Sister Kirsten Leslie: I Had Never Been To Prison Before...

More on that in a second. First off, please send all letters to the mission office this week as Saturday is transfer calls and either Sister Jensen or I will be leaving on the 18th.

This week a lot happened. We had Sister Osburn with us for Monday and Tuesday while Sister Saunders went to Rapid, and we had a lot of fun with her. We were walking out of the house one day when the doorknob decided to come with us. The Noel's were out of town in Florida, so we couldn't leave as we didn't have a way to lock the house, and if we did, we wouldn't be able to get back in. So we brought the doorknob with us that day to use as our key until we got a hold of the Noels and were able to borrow their garage door opener. Teehee!

I don't have any pictures of this (yet), but Sister Jensen did have to get a boot on this week. It's a preexisting thing from clogging. It's either the beginning stages of a stress fracture and/or tendinitis. So this week has been a bit interesting because she can't walk as much. But she's doing great. She just has to wear it for 2 weeks. We are still getting a lot done, we were able to be the vessels in bringing people closer to Christ this week. And that is always a fantastic feeling. :)

Last week, I mentioned that we got a new ward missionary, Drew Tonini. Well, it was great to have him with us this week. We took him out like 4 times I think, because he doesn't mind coming with us to a few of the interesting people we have! He understands! Haha. I want to be a ward missionary when I get home. :) He went with us twice to see Danielle and Anthony this week, and it was an interesting experience for sure. We were able to share a message the first time and then read with Danielle the second time, and were trying to gauge their interest level. We love them so much, but they don't seem to have a lot of desire, and we can't force people to have desire, so they are probably going to be dropped this week for a time. It is so sad! But hopefully this time will help them to gain their desire back. And we'll still pop in every once in a while.

Karla is progressing so great! This week, we taught her about the law of Chastity, the Word of Wisdom and the 10 commandments. Oh and Follow the Prophet. (We thought she would be getting baptized on the 15th, but it's going to be pushed back by a month or so). She took it all in so well! She is willing to give up her beer, coffee and tea and anything else that she needs to to be baptized. She doesn't feel ready to be baptized yet, and that is why took her off date for a bit. We want her to be ready. She understands it's a big step to be baptized, and as she says, "Once you're baptized, you are held responsible for keeping the commandments. And so I want to be baptized when I know I will be willing to keep all the commandments, all the time." She understands it! Every time we go over to teach her, I learn something from her. You can learn so much from people! Karla's aunt is a missionary for the Jehovah's Witnesses, and she called Karla this week and was talking to her and after that, Karla's progress has slowed down a little bit, but we are working with her and she's going to make it. She just needs a bit more time. And there is no problem with that!

We had a great relief society party on Thursday in which we got to learn how to make fondant flowers from a non-member who is good friends with a sister in the relief society. She moved from Scotland 2 years ago, and she has the best accent ever! She's a true Scot. I could listen to her talk all day. (haha okay that's a bit creepy. But her accent is way cool.)

We had Zone Training Meeting this week (where the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leader go down to Rapid City to get training from President and Sister Anderson, and then they come back up and share it with the whole zone on that Friday) was AWESOME! One of the best ones so far! The trainings were all very inspired and it was awesome because as part of it, we had a counsel all together as a zone. It was a very spiritual experience and I received person revelation on how I can improve as a missionary. Namely, to be patient with myself and to understand that becoming better takes time and I won't be the perfect missionary in a day (even though I want to), and that through diligence, I can become better. I love missionary meetings. They really are the best!

Ha,ha: Saturday we had a super fun experience. We had a ward Chili Cook-off combined with a dessert auction for the Young Women to go to Girls' Camp. Ha is was the best because people love the missionaries and so we had some very generous sponsors. So us and the elders each had $200 we could spend. It shocked everyone because who expects the missionaries to have money? At the beginning, there were these homemade snickers. The elders bid $80, and everyone was astonished. Then we bid $90, and everyone was flabbergasted. Someone else won, but it was the thought that counts. Ha. We did buy a cake for $100, which was great because when we bid, the whole room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. It was great. We also got some $50 orange rolls. And then ward members give you the desserts they bought, so we have a TON of desserts at our apartment now. It was so fun though.

Now, parents, don't freak out when I write this next paragraph, okay? Okay. Good. Yesterday, we got to go to prison to visit a referral we got for a less-active sister. It was quite interesting. We waited in the lobby for 2 1/2 hours (visitations get pretty crazy), and we heard all sorts of crazy stuff. I won't go into too many details, but let it be said that having just come from church, the church and prison have 2 completely different feelings with them. People would talk to each other about who they were there to see and stuff, but not anyone would talk to us. We stuck out like a sore thumb. Haha. We were in our skirts, holding our scriptures, talking about church stuff....but the person we went to see wants to come back to church and gets out in 2 days, so we can start working with her! Her name is Carrie and we love her already. But going to the prison made me so grateful for the life I had. I saw people having withdrawals from cigarettes and all that, and I am so glad that I am not dependent on something like that for my energy. The gospel truly frees us. It's not a list of rules that is there to inhibit out freedom, it is a list of tools that will bring us happiness. I know it! I see the gospel help people every day!

I love you all! The gospel is true! I know it, I know God knows it, and I cannot deny it!

sister leslie.