Nightmares.

Well, this week has been so crazy and exhausting! I will let ya know why! First off, my greatest nightmare came true! Sister Meyers and I make really stupid videos haha for example our Thumbelina one. We find it hilarious and we are like known through out the mission for making super funny videos. The sisters just love it! Key word: sisters. haha. At MLC President took Sister Bartons iPad which just so happens to have a lot of these videos uploaded on it. And he started to watch them!!! AHHH!! I was dying haha. It some videos he couldn't here so he was like "I will just put it on the big screen." Okay, all the elders were around haha. And I was just like President! NO! Please no!! It was literally my nightmare for anyone to see these videos besides sisters haha and Sister Daines grabs me as is all "don't worry! you're not going to marry any of them anyway!" And I was like "I know!" haha it was a picture perfect moment:) needless to say.. they saw all the videos we have made. From Phantom of the Opera, to Twilight, to Thumbelina. Haha in the end pretty sure President views us all differently but its fine:) It was hilarious! I am glad he now knows my true side haha.

I went on exchanges with sweet Sister Ali. I just love her!!:) But anyway, we were walking out of the apartment and she left the keys inside.. and the door was locked. haha life. I would love to say that hasn't happened to me before but...:) Anyway she was freaking out but I knew everything would be okay. Although it was night.. and we were locked out haha. The apt manager wouldn't answer so finally we were like um ok we are going to have to have a sleepover in Urbana with the other sisters. Luckily, we had the car keys. A member was driving us back to the apartment after a Book of Mormon class when I asked Sister Ali if any of their sketch neighbors could pick a lock. She of course flipped out and the member was like I can. Haha he grabbed his little lock picking tools and totally got us back inside. #TenderMercies. I was sure grateful. Especially cause I left my wax pot on inside.. haha. God is so good!

Had two other exchanges this week after that one. Triple exchanges, I was tired. Haha. But the work must go on! Gretchen took us out to lunch to my new fav restaurant Tropical Smoothie Café. I thought it was an Ohio thing but turns out their is one is Orem! Holla! That made me excited! And Gretchen made me excited! She is just the cutest ever:) I love her!

We had a chapel tour with our investigator Miah and it was incredible. He is agnostic, but likes learning about different religions. when we went inside the chapel the spirit was so strong in there. He felt it so much he began to cry. He expressed to us he didn't know what was wrong cause he never cries! But testified of God's love and that he was feeling the spirit. He said he had never felt that way before. We left him in the chapel to pray and he came out and told us he had an incredible experience. While praying he asked of God was there. He then heard a knocking at the podium. He asked God if that was his answer and when he did it started to pour rain that he could hear. It trickled away and he asked god if he was sure that was the answer and it started to pour rain again. Sister Meyers and I saw a little rain but not pouring rain. It was so cool seeing his countenance change right in front of us! To see him come to know the Father and feel His love. Miah while sitting in the chapel told us he never wants to leave. It was an amazing experience for all parties.

I wish I could say I get to continue to teach Miah.. but alas transfers have com.. and I am being transferred... to OSU, once again. AHHH I cant believe it! Exactly a year later I will be back haha. The Lord works in mysterious ways!:)

I LOVE YOU!!

 MLC!!

 Tropical Smoothie cafe :)

 Sister Ali! Love her!

 Exchanges with Sister Nissalke as well :)

 First and last district pic :(

 The Bohons!  She is the best cook ever.  We love them.

Gretchen and I #fierce

His name, forever on my lips.

I LOVE OHIO!! Seriously. This place is life. It has my heart! Something really really cool happened this week!:) we has a world wide missionary broadcast! The church has not had a broadcast like this in 10 years! It was so cool cause at the beginning of the devotional we sang "Called to Serve" and I couldn't help but think of the thousands of missionaries singing with me all around the world! Including my big sister of course:) I didn't know why they called this devotional.. I thought at first we were gonna get chastised haha but the whole thing was super spiritually up lifting! The theme was "teaching repentance and baptizing converts". And how baptism truly is the first fruits of repentance, they go hand in hand. Something I learned with all this is that when we are baptized God gives us many gifts, like the gift of the Holy Ghost, and a remission of our sins. Baptism isn't the remission, b but keeping the promise is so we obtain that gift! We must keep our covenants to obtain that remission of our sins:) so amazing how God works!

Something they talked about that I completely loved was to keep the name of Christ on your lips. Always. How important is that? His name should always be in our hearts, minds, and lips. He is everything, he is our Redeemer. He needs us more than ever to always be a witness of Him and to stand for Him. Missionary, or not. I'm so grateful for the Savior.

I milked cows this week and got to feed a baby cow! Cutest thing of my life. Also, our water heater went out haha. We couldn't shower for a while.. But no worries!! It's fixed now!:)

I LOVE YOU!

 BABY COW!! He was the cutest ever, eating right out of my hands!

We took our investigators cigarettes.. They smell nasty.

We dressed up as Thumbelina and Prince Cornelius. Haha our companionship is on point!

This week was a regular week! Got to go on exchanges with Sister Detamore again that was fun! We were driving to dinner and had a sudden urge for a cupcake...so, we got one, haha! It was a Gigi's cupcake and it was sooooo good and so cute! A plus:) Hahahaha the exchange was super fun though!:) and I love cupcakes:)

We also had interviews this week!!! We had an all day training for weekly planning! So that was fun haha. Took hours and hour and hours. We all got a little restless. Thankfully Sister Daines had games to play in between hours haha:) she thinks these things through:) I love the Daines with all my heart!:)

So many miracles this week of people letting us in to teach them! Probably letting us in cause it's cold.. But who cares! I love sharing the message of the Restoration !!!:) Jesus Christ's original church has been restored to the earth!! It's the greatest news on all the earth!! I just wish more would open their eyes and accept it. Good thing a loving Father gives us a chance in this life and the one to come. He is so merciful!!

We had a musical fireside this Sunday and we had a missionary choir. We sang "I Believe in Christ" and the choir director before we sang was like "sing your testimonies" I just love that! And we sure did sing our testimonies! The Spirit was so strong and through song we testified of the divinity of the Living Christ! The gospel is the best!!:)

Well, I love you all!

  

 80% frosting 20% cupcake

 We were laughing because the boy running looks like a little Jewish boy!

My companion though:)

Privileges.

I feel I don't have much to report on this week haha. It was another week of running the Lords errand! Which is of course the best errand ever:)

Lately I have been so exhausted. Satan keeps running through my mind how have been doing this for 16 months and my body needs to stop. Some days I lack motivation. I still went out and worked of course, haha but I didn't want to! Then I listened to this album about missionary work. The song was kids singing about how they're so excited to serve a mission. I started to tear up as I thought about the privilege it is to serve a mission. My heart was softened and the motivation came back. Heavenly Father is just so amazing. :) the Lord gives me the strength I need everyday! I couldn't do this without Him!!!

It finally snowed here in Ohio, haha about time! I love the snow!!:) it makes winter pretty haha:) but since it snowed it's gotten a heck of a lot colder. Hooray!! It's funny I forgot how cold it gets! Luckily, this winter I have a car unlike last when I was walking around on campus all day. Crazy it's almost been a year since I was sent there...#timeflies

Had back to back exchanges this week!! So I was only with my companion like 3 days this week haha. It was fun!:) one thing I love about being a sister training leader is I get to know all the sisters so well, and I learn so much from them! I swear on exchanges they are training me! I am so grateful!

I started the New Testament this week and something really struck me. In Mathew 4:19 Christ says to Peter and Andrew, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." And the next verse says, "and they straightaway left their nets, and followed Him." In the next verse it talks about how he called to James and John and it talks about hoe they "immediately left the ship and their father, and followed Him." I just love these examples of faith. They did not ask questions, they did not complain. They heard the voice of our Lord beckoning them to come to Him, and they went, leaving everything. On my mission I have left a lot of things for the Lord, and I pray I can have the faith these men had to straightaway leave everything... And follow Him.

Have an amazing week!!:) love you!!:)

 O-H-I-O..There is a lot of state pride here

 #roadkill Ohio in a nut shell

 Sister Alius and I!!! She is my soul sister

 Haha, shout out to my slippers.  The Beavercreek Sistas! Sister Lang and Sister Sly :)

 Cute Sister Lang!!:)

 This pic describes Ohio too, everyone has these tree faces on their trees, haha!  Don't ask?!?!

 So, the pic with the tree was the day before this one.  50 degrees outside. Then it snowed. All night. #firstsnowfall

Look not behind Thee

I love the meaning behind New Years. Have any of you seen the Mormon message "Look not behind Thee?" It's one of my favorite Mormon messages of all time. It tells the story of Lots wife and how they were given strict commandments to not look behind them after they left their home. For whatever reason we are not sure if she looked behind her, and a pillar of salt she became. This is a new year and we have no reason to look behind us. We can set goals for who we want to become this year but also for who Heavenly Father wants us to become. He will help us achieve anything we want if it's in harmony with him. So this year let's let him change us. It's a fresh start, it's a new year. Our future is brighter than our past. And with the Lord all things are possible.

Apparently it's a tradition of good luck to eat sauerkraut on New Year's. So sweet Sister Bohon once again cooked us a five course meal and gave us cabbage rolls. They were actually really good! And definitely worth good luck for the year. It was a good New Year's Day!:)

Anthony is progressing towards baptism! I've never seen anyone with such a strong desire to change. He is so excited for his baptism! He knows that's when he will feel the most forgiven, and feel changed. He is already seeing it in himself though. The Atonement heals all. It can change anyone. No matter who you are, or where you've been. It's powerful, and I love seeing that power be used by myself, and others through out my mission. I love being a missionary!! We are still finding a ton which is always good haha:) reoccurring theme of my mission:)

We had a major testimony building experience it was really cool!! So we went to get gas and I went to grab the gas card out of the glove compartment... And it wasn't there. Id rather it be my own credit card than the missions card! The Lords card!! I started to freak out and Sister Meyers and I frantically started to search the car. We looked for about ten minutes and couldn't find it. We prayed and then continued to search. In my mind, I had a thought come into my head of Sister Meyers pink coat. It was at the apartment. The thought kept coming to my head. Her and I were freaking out. So I looked at her and was like we need to check our pockets in our coats at home. She looked at me and told me she was thinking the same exact thing! So we drive home and I looked in my coat pockets, nothing. She then looked in her coat pocket of the pink coat and sure enough it was in there. We both fell to our knees and cried. A direct answer to prayer. It was a powerful experience. We said a prayer of complete gratitude and I felt the love from my Father so strong...I prayed the other night asking him why I haven't felt Him as strong recently and if He were there and listening to my prayers. He answered me with a experience I won't forget. Sister Meyers and I both felt that prompting from the spirit. It was so cool!! He's there. And he loves me.

Hope you all made some awesome New Years resolutions! I love you! Thank you for supporting me this year as I served the Lord an entire year. January to January. 2015 will be a year I will never ever forget.

 #loveless #sistermissionaryprobs

 New Year's Eve swag, it was 10:00 p.m. haha!

 We walked 6 miles that day...We were sitting on the side of a curb for relief, haha!

SISTER RUSS!!! Exactly 16 months ago her and I met at the MTC:) 16 months being a missionary...I LOVE IT!

 

Hope you all had an amazing Christmas this year! It truly is such a wonderful time of the year! I feel so much closer to my Savior as I, and everyone else is celebrating his birth! Ah! It was just amazing!!

This week was one full of events!:)

Monday was P day which is always a joyous event haha. Look forward to it every week:) Tuesday was the annual mission-wide Christmas devotional! It was soooo fun! I love being able to see everyone in the mission!:) We played games and filmed a Nativity which was so funny. I was cast as Mary. Haha it was pretty ghetto. But mission life is super ghetto so it is not surprising. Later that evening we had a Christmas fireside and we sang and members and investigators and others came! It was so nice. The spirit was so strong. Came Ken! I was so happy to see him! All the missionaries were just so excited! When all the missionaries get together it's just a huge plethora of spirit and I just love it!:)

Christmas Eve was spent weekly planning for the beginning of it! We went to the Stephens for breakfast and it was delicious!!:) Then we went and tried to see potentials and realized that no one was home or answering haha so we went to Bonnie's who is an investigator and when we go over she loves when we sing! So we watched the nativity with her and sang some Christmas songs. She is a widow and is just so lonely and so sweet. That night Sister Meyers and I got some take out Chinese food, went home put on our Jammies and watched Mr. Kruegers Christmas. It was a perfect Christmas Eve! Haha the Chinese restaurant was packed. Everyone else had our idea! Gosh dang it haha.

Christmas was AMAZING!! We woke up, opened presents, made waffles, and watched Nora's Christmas haha. It was a fabulous and comfortable morning:) After we went to visit a boy named Ricki. He lives in a developmental center and his mother asked us to visit him! He has such a sweet spirit. We talked with him, and even though he couldn't respond with words I could feel his spirit. What a blessing it is to be around those celestial spirits! I GOT TO SKYPE MY FAMILY!!!! AHHH!!! It made me so happy!! I like had anxiety at first and I didn't know why haha. They are just so beautiful! I LOVE YOU FAMILY!! Thank you for being amazing and being mine:) I'm grateful!!:) Best Christmas Present Ever. It's the little things haha:) We ended our day with dinner at Sister Abstons!! She made us a feast, and spoiled us with a whole bag of gifts! Love her!:)

Overall, this has been a fabulous week! Full of excitement and tears of joy!:) I love the Christmas season! I love my Savior. I love my Father in Heaven. There would be no point to this life without them. I am grateful to be a missionary and to stand in the place of The Christ. I can't believe he trusts me enough to do so! Haha:) I am so grateful for all the gifts you all sent, and the love I feel from you!!:) Have a happy new year!!:)

Well not a ton has happened since the few days that I wrote an email.. But a hecka ton of miracles happened that's for sure!!!:) God is so good!!

First miracle: Sister Meyers and I did not get transferred!! WAHOOO! We were literally jumping for joy!!:) This is her last transfer so I will yet again kill someone off... I guess I am really good at that haha:) I am so grateful to be her companion still. I LOVE HER!!

We found many new investigators this week! People who are sincerely interested and wanting to change! There is a less active member whom we have been going to visit a while. Her grandson has never taken an interest. We asked him if he wanted to learn more and he said no, that he did not believe in God. We went over a few days ago and read out of the Book Of Mormon with this member and her grandson was listening intently. He then began to ask questions about God and about being forgiven. The words from the Book Of Mormon softened his heart and he is now taking the lessons and came to church on Sunday! Him and his Grandma! It was his first time ever at church.. And he prayed for the first time ever in our lesson. I can just picture Heavenly Fathers face just beaming above as his son spoke to him for the first time in his life. I am grateful to be apart of this experience.

I love this time of year. Yesterday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting on light. There are so many lights this time of the year! It's beautiful. And we get to celebrate when the Light of the World was born. His birth changed everything. It changed the world. Because He was born we are able to return to the Father. We are able to be healed. We are able to find joy. The significance of his birth blows my mind. I am grateful for the birth of my older Brother, Jesus the Christ.

I have come to realize why there is that Christmas spirit this time of year, and the magic of Christmas. It is because more people in the world are turning their hearts towards Christ, and remembering Him. The spirit of Christmas is Him!

I hope you all have a Merry CHRISTmas this year, and remember the true reason for the season!!:)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! Love - Sister Meyers and Sister Slater