Scarlet and Gray... All Day Every Day.

Um… So yeah.. crazy, crazy week. Haha I truly do not even have words. Got the call Wednesday I was being transferred :( I spent the whole P-day packing and what not and oh boy do I have a lot of stuff... haha super embarrassing :) Anyway Sister Thomas and I were super sad! I didn’t want to leave her, and Wes, and everyone else in Hayden Run! But I know that I am needed somewhere else here in Ohio. We get to transfers and I am just sitting there chillin. Sister Thomas got her new companion Sister King (she is so cute) they will be great together :) So.. I am just chillin and I wasn’t called for a while. Then they called “Being doubled into OSU 1... Sister Slater.” OKAY WHAT?! I AM GOING TO CAMPUS?! So something that makes my mission super cool is that we have missionaries on campus. They ride the bus, live on campus, and just go and talk to students all day! It is like every missionaries dream to go to campus. I was dying! Sister Love is my new companion… she was dying too. We both thought we would never go to campus. AHH!! After the meeting I walked up to President and was just like “what about the country you talked about?” He laughed and told me he doesn’t always get what he wants haha. Every missionary on OSU got doubled in... so pretty much every one has no idea what to do haha. There are 12 missionaries on campus. They told us all to meet at the van, they loaded our stuff in, and all us new campus missionaries drove to our new apartments. Oh! And the assistants to the President got doubled into campus... so they drove us to our apartment. It was so funny! We pulled up to our apartment, everyone got out grabbed some sort of luggage and we all just walked up to our apartment haha the Elders were nice and carried the heavy bags. We were given an Elders apartment... ew. Haha only Elders have ever lived here. We have found some crazy crazy things... anyway. This area was closed a transfer so the assistants gave us a phone with no numbers, a map of the bus route (had no idea how to read it), and they left! We had no idea where we even were haha. Sister Love and I were so lost…

Man, that first day was a crazy day. It took us a bit to find the bus but no worries we got it figured out :) I AM ON CAMPUS!! It is just so fun! I am meeting so many cool people :) We cleaned out apartment with lots of bleach haha. It is still pretty gross but it is getting there! Since we are re-opening this area we do not have any investigators but it is okay! We can just go out and walk around campus and meet some potentials! Man, I love it. Saturday was the national championship celebration at the Horse Shoe (the stadium). We thought it would be a great finding opportunity so we went! Totally not what we thought it would be… haha. We went inside to try and talk to people but the program to celebrate started and it got super crazy so we left... BUT IT WAS SO COOL! I saw the trophy :) Man, I love being champions :) GO BUCKS!

It is just so crazy talking to people my age... I can relate to them! There was this girl we met on the bus who LOVED make up! We talked for a while about it :) People this age are just so open, and so nice. Haha oh so this week is rush week for the sororities and all the girls have been dressed up all nice all weekend. We were walking into the Union and someone asked us if we got in... haha he totally thought we were rushing. Def not. I just feel like a freshman or something... it is so cool :) I am also broke.. haha we don’t really get fed on campus at all so this is an adventure! We also have no food in the apartment but luckily Panera Bread donates their left over pastries to the institute so there is always yummy pastries, and bread, and bagels. We have had a lot of carbs... got to love the college/missionary life :)

So on campus we are in charge of 2 singles wards.. therefore we go to 6 hours of church.. 6 HOURS! It was crazy. I was a little churched out not gonna lie :) But all the members are so awesome and so solid. I really really like them! During church my purse got stolen...:( It was in the coat rack in the institute... in it I had all my cash, my missionary credit card, and gift cards. Crazy my whole wallet wasn’t in it! I had a feeling I shouldn’t have packed it... but the Lord blessed us cause later that night I got a call from the police saying they found my purse! The policeman was a member and he found a pass along card with our number in my purse all the money was gone though :( NOO!! Those gift cards were our dinner the next few nights... oh well.

Elder Christofferson spoke to us Sunday night. It was incredible! He talked with us on how the Savior will always forgive us… He is always there waiting for us to use His atonement. It doesn’t matter how much we have sinned. That is why He suffered for us! He knew we would not be perfect, and we would mess up. Jesus Christ loves us so much that he died for us. He truly is our Savior.  How lucky is it that we have a living prophet and apostles on the earth today? As soon as Elder Christofferson walked into the room I felt the spirit so strong. It was incredible.

This week has been a crazy week of confusion, and just having no idea what is going on... but that is what happens when you are doubled in :) Sister Love and I are just figuring it out together though :) I just love her! She came out with Sister Horsley! She is amazing! We get along really well :) Can’t wait to tell you all more about my campus adventures next week! Love you!:)

All of my stuff. Notice how my foot is not touching the floor... haha :)

The relationship of Sister Thomas and Sister Slater... haha goodbye. We were way sad though.

SISTER LOVE!!! I LOVE HER! Get it? ;) 

Buckeye Grove! They currently don't have any Buckeyes. But no worries I will get some soon :)

THE HORSE SHOE!

We just had to take a quick selfie... haha no one wanted to talk to us

NATIONAL CHAMPS! Seriously though, so cool :)

WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS... of the world!!!

So.. remember when it was -25 degrees here? Yeah... now it is 40. It is like raining! What the heck? Oh Ohio... always keeping us on our toesJ Speaking of Ohio... GOOOO BUCKEYES! National champions! The state was literally shut down. I kid you not. People here are crazy! Wes sent us updates all night since the game was on past our bed time. We woke up to the news that OSU Buckeyes were NATIONAL CHAMPS! AH! Sister Thomas and I were so so happy! Scarlet and Gray all day, everyday.

This week hasn’t been too crazy. We have a new investigator named Eleina! SWEETEST WOMAN!:) She is an immigrant from Russia. It was interesting because we went to go see her (she was in our area book under the potential investigator list) and she did not act interested at all at first. We started to talk about her family then BAM! She set up an appointment for us to come back! The spirit is the BEST! So we went back this week to see her, and taught her the Restoration. She is a talker... so we didn’t get to talk much haha but she is wants us to come back! Her sweet mom is 92 and listened to the lesson as well! She was telling Sister Thomas and I how beautiful we were, totally made our day.

We walked quite a bit this week... no car problems haha. But we had dinner with this woman in our ward named Sister Neff. She is Cambodian and made us homemade stir-fry and won tons. THEY WERE AMAZING! Oh my goodness! She just kept feeding us haha we were so full but seriously some of the best food ever. She is so sweet she is just this little lady! She calls us her angels. Love her! We had interviews with President Daines this week. They went really well! He gave me awesome tips on how to plan better, and asked me if I was ready for the country... haha not sure what that means but I will go where the Lord wants me to go! What is funny about this mission is that there is hardcore country areas... and total city areas. Country is where the Amish are though! There a quite a bit of Amish Mormons here!:) It is so cool!:) They make really good food too. So I guess I would be down for the country haha :)

Something I have come to learn on my mission is there is a lot I testify to others about that I actually need to strengthen my testimony in! We taught a recent convert about tithing this week. As I was teaching her I realized how important tithing truly is... and how when we pay tithing we are literally helping build the Lord’s kingdom on the earth today so he can come again! Woah! All the commandments God gives us are so important! They truly are there to bless us!

Since P-day this week is on Wednesday, Monday was your average working day. We did get pedicures during our lunch break though! Happy Martin Luther King Day to us! It was much needed... it felt so good. We went with Jenna and her husband Wendall. He got the pedicure not her haha :) But really though, so relaxing! Probably the only time I will get a pedicure on my mission but hey I have cute glittery pink toe nails now so I am happy :) We also taught Eleina so that made the day so great! We finished teaching her the Restoration and she just loves Joseph Smith’s story. She committed to read the BOM and to come to church! AH! She is totally getting baptized haha :) We are praying we don’t get transferred! A member in our ward this week made us Café Rio salads for dinner! We put him up to the challenge and he has never even had Café Rio before! It was SO GOOD! It tasted like home J It was so nice. Thanks Suey!:) haha! Oh and a Wes update: He is doing so great! He has a calling in the ward and his testimony is so solid! He taught us a lesson this week and he said Mormons were fun suckers! He wasn’t being serious though... I think haha!

I just feel so blessed to be here in Ohio serving the Lord. I am so excited for my sister and that she will get to experience the same joy I feel everyday! It is truly a blessing that we at such a young age have the opportunity! I wouldn’t change it for the world. Ohio has my heart :) AND TIME IS FLYING! This transfer was so so so fast! I guess you will see next week if I am still in Hayden Run or not… Love you all!:) 

Sunsets in Ohio >>>>>

Chick-Fil-A + National Championships? Tuesday was a good day :) GO BUCKS!

Sisters before Misters day feat. Wendall :) We were all happy with our feet! 

Don't worry, he got a pedicure too :)

Let's be honest... the flip flops are the best part of pedicures :) Love Sister Thomas so much! :) And thank you Grandma Cookie for the pedicures! Best Christmas present ever :)

The Cold Really Bothers Me Anyway.

Don’t worry about me, I am just in an arctic tundra called Columbus, Ohio... haha. Funny thing is when I opened my call the first thing I did was look up “winters in Columbus, Ohio.” Boy... I had no idea what I was getting myself into haha. I just wish I could be Elsa, then the cold wouldn’t bother me... but I am easily Anna... and it really bothers me. School has been cancelled twice this week one day because there was too much snow... and another day because the wind chill was -25 degrees, and apparently in weather like that if you are outside for more than 10 min. you will get frost bite. Was missionary work cancelled? No :) haha I really didn’t think it was THAT cold here though... but anyway so it has just been a icy weel :)

This week seriously consisted of a lot of trying to see people and them saying “oh girls, I can’t believe you are out! It is so cold... come back another time.” Haha are you kidding?! If it is so cold let us in! Whatever :) Sister Thomas’s shoes fell apart the day it snowed a ton... so she wore mine which were too small and didn’t block out the snow well... poor thing. Her feet were frozen! But on the bright side we went to this little pizza shack and got a chicken alfredo pizza which was delicious! At this pizza place you can pick any crust you want FOR FREE! I got a garlic crust and it was just prime :) Our stomachs were very happy after a long day of walking in the snow :)

Good news though! The day it was in the negatives we got the car :) Yay! We got a new investigator that day too so that is exciting! We haven’t been able to meet many new people lately so this was great :) Her name is Eleina. She has talked to Sisters before and it was funny cause we walked in and she said she was “too busy” to talk with us Sisters but we chatted for a bit and we started talking about her family eventually Sister Thomas was like, “so when can we come back and talk to you more about how God blesses families?” She then was like “Oh! Tuesday would be perfect!” Man, I love when Heavenly Father softens people’s hearts :) He’s got our back :) For dinner we ate with the Jolley’s... they have a chair like Carl in UP! I don’t know if I mentioned this but I don’t even care it is so cool :) It is one of those chairs you ride on to go up and down stairs :) Seriously the coolest thing ever I just love it! The Jolley’s are so cool!    

We did a lot of service this week! I shoveled my first drive way... yup mom you should be proud :) Haha Sister Thomas and I shoveled it fast too! It was her first time too :) We killed it. We also built a dresser with Sister Zimmerman. I am becoming so handy. Missions sure teach you a lot haha :) The day we built the dresser was the day it was 3 degrees outside but it felt like -25 because of wind chill. Brrr. I didn’t know cold until I came here. Haha I know I keep talking about the weather but that is like the most eventful/crazy thing to happen this week! It is just nuts!

Everyone here is freaking out about the Buckeye game Monday. I am too! They are gonna “pluck the ducks” as everyone here is saying haha :) Oh! One of the days this week we had to go get the oil changed on our car Nephi, they told us it would take almost 2 hours to finish. Sister Thomas and I wanted fries... we weren’t even hungry though we just wanted fries haha and there was a Red Robin next door so even though it was just 2 and a half hours before dinner Sister Thomas and I went to Red Robin and got fries and a burger...  Haha this is mine and Sister Thomas’s relationship... we just eat all the time. Food is our life. But we made a goal to only eat when we are hungry :) Haha did we regret the Red Robin? Never. Not even when we got to dinner that night completely full :) So worth it! FOOD IS ALWAYS WORTH IT!

I hope you all had an exciting week and kept warm :) I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK! I wish you could all be here serving with me because the people here in Ohio are the coolest, and nothing is better than giving your heart and soul to the Lord :) Don’t forget to root for the Buckeyes, and please watch the game in my honor :) LOVE YOU ALL!  

Our companionship in a nutshell... I just love her :)

I experienced Cane's this week. Ohio knows their junk food. Haha it is a restaurant dedicated to CHICKEN STRIPS! AH! My favorite :) We got the caninator. Don't worry, we shared it :) I was happy to get to experience this though! AH!

Do you see this ice tree? Holy smokes! It was really cold...

The chair like in Up :) I was super excited!

The dresser we built! We are very proud of ourselves :) (Ok, so Sister Zimmerman did most of it... haha we did help though!)

New Year, New Me.

This week was swell :) I am not going to lie... at the beginning of my mission it was going so slow... I thought I had eternity left and I just wanted to be home, but time now is going TOO FAST! It needs to slow down! I want to be a missionary forever!:) Truly, I do. It is the most incredible thing :)

Shout out to Jenna Johnson for being the coolest person ever. (She told me she is going to read my blog) :) We had a The Testaments movie party with her Monday night it was a PARTY! We had sooo many treats... it was ridiculous. She has gotten me addicted to Birthday Oreos as well... but we came to find out on Monday that Birthday Oreos+Peanut Butter= Heaven! Mm mmmm mmmm :) We love Jenna :) She is a recent convert, she was baptized in September and she is SOLID! Literally the coolest person ever :) We are so lucky to have her and Wes in the ward!

Well Tuesday was a lot of fun... haha everything went wrong on Tuesday! Well first our investigator Meredith called and broke up with us!:( We were so sad… the first thing Sister Thomas did when I hung up was pull out a candy bar. Chocolate makes the soul feel better. It will all be okay though. We just planted a seed, she may not be ready now but she will be one day! She is a sweetheart though. I really like Meredith! We had plans to do service for Sister Collins at 1, as soon as we got there she texted us and asked if we could come at 2:30. Wasn’t a big deal, we packed our dress clothes so we could change and do other things... psych. I left mine at the apartment! And we were like 20 minutes away! Haha I really needed my clothes so we didn’t have any other option than to drive home and get them. My bad :) We ate chocolate the whole way home as well… it is comforting when everything is going wrong. So we went home got dressed then by the time we got back up to Dublin where Sister Collins lives it was time to go to her house haha so we went to her house got dressed back into our service clothes, and helped clean her basement out. It was a lot of fun actually! She had a bunch of stuff down there from like the 90’s :) Mine and Sister Thomas’s time :) The rest of the day ended up normal though, no worries!

We walked a lot this week so it was very tiring and Sister Thomas and I got so sore we could barely walk haha but missionary work is awesome :) And the Lord always blesses us especially when he knows we put our heart and soul into the work. That is truly what I am trying to do, give my all to the Lord. I only have this time in my life totally dedicated to the Lord, I have to take advantage of it :)

AHH! I hope you all had a great New Years!:) On New Years Eve Sister Thomas and I took some really cute pictures :) They look professional, we were shocked haha. Hey what is New Years Eve without red lip stick?:) I just love the fact that the year of 2015 I will be serving the Lord the WHOLE YEAR! 2015 will always hold a special place in my heart :) I have made many goals for this year, and I hope all of you have made goals as well! I want to become a better me this year. Honestly, I think of myself before the mission and I don’t really like who I was... The Lord is truly molding me into a better person. I care more for others, and want to help. I have never felt so close to the Savior, and I am grateful that this whole year I get to be his servant and grow closer to himJ

Oh, and on New Years Day the Buckeye’s won the Sugar Bowl game against Alabama :) They will be playing the champion game on the 12^th, and they will be national champions.. just sayin’ :) GO BUCKS.

On Saturday it was POURING. I honestly cannot complain about rain in January but Sister Thomas and I were out walking around and we got soaked.. we took Wes out for a lesson and we walked there, and of course she wasn’t home we felt so bad! But Wes was fine, his clothes were just drenched. It rained all day. Sister Thomas and I put our clothes in the drier and decided we needed to go to the library because we were miserable, and smelled like wet dogs. So we went and did family history and guess what? I found 3 names! Ah the spirit of Elijah is so real, I love family history :) I found 3 woman in my family who weren’t even in the system, I connected them to their parents and now I get to do their ordinances :) Sweet Jenna is going to baptize them next week! Ah! It is just so amazing that we can help our family! Our mission is really focusing on family history. Thank you Grandma Sue and Grandma Cookie for doing so much of our family history :)

Wes taught us the best lesson this week on baptism and confirmation :) We already decided he will be a bishop one day, no joke. He is so amazing! The ward council committee was saying if you ever want a spiritual experience talk to Wes. He is just glowing all the time with the spirit, and when he opens his mouth it is truly filled. I do not know how I was so blessed to meet him and to help bring him closer to Christ but I am just so grateful. Missionary work is legit the best.

I hope all is well back home! I miss and love you all! I hope you had a great New Years… and remember it is never too late to change. The Lord is always waiting for you to use His atonement and grow closer to Him, he is always there for you :) That is one thing I have truly come to realize. Have a good week!

GAS HERE IS SO CHEAP! It actually is at $1.72 now. What is life?

Aw New Years photo shoot :)

Haha our Martinelli's picture. We are supposed to have a serious face... Sister Thomas obviously forgot. 

This is a legit laugh. Sister Thomas put her hand on my back and I was like "What are you doing?" haha it made a cute picture though :)

New Year's crown rock.

... and the little whistle things.

Hope you all had an amazing New Year's! Sister Thomas and I sure did :) And don't worry We went to bed on time :)

It never says in the white handbook that missionaries can't have Martinelli's...

Sister Slater feat. Santa. She was cold.