A Lovely Week in Ohio.

Hey guys!:)

I am going to stop making my emails so incredibly long and just do a summary of the week, haha so I can stop hurting all of your eyes :)

This week has been going good so far. We have had a lot of member presents which are the most important thing ever! We have a ward trunk or treat activity on Saturday and we have been inviting EVERYONE to it. Turns out we have 3 people actually coming! What?! This is crazy! No one ever goes to ward activities haha. Tim is coming, he is a potential investigator. Nicest guy. We are going to do service for him next week. Thomas is coming, he is our neighbor. He was sick this week so we made him some homemade broccoli soup. He told us he isn’t interested in our religion but, he is super nice and is coming to the trunk or treat so maybe his heart is being softened!:) And last, Wes is coming. Oh, how we love Wes :) He is progressing so much. He committed to church on Sunday and is keeping all of his commitments! He is awesome. We brought Sister Flander’s to the lesson we had with him and we talked about faith. We read Alma 32 and talked about how it just takes that little amount of faith, that little seed, and if you have the desire it will grow. We talked about also how prayer is so important. In the lesson the spirit really spoke to Wes cause he was like “Oh! I need to pray to gain a relationship with God. I do not know why I never thought of that.” We were happy he received that revelation for himself :) The Lord is blessing us in this area that is for sure.

We had exchanges again this week. Sister Verhagen came to our area so that means I was in charge of the area ahh I was scared. I had to do all the planning and just be in charge. It was scary but luckily we had two lessons planned. One with Steve, and one with Tristan. We were really excited for both of the lessons! We haven’t seen Tristan in forever so we were excited to see him! But anyway, I made all these plans to visit all these people in this area and none of them were home! Something that I planned 2 hours for took us like 15 minutes to do. So we ended up tracting in the area… I have never tracted before. I have never wanted to, I am scared of it. But, we had nothing else planned so it was necessary. Turns out it wasn’t bad! Haha this one guy though.. oh goodness. We knock on this door and this guy answers and he is shirtless with just this little robe wrapped around his waist. He swings open the door and says “Come in!” Um.. yeah I was speechless. Literally, I didn’t know what to say. I thought this was the end of my life. I thought he was going to kidnap me or something haha. Sister Verhagen finally spoke and was like “Hey we are missionaries and you religious?” and he goes “Yes! I am Pastor King” (in an Indian accent) then he looked at our name tags and was like “oooohhh God bless.” And shut the door. Haha strangest experience but we were laughing so hard after we couldn’t help ourselves. We had dinner at Sister Beachamps that night and she made us a dessert called the death by chocolate brownie. It was like the best thing of my life. I was obsessed I ate a huge piece in like 30 seconds. Man oh man was that things good.. anyway haha. Exchanges were fun! But it was nice to have Sister Horsley bacd :)

We are now allowed to have candles in our apartment! It used to be a rule you couldn’t but now you can! So Sister Horsley and I went to get candles because they make us happy. It was so hard picking a scent! But we knew we wanted a fall one.. and we found the perfect one :) We light it every time we are in the house it smells sooo good. I have a growing obsession with candles now, they are so comforting and they smell so good! Ha it is the littlest things when you are on a mission that make you the happiest. We taught Steve the Plan of Salvation and it went really well. He told us it really comforted him, especially the spirit world. He is so awesome! He totally understands what we teach him. His biggest thing is just the BOM. He keeps saying he just needs to read and pray about it to know if it is true. Hmm what more could we ask for? Haha.The BOM is the keystone! If you know that is true then everything else about this gospel is true. Gotta love it :) It’s cool that he recognizes what he has to do to know if this church is true. Saturday we had the trunk or treat! Yay! Three people told us they would come but one showed up: our neighbor Thomas! He really isn’t interested in the church at all so were surprised he came! But he did! Everyone was talking to him and he was having a good time! It was also a chili cook off so there was some good food there as well :) Sister Horsley and I dressed up the most we could for missionaries haha she was Merida, and I was Snow White. When I asked people who I was though these are the responses, “uh.. Mother Gothell from Tangled?”, “hmm.. you kinda look like a more tasteful mistress of the night.” Hahaha I was dying. I was def not a mistress of the night that is for sure. The trunk or treat was fun though most of the little girls were dressed up as Elsa. They were like “all the Elsa’s come in for a picture” Haha people are still so crazy about that movie. I for sure miss it! It was really fun though :)

We had the BEST SUNDAY EVER! Wanna know why? Well, first it was primary program which is always grand but... WES CAME!! My first investigator at church :) He LOVED it! After church he was telling us about how he is going to come next week.. miracles I tell ya. Miracles. And the Flanders invited him over for dessert at their place! Thanks Sister Flanders for the chocolate waffles, they were delicious!:) But it is just so amazing to see the members want to get so involved with the investigators. It takes a spiritual conversion, but it also takes a social conversion, and our ward has got that covered with Wes. He said this is the first church he has gone to where members have gone out of their way to introduce themselves, and he loved it. We also had a little family home evening action at the Flanders with Wes, it was fantastic! We cannot wait to teach him Tuesday! This is what being a missionary is all about! I am loving it!

Sister Horsley and I have had a lot of fun this week haha. We had a water fight one day where we had our water bottles just getting each other wet. Sometimes when you are out in the field you have to have just stupid silly times or else you go crazy. Then she was leaning back in her chair and totally fell over I was dying! Haha my full intention was to help but... I was too busy eating ha I am a good companion :) She was ok though :) I also made her get a flu shot this week. I got mine in the MTC so I am covered but she did NOT want to get one. She kept trying to get out of it but we did it :) And when she got it she was like oh that was nothing! Yeah.. that is usually how it goes. She is a funny one :)

I got a large package in the mail this week full of candy… thanks Morgy and Heidi I love you two so much :) And yes most of the candy is gone.. haha I cannot help myself when it is sitting there I just eat it! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Welcome to the mission life. Hey, it is all about the work right? It doesn’t matter what we eat! Haha. Thanks for all your prayers I love you all so much! Have a good week this week, and invite the missionaries over for a good home cooked meal. You really don’t know how much they truly appreciate it! LOVE YOU!

Sucker buddies! (Is that how you spell sucker? Maybe it's succor? Haha!)

Some nose waxing action with Sister Verhagen. Gotta love it.

Merida & Snow White/ Mother Gothel/ Tasteful Mistresses of the Night

HALLOWEEN!! Goodness, I am spoiled :) Thanks mom and Heidi! You two are the best moms in the world! And Morgan too :)

Break Ups and Ice Cream.

Monday: Happy Columbus day! Ha so funny story.. I kept hearing that it was Columbus day on Monday. When people told me this I just assumed it was Columbus day as in a day to celebrate the city I am living in. So I was really confused when libraries were closed and such. I was like wow they must really be into the day to celebrate their city. Haha syke, it is Christopher Columbus day! So shout out to him :) It was P-Day! Yay! I got to write my family :) My mom as online so we got to really talk back and forth it felt like I was just texting her :) It was nice cause I was able to tell her how I am feeling cause I am having a hard time.. but she comforted me and I know the Lord can help me through it :) After emails it was Zone fun day! So we went to the chapel and played some fun improve games :) Oh my goodness it was so hilarious. In one of the games I had to act like Bella. Haha so I pretty much walked around with no emotion saying “Time passes” and “I was irrevocably in love with him”. Oh my goodness it was so fun! My zone is really cool. After that we went grocery shopping and Sister Horsley made us get multi-grain bread. Yuck. But it is good to eat healthy I guess haha. She made us hurry in the store though cause she had letters to write so I didn't really get anything good at the store but that is ok :) I wrote some letters when we got home then had dinner. We were waiting all day for Brother Flanders to call us about getting our bed bugs worked out but he never did so we called him at like 6 and he answers and goes “Oh.. Sisters..” haha he forgot. It is ok though a few more nights won’t kill us :) So we went and visited some less actives that night. None were home. Such a bummer, we rode our bikes a long way for them! Ha but afterwards we came home and planned a little more for our murder mystery game.  During this time we were texting Ryan, and having a DTR (determine the relationship) I hate those! We asked him if he thought this church could be true. And he said his church is.. and that he keeps meeting with us cause he knows we care about him and he doesn't wanna hurt our feelings. :( We were so sad! We thought he was so close to baptism but I guess not.. we decided we need to drop him. But we are waiting to do it in person. It is like a legit break up, my heart is broken. We went to bed pretty sad that night. But we know it is for the best.

Tuesday: Another big service day! We did service for Carmine again and packed some more of her things. Her parents were hoarders so she has so much random stuff from like the 60’s! I am not saying hoarding is good but.. she has some really cool vintage stuff like board games, and suitcases, and just a whole bunch of vintage stuff. I really loved looking around! After we went to Sister Howards to weed. Weeding isn’t too bad :( But we didn’t finish so we are going back on Thursday. She fed us Panera Bread though! Dang, I love that place, 10x better than Kneaders :) We went to go teach Richard but he wasn’t home! Dang! I missed the last lesson with him cause we were on exchanges but I am not too worried we will get to talk to him soon! After we came home and kinda fell asleep for like 15 minutes.. haha. It was an accident! But we really didn’t get a lunch so we figured it was okay :) After that we headed out to see some former investigators. Can I just say.. some people are so rude.  Haha when people answered they very rudely told us to not come back! I’m over it. After we had dinner at the Robinsons! Such a nice couple! Did you know being a seminary teacher is a calling here in Ohio? Well it is! And they are seminary teachers. Dinner was delicious and I found out Sister Horsley wants to be a seminary teacher! She would be a good one :) After dinner we ran to see Wesley. He is our neighbor. We met him the other night and he didn’t seem interested at all but we thought we would try to see him again. He answered the door and was totally expecting us! He has no religious background and he is very open to know if there is a God. He has many questions that is gospel can answer :) We only talked to him for few minutes but we are going back to see him! Such a blessing! He is really cool :) After Wes we planned some more of the murder mystery, planned, and went to bed, haha with the bed bugs snuggled in with me :)

Wednesday: We had district meeting this morning and that is always fun! Elder Hansen called us ahead of time and asked us to talk about a Christlike attribute. Specifically humility and patience. Which is so funny cause Sister Horsley and I were talking and decided we needed to study and work on those a few days ago! So it was totally inspired :) So we went to the district meeting, had lunch, and then had training. I will only have training for like 7 more weeks soo I am getting there :) I am ALMOST not a trainee anymore haha :) So we knew the bug guys were coming today to spray for bed bugs but we didn’t know what time. Super frustrating! So we just kinda sat around, waiting for them to come. We read scriptures and the Ensign and stuff they finally came at like 4. We were waiting like 2 hours though not knowing when or if they were ever coming! Haha but yay he sprayed for bed bugs! That was exciting. Hopefully they are gone now, fingers crossed. Well, since that took like forever we went out and saw a few people then went and had dinner with the Storms, Brother Lynsky’s older sister! We had crepes!! She has a crepe maker and we got to make our own crepe it was really fun. We had this chicken alfredo stuff on the inside of it.. oh boy was it delicious! Then we got to have a sweet crepe after! Mine had apples and cinnamon and stuff it was way good. After dinner we went straight to our lesson with Steve. We taught him the gospel of Jesus Christ. That man is the best non-member, member I have ever met! Haha he follows the word of wisdom, law of chastity, all the things that are usually a problem with people! And, he already knows basically everything we were teaching him except the Plan of Salvation which we are teaching him next time :) But he understood almost all of the gospel of Jesus Christ and he read 150 pages of the BOM! I was shocked! He said he wants to read it once all the way through then re-read it and ponder it the second time. Whatever works for him, I guess. He is awesome! After that Sister Horsley wanted a blessing so we went to the Flanders and got one. When she was getting hers I felt I really needed one so I got one as well. I did really need it. It encouraged me to keep going, and do what I am doing. It was a beautiful blessing. The priesthood is such a blessing in our lives. So yeah that was Wednesday! Hopefully there are no more bed bugs!

Thursday: Woke up bed bug free :) At least I hope.. haha there are a lot of other fun bugs in our apartment though so don’t worry.. I am never too alone :) We did our usual morning thing then headed out to try and see Beth. She is a potential who we have tried to see like 10 times. We are about ready to give up and of course when we went she wasn’t home! By that time it was like lunch time so I had some good old mac and cheese then headed over to the Howards to finish weeding their lawn! Weeding isn’t that bad! It is actually kinda relaxing cause you get all your frustration out on the weed :) Haha after Suey offered to take us to Graeter’s to get ice cream cause we have had a hard week and he likes to make missionaries weeks better. He is awesome. So in Ohio there are two ice cream places that EVERYONE is obsessed with Graeter’s and Jenny’s. Both have really good ice cream, but it is like a competition. If you like Graeter’s you can’t like Jenny’s and vice versa. People here in Ohio are so funny with their obessions. Anyway, Graeter’s was super delicious probably the best ice cream I have ever had! Mmmm. But we talked to Suey about Ryan and asked what we should do. He agreed we should drop him, but still be his friend and like hang out. Sister Horsley cringed at the hang out idea haha. In our companionship I am the very casual go with the flow one, and she is the very professional one. Haha she has a hard time being casual so she counts on me for that one :) We got pretty pumped just like ok ya lets just do it lets just go drop him. So we walked over to his house unannounced and uninvited. He came to the front door and Sister Horsley just like started laughing! She had no idea how to drop him haha she just looked at me and was like “you are really gonna make me do this? I hate you!” Haha :) Ryan and I thought it was funny eventually she spit it out and just told him we think it would be best if we didn’t teach him anymore. She then put her head down she was so embarrassed. Haha I could feel the awkward. So I just told him we still care about him and we still want to see him and such! He was way cool with it, considering he really didn’t wanna learn anymore anyway.. ha. After we dropped Ryan (sad) we went to dinner at the Ostler’s. Her husband is anti-Mormon so we knew this would be interesting. He used to be a strong member in the church but things happen in life and now he hates it. She takes it well though, she is very active still. We had tacos and legit their cat would not leave me alone. He hopped on my chair and his tail was in my food and I am allergic so that was fun.. And the Brother Ostler was talking to me about the beer he was drinking. Very interesting dinner but very fun! They are a cool family :) After dinner we went to teach Maun. He is Buddhist! He told us all about his beliefs and it is very interesting. He wants to learn more though about Jesus Christ and his life. So we got that one covered. Overall, we didn’t get to teach much in the lesson but.. it was good to get to know Maun a little better. We rode home after that and I got the cutest Halloween package from my mommy :) Thanks mom I love you!:) It was filled with all this Halloween candy and treats and stuff! I love me my candy :) It was a nice surprise. Glad to know my family hasn’t forgotten about me :) haha. So yeah.. that was Thursday. It was a fun day!

Friday: Such a crazy, crazy. Well it was temple day! Yay! We get to go every 6 months I feel really blessed to have gotten to go at the beginning of my mission! The Columbus temple is very beautiful, we live like 10 minutes away from it. The temple was amazing it was really peaceful, and I got some answers to my prayers there as well so that is always a plus :) I am so lucky to have a temple in my mission!! I love it! I know I only get to go once every 6 months but hey, that’s better than nothing :) After we went home, ate lunch and did the joyous weekly planning. It always takes forever. It was weird not planning for Ryan! I am still bummed we had to drop him.. but oh well. It happens. After planning we went to go see a less active family. They weren’t home! So we just went home did daily planning and went to bed. It was an exciting/boring day haha. 

Saturday: I was beat by the end of Saturday. We made plans to go help Sister Hellwig clean her house she is selling so we had to ride our bikes to her house. It is already a 30 minute ride, and pretty much up hill the whole so it is a hard ride and the wind was really bad. Saturday, it was like the wind by my house! Oh my goodness.. It was the hardest bike ride of my life. I thought my legs were going to fall off! We stopped to take a rest and I just collapsed in the grass my legs hurt so bad. But, we had to keep going. I felt like the pioneers haha just had to keep persevering! We got to Sister Hellwigs and after of riding for an hour.. and they offered to get us Chipotle! I was pretty excited :) I swear.. everyone in Ohio is so obsessed with Chipotle it is insane. We helped her clean for like 3 and a half hours. She had a lot to do but it looked nice by the time we were done! We were glad we could help her. But her house is haunted. Legit. She told us some freaky stories so Sister Horsley and I were freaking out a little when we were in the dark basement.. it was dark and the lights kept flickering off! Gah it was creepy but I lived no worries :) After that we rode to go see Richard and he was home!:) He wasn’t feeling well so we scheduled another time to visit with him. On our ride home Sister Horsley was like I really need to go to the bathroom at Target so we stopped there. We went to the bathroom then she was like “follow me.” I was really confused but whatever I follow where ever she goes she’s my trainer it’s what I do! Haha. She took us back to the grocery part and she was awkwardly looking at cookies and cupcakes it looked like she was trying to decide which one to get but I wasn’t sure. So I asked “What are you doing? What do you want?” and she was like “What do you want?” and I was like “What does that even mean?” Then she said “Surprise! You have been here in Ohio for a month!” I totally forgot! Haha it is so crazy I have been here for a month! Where has time gone? The days are long.. but the weeks are fast. So, we ate our cupcakes and celebrated!:) It was a good time. After we went home and had dinner. We both laid in our beds for a while though cause we were both so exhausted. Then Sister Flanders called us and asked us to do her a huge favor. She needed us to go get Mountain Dew for her cause she is cooking us dinner tomorrow and that is one of the ingredients! We told her of course we would :) There was no way we were riding our bikes.. so we called Sister Zimmerman and she was totally willing to drive us. So we went and got some “pop”. Haha people in Ohio call soda pop. It is so weird to me! When we go home we went out to see Brother Wright. He was home and we talked to him for a bit. He is less active and we want to get him coming to church again! He is way cool. After that we went home and did weekly planning, then went to bed. We were so tired. But it was a good day!

Sunday: The morning started off with church. Church is always a good time, especially on a mission. We had some good lessons. After church we went to the mission home to talk to President. I ate a lunch on the way over but when we got there Sister Daines set out all these treats to munch on and I couldn’t resist. I ate way too much but it was delicious :) We spent a few hours there then headed to our lesson with Wes. The Hammonds met us there and the lesson went so great! Wes is so awesome. We invited him to church Sunday and he said he would come! We also taught him how to pray and asked him to pray, and he totally did. I cannot tell you how incredible it is so hear some pray to their father in heaven when they haven’t really ever done it before. It was such a special moment. After our lesson with Wes we met some neighbors. None were really home but we met a few. None of them were interested in the gospel though. Maybe one day!:) We had dinner with the Flanders and it was so delicious! We had these apple dumplings which were to die for. So so good. I was still full from the mission home snacks when we went to dinner but I still stuffed my face with food at dinner so no worries :) We got home and went to visit the Hobbs who are less active, but of course no one answered so we just went home. It was a good Sunday. Our lesson with Wes was the highlight though.

It has been getting cold here in Ohio! I hear it is pretty warm in Utah. I am jealous. The winter here is supposed to be worst than last winter.. which was the worst winter they have had in 30 years! Yay.. haha. Love you all so so much! Have a good week!  

The Zone! How I love them.

They Hayden Run Missionaries. They are also our zone leaders!  We love our area and our ward :) 

We love temple day!

I have been in Ohio for a month! Cupcakes are the best way to celebrate :)

This is Ryan! We took this after we broke up with him haha. He doesn't seem to sad about it.

Sleep Tight, Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite.

Monday: Monday was the busiest p-day of my life. We went to the library first thing. I love getting to talk to my family! I miss them so much :( but it is ok :) Savannah keeps me updated on everything so I feel like I pretty much am there haha :) We had a lot of technical difficulties for some reason so that made writing time very long, then we went grocery shopping after. I got healthy things! I got spinach, and some turkey, and I resisted the candy haha :) We were going to go to Goodwill after and look for some Ohio State stuff for me to wear, just like hoodies and sweatpants but it was too far away and we have limited miles on our car so we just went home. At this point, it was like 2 and we hadn't had lunch yet. It was POURING rain. I am grateful we have a car this week.. haha. We ate lunch and took a nap it felt so nice. After that we cleaned our apartment. We had to cut our P-day an hour short cause we made an appointment with Richard to see him at 5. Brother D. met us there so he could teach with us. When we got there, Richard was cooking dinner and was too busy.. such a bummer. So we re-scheduled with him again for Wednesday. Unfortunately I won’t be there though.. cause it is EXCHANGES! I am going to Madison Lake with Sister Verhagen. Haha I even sleep in her apartment that night. Anyway, we visited a member after that and gave her a BOM that she could give to her friend. I love when members are missionaries themselves. It is so amazing. We met up with Brother Flanders and he took us to meet a bunch of people. Robin was first, she is the nicest woman ever! She was telling us how she loves Studio C on BYUTV, haha I didn't know anyone watched that but Mormons! We invited her to church. We went and saw Shauna next! She really likes learning about the church but is hardcore Catholic. When we were driving to her place the rain was so crazy. Well.. it was hardcore hail actually, and there was thunder and lightning everywhere! It was crazy! It was nice meeting Shauna. When I got home there was two packages waiting for me!!:) The first one I opened was from my mommy and she put all this Ohio State and BYU stuff in there for my comp and I. WE LOVED IT MOM!! Thank you!!:) Football season is a good time of year :) I have to represent both teams :) The second was from my other family the Brittains :) They put all of my favorite things in thereJ Chocolate milk, mac and cheese, Pringles, popcorn, m&ms, and like 10 packs of king size Reese’s sticks.. goodness they know my so well :) Haha I couldn’t resist the Reese’s sticks so I ate some :) haha I will eat healthy next week :) Thanks Morgy and Heidi I love you two!:) Those packages really made my night so awesome I am so grateful! So that was pretty much it for P-day.. It was crazy but always very fun :)

Tuesday: Lot’s of service this day. We woke up did our thing, then headed to Carmine’s to help her pack. Missionaries have been helping her every Tuesday for like a year, she really isn't interested in the church though.. so it is funny. She is like cat lady central. Goodness gracious. She has to many cats and I am so allergic. It wasn't a good mix haha. I was getting allergies so bad but I was ok :) We were just helping her pack stuff in her boxes. She pulled out this blue velvet dress from like the 70’s. She was so excited and was like “oh my goodness this could like fit you! It is a size 10 but it is a petite!” Haha it was the ugliest thing I have ever seen I just thanked her though and told her to keep it :) She is a sweetheart. And she is a hoarder so she has a bunch of cool random things. Sister Horsley got sick, so we had to stay inside for a bit so she could sleep, we got a call though telling us we got another car in our area!! YAY! So this means we get a car for 2 weeks, then one week without it. We were pretty much freaking out. It is so exciting! So we had to run to the mission office to get all of that situated and straight after that it was off to dinner at the Ballsteads. As soon as I walked into the house I smelled fresh rolls and I knew what we were having. Mashed potatoes. AHHH man, I have been missing those. They tasted so dang good I ate way too much but it was worth it! I didn’t know when the next time would be I would get mashed potatoes and gravy! Yummy. After dinner we had service for Sister Collins. She had us fold her laundry and her millions of socks.. I kid you not. I felt like the guy in Halloweentown. Haha Savannah would get that :) I legit couldn't find any pairs. I searched for a good hour and found maybe 5 pairs. There were just too many socks! After Sister Collins we went home. Sister Horsley still didn’t feel well and so we hurried and planned and got to bed. It was a good day though! Especially cause we got another car :)

Wednesday: Exchanges day. I was excited but also really nervous to go with a different missionary than Sister Horsley, but I knew it would be an awesome experience. :) So we had zone meeting where we just talked about a bunch of stuff. I really enjoyed it. Since President Daines is still new to the mission a lot of things are changing.. but I think it is good! On the way to the meeting the Sister Training Leaders tire blew up on the highway haha so they had to change it by themselves in their skirts. No one stopped to help! It is so sad haha but they eventually made it to the meeting. After the meeting I jumped in the car with Sister Verhagen but we had to get the tires changed so we went there, and got some Chick Fil A for lunch yay! :) Love that place! They took only like an hour so we were on our way to London after that. Yup, I went to London. Haha :) We got there and went straight to work. First we went to visit Kate. She is on date to be baptized on the 18^th! But she has a smoking problem. She told us after this last pack she has she would stop. Haha, yeah right. So we told her she didn’t need it and to give us the pack she has. She said, “Oh but it was like 6 bucks!” So, I got out my wallet and gave her 6 dollars and she handed over the pack. She really wants to change, and I know she can. She is awesome! After, we visited Anita. She is in the hospital and the sweetest lady ever. She said “I may not understand all you are teaching me but, I know God wants me to hear this and he sent you to me for a reason.” Oh my goodness! She is awesome. God is preparing her. :) After Anita we went to teach Richard. He is awesome. He believes in Joseph Smith and the BOM after like one lesson! We asked him if he would like to work to being baptized on the 25^th and he said yes!! But, he just did not quite understand that our baptism is different than others because we have the priesthood authority. He understood eventually!... I think… anyway. After Richard we went to help Suzanne shop for groceries. She just got out of the hospital so she needed the help. She is the coolest lady! She knows the church is true she is just stubborn and won’t stop smoking. Haha but she is so awesome. :) We went to Walmart and were her little slaves. She would tell us what to get and we would run and go get it. She bought Sister Verhagen and I a bag of Chips Ahoy. The kind with the Reese’s. Yum. We ate the whole bag in like 10 minutes.. no judgment. After we ate the whole bag we went to mutual for a minute to see Kaileigh. She is an investigator and was trying out Young Womens. She looked like she was loving it! We had to bolt out of there though to get to our dinner appointment. On the way Sister Verhagen and I were wondering why it was so dark outside we like couldn’t see a thing outside the car! Turns out her lights were off.. like the whole way there. Haha way to be. We got to the Stonehaven’s for dinner and they are the COOLEST family. The dad is not a member, but the rest of the family is and their son is on a mission! The dad is speaking with the Elders so they are really cool :) We showed them Elder Bednar’s talk and the dad really enjoyed it. It answered some questions he had. After dinner we were driving home jamming to some songs when I saw just two beady eyes in the middle of the street. I literally lost my words so I just screamed haha it scared Sister Verhagen so bad then she saw the eyes and screamed but no worries we dodged it whatever it was :) We got home nice and safe and went to bed :) It was a crazy busy day in London, Ohio! But I loved meeting all these new people. Exchanges are fun!

Thursday: Sister Verhagen and I got up and worked out, ate breakfast, did the usual thing. It was nice having a change of scenery. After study we headed home. When we got back to my apartment Sister Horsley and Sister Griffith were acting very strange, they said they had a little surprise for us. I got a little excited not gonna lie haha but then they dropped the bomb. We had bed bugs. Oh my goodness I have never felt so gross in my life haha. They were mostly found in Sister Horsley’s bed. None were found in mine, but still!!! AHHHH!! Thank goodness for Sister Griffith cause she knew exactly what to do. Ew ew ew! I couldn’t get over it. A senior couple came over and gave us this intense spray to spray our house with. So we did so and I still have the heeber-jeebers but it will all be ok :) I do have some sort of bug bite on my leg though that is huge and has a bruise around it.. but all is good here in Ohio :) haha. Sister Horsley got NO sleep the night before. She and Sister Griffith slept in the car cause they were freaked out by the bed bugs. I felt really bad. They are troopers though. But you could tell how tired they were. So pretty much we did some bed bug stuff for the afternoon then headed to Dublin cause we finally had our lesson with RYAN! We asked him if he knew the BOM was true and he said no. Bummer. But he is still working on it, so that is always good. Goodness. He is just so stubborn. God will give him an answer I know he will :) After we headed to our lesson with Steve. We talked to him Monday. He read the restoration pamphlet and had questions about “John Smith” haha it is so funny when people call Joseph John. Anyway our lesson went well and he is committed to read the BOM! Yay!! He has potential for sure :) After our lesson we had dinner and training.. not too exciting except that our house is bed bug infected. Don’t worry mom it is all taken care of :) ha.. I think. 

Friday: NEW MISSIONARY TRAINING! I was super excited for this today because I knew all my MTC buddies would be there :) Oh how I miss my MTC district! We were all so close! So I was way excited to see themJ We had to be to The Ohio State campus at nine, so we really didn’t study much today. We met in the institute building there. I saw a lot of my MTC Elders and we all had a reunion haha. We were pumped to see each other, I was most excited to see Sister Russ though :) Goodness I miss her! The meeting started and she walked in late but I was of course still freaking out haha. I pray we will be companions one day. We had opening exercises then we were split into two groups. First group went to talk with President. I was in that group. The trainers and trainees were separated so I got to be with my MTC district yay!!:) Sister Russ and I talked for like.. well.. the whole time haha we love each other lots :) But it was really casual anyway they were just asking us new missionaries what we like about mission life! After that we had to go on campus and pass out some cards and a Restoration pamphlet. We had an OSU missionary with us though :) They are so cool! I want to serve on campus one day.. anyway. I passed out the pamphlet and some cards!:) I was so proud of myself. I wasn’t that nervous either. After training I said goodbye to my MTC friends :( and headed home. For lunch I had good old top ramen. After lunch we rode our bikes up to see Susan. Boy, am I out of shape haha that bike ride was so killer, and of course she wasn’t home so we had to ride the 30 min back home. We had full intentions to go see Beth but we had revelation of something we needed to do for Ryan so we found lots of scriptures for him about Christ establishing his church on the earth, cause he didn’t know Jesus established a church haha. By the time we finished that it was dinner time! Brother Suey took us to Chipotle! He is so nice, and it was so delicious. After that we went to Ryan’s to take him a talk and the scriptures we wrote down for him. He wasn’t home.. but Sister Horlsey had to pee so bad haha she almost peed her pants! So we hurried and drove to Kohls. It was so funny we were running through the store to get there in time. After Sister Horsley was okay we went back to Ryan’s and he was home! We talked to him for a little bit then headed to Sister Kohn. She had brain surgery like a week ago. We just love her! She is the one who gave us the cheesecake :) She isn’t doing very well but she is a trooper :) We are gonna do something nice for her! Afterwards we just went home, did planning, and went to sleep.

Saturday: Ha.. Saturday was fun.. woke up to bed bugs in my bed. Yup, they were on the wall so we lifted my mattress up and found more. Yay.. We used to spray the mission office gave us and called Brother Flanders. He is like the manager of Greenex bug spray company. He told us the spray the office gave us doesn’t kill the bed bugs, it just kinda shocks them. GREAT! Haha but no worries he said he will get his guys to us by Monday. So, hopefully by Monday it won’t be an issue anymore. But it is messing with our whole week which stinks. After the bed bug problem we did planning, then went to the library to do our ward progress record. I also looked at a bunch of Mormon messages and downloaded them onto my flash drive. We wanted to visit some referrals we got but when we got to their houses there were a ton of cars and we couldn’t figure out what was going on. Then it hit us, and OSU game was going. You better believe we didn’t visit anyone. Haha we don’t bother people when a game is going or else they get way mad. So after that we went home and did weekly planning. In the middle of that we went to see Herman and Beth. Beth wasn’t home, either was Herman but Herman’s wife was! We talked to her for a bit and then Herman pulled up and we asked if he could come back and teach him. He said "Sure, why not?" haha so that is exciting. We went home, had dinner, I had shape mac and cheese :) Thanks Morgan and Heidi for that! Then we had daily planning and we went to bed. Overall a good day but the bed bugs are really messing with me.

Sunday: Ok I am going to be 100% honest this week has pretty much sucked haha. Well the end of the week has. Sister Horsley and I are running on very little sleep. It is hard knowing you are going to bed with bed bugs haha. It is really getting to our minds but that doesn’t stop us from the work!:) I have been missing home a lot though. Today was fast Sunday so sacrament meeting was good I love hearing all the testimonies of everyone. We went in with the Young Women today because we are planning a mutual activity for them in November! It will be so fun :) We are thinking a murder mystery dinner where they can invite their non-member friends. After church I was starving but we went straight to work. We rode our bikes to the Hintze’s to burn some CD’s of the Missionary Next Door. You all need to listen to that it is amazing. Then we rode our bikes to like a million different houses to visit some former and potential investigators, and no one answered. My legs were seriously killing me by the end, not to mention I was hungry so overall wasn’t a good mix haha. At 5 we came inside and had a snack. FOOD!! It tasted so good. After that we updated our area book and began to plan the mutual activity. I am serisouly so pumped for it. We had dinner at the Howard’s. They are the coolest family! We had a traditional Portuguese dinner. It was yummy! Just rice and beans haha, And Brother and Sister Howard told us their hilarious story of how they fell in love it was so great! After Brother Howard showed us this ghetto video he made while on his mission. It reminded me of Saturday’s Warrior haha. We had brownies and ice cream for dessert. I was in heaven. After dinner we went home and planned. Now, I am writing this sitting in my bed filled with bed bugs. We are having professionals come tomorrow though to take care of it so don’t worry. Also my nasty spider bite on my leg has gotten bigger and has a big bruise around it haha. I love the mission life. I really do though. It is so incredible! This is all just part of the experience.

Hope everyone had a great week! Life is great here in the OCM! I appreciate all the prayers! Love you all!  

I'm LOVING fall here!

Good Old Hilliard :) I love my area!

Go BYU! We love football season! (Sister Horsley looks happy) haha we've had a hard week

Yay! Sister Russ and Sister Slater reunion! I love her :)

Here Am I, Send Me.

My mom told me to be more real on my weekly emails. BUT I AM! Haha Life is good here! Love my comp, love my area, life is swell here in the Hayden Run area. So I guess I will just be over dramatic on my emails to make them more fun! Haha.

Monday: Who knew Mondays could be the best day of the week?:) On P-days we wake up and do our personal and comp study which I love! Personal study is like my favorite time of the day! I have been in denial lately. I feel really fat, I don’t know why every Sister missionary gains weight but we just do! Anyway, I feel fat and then I will eat some M&M’s or some Reese’s to make me feel better haha. That was story of my life today! Anyway we decided today we would clean.. yay. My favorite. But our apartment really really needed it. So we cleaned our bathrooms then went to the library to email. I have my own personal library card and it makes me feel so cool haha. Gosh I miss you all! Missions are not a walk in the park. It is hard!! I have been gone almost a month and it has been the fastest, and slowest month of my life! But it is all worth it. I wouldn’t change this month of my life for anything else. We went to Kroger after to get some groceries. I was trying to get healthy things. I really was but.. Halloween candy. I couldn’t resist. There was a whole bag of Reese’s for three dollars! You better believe that ended up in our shopping cart. Ha. I can’t resist!! After shopping we came back home with full intentions to clean but.. we took a nap. It was like an hour and a half too ohh so nice, I had this dream my mom forgot me at Temple Square and I was running around crazy haha. Thanks for forgetting me mom. After that we cleaned some more. We also made the most epic High School Musical video. Haha it is HSM Mormon version.. it is called YSA for Young Single Adults. Pretty much best thing ever. After our great video we had some din din and then we were off to have a lesson with the Kevin’s we met last week! First we went to meet with Kevin Hola. (haha we call him Kevin Hola cause he is Hispanic) and guess what? HE WASN’T HOME! I was so so bummed.:( I was so excited to teach him! But oh well we will try him again. We quickly texted Tristan to see if he was home and he said we could come over! Tristan is the best. So we went over to his house and we had no lesson planned at all. The spirit was in charge. We had him watch Because of Him, the Mormon message. When that video ended it was silent. Tristan was at a loss of words. He didn’t know what to say and all he said was "wow". The spirit was so strong. So our lesson went into the Atonement. We could tell it really touched Tristan as it really touched us as well. We had him say the closing prayer and it was the most thoughtful prayer ever. I was excited though cause in the prayer he said “thank you for sending these girls to me. I can tell that what they say is… that they have the Spirit with them.” COME ON TRISTAN JUST SAY IT IS TRUE! Haha I thought he was gonna say he can tell what we say is true but whatever. He is getting there!!! YAY! After, we went to have our lesson with Kevin Yo. Haha he is Kevin Yo cause he is black. We were pumped to teach him cause we saw him on the street on our way to Tristan’s and he said “Hey! Aren’t we meeting tonight?” And we got all excited and was like "Ya! At 7:30!" When we got to his house his mom answered and told us he wasn’t there. GAH I was upset. But she said she has talked to some missionaries before.. hmm.. maybe we will go back and teach her and Kevin Yo. I was sad he wasn’t there but.. We will go visit him again. It was overall a wonderful P-day!:)  

Tuesday: One word for this day.. GAHHH. Oh my gosh best day ever!! Okay we started the day off with specialized training. A lot of different zones were there and I saw a lot of my MTC buddies. Oh how I missed them. President Daines gets up and tells us we get to watch Meet the Mormons!!! AHHH!! Everyone was freaking out. It doesn’t even come here until the tenth! But President got special permission for us to watch it! And then they bring out bags and says “What’s a movie without popcorn?” I literally almost cried. Haha so I get my popcorn and whats in it? M&M’s!! WHAT? They know me so well. I was a very happy Sister. Can I just say.. you have to see Meet the Mormons. See it the day it comes out. It is one of the most incredible movies ever. Make sure you take a box of tissues too when you see it. Oh man it just made me so pumped about being a Mormon and ya.. I am obsessed. I was crying through out the whole thing. You must go see it!!! It is not an option. We are trying to get it to play in a theatre here in Ohio. Haha we are going to protest! Okay not really but we want it to play here. I feel like such a VIP for getting to watch a private screening of it haha. President is the best! We ate lunch, listened to some Christmas music, went to meet all these people we planned to see. We got on our bikes and Sister Horsley realized her tire needed some air. So we turned around and went home for that. Then we got back on our bikes and I was putting my bag behind me and somehow the CTR ring I wear on my thumb got caught in the zipper of my bag. In my head I was thinking no big deal I will pull the ring out of the zipper.. didn’t work. Ok.. well I will just pull my ring off.. wouldn’t come off. I started to laugh thinking this is so dumb haha so I asked Sister Horsley to help me. She was laughing way hard I mean my bag was literally connected to my thumb. We were both laughing until we realized it wasn’t coming off.. then my thumb started to turn purple. It wasn’t so funny anymore at this point. We didn’t know what to do! So we called the Elders in our zone. Haha obviously they didn’t know what to do either but it was worth a shot. At this point my thumb hurt so bad. We thought we were going to  have to go to the ER! But I took a good look at the zipper and realized how to get it out. We got my thumb out yay!:) haha. We called the Elders and they were laughing, but it was a scary moment for us! After that traumatic moment we went to see Elizabeth. I hadn’t met her yet but she is Atheist so I thought it would be interesting. And it was. Goodness gracious! My head hurt after that.. I realized how much faith plays a role in our lives. The things she was saying totally makes sense! But, I have the faith in the Lord to know what he says is true. She asked a lot of questions on the Atonement so we told her we would do some research and get back to her. We had dinner and then went to a Chapel Tour we had scheduled with Ryan.. He is the boy who asks so many questions. They are deep doctrine questions too. He is 21 and has a son who is 1. He is really depressed, and doesn’t really know what to do with his life. But we have been teaching him, and he accepted to take a tour of the chapel. We started and just showed him the class rooms, talked about the pictures on the walls, and so on and so forth. But when we went into the chapel.. the spirit was so strong. We talked about the sacrament and read the prayers. He was really touched by those. He would just look around the room and ponder at the things he saw. We thought we would give him some time to think about life, and focus on what he was feeling. So Sister Horsley played some Hymns while we all just sat and pondered. When she was done she asked how he was. He said “I ponder some deep things.” Haha so we asked what about, at this point I noticed he was crying. That boy does not cry! And he just said “That with all I have done in my past, I am not a good enough father to Aaron.” We sat in silence for a good minute and that’s when Brother Suey talked about the Atonement and how it is such a blessing, and that with that we can be cleaned of that guilt, and feelings of not being good enough. We can be molded into a new person, into the person Christ wants us to be. I cannot even explain to you the spirit that was in there. It was taking my breathe away. Ryan cried more and we asked how he was feeling. He told us he felt interesting and we asked interesting how. He told us how he has only felt this way 3 times in his life, and he has not felt this way for a long, long time. Sister Horsley and I got huge smiles on our faces. We told him it was the Spirit, and that with baptism we receive the gift of the holy ghost so we can feel that way more in our lives. We asked him that if he knew this was the true gospel would he be baptized into this church, and he said yes. We told him how he will know the truth through the Book of Mormon and how it will answer all his questions, and give him guidance in his life. We spoke of its truth. You guys, the Spirit was so strong. We know Ryan felt it. He is so amazing. He is ready for this in his life. He needs it. And he is on his way. We asked him to say the closing prayer and he thanked Heavenly Father for sending us into his life because we have stood by him, helping him, more than anyone else besides his parents. He asked to know the truth. He asked if this was Christ’s true church on this earth, I know he will receive an answer. This is what being a missionary is all about. Inviting others to come closer to Christ. I didn’t know I could feel this much joy. Ryan is my brother, and I am helping him return to Heavenly Father. I see such a great potential in him. I want the best for him. And I know as he continues to pray, and to really read the BOM his prayer will be answered. And he will know this is the true church of Jesus Christ, restored on this earth today.

Wednesday: Wednesday was.. eh. We had district meeting which is always fun! I am really starting to get to know my district. They are so awesome! I was super pumped cause I knew after district meeting we could get the car. AHHH for a whole week too! You see, we trade the car with 2 other companionships. So we get it every 2 weeks. Our car is a lovely Toyota Corolla. It is actually really really nice! Sister Horsley is the designated driver. So happy I got out of that one. Haha. She was driving so hesitant it was hilarious! She was literally going 10 under the speed limit. But then again she hasn’t driven in months soo.. I would be sketched out too. We drove to the library so we could print out some talks. After that we headed to Sister Zimmerman’s to get my packages my mom sent to her house. Thanks for the clothes mommyJ Oh and more importantly thanks for my wax pot, I was dying without that! Haha we got some lunch at Taco Bell (which is Sister Horsley’s fav restaurant) and went home. I had a mini fashion show to try on my new clothes and we were off the teach Brother Dickinson. He prefers Brother D though haha. He is a recent convert and is so awesome! We taught him about temples, and he has his temple recommend and we made him promise he would go do baptisms soon. We are very blessed to have a temple like ten minutes away from us. My area is in Columbus, so I am pretty much in the city. After Bro. D. we drove up to see Richard. AHH it is so nice do be able to drive! We can actually get places haha. Richard is an investigator who has so much potential. He is so amazing. He is also going blind, which is a big trial for him. I know this gospel will help him in his life. He is black and is just the sweetest man ever. He was sitting outside his house when we pulled up and I introduced myself. That’s when Steve walked over.. oh Steve. He is a former who the Sister’s had to drop cause he got into way anti-Mormon things. But he is still a really nice guy! After that we noticed we had a text from Ryan! YAY!! We read it and our heart sank.. he said he wanted to cancel our appointment on Thursday. WHYYY. And this is the low of missionary work.. haha how could I be so happy one day then feel so sucky the next. Welcome to missionary life I guess. We just prayed so hard for Ryan after that. We just prayed that he would not let Satan win. We asked him why and he said he got an answer when he read and prayed about the BOM but he needs some time to meditate about it. I totally get it, but I wish he wouldn’t cut us off from him. Lame. Anyway that is probably what made Wednesday an eh kinda day. After that we just did training.. so yeah it was eh. Hopefully tomorrow is better!

Thursday: A huge birthday shout out to my best friend in the whole world! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORGONNA! I love you and miss you so much! You are so old now. Haha anyway we decided we would make cookies for Ryan. We wanted to visit him but in a subtle way so he wouldn’t get annoyed. So, we did all our studies then made cookies! Chocolate chip cookies! They are my weakness.. I ate three. I promised myself after that I would start eating healthy. Since we have a car we can get everywhere so much faster it is fantastic. We had an appointment to teach Richard at 1 so we headed over there. Richard has a lot of health problems and when we got there he was about to eat which was necessary cause his blood sugar was low. We totally understand that so we scheduled for Tuesday with him. I can’t wait to teach him! Today was really blah. It was one of those days. We made plans to meet a bunch of people. Less actives, potential investigators. Tons! But no one answered their doors. It got really old after a little haha so we went to Ryan’s to give him his cookies and say hi and lo and behold Tristan was on the side of the street. Yay Tristan! We asked if we could teach him and he said yes so there was our excuse to be at Ryan’s haha since they are brothers. Ryan wasn’t home though so we told Tristan the cookies were for both of them. We taught Tristan the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He seemed to kind of get it.. but has a lot of doubts and questions. Which happens! Ryan eventually showed up haha it was kinda awkward with him cancelling on us and everything but he is cool still. When I saw him though.. something different was about him. He looked happier, like he had the light of Christ with him. I had never seen him like that. I didn’t know if it was just me so I didn’t say anything to Sister Horsley.. until she brought it up a little later and said he noticed it too! AH! I want this so bad for Ryan. And I know Heavenly Father is on our side too fighting hard to get Ryan on the path of Christ. Satan will not win this one. The lesson went a little long so when it was over it was about dinner time and guess what we had? CHICK FIL A. I was super exicted about it. Sister Horsley had never been before. It was of course so good but Sister Horsley felt a little sick after so we had to run to the store to get her something healthy to eat. Haha her body doesn’t like junk food. It’s too bad too cause that is all I eat. We both made a vow though to start eating healthier. After that we went to see Sister Collins. She is a less active, and has depression. But, she is the sweetest lady I have ever met. She saved this baby squirrel who fell out of a tree, and she has been taking care of it until it is old enough to go on its own. The squirrels name is Stella. She is really cute. I held her and everything! Sister Collins is awesome and we are going to do service for her soon. On the way home I was really pondering about Ryan. I knew a mission would be hard, but I didn’t think it would be hard in this way. I didn’t know it would be hard because of the people I met and taught. I want this for Ryan, more than anything. I can already see the changes the gospel is making in his life. I am nervous that Satan will get a hold of him, and he won’t see all this gospel as to offer him. It is hard. But, I know that if I have faith, Heavenly Father will deliver. I love being a missionary so much! I never want to be a normal person again! Haha.

Friday: HAPPY ONE MONTH TO ME!! Isn’t it so exciting? I only have 17 more to go! Haha. This has been the fastest, and longest month of my life. How does that work? I don’t know but I love it! Anyway, interviews with the President. How intimidating. Haha not really. President Daines is so awesome! We had those at one so we so we did our usual morning thing and ate lunch and we were off. We picked up some other Sister’s who don’t have a car this week and they literally live in the ghetto. I am praying I am not put in that area.. but watch I will be just because I said that haha. I am really trying to eat healthier cause I am gaining weight. I hate it! But Sister Daines walked in with a big basket of apples, and candy. Yeah…I went for the candy. I can’t help it! We did some training stuff while President was interviewing. Sister Daines interviewed me as well! I love her! She is the best! She was telling me how Sister Horsley and I are like the smallest companionship in the mission. Haha she said she swears President didn’t put us together by size. In my interview with President he pretty much just asked me how I was doing. I of course told him I was doing AMAZING! I love being a missionary. But it is harder than I thought it would be haha. I also told him how scared I am about winter coming. I really am nervous to be on a bike in the snow.. gah it’ll be cold. But it’ll be a good work out so that is always good haha. Interviews went for about 4 and a half hours.. so after that it was straight to dinner with the Palmers. We had this chicken and broccoli thing that I really enjoyed and then we practice taught on them. We were trying the new method, it is called the pamphlet method. We use the pamphlets and try to make our lesson and message really simple. It is wayyy hard. But with practice Sister Horsley and I are getting better. We went home and did weekly planning for like an hour because we had interviews today and didn’t have a chance to do it. Yeah… we hardly got anything done haha. Then it was off the bed! Who knew sitting around all day in the chapel could make you so tired? 

Saturday: Conference Saturday! Conference takes on a whole new meaning being a missionary! It is like Christmas! Unfortunately none of our investigators could watch it with us. But that is okay that won’t stop me from watching and enjoying. It was freezing this day. About 40 degrees and just hailing and raining all day. Yay… it’s getting cold.. bleh. Haha anyway we did our usual morning routine and headed to Nicole’s to go meet her. Nicole is a referral we got so we were really excited. She didn’t answer. So lame. So we just decided to head to the Flander’s to watch conference. It is weird because here it starts at 12-2, and then 4-6. It is so late! Haha. When I walked into the Flander’s home, I was looking at the little pictures they had on their bulletin board and lo and behold there was a thank you card from Aly Johnson and Jace for their wedding! I freaked out a little and was like “Oh my goodness! How do you know Aly and Jace?" He was then like "oh my goodness you’re the girl Aly told me to look out for cause she is coming to this mission!" And I was like "oh my goodness Aly told me to look for you!" Haha it was cool so he took a pic of me and Sister Horsley and sent it to her. We then watched the first session. It was so good! I loved Elder Christofferson’s talk. He talked on a subject that can be very hard to direct, and he did it so awesome. I also loved Uchtdorf’s, of course. It was funny cause his talk is exactly what our investigator Ryan needed to hear! We wish he were there. The Flander’s have a 2 year old, a 4 year old, and a new born. So you can imagine how hectic it was haha. But their boys are well behaved and so cute so I loved just being around them. Between sessions we went and visited a referral Bro. Flanders gave us. She of course didn’t answer, so we just headed to the lesson we had planned with Bro. D. The recent convert. We talked to him on missionary work. That topic meant a lot to him. He is so grateful for the missionaries and the gospel they have brought into his life. And he want’s to do all he can to do missionary work too. He is awesome. We went to the Hammond’s for the second session. They are empty nesters so we knew their house would be a bit quieter. They are so sweet! We walk in and they made us hot chocolate, and we watched conference. I felt really at home just relaxing on the couch. It was really nice and second session was the bomb. Isn’t interesting how much they were focusing on parenting, and how they should be the prime teachers for their children? I thought it was really cool. I really enjoyed Elder Klebingat’s talk. I loved just how to the point it was. There was no sugar coating, it was just bold. I loved it. But the talk that really touched me was Elder Holland’s. Ohhh my goodness how amazing was that talk? It made me realize we can all turn outward and be more like Christ, and do all we can to help others. It was an amazing, amazing talk. My favorite part is when he said “Because I have been given much I too must give”. That right there is the reason I am here in Ohio, serving the Lord. Everyone deserves these blessings. After second session Hammond’s let us have dinner with them. They made chicken strips, and tator tots. I was down, haha those are my favorite things! After dinner we headed home and finished weekly planning cause we didn’t get to Friday. It was a good time! I love planning for our investigators.

Sunday: Ohhh boy. How did everyone enjoy conference? I know I sure did. We went to the Hammonds in the morning and we had breakfast burrito’s and they were so good. Then conference time. Conference is seriously like Christmas to a missionary. It was just too amazing. I loved the focus. Prophets, and revelation. That is two key things we teach to investigators and it was so nice hearing more about it from men and and woman called of God. AHH it was spectacular. I wish some of our investigators were there to watch because lots of those talks answered questions they have but that is okay! We will print out the talks for them. Between sessions we went to visit some less actives. On the street we met this guy named Bill. Sweetest guy. He took our card and told us he has heard of the BOM before. We asked if we gave him one if he would read it.. he told us not now but maybe later in life. Haha he better hold true to that. We went and visited two less active families. They both were really busy and couldn’t really talk but both families were very sweet. One of the families has the sickest tree house, I just wanted to go play in it, but that would’ve been creepy haha. We got back just in time for the next session. Okay okay Oak’s talk though? Incredible. Everything he talked on is so simple. The fundamentals are things we strive to do. But after hearing that talk it makes me really want to work harder on those things. Especially when I get home from the mish! And what about Bednar’s talk? How many of you want to do more missionary work with in your wards now? I cannot even stress to you how much that talk meant to us as missionaries because ward members make the biggest impact on people. They truly do! Without ward members a lot of people would not get baptized. So be missionaries! Invite people to church! Like Elder Bednar said, share with people the thing in our life that gives us so much peace and comfort, it will bless their life, and yours. I am so grateful for President Monson. I love how many stories we heard of him, that so many general authorities told. He is such an incredible man, he has so many Christ like qualities. We are so blessed to have a living prophet. The Hammonds made us chili for dinner it was delicious! After that it was time to work. We went to visit a few people and none were home.. I hate that! So we went to our apartment and decided to visit people locally. First, we went to see Steve. We met him my first day here in Ohio, he later then called us to tell us this cool experience he had! I can’t believe he even kept our number we gave him.. anyway I had a strong feeling we should go see him. He was standing outside his house and was super pumped to see us. We got talking a little bit and eventually he goes “So.. can you guys like go to Burger King?” We were like um.. ya sure haha. We had no idea what he was getting at. And he was like “Well I want to talk with you guys some more about your church is that allowed?” We laughed and were like “That is exactly what we do!” So he told us to pick a time and a place we felt comfortable with to talk with with. Miracles. They do happen. It was incredible usually we have to ask people to meet with them but Steve asked to meet with us. He is so sweet! We gave him the Restoration pamphlet to read, and he was really excited. I am way pumped to teach him! Sister Storm texted us and told us she was bringing this wood thing for our house haha we were like ok cool. When I met her something popped into my head.. Storm.. where have I heard that.. OH! Brother Lynsky in my ward told me his older sister lived in Ohio. IT WAS HER!! She was so excited and was like “oh my goodness you know my baby brother! And gave me a huge hug. I got a lot of hook ups here in Ohio. After we visited John, who is our neighbor and is so sweet. He was like “wait.. so Mormons can wear make up and stuff?” haha I told him how we are normal people. He thought we like lived like the Amish. After him we saw the Price’s, they are a brother and sister who live in our apartment complex. They’re less active, but way awesome. We chilled with them for a bit. Overall, it was an incredible Sunday. It is getting really cold here though haha but I am getting ready for it.

I love love love being a missionary! This is one of the best experiences of my life and I am only a month in! It is hard.. but there is so much joy I can’t even describe it!

Love- Sister Slater

Happy one month to me!

We heart dancing in the rain.

Nose wax swag. We love it.