit of faith.  I cannot wait for Saturday. After Anthony's interview yesterday we came to the room with his wife and kids and I just started jumping up and down going "Ee ee EE!!!!!" Lolz. It's exciting stuff! His wife and I are waaay close and she texted us yesterday and said "I can't believe how much my life has changed in the past 5 months." The gospel really does bless families.

Kkkkk a little bit about anthony. He has been smoking since 8th grade and we have been working with him to quit it forever. We visit him every day, text him every day, and we are just ON IT 24/7. Well it worked!! He doesn't drink coffee, smoke, and he has stopped the iced tea too!! He is the father of a family of 3 kids, the youngest is 14. They are all members except him. It is so exciting. SO EXCITING.

We had exchanges this week and GUESS WHO I WAS WITH. MY MOTHER, Sister Wheeler!! It was sooo nostalgic!! I remember the days when we were in Bishop, dreaming of what it would be like to serve in Bakersfield. And here we are. Time flies.

SPEAKING OF I HAVE BEEN OUT 4 MONTHS WHAT THE HECK. Crazy.

Last night we had the weirdest and best lesson of all time. This guy, Gino, was a referral from the Spanish elders. He spoke good English so we started teaching him. Last night we came over for our first real visit with him and we were going over the restoration to check for understanding. OH my gosh it was seriously so funny.

We were talking about polygamy. He had a bit of an attitude throughout the whole lesson so I stood my ground too! After we were talking about it he was like "Well no wonder they stopped polygamy, I couldn't handle one of you!!" (pointing at me HAHA!!)

This week is our zone leader's birthday so yesterday Sister Bigler and I made cupcakes at the bishop's house. We are gonna surprise him with them at our district activity today.

K love you all have a great week!

Week 17: ALIYA IS BAPTIZED!!!!

ERMERGERSH Aliya got baptized this weekend!!! It was so so so so awesome and I was a weeping willow the whole time. She had to get baptized 3 times because the water was so low. Oops! Lolz. The whole ward was a HUGE support and they all came to her baptism. It was so wonderful. On Sunday Aliya got confirmed and then she got up and bore her testimony!!!!!!!!!!! It was so amazing!! In her testimony she said, "I learn so much from the sisters. We have so much fun together and I love them." We are going to help her do personal progress!!!! I can't wait.

Anthony is PROGRESSING SO WELL!! He is getting baptized next Saturday!! He got a blessing on Monday and ever since then he hasn't smoked a cigarette or had any coffee! And also we have been RELENTLESS about seeing him 24/7 and buggin him with encouraging texts and giving him homework assignments. Yesterday we were in a lesson and we gave him another homework assignment and a member we were sitting with (Sister Allred) says, "You are relentless!" and I just said, "Well so is Satan!!!!!!" Lolz.

On Saturday we had a relief society brunch birthday party. I love this ward so much!!!!

This email is so short MY BAD. But we had 12 member present lessons this week which was UNHEARD OF IT WAS AWESOME. We are so busy but it's good. We are gonna play baseball for zone activity today which should be fun so yay!

kkkkkkk bye!!!

Also there was a Spongebob sweater on sale for 5 doll hairs so YES I BOUGHT IT!

Week 16: They played Switchfoot in Sunday School. YOU HEARD ME

Oh my gosh ALIYA IS GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



i KNOW. Seriously best day and week ever. Her mom finally gave approval and she is gonna come to her baptism!! To say it's been difficult to get to this point and get a date set is an understatement. But it's all good.

Let's just talk about Aliya for a second. She is literally a mini me and I love her. She reminds me of Jenna (Jenna you can never be replaced you are my soul mate and my maid of honor so stay calm <3) and we have SO much fun together. I feel so lucky to have been able to teach her, especially teach her when she's now ready to be baptized. Elder Swain, the senior missionary in Bishop, said something so profound. "As missionaries, you are helping people get from A-Z, with Z being baptism. Sometimes you pick them up at A and take them to H. Sometimes you pick them up at H and take them to T. And if you're lucky, you take them from T-Z and they get baptized." I am so excited about Aliya getting baptized. I can't wait to stay connected with her for life and help her the rest of her life with anything she needs. UGH just love her!!

We watched 17 miracles with her last Saturday night. At the end she was like, "Did all that really happen??" YEAH sistafriend. Oh and this morning I totally convinced Sister Bigler that I had pioneer story where someone got totally decapitated on accident and they were able to sew their head back on because there was a doctor there. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH I know. She totally believed me. (you can take that story out for the blog if you feel like it)

WE HAD AN EARTHQUAKE THIS WEEK!!!!!!! 4.9!! We were in the church and it felt like someone had crashed into the building. It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope we get more soon!!!!!!

So yes, let's talk about my subject line. BECAUSE IT HAPPENED. We went to Sunday School with Aliya, and the teacher was talking about the importance of good music. Then he said, "Sister Harmon, what's your favorite band and why do you like them?" Bad question to ask me because I literally almost jumped out of my seat because I was so excited to TALK ABOUT SWITCHFOOT. Then he asked, "Can you choose right here what song everyone should hear?" UM EXCUSE ME WHUT YES I CAN. So I picked the most inspirational one and he started playing it. I think I might have blacked out. Tender mercies.

IT IS SO HOT. It was like 85 the other day and someone said, "What great spring weather!"


We talked to a lady the other day. We walked up to her and I had asked her, "How has God played a role in your life?" and she goes, "Oh I have totally accepted God into my life, literally and physically. I see, feel, and touch him every single day." Hmmmmmmm. So we move right along into prophets, because what else are we supposed to do? Then she said, "Oh I believe that!! I am a prophet of Jesus." Hmmmm. Needless to say she will not be getting baptized soon.

Since most of my email is pretty ridiculous I'll share a spiritual thought.
So first read this:

Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

I was reading that and I had the realization the other day that everything starts with our thoughts. EVERYTHING. The entire course of our lives starts in our brains. Every action you take, every time you react to something, every time you choose to do something good or wrong, anything and everything, starts with your thoughts. Sure, people do stupid things that you can control, but you can control how they affect you and how you react. It's really great and terrifying to think about. One one hand it's awesome because we have so much control!! On the other hand it's horrible because we have so much control!! But when I think about the perfect example, Jesus Christ, he was a master at controlling his thoughts. Having a perfect brightness of hope and a love of God starts with our thoughts. Choosing to feast upon the words of Christ rather than just reading to check it off the list starts with our thoughts. Continuing to do that every day starts with our thoughts.

kkk well today sister bigler and I are going to get free Chipotle right now for lunch. CAN LIFE GET ANY BETTER??! THE ANSWER IS NO!!!
Love you all!!!

Week 15: WHAT IS UPPPPP!!!

I feel like every time I email I am about to explode because I haven't talked to all of you in a week AND THAT IS RIDICULOUS!!!

Ok. So many things to share.

Transfers. I STAYED. SAFE. Oh my gosh I never want to leave Stockdale please and thank you. I just sealed my fate and I'm probably going to get transferred next transfer. My new companion is Sister Bigler. SHE ROCKS. She loves parks and rec and disney and the same things as me AND IT'S AWESOME!!!!!! Ugh so so happy. Speaking of Leslie Knope, 6 people so far on the mission have said, "Oh my gosh, you remind me of Leslie Knope!!" THE LEGACY CONTINUES.

So last Monday Sister Perrin and I took out 2 of the new sisters out for an hour for their first time tracting. It was a MAJOR flashback to my first day. Especially because the sister I was with was going to Bishop!!! I can't believe that it's already been 3 months. But at the same time I totally can. Lolz. It was fun.

We got 12 referrals in one dayyyyy!! I'm pretty sure I flat-lined for like a solid minute.

So ya know how I always cry? I had this idea that I would be crying at every door step teaching the restoration and crying at every lesson. I bawled watching The District. So it finally happened. We were at a door talking to this lady and she started sharing all her deep stuff with us. I was talking about Jesus Christ and I totally started weeping. Like tears were streaming. She was crying and I was crying but it was so powerful!!

At District meeting last week I was in charge of the role play. I seriously have a problem because every time I have to get up in front of other missionaries I get so hyper!!! We did the role play and at the end Elder Warby was like, "Hey Sister Harmon, next time you do the role play you should drink a Monster. I'd love to see that." LOLZ.

AWWWW ok so our investigator Don came to church again!! It was so sweet. We went out to go see him in the cultural hall (he came in the back) and I went to go shake his hand and he went to give me a hug!! I was like "ahhhh so sorry we can't hug but you rock!!" It was so tender for me. I care about Don SOOO much. He is progressing so well. We have about 3 investigators who are on the cusp of baptism. I don't even know if cusp is the right word and I CAN'T GOOGLE IT EITHER!!

For service this week we've been painting animal's for the miniature Noah's Arc and Solomon's temple with Sister Porter, the bishop's wife. She's a seminary teacher and she goes all out. Doesn't that sound like the best service ever?

We had to go to Urgent Care yesterday for Sister Bigler. While we were in there Monsters Inc and Princess in the Frog were playing and it was like I was in another world. What is that world like? I can't even remember. Getting on instagram and having the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want... I totally can't remember what that is like.

We knocked on this door and this guy answers. Blood-shot eyes. Hmmm. We start teaching him the restoration and he seems to be following along and getting it. Then we ask him to read Moroni 10:4-5. He literally just stares at the page so I'm like, "You can read it out loud." He keeps staring, and his eyes are like ALL OVER the page.

"Which 4 and 5?"

"It's the one right here."

"... Which page?"

So finally I just read it myself for him. Then he was like not making sense of anything so we just wrapped it up and said we'd come back later. I asked him, "What's your name?

"Who's name?

"Your name."

"Wait the book's name?"

Oh my GOSH!! Then we asked when we could come back and he was like, "Yeah I've been really busy. I've been doing...... a lot of reading." Yep you sound like a real book worm. It was seriously so hilarious though. Which 4 and 5? Sister Bigler and I were loling. But for real can we just take a second and appreciate the fact that we aren't hooked on drugs? WE'RE HOOKED ON PHOENIX THOUGH!!! Had to.

Also, Mosiah 2:41. And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

I love it because it is so simple and true. Everything that God asks us to do isn't because He wants to control us, but because he wants to give us blessings and help us have happy lives. I love sharing that scripture with investigators. I realized I never share anything spiritual in my emails... whoops. I'll try and get better at that.

Kkkk I love you all and PLEASE SEND ME MAIL BECAUSE I AM LITERALLY DESOLATE OUT IN BAKERSFIELD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 14: TRANSFER TIME

Hey my fambaly!!!

Here are some tidbits of the week.

On Pday we had this couple who we found a few days earlier take us out to lunch at the ELEPHANT BAR. Yes, that is a real place. Ugh. Died. Loved it. Then they dropped us. HAHA at least we got free lunch right?

OUR 2 INVESTIGATORS THAT WE HAVE REALLY BEEN WANTING TO COME TO CHURCH CAME TO CHURCH! They both came and I was just like YASSSSSSSSS. Aliya is 15 and she's gonna get baptized soon. She is seriously a mini me. We both have such attitude together and I act like a complete psycho when we see each other. We went over to a members on Friday night and watched Meet The Mormons together in their home theater. She LOVED it. CANNOT wait for her to be baptized.

Our other investigator, Don, is so cool I can't handle it. He is becoming and changing and progressing and it is so fun to watch him just read and enjoy reading and decide to come to church. We came over on Saturday to invite him and as we were just chatting he's like "Oh hey I'll be at church tomorrow" and we were like SWEET MERCY YES YOU ARE!!!! AND it was stake conference 20 minutes away and they still came. Ugh can't even handle dis right now.

Hahahah the wife of the ward mission leader came out with us and we were just street contacting because a lesson fell through. We saw this guy across the street so we run over and are like "HI how are you??" and stuff and the sister is all concerned and whispered "Do you know him??" and we're like NOPE! and kept going. It was so hilarious.

ERMERGERSH TRERNSFERS!!!

Um.... I literally don't know how I feel about it. I am going back to Bishop. I KNOW RIGHT. I am still in shock. Apparently people go back to their areas! So I'll be leaving tomorrow and going back up to good ole Bishop. It's going to be cold!! I'll have a new comp too, not sure what her name is.

Anyways, I love you all so much!! Keep writing me because I die without knowing all the deets. All da deets of yo LYFE.

Oh! I almost forgot. I am totally not going back up to Bishop. Just kidding fo lyfe!! I am staying in Stockdale and I am getting a new companion, Sister Bigler. I am so happy to be staying in Stockdale. I love it here.

Kkkkk byeee!!!

Week 13: Dis week u know

Hieeeeeeeee!

So I seriously love you guys so so much.

This week.

PDAY: the best day of the week if yaknowwhatI'msayin. We played pool at a members house, and had an antique scavenger hunt for our district activity in downtown Bakes. SO FUN!

We had zone training this week. The zone leaders called me and asked me to give a talk. My topic was, "how the Atonement blesses people in other planets but why Jesus Christ came to our planet and why it blesses us specifically". I was like hai WUT. Then they said just kidding. It was so funny. It's amazing how the dumbest things now are just absolutely hilarious. Every single corny church joke and I'm dying.

I have been teaching the commandments in my sleep.

Send me your ponderizing scriptures!!!

Our ward mission leader is seriously on fire. It was a struggle bus at first and now he's like "we all need to give the sisters people to teach!! come on people!!" and I'm like YOU GO GLEN COCO!!! Also the bishop of this ward is just absolutely fantastic. I love Stockdale ward SO SO much. SO MUCH! I would be fine staying for a while.

Transfer calls are coming up this week. I'm probs staying and my comp is probs headin out to another area.

Oh my gosh we have been trying to so hard to get referrals and this week we got so many!!! We have been working hard to present the referral asking in a way that isn't "Hai gimme all your people to teach cuz I'm lazy." It's been going well.

Yesterday we literally went into our investigator's room and woke her up for church. LOLZ. It was hilarious.

We found an investigator a few days ago and he's older. He's "super catholic" and somehow he became a new investigator and he and his wife are taking us out to lunch at the "Elephant Bar" today after emails. YAS.

Well that's all I got. Love you all and hope you have a great week!

Week 12: 5 cop cars and a ghetto bird (helicopter with the light)

MY FAMBALY WHAT IT DO.

Here's what went down this week.

Pday: Literally my pday dream came true. Another set of sisters and I all went to Chipotle for lunch. LITERALLY MY MISSION IS COMPLETE. We went into vans next door because Sister Newhouse needed some new shoes/she loves vans, and we started talking to the employee. Actually he started talking to us. Even better. We talked about our religion a little bit and we gave him 2 pictures of Jesus and a picture of the temple. Then he goes over to the cash register AND TAPES THEM ON THE WALL OF VANS. I know.

So Monday night was seriously faboo. We had family home evening with the less-active mom and her 2 unbaptized girls WHO LOVE US. They made us dinner, and then Faith (9 years old) comes up and tells us that she had this assignment at school to write a story, "And I wrote that my two missionary friends came over and I made them food and we had so much fun!" Ugh so cute. We had a great little lesson and we are making some great baby steps. We are going back tonight.

Then we had a lesson with Aliya, where we taught the 10 commandments at a family's house who has 6 kids. We have hand signs to help remember the commandments, and it was so fun to get everyone involved.

We were on our way home and we were leaving the gated community where these people lived. There is a helicopter that flies over Bakersfield shining a huge light that's called the 'ghetto bird'. They basically look for trouble. It was flying over and it just spotted our car and sat there for literally a minute. Like an idiot, I opened my door and got out and just stared like it was a UFO. Then we started driving down the road. A minute later we were at an intersection and I look around and see sooo many cop cars.
"Sister Perrin, there are so many cop cars around.. It's weird."
"Sister Harmon this is Bakersfield. There are always cop cars."
We turn left and then... 5 cop cars with lights flashing and sirens blaring pull us over. SWEET. I DIDN'T DO IT OFFICER MY COMPANION DID. Lolz. Turns out there was a robbery in the neighborhood we were in and they had the same car as us. Good story though.

We started volunteering at the American Cancer Society every Tuesday. I LERVE IT. We take inventory of banners and help get stuff ready for their event. It takes me back to my Color Run days hard core. It's so much fun.

IT SNOWED IN BAKERSFIELD. Well... The mountains. But yep. Snow. Y DOES IT FOLLOW ME?!

Every Friday we go over to the Bishop's wife, Sister Porter, and help her with her etsy shop making and packaging jewelry. I think that is probably the best service opportunity of all time. Not to mention we get cute JEWELRY!! For freeeee! It is so much fun. Love Sister Porter.

We have some great people we are teaching. It's a huge bummer when people do stupid things and cancel on you or choose to follow SATAN, but it's cool to watch people who actually read the Book of Mormon and pray and do those little things that can change their world.

The other day we were tracting. Ugh. Tracting for dayz. Literally I just want to chase everyone down until we all scream. This lady was coming out of her house and going to her car and I spotted her from across the street right as we were about to knock this door. Like a fierce lil cheetah I sprinted across the street, my eyes peeled on my un-baptized prey. "HI! HOW ARE YOU?" "Oh I am actually leaving right now I'm in a hurry!" "That's wonderful!! We are missionaries from the church..." Lolz. No shame.

Anyways we were tracting and we started talking to this 14 year old who "doesn't believe in God.. I only believe in Science." But actually though. We taught him the restoration and it was so sweet to see him realize that there is a God out there. It's so sad to think that there are actually people out there who don't believe in God or Jesus Christ. Can you even imagine.

Anyways love you all and keep emailing me BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE YOU'RE ALL DEAD WRITE ME!!!!!

Lerve you all!

Week 11: Acrylic Nails for Less Actives

Hey family!

Oh my guuudness it feels like the week flew by and took a year too! Cray. Here is what happened. Also does anyone even read these? Meh. I'm not mad if you don't. Kk here is the low down.

Monday:
PDAYYYYYYYY. 6 of us sisters went out to Panera Bread for lunch. OH my gosh it was the best day of my life. I love Panera so much. We had the loveliest time giggling and praying over our food as everyone stared. Ahh. Mission life. <3 Afterward we did our usual Winco run. We decided to go ham and get everything- shampoo, tights, food, the works. We got to the register and some members we didn't know came up to us and told us THEY WERE GOING TO PAY FOR OUR GROCERIES. Literally flat-lined right then and there. It was a huge blessing because 1) I love free things and they were so so so kind to do that for us & 2) I realized I had like no money on my card. So BLESSINGS all around us.
Then we went and got our hair did by a member in the ward who was so dang sweet to dye and cut my hair for only 15 bucks. It was such a blessing.

The rest of the week:

- Yesterday was the best day ever. We have been working to have more productive ward councils and get our mission ward leader on the same page as us. We had the best ward council ever and the bishop made the biggest and best plug ever about missionary work in ward council. We were giddy. THEN ****drum roll plz**** WE HAD 5 INVESTIGATORS ATTEND CHURCH YESTERDAY!!!!! I KNOW!!! We were literally jumping in our seats. It was so so awesome. We thought that 4 would probably show up, and then we didn't know it but our 5th one slipped in the back real quick. 3 of the investigators are in part member families, and it was so so exciting to have them there. President and Sister Wilson meet in our building for church, and they ended up coming to our sacrament meeting too. It was awesome. The bishops wife spoke and in her talk took 5 minutes to talk about how members need to get more involved in missionary work and involve the missionaries more too. My cheeks were literally burning from smiling so big. It was awesome. Then right before the end of the meeting, Bishop asked me and Sister Perrin to get up and bear our testimonies. I bawled of course. He did it so that our 5th investigator who came had a familiar face to see on the stand. Bishop is brilliant. After church we got in the car and just screamed for about 5 solid minutes.

This week we taught our investigator (10 year old girl) the 190 commandments. LOLZ. The 10 commandments. We had hand motions for all of them so she could remember them. Her dad who isn't a member came in the door and she was like, "Dad! Look I know the 10 commandments!" And when she got to thou shalt not commit adultery she said, "And you can't go on dates with girls except mom!" It was so cute.

We are currently working with a lady who isn't active anymore who has 2 daughters that aren't baptized. We started going over to go see her a couple weeks ago. At first she was kind of hostile, but her daughters LOVE us so we were able to get in the house and start talking. We came over last Friday and her daughter (9 years old) said, "Can I do your nails?!" And of course we said YES. Then she put on these long claw acrylic nails on both sister perrin and I. It was HILARIOUS. Sister Perrin grew up on a farm and has never gotten into makeup, hair, nails, or anything, and now she has these claw fake nails on. She had to take her contacts out with her pinkies. I was crying. We popped them all off and we're just gonna glue them back on right before we go back over tonight. They are making us dinner and we are gonna have family home evening together!!! Ya gotta do whatcha gotta do.

The ward here is super fantastic. Everyone is starting to get more on board with missionary work. It's really exciting. I've gotten less nervous about missionary work. I've turned into the biggest creep and full on just go into people's garages if I hear any humanly noise. It's all good.

K so this email is literally a year long. I will stop. But we had a worldwide missionary broadcast with the brethren and it was so good. And the sisters who live in our same apartment complex exercise with us in the mornings and it is so much fun.

I just have a testimony of the spirit doing the teaching. On Saturday we taught the plan of salvation to a part member family and then the restoration to our other investigator. Both times after we taught we asked if they had any questions and how they felt and they both said, "You said it all so clearly, I totally understand and it makes sense." Literally not us at all. I feel like I am trying to speak a different language have the time, but the spirit makes up for it. Also, it's amazing how the spirit just tells you what question you need to ask or what direction you need to go when you have no idea what to talk about that will help the investigators. It's great.

Anyways, peace and blessings. Chow. Choa? Byeeeeeee.

Sister Moon Using Her Selfie Stick.  DYING!!!  

                                                         Sisters at Zone Conference

Week 10: Hoverboards. Dangerous Hoverboards.

Well whattayaknow. It's Monday again.

Real quick here is what happened this week!!

- I had a conversation with a spanish man. I literally was just saying spanish words that sounded good to him and he responded like I was saying the right words. My comp said we had a conversation that made sense!!!! #giftoftongues

- I rode on a hoverboard last night and definitely ran over my own foot. It's all good though.

- I have a firm testimony of specific prayers!! Lately we have been saying specific prayers for our investigators and for where we should be and what we should be doing in our area. It WORKS. Also I said a specific prayer that I could get my hair colored for cheapo and guess what. I am getting my hair cut and colored for 15 dollars. IT WORKS.

- Sister Perrin and I have really tried to focus more on just loving the people. It has made things so much better. When we are really trying to love them and honestly just trying to help them in any way possible, they can feel it and everything is so much more natural and better.

- The other day we went over to see some people and they weren't home, but there were a bunch of guys playing pool in their garage the next door over. We started talking to them. Sister Perrin started playing pool and teaching the guys the restoration, then the mom came out and I started talking to her and teaching her the restoration. She is AMAZING. We started talking and she was telling me that she has so many questions but no one can ever answer them. I randomly started teaching 1/2 of the plan of salvation and then the second half of the restoration to her as we were talking. She was like "wow. everything that you said makes so much sense." And then when I gave her a Book of Mormon she was so touched!! Can't wait to go back this week and see her.

- We are helping our district wake up at 6:30 every morning. Sister Perrin and I love to wake up early, so we decided we would be in charge of calling everyone to help them get up. The first morning we called the sisters, and they were so chipper and sweet when they answered the phone! Then we called the Elders. **ring ring** "I'm up." LOLZ.

- I hear it's been snowing a ton?? I am so so sorry for you. Truly. I would cry.

-Our investigator got married on Saturday! We got to go to their wedding at the church and it was so sweet and fun :)

- OH MY GOSH ok so we had exchanges this week. At night the sisters and us cut glow sticks in half and threw them all over the room and all over us and had a dance party to enya. Ugh it was amazing. Except the room smelled SO bad after that we all had to sleep in the front room. We used like 30 glow sticks. Lolz.

- Not gonna lie, the mission is the hardest thing ever. WHY IS IT SO HARD. It's because if you want to do it right you have to give your entire heart and soul over to God and it's not easy. That's what I've been working on this week. We'll get there.

I hope all of you are doing well and doing your best!! Love you so much and have a good week!!






                                                        Glow in the Dark Dance Party