Adios Florida!! Hola Argentina!!

Yup! It's true! I'm flying out to Argentina TODAY!!

Buenos Aires from the air!

I'm pretty darn nervous about it too haha but I'm mostly excited :) It's going to be a crazy adventure, and it's where the Lord needs me now. I'm happy about that! Haha sorry, my brain is kinda scrambled haha I can't think straight. . .but here's what I wrote to Prez:

Hello President,
It's pretty crazy that this is the last letter I'll be writing you to already! It came SO much sooner than I was expecting, especially after being able to talk with you at interviews and get such amazing words of wisdom from you. I'm so grateful from all that I've learned from you in such a short period of time and I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to serve here! In the past 6 weeks I feel like SO much has happened. When we started out here, we were "white washing" which was a new experience for all of us. We tried to do a lot of contacting old potentials and teaching, we also did a lot of work with the members to try and get to know them better. Toward the beginning of this transfer though, I felt like we as a companionship weren't working as hard as we could have been and I'm so grateful that we were able to have Sister (Hermana) Ackley come. She is just such a hard worker, and she straightened up some paper work things that weren't like that should have been. . .and we just ALWAYS come home exhausted and that is the BEST feeling as a mish haha I've learned a ton being here in Florida, and found a lot of things I can be better about and work on. I'm going to do my best to let my light shine to the people of Argentina and use the skills and lessons I've learned here to make that happen :) Thanks for all you do and I love you and Sister Berry so much!!
Love,

Hermana Conger :)

He asked us to account about what we had done during the transfer, and I could probably do a much better job answering that, but I'm just kind of a mess in the head right now haha

This past week has been a roller coaster too. Satan knew that my Visa was coming I think cuz I was just in a funk I've NEVER been before. I was super down on my self and stressing about stuff that I hadn't been stressing over which made it hard for me to be myself and be smiley and all of that. No good. But, I have the most fantastic companions and I got a priesthood blessing and I got to have an interview with President and all of that helped out a ton!

Hermana Conger, Sister Blake, & Hermana Monson

But nothing helped as much as when President called me Friday night and said I got my visa! Haha I felt like a HUGE weight lifted off and it was WEIRD cuz I was expecting to be scared out of my mind haha but I've just been SO much more at peace now and I can't wait to go learn some ESPANOL!!! :D Haha ok I gotta go! I look forward to sharing all the details with you next week! have an awesome week and day ok?!

Hermana Conger, Hermana Monson, and Sister Ackley

I love you soo very much! The gospel is the only way we can be happy in this life, and I am so grateful that I get to learn that everyday and have my testimony of that strengthened everyday as well!! I love my Savior and I'm gonna let ALL of Argentina know that :)

LOTS OF LOVE!!! <3

Hermana Conger :) or Larissa :) <3

Letter to the Pres :)

President Berry!

Thank you so much for your e-mail. It was exactly what I needed to hear. I'm so grateful that I get to serve with you while I am here in Orlando! I'm looking forward to interviews this week! It'll be good to hear from you on more of a one-on-one basis.

I have had a GREAT week this week! We obviously got Sister Ackley on Monday and she is just SUCH a huge blessing. She works so hard and really wants to serve the Lord with all she's got, which is an example I needed! We have been working really hard and it has been such a joy talking to everyone we see to get those 12 contacts per day! We are already starting to see the blessings and fruits of that and it's going to be really neat moving forward. Our companionship gets along so well I'm a little nervous for transfers because I want us to stay where we are! I'm not even sure I ever want to leave for Argentina :) I'll be and go wherever the Lord needs me though!

I heard a really neat talk from an RM on Sunday and he talked a lot about Patience and I was grateful for that because that's really what I need to work on out here. I need to be patient with our investigators and really try to teach them according to the Lord's time table and not mine. I need to be patient with my companions, the way they do things, feel the spirit, all of that stuff. I need to be patient with myself and not expect myself to be a perfect missionary. I know that I can give 100% of what is possible for me to give, but I need to be patient and know that even that isn't enough sometimes :) Christ will have everything work out in the end if I'm willing to just offer up myself to him through being exactly obedient (as possible as an imperfect human like me can be) and living His gospel through constant change and growth through repentance.

It's a beautiful thing to realize that's really all He asks of us. As I share the gospel, I'm happy to bring others to that knowledge so they can be happy too :)

Hermana Conger

Uggh - I wanna be creative but can't think of anything...

Hey All!!!!

Ok so my brain feels a little fried right now. . .not totally sure why haha but I'm gonna do my best to inform you all on my week!

So, Sister Blake was Emergency transferred out of our area today. . .I'm not completely sure why. . .I have a few hypothesis but yeah we had to get her all packed up last night so she could head out this morning! We had a new sister come here to train and her name is Sister Ackley and she is so smiley and just one of the happiest sisters!! I'm really super excited to get to know her! We actually both got here the same transfer, so she's been in the field the same amount of time as me! Aaannddd. . .since I was in the MTC for about a month longer I'm the "oldest" in our companionship! haha It's pretty crazy. . .we're young but I feel like we are going to be a power house and just keep the area growing!

Don't know exactly when they got flooded, because she never talked about it - but clearly they had quite a rain at some point!!

As for investigators, we are doing better, we have one cool guy named D who has been to church 2 times now! The first time we just knocked on his door to talk to another guy that lived there who was a potential investigator. . .and as we were walking away he asked us for the address of the church so he could come! We hadn't even taught him at the point. . .but yeah he likes church, except he thinks we need a choir because no one can sing good haha so he can be a character. Other than him, it's kinda off and on with some of the other people we are teaching. 2 of them are 16 so they are obviously keeping themselves busy this summer :) Then we found an old lady this past week named D! She is from Cuba and she is adorable haha we taught her completely in Spanish so that was fun! I feel like I'm getting better. . .so yeah it's great!

Here are my thoughts on what Pres Berry asked of us this week:

Ok, this week you asked me to share what it means to me to be a disciple of Christ. I've been thinking about that this week quite a bit. I've had a couple things happen that have made me feel just really down on myself and just kinda shifted the mentality I've had since I got to the field, BUT as I've thought about what it means to be a disciple of Christ, I've got an even better perspective now! So don't worry :) Really, I think that the biggest thing about being a disciple of Christ is our attitude and mentality. As we humble ourselves and are willing to submit our will to Heavenly Father's try our best to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and show love for all man just as Christ would, I think we are doing our part, but we can do even more! Knowing that I am a child of God and that I can be happy and repent because of my Savior Jesus Christ is awesome, but then I have to SHARE that knowledge with my brothers and sisters so they can feel that love of Christ as well. . .I really feel like that's what life is about. Christ and His gospel is all about love and service to others. I know that it will be a long road for me to get to where Christ was. . .it's gonna take practicing it everyday, regardless of how people treat me back. I know there are going to be hard times because Christ wants me to use the Atonement in order to feel His love :) That's why we have to call others to Repentance, so that they can feel Christ's love for them. It's incredible. I'm just gonna keep trying every day for the rest of my life to do that so that in the end Christ can say to me "Well done my good and faithful servant."

There is this new song I heard on Sister Blake's iPod and we listened to it over and OVER cuz it's incredible! It's called "Savior, Redeemer of my Soul" by Vocal Point. Look it up!! I've been thinking a lot about the words to that song. . .and I'll have to talk about it more next week cuz I've gotta get going! Sorry I've been slacking these past couple weeks. . .I need to repent and do better SO I WILL!! haha

I love you all sooo much! Have a great week ok!!

LOVE YOU!!! xoxoxo 

Larissa :)

Fireworks and Puerto Rican Pina Coladas ;)

Well hello everyone!!

How have you all been?! I've had a pretty great week :) The missionary work has been a little rough, but we saw some incredible miracles this week!!! Before that, we have a new mission president!!

New Florida-Orlando Mission President - President Berry

His name is President Berry and he and Sister Berry are SO awesome! I got to meet them at a Trainer/Trainee meeting this week and they are just great. A little overwhelmed I think haha but I guess all new missionaries have to go through that at some point! I hadn't thought to do this before, but Sister Blake e-mails her family the letter she send to mission president (we send one to him every week) and I thought that was a great idea! He asks us to tell him certain things so yep, this is what I said this week. (I figured this is another way to show you all how my weeks have been going :) )

Hello President Berry!
It was so good to meet you and receive all the advice we did at the Trainer/Trainee meeting! You are so incredible and I look forward to hearing from you more :)
As for what you asked us to report on this week, here's what I have for you!

1)  What are you doing to specifically improve "UNITY" in your companionship.
This is something we have really been striving for since day one. We are in a tripnaionship, so I feel like that always is going to cause for a bit more effort on achieving unity when there are 3 onions and ideas to balance instead of just two. Unfortunately it took us a little longer than we hope to figure out that one of the biggest things that MUST be done is completely open and honest communication. We were letting things get under our skin and avoided talking about it since we were all so newly friends or sister or whatever haha so that allowed Satan to just allow us to get more and more bugged, which caused each of us to be on edge ALL THE TIME. Anyway, as soon as we decided to open our mouths and just talk about our feelings not only have we been able to feel the spirit more but we are the best of friends :)

2) Tell me 3 outstanding qualities of your companion.   Later in the day, share those three qualities you admire in your companion with him or her.
I have two soo. . . :)
Sister Blake: 1) She is so in tune with and aware of the spirit. 2) She knows how to relate things she is going through/has gone through with the investigator to help them understand how to apply gospel principles. It's an incredible gift. 3) She is a GREAT driver. Haha
Hermana Monson: 1) For being only 3 weeks into her mission, she is pretty fearless. She does all she can to make sure she is making the most of every minute. 2) She is so incredibly wise and has exactly the advice or correction I need. 3) She knows how to make a DELICOUS cookie :)

3) What are you doing to invite the spirit into your heart and the work in your area?
The biggest thing we are working on is something our District leader challenged us to do which is to try and focus all of our conversations while we are out and about on the gospel and not just having small talk or relating funny past experiences and stories. The times where we have done this I've felt an incredible difference is being able to teach by the spirit.

4) Share with me experiences of the last week where you felt prompted by the spirit to do take certain action and what was the result?
I really have been working on trying to do this. I've been kind of experimenting so I can better understand what are promptings from the spirit and things that maybe I just think are a good idea. I've heard many times since I've been on the mission that they often are the same thing, but I wanted to just see, because honestly I hadn't been brave enough to act on EVERY thought I've had. So, I've done it more this week, mostly it's been asking questions that come to my mind or saying things that I feel like they need to hear, ect. It's been super neat to see that everything I've said and done has produced a good result. Some have been incredible, others have just been good, but none have caused an awkward moment or a slammed door in my face. So I guess I've recognized for sure now that it really is "by their fruits ye shall know them." :)

5) What are you doing to increase the number of investigators in your teaching pool?
The biggest thing we are actually working on right now is getting a progressing investigator. We have a HUGE pool of potentials but none of them have really committed to listening to us in a way that can help their life to really change. I guess none have kept commitments. In order to change that, we are really going to do all we can to let the spirit do the teaching this week. We are going to allow more silence, ask inspired questions, and live obedient so that we can be worthy to teach by the spirit.

Thank you for all you do President! Look forward to seeing you Wednesday :)

Haha so yeah, there you go :) I didn't do a whole lot of proof reading over that, but hopefully the grammar isn't too awful!

So some specific miracles we saw this week!

1) There is this guy named R who we met the very first day we were in the area. We gave him a brief run down of the Restoration and he didn't seem to terribly interested, but we put him on our potential investigators list anyway. For some reason, he was always coming to our minds when we were trying to figure out ho to see. We went over and knocked on the door. . .probably about 10 times and no one ever answered, except once his Dad did and told us to go away haha so on. . .Saturday I think it was we had the thought to go see him again and this time we decided to pray and tell Heavenly Father that if he didn't answer that was going to be the last time we ever knocked, but if someone answered this time we'd keep trying. So, we went up and knocked. Not 5 seconds after that a guy (who wasn't Richard or his dad answered) we asked for R and he said just a minute, then the Dad came around and INVITED US IN THE HOUSE! Then, he proceeded to invite us to SIT IN THEIR LIVING ROOM SO WE COULD TALK TO THE WHOLE FAMILY!!! Haha I know I'm being dramatic. . .but holy moly, Heavenly Father answers prayers!! We aren't sure yet what to think yet but we're gonna keep going back for the time being :)

2) A girl named S that we've stopped in on a few times had us come in finally and we watched the Restoration with her. I prayed the whole time that she could feel the spirit and have questions come to her mind that she could share with us when it was over and she did! She said it sounded really "special" and had some really great questions and was excited to start reading The Book of Mormon, so that was way neat :)

3) I ended up popping my bike tire on a piece of glass early on this week, which was like the end to a day that was going rough, SHOOT ONLY 1 MINUTE LEFT ON THIS DUMB COMP!!

Ok I gotta tell that story next week cuz it's gonna take more than a minute haha I love you all!! Have a fantastic week ok?! I love you and miss you all sooo very much and I'll try to get more in about me next week! Oh I gotta watch fireworks haha and had pina coladas :)

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Another week FLIES by!...

Hello Family!!

Sorry, this one is gonna be short and sweet cuz I've been e-mailing a lot of random people and my time has just flown by (like everything else around this place haha.) It has been a great week! We know our area a lot better and are getting to know our ward and a lot of the members.

Oh my word these people are INCREDIBLE!! I'm sure I'll feel that way about everywhere I serve but I have had the privilege of hearing some very spiritual experiences and I have just grown so much in this short week because of the amazing things I've seen and heard.

My companions are amazing. It's kinda funny how Satan works though. Tuesday was like a RIDICULOUSLY hard day and everything about it just seemed off, we couldn't teach and we were getting really easily frustrated, so we just decided we needed to talk it out. After like an hour long comp inventory EVERYTHING came out that people had been holding in and it got a little ugly haha but we realized everything was just thoughts that Satan was putting in our minds by tainting things that others were saying and doing to make us get angry, annoyed, or upset. Ever since we had that talk and literally like called Satan out on the nonsense he was putting us through we have become so close! Our lessons just flow and we have confidence and trust in each other and it is just the coolest thing to see what completely and open communication has done for our teaching. I wish I woulda been more open with people a LOT of times in my life and I know that the spirit can work through us only if we are willing to act on its promptings.

We had a baptism too! Amber is 9 and she's been working on it for awhile and it finally happened. She is so sweet and was super happy. Her family is just so sweet and we are loving getting to know them!

We don't really have any other investigators. . .we have a couple potentials but nothing that has actually turned out interest. There is one girl, C, she is 16 and was super interested. We're meeting with her again sometime this week so I'll update on Monday :)

Alright I'ma peace out for today!! I'll work on getting pics to y'all next week! I've been kinda a slacker about taking them. . .hahah oh!! Excpet I dunno how I forgot to mention. . .I've been riding a bike all week!! haha that's made for some pretty sore areas haha but my legs are really starting to shape up again so that has been absolutely fantastic :) I love it, it gets a little hot but no big deal!

I LOVE YOU ALL!! Be happy! Always trust in the Lord. "Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not, fear not." That's my new fav scripture for the moment haha ok I love you all bunches! have a great week!!!!

 

xoxoxoxo

Kiss. . .im. . .mmee :)

Hahah I have no idea what that's supposed to mean but the name just cracks me up so I had to just show how it says Kiss mee :)

So yeah! I'm in Kissimmee :) It's sooo great I love it. It's been kinda hard because we did what you call "White Washing" the area which means all three of us are brand new to the area. We spent most of this week going around contacting a huge list of potential investigators the other Hermana's left us. Neither one of them were trained very well so the paper work wasn't really kept up like it shoulda been and we're pretty lost about where everyone is at as far as people they have as progressing investigators and their potentials seem pretty uninterested. . .but it's still been great!

       

I have used Spanish EVERY SINGLE DAY I've been here! Haha it was pretty intimidating first, knocking on a door, saying "Hello! How are you today?" and getting a "No habla ingles. . ." and just as their shutting the door going "O esta bien! Hablamos poquito espanol!" haha and they get interested that we even tried and it's actually been really neat! They all seem to enjoy that we are at least trying. I had  pretty neat experience with a lady and it was actually the first door we had knocked on where she didn't understand ANY english and I just started saying the words that entered my mind without hesitating about wether or not I was conjugating right or using the exactly right verb or whatever. . .and I ended up sharing the promise in the last two paragraphs in the introduction of the Book of Mormon. She was soo sweet and said it was beautiful and that she wanted to read it So I told her to read and pray to ask if it was the word of God and she said she would, then I asked if we could come back and she said she was only visiting but she would try to meet with other missionaries when she got back. IT was awesome! And she said my spanish was beautiful which is ust nuts haha I know that was most definitely the gift of tongues and it was incredible :)

Oh maybe I should talk about my new companions!! So Sister Blake has been out 6 months (she came out the same time as Sister Mevs) and I absolutely ADORE her! She is so great and such an incredible missionary. I've already grown to love her so much and learned so much from her! She doesn't speak a lick of Spanish haha but it's OK! Me and my other comp, Hermana Monson (I KNOW RIGHT! I'M SERVING WITH A DISTANT RELATIVE OF THE PROPHET!! haha) are doing our best to teach her :) So, Hermana Monson is straight outta the MTC which is neat cuz she still conjugates everything correctly and all that kinda stuff that I need some serious work on haha she is SO loving and a total people person! She has just been working on realizing that it's good to just be herself and even though the Restoration sounds a little crazy, it doesn't matter cuz it's true and it has changed our lives and means everything in the world to us :) <3 So yeah. All three of us are very alike and I'm so glad to have the opportunity to learn from these Sisters! (They are both 21 so I'm a baby haha but it's great)

I don't have a lot to report on as far as investigators go. . .we are having a baptism on Saturday for a families daughter who is 9 and they haven't consistently gone to church in a really long time. . .we're gonna work on that a lot! There are a ton of members here who just don't come to church. . .ok!!

So that World Wide Leadership Training last night!! If you haven't watched it yet. . .GO WATCH IT NOW!!! It is absolutely incredible.

I know that if I wasn't already serving a "mission" and this wasn't my calling to preach the gospel that woulda been "Exactly the pep talk we all needed" -quote from Sister Hall, because it's soooo important that we do member missionary work! I have seen already how essential members are in helping investigators gain a true testimony. SO all of you members, do ALL you can to help the missionaries :)

I know that my life has already been forever changed because of the perspective I have on missionary work and our obligation to share the gospel. I know that up to this point in my life I have taken my baptismal covenant seriously, but I was passive about it. I thought that as long as I wasn't doing the wrong thing, that meant I was standing as a witness of God. But I've realized that being a witness of God means that I will be proactive about making sure that others know that this is the way that they can be truly happy and find peace and joy not only in this life but in the life to come. Whether it's by just being a good friend, helping someone in need, or sharing your testimony with someone you see could benefit from the knowledge you have, share your testimony!!! I know that not only will you bless the lives of so many people, but you will also strengthen your testimony and become more happy in the process!! :)

Alright, well that's it for the week :) I love you all SOOO much and am so grateful to every single one of you. Keep being you and shine your light to all those around you. Act on every prompting you receive from the spirit, no matter how silly it seems haha I do it all the time and I've never felt the spirit so strong in my entire life. The Savior Lives. He loves each one of us more than we can comprehend. He wants us to return to live with him again. I love HIm and am going to do all I can to help prepare the earth for His second coming :)

LOVE YOU ALL!! Have an amazing week :) <3 xoxoxox –

Hermana Conger. . . Larissa :)

I'm coming Argentina!! ...but not today.

Well. . .apparently I've just got some unexpected work I've gotta get done down here in good ole Florida!! :) All of my fellow visa waiter Hermana's received their visa on Saturday and are flying out today!

Pray for them and their safety would ya! I'm so excited for them and it'll be a good day when I get down there, but I'm not going to lie I'm kinda relieved today is NOT that day haha I thought I was going to throw up when President said "Keep a stiff upper lip on this one Sister Conger. . .all of the Visa's came. *insert bugged out eyes, loss of breath, heart stopping, all that haha*. . .except yours." *HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF!!!* haha it was great. The only sad thing is I'm leaving this wonderful area in Viera because President thinks my Visa will be here in about a week. According to when I saw the Consulate in the MTC it didn't quite sound that way, but I'm just going to stay on my tip toes and be as engaged in the work here as I ever have been.

I will be moving to an area just outside Orlando called Kissimee where there are apparently a lot more Spanish speakers! So that'll be fun to get back into the groove of espanol. Not only that, but I will be helping train a new Spanish Sister who has been called to Orlando! There was only 1 when I got here but there are 3 coming this transfer so only 2 can be with the Hermana that has been here, so I know that's part of the reason Heavenly Father is holding up my visa :) (Also I think he knows I left a large majority of winter gear at home and am not near prepared enough temporally) haha but I am so excited.

The hardest thing is leaving everyone I've grown so attached to here. I felt like people were finally really getting to know me and some of our investigators who have been having a hard time progressing are finally getting there and M is getting baptized soon and all of that I'm gonna have to miss and leave, but I have a feeling of peace that I have done the best I could to complete my part of the work that needed to be done here <3 The Lord expects a lot from me in this work, but I feel like the small imperfect offering I was able to give was what it needed to be. I have learned SO much about myself and especially about my relationship with my Heavenly Father, my Savior Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost that I never ever could have learned any other way. I have made some incredible eternal friendships here too. I have to come back someday that is for sure :)

So as for people, M, like I said is doing so awesome! He is still on track for his Baptism and even though he's going through some really hard stuff he sees the Savior strengthening him and blessing him as he turns to him. I'm gonna miss that kid! It has been the coolest thing to see him recognize truths and try his best to live the way God wants him to live. He has taught me a lot and I am thankful for the opportunity I've had to help him develop a true and lasting relationship with Christ :) 

C is back! We hadn't seen him in what seemed like a really long time, but we finally got back ahold of him and he is actually starting to really read the Book of Mormon and loves it! It's so neat to see him get excited about the stories and try to draw comparisons to his own life. Also, we set a solid baptism date with him! He love repentance and that Christ has allowed the ability for him to change and be a better person and he wants to be able to start over. It's pretty neat!

I have SO many more people I could talk about, I love them all so much! I'm sure I'll remember them for the rest of my life because they have all had such an effect on me. Greatest of all though has been my companions. Sister Mevs and I are not alike at all! Other than, we love our Savior and this gospel very very much, and we love other people a lot too. We have had our differences, but I learned a lot of lessons from her and I'm so grateful that she was willing to try and help me learn what I needed too, I just hope I did the same for her! Sister Payne has been one of the dearest, closest friends I've ever had, which is pretty nuts when I've only know her for 6 weeks haha but she has really taught me the meaning of hard work and being tireless in our work as missionaries, and having fun at the same time!! I love her so much and will miss her until I see her again :)

Alright, I gotta head out for now! I love you all and can't wait to update you on my new companions and new area next week! Have a wonderful week!

 

Remember that we can have access to the 3 most loving and powerful beings at any moment. We pray and can talk with and recieve blessings from Heavenly Father. We repent and we let Christ into our lives so that we can become more like Him, and as we obey the commandments and do all we can to live the gospel, we allow the Holy Ghost to be with us and comfort and bless us :)

Be happy! Live, Laugh and Love with all that you have :)

LOVE YOU ALL!!! xoxoxoxo

Finally - a Trip to the Beach!! :)

I'm a beach babe now!!

Haha just jokes everyone!! :)

I DID get to go to the beach this morning though and it was sooo awesome! We had to get up at 4:30 so we could get to the beach around 5:30 then we could watch the sunrise and play around until people started showing up then we had to leave but it was still such an awesome time! Then we played beach volleyball afterward and that was great too :) and we went to Denny's haha it has just been a really great p-day!

The District in the FOM (Florida Orlando Mission)

Sister Payne & Riss

Sister Payne, Sister Mevs, & Riss

As for the rest of my week. . .it was good. A bit slower than usual, I think that's because of summer and everyone is just getting busy so it's harder to have set appointments. M is doing great! He just started a job and is finishing up his nursing stuff! Apparently he got a job offer today at his first day of clinicals! Pretty darn sweet :) He is being strong and battling out his stuff too! He is so super dedicated and just awesome in general!

We also saw the Rivera family again this week and I just LOVE them! They had us over for dinner and then bought us pipping hot Krispy Kream(sp haha) Donuts the next morning for National Doughnut Day so that was pretty neat :) They loved the Plan of Salvation and a lot of the doctorines in general so that's pretty cool. They love how it can strengthen their family too. It's just great to see their love of Christ and how what we are teaching makes so much sense to them :) They went to the Bahamas for the week so I'm pretty jealous of that haha

We spent quite a bit of time with a member Victor this week. He's super into gardening so we helped him make some beds 

and then he got some fresh oysters he wanted us to try! I gotta tell you, I thought I liked them but they are pretty dang gross straight out of the shell with no pickling or anything haha

He also gave us some papaya which I had never tried before oh and some crazy chinese fruit haha it's pretty cool stuff.

Sorry, that's about it! I need to be more exciting, but I think I'm gonna take the little time I've got left and send some pictures! One more week and we are getting transfers next week! They are opening up 9 new areas here I think is what President said! It's gonna be crazy but I'm way excited. I hope I stay put haha I think Sister Mevs is gonna be heading out and opening up an area! But who knows. . .Sister Payne is super awesome so she might leave too. . .we'll just have to see! I'm still loving every minute and feel SO blessed to be a missionary.

I love this work so much and I'm already SO much better a person for being out here. Thank you all for the prayers and for loving me and getting me to this point! I miss you all like crazy but I know this is gonna fly and it's so worth bringing others so much happiness :)

Have an awesome week everyone! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! :) <3

Howdy! Howdy! :)

Hello Everyone!!

Well, it's been another crazy good week here in the FOM! It is getting CRAZY hot though haha my Colorado sweat glands are not used to this stuff haha I was pouring rivers out of my today and I swore everywhere I stand a puddle is just going to form under me from how much I sweat haha but it is just so gorgeous and wonderful here it doesn't end up mattering to much that I always feel disgusting haha 

oh my heck I only have 20 minutes left. I don't dig this whole one hour time constraint but I'm trying to deal haha 

Ok for my week. . .

We ended up not being able to do the baptism this week. Poor guy... I ended up crying in front of him which I felt so dumb about. . .I just want the kid to be happy... he's reset his date for the end of the month so we'll see what happens! Mr. C is another one we've been working with a lot... hope it's all gonna be worked out for him by next week sometime. AND... we have a new investigator!  She's going to college here at the community college and apparently we convinced her to do it because we told her that since she is a daughter of God she has all the potentail in the world to do whatever she wants :) But we went back to teach her the Restoration on. . .Friday I think it was? But anyway it was SUCH a good lesson! Sister Payne told her the first vision (I really need to memorize that in english now haha) but she was like whoa I got the goose bumps and loved hearing all about how the gospel blesses families :) oh she's like 20. Anyway, then we asked her what it would mean to her if this really was Christ's gospel and she answered that it would mean a lot but she wasn't sure how to put it into words, so then she asked each of us how we felt about it, so we bore our testimonies about how it's blessed our lives and after she was like "I know that everything you said is true and I know this could make me happy!" I extended my FIRST baptismal invitation and she accepted! We're going to see her tonight so I'm SUPER excited about that :) 

We haven't seen the hot tub family again yet. . .hopefully we'll have dinner with them tomorrow! Oh, so I can't remember if I told you about Sister Schaffer but her family are the one who had us over on Mother's Day and ever since then she has just been my mom away from my mom <3 She drives us places when we need it and she opens missionary doors for us ALL OVER THE PLACE and it is just awesome! We took one of the guys from the Vet home over to her house for dinner (... he's telling us all he's deploying for Siria, but the man is like 70 and has no teeth haha sooo he's sweet but... haha) but it was just so great. Her family was great to him and helped him feel loved and I know his testimony of a loving Heavenly Father grew because of their kindness.

Ok I gotta go time's up. I love you all so much! I'm doing fantastic and loving the work! Thank you so much for all the love and support and prayers. 

I'm sorry I can't thank everyone individually, I will someday!! 

I am so grateful to all the support given to missionaries. This really is the rolling forth of the Kingdom before our Savior is going to return :) believe that and spread the gospel in all you do ok?! 

EVERYONE needs to hear this message and know that Christ lives and they have a loving Father in Heaven!! 

I love you all so much! Have a fantastic week :) HUGS!!

The 2 Month Milestone!

Hello Everyone :)
I love you all sooo much! I hope everything is going good and you've had a great week :) It's been a pretty good week here in Florida! It's getting hotter and hotter every single day haha which is taking a lot of getting used to being on the verge of sweating constantly even when I'm inside haha but it's alright.

The work has been going great! M is getting baptized on Saturday and I am SOO excited for him! He has just been so prepared for this and I'm so glad I got to be a part of helping him discover his purpose in life. Since he started meeting with us he has grown so much, and pretty much everyday he texts us and tells us something that God did to answer his prayers :) He got a job that he loves out of no where, he's been doing a 2 week CNA program which is super intense and he's been able to pass everything he's needed to, and much more, but it really has made ME more grateful for all the blessings that I have in my life :)

Mr. C, who I might have mentioned lost his mom... commited to live the Word of Wisdom and has been doing well with it! He's kinda hard to gauge... but since he's stopped drinking I've seen his countenance change 360 degrees!! It's INCREDIBLE!! I think he really is prepared to change his life and hopefully as he keeps trying to read and pray he'll start to gain a real testimony of this stuff :)

Ok, cool story, we were tracting last Sunday and came across a dad and his daughter playing darts and as we asked if we could share a message he brought out his WHOLE family to listen to what we had to say. We prayed with them and gave them a BoM, but yesterday we had a return appointment and they had us over for dinner and the whole shabang! The mom, made this incredible grilled chicken with squash and mashed potatoes, hands down one of the best meals I've had so far (all of it is SOOO good!) but the best part was we taught the Restoration, and we really had the feeling that we needed to put emphasis on how the gospel blesses families and we talked about how families could be together forever and they thought that was incredible! They had honestly never even thought of it. . .so they wanted a whole lesson on the temples and sealing and all of that haha they were like "next time we can sit in the hot tub and drink slushies and you can tell us al about it" haha it was funny. they are such an awesome family and I really am excited to see what this gospel can do for their life :)

Let's see. . .I could talk about everyone haha but I just don't have time. We had a lot of unexpected stuff come up last week. Poor Sister Mevs got sick one day so Sister Payne and I spent the day watching "Together Forever" from like the 80's and eating skittles haha it was so fun and I really adore Sister Payne. We're gonna be friends for a LONG time :) I also had a new missionary meeting in Orlando on Friday where I gotta see Hermana Harrison and all that stuff! It was a good time :) Uhhh. . .other stuff I wanted to tell you about was just funny haha Like the fact that Sister Payne is in love with Scotty McCreery :) and really they would be so adorable together haha and M thinks I'm the really life Hermione Granger which pretty much made my entire life :D