Chocolate is a Sin.

You guys… riding bikes in skirts is the biggest struggle of my life. It has never really been that big of an issue until this week. Ha I was just riding my bike Tuesday having a grand old time then all of the sudden my bike stopped. It just stopped! What the heck? I yelled to Sister Horsley and I jumped off my bike and the moment I did I knew what was up. My skirt was all wedged and stuck in my wheel. Haha I have heard horror stories of this happening to Sisters. Sister Horsley thought we would for sure have to cut my skirt. But luckily, it came out. No holes in the skirt either! I was pretty lucky:) Until it happened again… and again. Are you kidding me?! This all happened in like a 30 minute period as well. But still, no holes in the skirt. Just some grease but it is still wearable!:) But still, it wasn’t fun. That would happen to me haha. So that was the adventure for the beginning of the week.

Oh my goodness! We taught Wes the plan of salvation and it was the best lesson yet. He loved it! He said it brought him so much peace... and it was funny cause we showed him some bible verses about the plan and he was like “There it is! Right there! Out of the same bible all other religions read.” He is finally starting to get it:) That this church is the same church Christ established when he was on the earth. This is the true church! We can see him believing in Heavenly Father, and gaining a relationship with Him. Wes is just so amazing!:) He also has been reading a lot of the BOM! He is doing all the needs to do to find out if this church is true. We call it CPR: Church, Prayer, and Reading.

There is a woman in our ward who has had seizures her whole life. Well, she just had a brain surgery so we went to see her. She is so amazing! She has the best attitude in the world. It makes me feel sheepish when I complain about things because she is going through so much and hardly complains. She says some people have it worse. I am like wow you are incredible. She is also the coolest:) We love hanging out with her! She is just so happy, I mean some of that is probably the drugs she is on... haha but hey! She is still fun to be around:) It was funny because we had a Zone Meeting Wednesday morning and we were supposed to get our commissary. So that is when we order stuff like Book of Mormons and pass along cards and stuff. The zone leaders had it all packed in their car ready to give to us and they went out to their car in the morning to drive to Zone Meeting and their car was gone. Haha. Turns out it got towed! Therefore, we didn’t get the stuff we ordered. I just think it is so funny their car got towed. Hey! Even things like that happen to missionaries! Oh hey did you no Mormons can’t have chocolate? Haha I mean obviously I didn’t know we couldn’t cause I eat chocolate all day every day. Haha we have had like 5 people this week ask us about chocolate, and not offering us any because we can’t have it because of the caffeine. I just think it is the funniest thing ever! Seriously? Ha I guess I have sinned a lot eating chocolate… it is just so funny what people believe about Mormons:)

We made dinner this week for Sister Midgley and we used my mom’s good old rice and chicken casserole recipe. Yum! It actually ended up really yummy I was pleased with it:) Obviously Sister Horsley and I are professional cooks. Haha not really. But it did taste good and that is all that counts:) She really appreciated it too. I love doing service for people. Even if it is just a simple dinner, it just makes you so happy:)

Sister Horsley’s birthday was Friday. I think birthdays are a big deal so I tried to make it as birthday-ee as possible. Haha. When you are on a mission your birthday is just like any other day. But we tried to make it fun and special:) We opened some of the letters and presents she got in the morning which was fun!:) We also made some funny videos, and played card games during lunch. Haha sounds like a good birthday to me:) Oh, and I took her to dinner at Carabbas. You hardly ever get to go to a nice restaurant on the mission so it felt really special:) Later we went to Steak n’ Shake and met Ryan and Tristan there. It was funny though cause we sit down and the table behind us starts going “oh my goodness. Have you ever heard of Mormons? They are so crazy.” These people were talking way loud and saying all these things! I was feeling so awkward... I didn’t know what to do in that situation. So we turn around and they are members haha. We met them like a month ago. They are super nice and they bought Sister Horsley a milk shake!:) Anyway we had milk shakes with Ryan and Tristan and it totally looked like a date. Sister Horsley was freaking out, but I thought it was hilarious. After Ryan told us his story about how he became a Christian. Overall, I feel like Sister Horsley had a great birthday:) It is fun because I benefit too! haha.

It is Stake Conference week here in Ohio! Yay! Saturday night we had an adult session which all the missionaries were allowed to go to. Boy, am I grateful I was allowed to go because it was AMAZING! And Wes was there so that made it great as well:) Sister Johnson spoke, she just joined the church 40 days ago. Her talk was just so incredible. She talked about never giving up, which is always a good reminder, especially on a mission, because at times I really do want to give up and just go home. But the Lord wants me here hastening his work, and I will “go where he wants me to go, say what he wants me to say, be what he wants me to be.” I love this gospel! President and Sister Daines spoke as well on members working with the missionaries. Do you guys even realize how important members are in conversion? Seriously. I never realized that until I came on my mission. You have no idea how valued members are. It is amazing!:) Elder Seldon of the 70 spoke with us as well. Oh boy did the spirit testify of truth when he spoke. He spoke of Joseph, and my mind went back to Heritage Tours, and my testimony of Joseph Smith grew even more. He said a quote by Elder Eyring that said “I am becoming to know the Savior.” While we are here on earth that is what we are doing, becoming to know the Savior, becoming who He wants us to be, becoming instruments in His hands. How incredible is this gospel? It is true. There is no way it isn’t true. As Elder Holland has said and I do not know the exact quote but it is something like, “I did not give my life for a fairy tale.” It all relates to us, the church is a lifelong commitment of callings, and serving, and everything else! We did not give our lives for a fairy tale. This is real. We will return to our Father in Heaven one day, and we will get to live with him forever. We will get to hug our brother Jesus and thank him for his everlasting atonement. We will get to live with our families forever. We gave our lives for the truth.

I love this gospel so much. I am so blessed to be a missionary. It is the hardest thing I have ever done, and I still have 16 more months which feels like forever haha but, this is the only time in my life where I am 100% dedicated to the Lord. This is truly His work, and I am so happy to be a part of it. I hope everyone has a good week this week:) Love you all!

First time...

Round 2.

THIS IS WES! He is so amazing! We are still counting on the 6th for him but we will see :) He comes to church every week though and we meet with him like four times a week! We love him!! :)

He has a sick Mustang.

Happy Birthday Sister Horsley! :)