Monday, June 30, 2014

Creamation is Robbery, Feed the TREESSS!!!

Wow! What a week! We don't have a lot of time today, but I will try to cover everything.

Last week at Joshua's Storehouse, one of the places we do service at, we went out to the truck to get some medicine on our lunch break and on the way back, John, one of the men that works there was in his car and called us over. He then asked some questions about how we start our missionary service and what we do on our missions and what we teach/believe. It was really awesome! He really wants to turn his life around, which is awesome! That is what we like to hear! It's so cool when experiences like that pop up. 

Sister Burt also had a dentist appointment (there is a member here who will do teeth cleanings for missionaries for free), and it was the oldest, sketchiest dentistry I have ever been to. All the tools were really old and they all sounded like they were going to die any second. The x-ray thing was mustard yellow. Wow. It was scary. I was thinking of getting my teeth cleaned too, but after seeing what Sister Burt went through, I'm good. I'll just brush and floss super good. 

We had a really good appointment with the Winterton family this week. We went in and established expectations, and they want to make it to the temple! It is so cool! They really have a big desire to be active again, and so we are going to help them get there! They are so cute. Sister Winterton was even sick, and she participated. Most people when they are sick use it as an excuse to not meet. That's how you can tell they want to be active and move forward: they are doing what it takes and not making excuses! Working with people like them is always really awesome.

On Friday, we went tracting, and had the funniest experience EVER. A long haired, one toothed (even a baby tooth!) man hippie answered the door. We started into our tracting approach when he paused us and said, "I have a better message for you." We were intrigued, so we asked him what that message was. He replied with, "Cremation is robbery. God created our bodies to be fertilizer. Feed the trees! FEED THE TRRREEESSS!" It took all Sister Burt and I had in us to not start laughing right then and there. Ha we are still laughing about it and probably will be for a while. Oh man. Also while we were tracting that day, we saw a door that said, "Smile! You are on camera!" Funny, yet a bit creepy. The lady next door looked at us awkwardly through the front door window for like 30 seconds when we knocked on her door! Ha! What an interesting street that was!

But we did find a new investigator through tracting that one day. It was really awesome. Her name is Teresa, and at first we didn't know how much she had real intent, but at the end she was very interested. She is in her 60s and is awesome! We love her already!

I don't know if any of you pay attention to the weather here, but there was a flash flood here in Casper on Friday night! Sister Burt and I were trying less actives and we saw this storm a bit off that looked angry. We were nervous for it, but thought it would be awesome. As we went to try our less active of the night, we asked the man next to us if it was supposed to rain. He said he thought it would be clear. haha as you will soon see, the sky was NOT clear all night. We were in talking with a less active when suddenly it came out of nowhere. Sheets of rain as I have never been before came down, as well as immediate fog. Then the hail started. It got up to the size of about a dime, maybe a little smaller. Fearing for our truck, as soon as the rain let up just a tad, we made a run for it. Wrong day to wear a pencil skirt. I could hardly make it! I was going as fast as I could, and eventually we made it. We were completely soaked through though (see picture). the city sirens went off and everything. It was quite exciting! 

I think because of that, or maybe I caught it from someone, I'm not sure, I got sick and have this awful head cold thing. I have been getting like 4 hours of sleep and sleeping during the day any time that I can. Last night, we got back from Sunday dinner at 6 and I slept from 6:30-9 and then 10:30-6:30 this morning. But I made it through the night. Haha I have no voice today, so I sound really funny. I feel a lot better today, though, because last night I got a priesthood blessing, and that helped me a lot! The priesthood works!!

Saturday night we went to a non-denominational Christian church, Hope, with the 1st ward elders (Elders Telford and Wilkinson). Austin invited us. It was sooo different than our Church! They had a band with drums and a guitar and everything. It was weird! And the way they did communion was so different and the Pastor was different (having a Pastor was different). Overall, it was a weird experience. Cool though. It helped to solidify the testimony that I have the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is Christ's church on the earth. So yeah, that was different. 

I gave a talk in Church yesterday on Elder Ballard's "Following Up" talk. It went pretty good. Good thing I lost my voice today and not yesterday!

Thank you all for everything, the prayers and thoughts! They help me a lot! Love you all!
sister leslie.
 
Pictures
Elder Telford, Elder Wilkinson, Me and Sister Burt at Food for Thought,
one of the places we do service.

Sister Burt and I soaked through after running in the flash flood. 

A writing some kid wrote on the wall at Food for Thought. 

Monday, June 23, 2014

Where To Even Begin?!

Seriously this week was crazy! So many experiences that were new and different and at times, freaky! But the gospel is true and God loves us. He never EVER gives us anything we can't handle through Him. I love that!
Well, my allergies have been killing me here. My allergy-less time is over and done. Dang. Haha but I've been getting into a good schedule with allergy meds, so it hasn't been too bad. Just enough to cut down our tracting a bit...gah. Lame allergies ruin everything. Haha.
I will just warn you now, my grammar this week has truly been awful because my brain has been fried, so I apologize if this email doesn't make any sense.
We got 10 lessons this week, more than they've had in this area in 1 week for the past 2 months! Woohoo! The Lord is blessing us as we are going out and finding people to teach. We are getting out and working hard and are being blessed. We have so many part member families in our ward (meaning families where not everyone is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), and so we have been trying a whole bunch of them and are slowly being able to teach more of them! The Lord is blessing us!
We have a super solid investigator, Chris. She is preparing for baptism at the end of July! It is so awesome to see her strong testimony and to be able to work with her. I still don't know her very well, but I know that she knows this gospel is true and this is Christ's true church on the earth. She was feeling awful yesterday, but she still came to Church! She doesn't make excuses for herself and does what she knows she needs to. It is awesome. I am so excited to keep working with her!
We found 2 new investigators this week, which was GREAT! One of them, Lucas, is 12 years old. He is in a part member family and was at one point going to be baptized. He is now currently praying about if baptism is something that he needs to do. We, Sister Burt and I, are confident that the Holy Ghost will let him know that baptism is important and is essential. It is awesome how the Spirit works! I have full trust in the Spirit, He has never led me or anyone astray, nor will He ever. We are excited to hear about his experiences.
Our other new investigator is a man named Austin. He is 20, and because there is a Young Single Adult (Ages 18-30) ward here with a set of elders in it, we won't teach him again. But the elders will be best for him. It was very interesting to teach him because he believes that we are a cult. There are other aspects of our religion, such as the Book of Mormon modern-day prophets that he disagrees with as well. We brought an awesome member with us who was super bold and wouldn't let Austin go back on what he said. Sister Burt, Elder Wilkinson, Elder Telford and I are going to Church with him on Saturday. He goes to a non-denominational Christian church, and Austin told us that if we went to church with him, he would go to church with us. So we got permission from President Anderson, our mission president to go if we had elders with us. So that will be a fun experience! I am excited, just because going to other churches always strengthens my testimony that I belong to Christ's true Church on the earth.
Sister Burt and I got to teach Relief Society yesterday on the talk, "Be Ye Converted" by Sister Bonnie L. Oscarson, the Young Women General President. It's from the October 2013 General Conference. (Look at it here: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/be-ye-converted?lang=eng) Our lesson went really well! We were bold, yet loving with the sister there and helped them to understand how doing missionary work helps us to strengthen our own conversion. We had some Relief Society sisters share their testimonies of this and the Spirit was so strong. One of the quotes we shared was from President Spencer W. Kimball, who was the prophet on the earth from 1973-1985: “Now is the moment in the timetable of the Lord to carry the gospel farther than it has ever been carried before. Many a person in this world is crying, knowingly and unknowingly, ‘Come over and help us.’ He might be your neighbor. She might be your friend. He might be a relative. She might be someone you met only yesterday. But we have what they need. Let us take new courage from our studies and pray, as did Peter, ‘And now, Lord, grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word’ (Acts 4:29)” It turned out well and the sisters were inspired because they were able to feel the Spirit. That's what I love about missionary work: I as a human being with mistakes and rough edges can try my hardest to do good and to be good, and when I share my testimony of things, the Spirit will come to testify of the truth of it, which can then help other people. It reminds me a lot of the scripture Ether 12:27 from the Book of Mormon: "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."It's such a huge comfort to me to know that I don't have to be perfect, I just have to have a willing heart and a willing mind. :)
 
This week, I hit my NINE MONTH MARK! I can't believe how fast it came and that I am already halfway through my mission. You think that 18 months is a long time, but it is not!! In the spirit of missionary work, President and Sister Anderson (our mission president and his wife) came up with a list of 10 things youth can do today to prepare to serve a mission.  I thought it was so good, I wanted to share:

HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR MISSION (President and Sister Anderson’s top ten picks)
1. Learn how your family works. Discover the blessings your family has received because of the Restoration of the Gospel. (Hang out with your dad (Boys). Hang out with your mom (Girls)
2. Learn how to be courageous and "do hard things". (Get a job)
3. Know what it feels like to feel the Holy Ghost in your life and learn how to sustain it.
4. Read and have a testimony of the Book of Mormon.
5. Know how to pray, not just how to say a prayer.
6. Be able to “Go and do” on your own initiative.
7. Know how to keep the space you occupy clean.
8. Develop a personal fitness plan and be responsible for your own health.
9. Learn to be obedient and how to repent and how to help your friends be obedient and repent. (In other words be a missionary before you are called as a missionary)
10. If you are afraid to inform people they need to repent, Get over it.
That's most of our week! It was awesome and full of great things that helped to strengthen my testimony of missionary work and the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ! I know this Church is true, I know God loves us and wants us to be happy. :)
This week, I have pondered a lot on the quote, "Authority is given, power is earned". As a missionary, I have the authority to preach the gospel, but the power behind my words and the degree that the Spirit is with me depends on my personal conversion and obedience to the Gospel and mission rules. That is something Sister Burt and I are focusing on. Obedience brings blessings, but exact obedience brings miracles and I know that to be true. There have been a lot of disobedient missionaries here and I have seen the damage it has caused. I will not do that to the people I am here to serve, my companion, myself, or most importantly, the Lord. This is my time to serve Him and my personal obedience and adherence to the Gospel shows Jesus Christ how much I love Him and cherish His Atonement.
I love you all! Thank you for the continued support and prayers! I feel them and it helps me so much!

sister leslie.

Pictures
Sister Miller and I on our 9 MONTH MARK! YIKES!

How cool is that??! I found a line allll the way back to Adam and Eve!!

Monday, June 16, 2014

The Walk of Shame

Hello! I am reporting from the Natrona County Library in Casper, WY. I made it safe! It was quite the process to get here, but I did make it here. Woohoo!
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Monday was spent full of packing and last minute visiting some people, which was strange. It still hadn't hit me that I was moving (in fact, I still think I'm going back to Minot soon), so it was strange. Tuesday morning we had a super good breakfast with the Noels and after sitting on my suitcase so it would actually close, we were off to the Church to do transfer books and goodbye pictures. I got to drive down to Bismarck one last time, and once there found out that I would be spending the day in Bismarck and leaving for Casper the next morning. I got to see Sister Alleman in Bismarck!! That was cool, it's been 9 months. She's still awesome. So, Sister Christiansen, Sister Nielson and Sister Aiono and I spent the day going on mini-exchanges and sometimes awkwardly having all 4 of us teach. :) I was exhausted that whole day, but I made it. The next morning, Sister Aiono and I woke up at 5:45 and were on the transfer train (a 15 passenger van thing) pulling out of Bismarck by 7:30. It was one of the longest days of my life. I didn't know anyone on the transfer train most of the time, so I got to know a lot of people. I lived off of Chex Mix and Muddy Buddies for the whole day, which was fun(ish). I finally got to Casper at 6pm (but I had gone through a timezone change, so I was on the "train" for 11.5 hours--aahhh!!). But i made it here alive! Sister Burt is awesome. She has such a strong testimony and is such fun to be around. :)
So that's the transfer story. As for our area, we have a ton of less actives and recent converts to work with, which is great. We only have 1 main investigator, but we are working on that. Both Sister Burt and I have a strong desire to work our hardest and to do everything we can to help this area progress. With the change of area, I have decided to be the missionary I want to be. So, I'm breaking the chain! Friday we went tracting for about 3 hours straight and Saturday we went for about 4 hours straight. We are exhausted every day, which is good! That means we're working hard. So I am excited for this next transfer! Great things are going to happen. :)
We've already had some fun adventures even though we haven't been together very long. Most of them have to do with animals. First off, moths. Sister Burt has a fear of flying things, and the moths here are huge, so that's always fun. We also saw the World's Ugliest Dog (see other email with picture), so that was fun. And then during personal study this morning, we heard this random "MMMEEEOOOWWWWW", and thinking it was somehow in our apartment, we went on a hunt for it. We found it trapped between our screen door and our front door, so when we opened our door, the cat dashed into our apartment and so we went on a hunt to get it back outside. It really didn't want to go, but we got it out (after it got cat hair all over the bathroom, our floor and Sister Burt).
Which brings me to the title of this email. We've been tracting a lot, and on this particular street the houses were more spread out and the driveways were llloooooooonnnngggg. It was more of a country road, and we just had like a half hour or so, so we decided to try it. It took about 3 minutes to walk down every driveway, so picture this: we are walking down this driveway, and partway a man comes out of the house. We're close enough to say hi, so we smile and wave, trying to get a conversation started. He turns around and walks away just as another car pulls up. We go to the front door and Sister Burt raises her hand to knock just as a lady answers the door and asks, "Whatcha up to?" or something like that. We explain that we are missionaries and such. She explains that the owner of the house is not there and that we just crashed a baby shower. Embarrassed and bright red, we walked down the long driveway, passing another car coming for the baby shower. And then the next house, the guy has his big garbage can in front of the door, so his door can't be opened all the way. He talked to Sister Burt through the glass as I stood there in awkwardity. Sister Burt asked him, "Have you ever seen missionaries before?" To which he replied, "Yes and I always tell them 'Thank you, have a nice day, goodbye.'" He started to close the door as Sister Burt stood there for a moment, trying to say something, but it wasn't coming out, so then she tried to say something through the door, but it didn't work. Let me tell you that when you are walking away from those houses, you feel the eyes of the person staring you down. Sister Burt and I just laughed on our walk back from both driveways, what else could we do? A mission is made up of awkward moments. I wish you could see these experiences firsthand--I don't do them justice in these emails.
But back to the work, there are some really cool people here that we are working with, especially recent converts (those who have been baptized and confirmed within the last year). It's a cool difference from Minot. I love it here already! It's growing on me!! :)
I am doing really good though, I am happy and feel like I am working hard and that I am finally starting to see the growth I've had as a missionary. I am making the decision to be the kind of missionary I can be. This next week is going to be a great one!
Love you all!
sister leslie.
This week, I have been studying a lot in Preach My Gospel about being diligent and persevering. In 1 Nephi 8:24, it uses the word "clinging" in reference to the people holding to the Iron Rod. Those people were those who made it to the Tree of Life and were not ashamed of the happiness they gained. For the footnote of the word "Clinging", there were the words "diligence" and "persevering". It is those who are diligent to the commandments and what they know to be right and who persevere to the end with faith that will one day have that fulness of joy living with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I would invite you to be diligent! Think of one way you can do that this week and watch how it brings more joy into your life.

Pictures
We had the coolest Bishop and Bishops wife and the Bishop's wifes parents.

The Final Picture...dun dun dun

Transfer Train stop in Bismarck! Me, Sister Aiono, Sister Gogan, Sister Osburn

Sister Alleman and I :)

Me and my new companion, the lovely Sister Burt. :)

The couple we spent Father's Day with!

Ugliest Dog...

Monday, June 9, 2014

A Leap of Faith

FIRST OF ALL: We got transfer calls on Saturday and I am moving! So please don't send mail directly to Minot anymore--it will take a while to get to me. Keep writing to the mission office. So I am going to Casper, WY! I will be serving in the 4th ward there with Sister Burt, the Sister Training Leader. I don't know a lot about her, just that she is a convert of about 2 years and is super funny. So I am way excited for this new adventure! I am sad to leave Minot, though. This has become my home. But the Lord has called me to Casper, and to Casper I will go.

This week wasn't our most successful by any means, but it was still a good week. We got in with a lot of people, especially after we knew I was leaving, so that was nice.

Among the miracles of the week was the lessons we were able to teach to Barbara and the time we had with her. She is learning so fast and has such a desire to know more! She is very open and tries her very hardest to understand what we are teaching, even when it is different. In a lot of ways, she reminds me of myself, and so I have loved this time to teach her because without knowing it, she has helped me through things that I was going through inside me. She is a beautiful daughter of God and is coming to know that for herself. Out of everyone I've said goodbye to so far, she was the hardest for me to say goodbye to. She told me a lot of things that I needed to hear, like "The people in Casper need you" and "Heavenly Father will always be with you." I already knew those things, but being able to hear them from one of our investigators helped me a lot. We got in the van after, Sister Manning and I, and drove away. I tried my best to hold back the tears, and it kinda worked. It's amazing how much the people we teach end up helping us. I wonder a lot of times if we are helping them with anything! It's such a good balance. But Barbara and I have decided that we are going to be good friends after the mission. For now, we will stay in contact, and that means so much to me. Nothing can quite compare with a mission: you have the opportunity to be a positive force in the lives of those who need it! I love my mission!! :)

Saying goodbye to people is always hard, but I am convinced that I am going to come on a mission tour after my mission, so I will see these people again! (Parents, prepare yourself. Sister Jensen, get the car ready.)

I don't really even know what else to say, my heart is so full and I'm so distracted with all the change that is going to be happening very soon! 

But anyways. We helped Camie, a less active, make a wall thing for her flowerbed this week! It was fun. Actually a little bit stressful. And while there I got the nickname "Muscles" because I was lifting 77 or 88 lbs in a wheelbarrow (bringing the pavers to the bed). Now, I know it may not be impressive to some, but that is most of my body weight, so I was happy. She's super cute. It was a fun service project. 

At the beginning of the week, Sister Peterson went to MLC, so Sister Osburn was with us until Wednesday afternoon. It was super fun to be with them both. Sister Osburn is so funny (she is getting transferred to! She's going to Minnesota.) 

IN fact, every companionship in our district is changing except for Elder Kirton and Elder Lott--pretty crazy! A lot of change! And we are getting another set of missionaries here tomorrow! 3rd ward is doubling up! So now there will be 5 sets of missionaries in Minot! How cool is that! They're going to split our districts into 2. They're moving all missionaries into their actual areas, so we are looking for an apartment for 1st ward sister to move into....I'm glad I don't have to be here for all the weird change! Haha it'll be awesome, but strange. 

SO yeah, I don't really know what else to tell you except I have LOVED Minot and am sad to leave, but I feel peace about it. It's my time to go. I know that without a doubt. I am going to have experiences that I need to, meet people I need to, and grow even more. I know this gospel is true and I can't wait to share it with the people of Casper! It's going to be a new adventure. :)

So please, send the letters! Keep them coming! The mission office address will be perfect! Thank you! I love you all!
sister leslie, reporting the last time from Minot, ND. 

Pictures..so many!
Sister Osburn, Me, Sister Manning with our Warhead Sour Candy faces--they're gross.
Don't eat them ever again. 

Us with Camie, a less active and the wall we were building.

It's a bit fuzzy, but our district!! :)

Me, Sister Manning, Brother Banister, Sister Banister, Barbara (holding the Prayer Rock I gave her)

Barbara and Me. :)
 
 

Monday, June 2, 2014

My Cup Runneth Over

FIRST OFF: This Saturday is transfer calls again (dun dun dun....), so PLEASE SEND ALL LETTERS TO THE MISSION OFFICE to ensure that they will actually get to me. Good, business part over.

Our major success this week was that our investigator, ASHLEY WAS BAPTIZED on Saturday!! It was amazing; there were over 65 people in attendance!! I have never seen a baptism with that many people present ever in my life. Ashley was beaming and she was so excited, you could see her face radiating with light. Her family and some friends were there to support her as well, which was GREAT!  The ward did really well at outreaching them and introducing themselves. Nothing quite compares with the joy of seeing one of your investigators in the baptismal font. The program all went well, and everyone could feel the Spirit so strongly. That was so awesome! And when she was confirmed on Sunday, her face was absolutely radiant. The ward noticed it and everything was just perfect. I couldn't have pictured the baptism going any better. 

Alright, now back to the beginning....

Tuesday was our Pday, as you know, and the 4 of us sisters went to the Scandinavian Heritage Park and had a photoshoot. It was so fun! Alright, yes, a bit cheesy, but AWESOME. Dad, you would have LOVED the architecture of the Gol Stave Church they have there. They didn't use any nails when building it, only tongue-and-groove construction. It's pretty cool what people came up with. So that was fun, good times. Life's too short to be boring. 

We had a really good appointment with the Felts again. We brought Brooklyn, a 16 year old YW, with us, and she connected really well with the girls. Maddie and Tambri were asking a lot of questions and really trying to figure out what we were telling them so they could come to know for themselves that it is true. We taught the Plan of Salvation, and though it was a lot to take in, they really liked it and now have a lot of questions about how we have the Priesthood and all that. They want to know if what we are saying is true, which is the first part. They are so fun to work with!

Matt is another investigator we are now working with and he is actually on date for June 21! His girlfriend is Mormon, which is how we got interested in the Church. He has a lot of desire also to know, and has been reading well in the Book of Mormon. It was funny--we put him on date at our lesson Thursday night, and his immediate response was "Sure. What's baptism?". Through some miscommunication, we had thought he had already been taught about baptism, but he hadn't. So we taught him about baptism and what it was so he understood the importance of it. It threw me off guard a little bit, to be honest. I've never put someone on date who didn't know what baptism was before! But, there's a first time for everything.

We have a less active in our ward, Camie, who has been though a lot in her life. It's hard to get in contact with her usually, but we were able to get in with her this week and give her a Conference Ensign so she can read up on those. We were also able to find a time to come back and help her in her yard, which will be awesome because we get to help her out! And now that it's warm, it'll be even better. We haven't been able to do a lot of service since it's gotten warm, which is ironic. 

Speaking of the weather, it has been raining for like the last 15-ish hours or so. We have gotten 2 inches already since last night (to be perfectly frank, I have no idea if that is a lot, but since a couple people have mentioned it, I'm going to assume that it is a pretty big thing). If there is a drought going on, it definitely isn't going on here. Ha. We had the summer in May and now it's back to spring....ahh well. It was nice while it lasted. 

We had a dinner appointment this week with a cute young family. They have a 2 year old son and she is due in like a week with a little girl. When we called to set up the time for dinner, their son answered with , "Hi!!" So, assuming he was a bit older, we replied, "Hi! How are you?" He replied, "Good!" 
"Good! Is your mom there" 
"Yeah!" 
"Can we talk to her?" 
"Yeah!".............." And then a few seconds later we heard him running around, screaming into the phone. SO we tried again:
"Are you there?"
"Hi!"
"Is your mom there?"
"Yeah!"
"Can we talk to her?"
"Yeah!" But again, it didn't work. After trying a couple more times, we just decided to call back. Later, when we were at dinner, his mom was telling us that that was the first time he had ever done that. So this little boy's first phone conversation was with the sister missionaries! Score! I don't know why I shared that story besides the fact that it was so cute! Anyways...

Yesterday we had a great lesson with Barbara. I might not have explained how we found Barbara, so here's the scoop. Barbara is from Brazil, and she moved here for school. She works with Sister Banister, and one day Barbara asked is Sister Banister went to a church. Sister Banister replied with, "Yeah I do. Wanna come with me?" And Barbara did! So she came to Church on the 18th of May and then the first time she met with the missionaries was when we were on exchanges, so Sister Manning and Sister Osburn taught her the Restoration. Yesterday, we taught her the Plan of Salvation.  Next time we teach her, we are going to put her on date--she is ready. Barbara has a sincere desire to do what God wants her to do, for she recognizes all that God does for her and she feels very indebted to Him. So it's inspiring to be around someone with such desire to know. She also told us yesterday that she feels like she was led here to Minot so she could find the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She can see now in hindsight how God led her here, and she is so grateful. She is such a special girl and we love to teach her. She paid us another huge compliment as she told Sister Manning and I that the first day she came to Church, the elders approached her after we did and asked if she wanted to be taught. Barbara told them that the sisters were going to be teaching her. She related this story to us and then told us how she is so glad we talked to her first, because she can be much more open with us that she feels she would have been able to with the elders. The elders are great missionaries, and they would have done a great job teaching her, but Barbara's comment just stands as a testimony to me that me as a sister missionary can touch people that elders can't. Elders can touch people that sisters can't--that's just how it works. But I am learning so much from Barbara and am grateful for her example in my life.

I feel like a lot of the time, our investigators teach me more than I teach them. It's cool how that works.

With transfers quickly approaching as well as my 9 month mark, I know that I will most likely be transferred, but I am so attached to the people here and am finally feeling like I am teaching who I came here for, I am hoping I will have 1 more transfer here to help the people I can. Of course, I will go wherever the Lord sends me, but I feel such a connection to the people here and finally feel like I am doing what I came here for. So it will all work out as it needs to.

That being said, I have felt so much joy in this week as a missionary. Most importantly, I have felt NEEDED by the people we've been teaching that week. There is no doubt in my mind after this week that this is where I am supposed to be. For me at this time, there is nothing more important than serving my mission. :)

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers and missionary work and diligence! This week, I have been studying in Preach My Gospel about Diligence in Chapter 6. May we all strive to be diligent! It brings many blessings that no other way can.

The work is working!
sister leslie.

Me, Ashley, and Sister Manning right before she got baptized!

Ashley and her family prior to her baptism. Back row L to R: Katie (sister), Sister McKinney, Brother McKinney. Front L to R: Me, Ashley, Brother Ketteman (baptizer), Sister Manning, Riley (Ashley's best friend)

Look, I would be tall if I lived in a Scandinavian home!!
 
Teaching the Troll--everyone needs the gospel!