December 17, 2012

So its been a fantastic week here in Lubbock! but it always is! So apparently there is an ET happening and we are going to be in a trio! everyone is telling us how excited they are for us but our mission president still has not informed us about it... so we are expecting a suprise companion tonight!!! He name is Sis. Crane and all anyone every says about her is that she's always happy so cant complain about that now can we!

This week we were teaching Skyler, He is super legit and has wanted to be baptized for a few months now but his mom wont let him untill after he graduates. He is applying for BYU right now so we are hoping he gets in so he can move out too. Anyway after we were done with the lesson we asked him is he had any more questions. and he was like actually yes... and kinda paused so we were thinking like oh now this is going to be deep... then the words came out of his mouth.... " So are missionaries required to wear cardigans all the time?" oh my heavens bevens! it was the funniest thing ever!!!

We are also teaching the Serrono family. They are the ones we knocked into last week and her uncle had died so they couldn't come to church. But we met with them last tuesday and talked to them. They are so accepting of the gospel! on Wednesday the daughter went ot young womens and Thursday the mom went to a R.S. activity. While she was at the activity we had a lesson with the dad and daughter. We weren't planning on talking about baptism at all but the spirit told us both that we needed to invite them! so in my head I was like shoot Sis. Zahrts going to think im crazy but next chance I get im niviting them to be baptized dec. 29th! then guess what she did! she totally invited them to be baptized and they accepted! We both must have been really in tune with the spirit and each other! We are super excited about them and helping them come closer to the gospel and recieving the blessings that come from it!

They are the main people we are working with right now. Jimmy is the 83 yr. I know when I discribe him you probably think he's black.. I know i did... but he's not... anyway so we weren't able to teach him this week because he was at a funeral but he came to church and loved it! We also had another family come to church we weren't expecting. The wife was married to a muslum guy and converted to that religion then divorced him and married a christian. So she is super confused and still doesn't recognize why we need Christ in our lives. she's been being taught for over a year and is slowly progressing. She usually only goes to Relief Society at church so it was a big deal that she came to sacrament!

We have also had some meals at members houses this week. So let me remind you of my fear of birds... yeah I was attacked by another one... So we were sitting at diner and the daughter was like mom can we show them our birds and the mom was all sure bring um down! and I was like its okay they are tammed birds not the preditor birds that live outside... so She walked into the roomd with two birds... One of them looked right at me and in my head I was like oh shoot.... it knows... and it came charging at me and landed on my head!!!! holy cow holy cow!!! I didn't know what to do I couldn't hit it and hurt their pet! luckily my companion knows of my fear so she took the bird off my head. But I swear both the birds were just looking at me trying to figure out how they were going to attack me...

Even though I was attacked by a bird this week and should probably be on an episode of I shouldn't be alive because of it. I know that this is were heavenly father wants me and needs me. Im trying to do my best to become the person he wants me to be. Thanks so much again for all your support! Love you all so much and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! cant wait to talk to my family!

December 10, 2012

So it snowed! but only like not a lot at all.. But still I was so happy when I woke up this morning and looked out side! Thats so crazy Kenz comes home this week! Chloe will finally have someone to sleep with every night! I've been worried that she has been a little lonely since I left. 
So this week was way good! While we were knocking we found 2 great people! The first was Rocky as you can probably tell by the name this is the coolest guy in Lubbock. So we knocked on the glass door and we see him walking up with a huge smile on his face so we're thinking oh he's a member or he wants to throw down. Well it was neither! turns out his daughter is dating a member in the ward and had been going to LDS.org to figure out more about our church. We taught him a mini restoration and then he asked me how I felt about the Book Of Mormon. I WAS STOKED! So I started baring my testimony and the spirit was super strong. the Sis. Zahrt bore hers and it just got stronger! He said we could come back this week and teach the whole family! 
Next! Raymond! and for those that know the she calls me raymond song... yeah I have it stuck in my head all the time now. 
So we knocked into Raymond and he invited us right in and before we told him anything he was like yeah I need to go to your church. I go to the catholic church cause I've alwasy gone but I dont like it, the money we give them doesnt go to the church, we've been at this one for 2 years and we still dont know anyone and all that good stuff. So we Offered them a church tour the next day. When we got to their house with our Ward Mission leader we found out that they were so excited to come but the wifes uncle died the night before so they were leaving out of town for the funeral. We went inside and said a prayer with them and talked to them for a few minutes about the Plan Of Salvation. They get in town tomorrow and we are doing a church tour wednesday so its pretty legit. 
Also this week the YSA branch I was in came to the temple! so I got to see them! and John the kid I was teaching down there got baptized friday so I got to see him too! It was so nice to see them again! They really helped me feel at home while I was in San Angelo so seeing them brought that to Lubbock a little!
I love y'all so much! being on a mission is the best thing I have ever chosen to do! The holidays aren't as bad as I thought they would be so thats really nice! We decorated the mission home this week too. It really is so nice to be so close to President and Sister Augustin even though we dont see them much. Thanks again for all your support and love! 

PICTURES!!!
1. in case you dont know how to use a cross walk... Texas is so helpful! 
2. John and some girls from the branch! 
3. IT SNOWED!!!! and my new purple coat! 

December 4, 2012

Sorry I didn't write yesterday we had our Christmas conference so P-day is today! The Christmas conference was amazin! We got to play games and stuff but most exciting I got to see everyone from my MTC district! It was way fun! Mom and Dad thanks so much for the calendars everyone loved them and were super excited!
Im finally in Lubbock and I love being close to a temple again! I keep making my companion drive by it haha. I dont have a lot of time to write today but nothing too much happened ether. Our stake here did a huge nativity thurs-sun so church was only and hour long so I didnt get to meet the ward but boy did I forget the energy of a family ward! Its so loud and hard to pay attention but the spirit is still there! I LOVE IT!!! 
My companion Sis. Zahrt... just think of Kenzie but withh Terettes ( I cant spell) anyway she is hilarious and it should be a fun transfur! Im bummed I had to leave San Angelo 2 of my investigators are getting baptized this month and one on friday! But thats okay im still excited to be in Lubbock!  Its nice to be so close to president and sis. Augustin. 
PS! remember when good old Bruce from KSL was leaving on a mission and I was like how cool would that be to have him as my mission president! well turns our President Augustin was totally a news guy! dream come true!!! 
Well I love lubbock so far except all those stupid geese come down here for the winter! you'd think birds would stop attacking me! NOPE! one came chargin at me the other day again! 
Im sorry this one it short... but here are some pictures i guess that can make up for it. 
Ones me and my new companion and the other is all the sisters from the MTC! 

November 26, 2012

Yup looks like im being transfured to....... LUBBOCK!!!! DUN DUN DUN! but seriously im super excited.... I leave tomorrow for 10 hours in a bus! how fun is that!!!

 

Hope everyones thanksgiving was amazing! Mine was pretty good cant complain at all! We we to Brother Dennisons house. He didn't want to be alone on thanksgiving so he invited the whole branch over to his house! His family was there too and it was just a great time! Because we cant be out doing missionary work , which BTW I was kinda bummed about, we got to play cards and games with the elders so that was way fun. We played scum for about i dont know 3 hours and I was only scum one round so yeah I dominated that game but what else would I do?

 

I have told y'all about Hope and how willing she is to change everything for the gospel cause she is that amazing! well she was buying a house to move out in December but the house didn't pass inspection which stinks! So they are looking for more houses today! We went over to her house to teach her this week and she has 3 little kittens that are the cuttest things in the world! I'll send pictures. anyway I was playing with them and having a great time... to bad I forgot I was allergic... so when we started heading home I was like oh shoot sister neilson... I need some benadryl STAT! its was like 6 at night so I took some and boy was I tired the rest of the night. Theres a good chance I dont even remember what happened really.... so that was a nice adventure for us.

 

Another cool thing that happened was a few weeks ago we knocked into a guy named Jeremy and since he has kids we passed him to the elders. After the elders met with him he Told them that that day he had hit the lowest point in his life and was looking for a way to get back up when we knocked on his door. It was pretty amazing cause we had planned to knock somewhere else that night but when we pulled up both of us felt a weird feeling and decided to go knock somewhere else and thats when we met Jeremy so that was awesome!

 

Since we found out I was leaving we decided it only seemed right to build a fort and sleep in it last night. So obviously we did plus we went to a investigators house and the TV was on some show needless to say the spirit was no longer with us so after we built the fort we put in a nice good church movie to get the spirit back. It will always amaze me how different and weird it feels when you cant feel the spirit as well as you could before. its crazy!

Anyway im super sad to leave San Angelo but also super excited to be in Lubbock! I get to be by the temple! It should be fun! plus I hear my new companion is super nice cool and loves to work hard so I think that should be good for me! not to mention she has terrets so.... there will never be a boring day.

 

Here are some pictures!

1. one of the many birds of prey that attacked us

2. the cuttest kitty ever!

3 another picture of me and the kitty

4. us being typical sis. missionaries

5. Us and Betty ( our san ang grandma)

6. our fort!

November 19, 2012

I would like to personally thank everyone for sending me a email about hostess going out of business... heaven knows this girl likes her twinkies!!! But luckily Little Debbie will never leave me hangin! I swear those things are a blessin from above! 

 I said last week wasn't the best but that just met something great was coming... well heavenly father sure did bless us this week!

Lets take a journey back in time till Tuesday. We went up to Abilene for Zone Conference. First awesomeness road trip! but then the day just got better when we got to hear from our mission president and the zone leaders! Pres. Augustin talked to us a lot about how we are called to be the teachers not the members. The members should be the finders. Obviously we will stil knock and try to find people but our main priority is to teach them! I never really understood how important it is cause the members cant teach them the lessons before they get baptized the missionaries have to do it. We have been called to do that and its awesome! Also during Zone Conference me and my companion were called to do a practice teaching thing infront of everyone. Luckily the spirit is awesome and helped me out a lot! its crazy how even when you are "just pretending" the spirit can be there and be that strong! After everyone said how they could feel the spirit too so it was awesome!

Next we got not one but 2 bap dates this week that are super legit! first is Eric. We found him at another investigators house and he said he wanted to learn more. So we met him at a park (funny story about that later) after getting to talk to him the spirit told us to teach him the Plan Of Salvation. It was really sad because he said he had never experienced true happiness and that he wanted to change and feel that. We obviously told him that happiness comes thru the gospel. He decided to get baptized Dec. 8th! I feel so bad for him because he has super bad anxiety around big groups of people and I know a little how that feels so I hope I can help him in some way. He came to church sunday and liked it but was outside for a lot of it because he was so nervous.

Next bap date! John! HOLY COW, HOLY COW!!! our lesson with john was awesome! He showed up to church sunday with a friend and said he wanted to learn more. So we gave him a Book Of Mormon and he got a Gospel principles book from someone. by the time we met with him on saturday he had read the whole gospel principles book all of 1 nephi and skipped around and read a lot of Alma too! He said he highlighted a few questions in the principles book and we taught him a quick Plan of Salvation to answer those. The spirit was already strong. He said right now the only problem was a modern day prophet. So we went into the restoration. The spirit just kept growing and growing! then when Sis. Neilson said the first vision it took everything in me not to cry! after the John said with the biggest smile on his face. Thats awesome! all my questions are answered! It really was amazing! The rest of the lesson was fantastic and he accepted a bap date for dec. 8th as well!

So the thing that stinks is transfurs are this week... so I may not even be here to see these two get baptized! and we have Hope that put an offer on a house this week so she could get baptized dec. 18th! I'm okay if I leave cause I know that where heavenly father needs me to be. but I sure will miss San Angelo if I do leave.

On the bright side I had a great story!

So we got to the park we were meeting Eric at like 15 minutes early. So we were sitting there enjoying the sun. Keep in mind I dont know what happened to me on my mission but I now have a huge fear of birds... like real bad... So we're sitting there and I see the 3 geese.. and they are looking pretty scetchy and im all umm sis. neilson they are planning an attack. Of course she was like birds dont attack people and im all shoot have you ever seen the movie Birds! thats the scarriest movie on this planet! Anyway so these geese start walking straight to us like sneaky little devils... they started out a good 50ft. away... within 2 minutes they were like 10 ft. away and im all these things are definatly gonna attack! then all the sudden they start flappin those creepy wings and honkin at us. So I grab my stuff and I run! then I realize my companion is just sitting there laughing! I know this is no joking matter! so I said sis neilson you get over here! they are in attack mode! So finally we hid behind this little table thing.. at this point im crying cause im thinking oh my gosh im gonna die cause a stupid geese things im trying to hurt him. So I remembered aron ralston had his video camera while he was between a rock and a hard place so I got mine out to film my attack. (sorry i forgot the chord or I'd send the video) anyway luckily Eric showed up so we got a table as far away from the geese and had an awesome lesson!

So yeah this week was pretty fantastic! and I didn't die from a geese attack. I love ya'll so much! thanks for your support and have a wonderful thanksgiving!!!

November 12, 2012

So this week has been full of ups and downs! but mainly on wednesday. So we woke up in the morning found out Obama won... but we went about out day. While we were writing letters to our President Chelsea texted us. she's the girl that droped us. so we were way excited! turns out she was just texting us cause she missed her girlfriend... yup girlfriend... so that was a nice shock! Then we went and had a lesson with Hope! she is so cute and adorable! when we told her she had to move out of her boyfriends in order to get baptized she got so sad and was like, well I guess I could move back to kansas for a few months till we get married... oh my heavens my heart broke! She was so willing but we really didnt want her to move! She said she would try to find a place here.; It was for sure a bitter sweet moment. 

Then we went home for lunch and she text us and told us her and he boyfriend were planning on buying a house when they got married anyway and they decided they would do it now and have her fix it up while she lived there! It was amazing! again me and my companion looking like little kids meeting santa jumping up and down on our beds we were so freaking excited! 

So we continued our day we were in a great mood ready to knock and find people to teach! so we started knocking... about the 2nd door in this young fella answered... he came our swinging... saying there was no way there was a God cause in bible times they thought the earth was flat and God wouldn't do that to people. then He started saying how we didnt really care about teaching people we were just doing our "duty" let me tell ya what the spirit held me back and let my companion talk cause I was about it go crazy on this kid! so the kid kept that up for I dont know a little over an hour... so went from best day ever to worst day ever real quick! 

So yeah that was all on wednesday... talk about crazy emotional roller coaster... 

The rest of the week was good.. on saturday Modesta and Angelica got baptized! they are a family my companion worked with before I got here but we changed wards once I got here so I never taught them but I got to know them a little bit. They had gone thru a lot to get to baptism! also on Saturday we went to visit Karm. 

Karm is just my favorite, she's married to Danny and has a 2 yr old named Makin. They are the coolest family every. She is also a Colton Dixion fan like myself so we get a long great! She also found me on twitter! so another day another follower. She is so fun and the elders started teaching her. She is probably the person I've met with the most questions. but they are good questions and they can all be answered by the book of mormon so luckily she started reading it this week which was a huge step for her. 

Oh my goodness! I almost forgot so yesterday we found out that our branch is bring mentioned to the first presidency this month because of their temple trips and search and rescue program! its awesome they have more people going to the temple each month now then they had going to church 3 years ago! crazy! San Angelo is a great place and Im so happy to be here! We are working with more people but I dont want to bore you with that. Welp have a great week! Love you all thanks for the support! 

P.S. im so jealous y'all got snow! go play in it for me! 

November 6, 2012

This week was a good one for sure! Heard the Jazz won a game also heard they lost one... but thats okay im sure my boy Hayward was rockin the court as usual! Also there was a bigfoot sighting! Justin was probably all over that! Heaven knows I would be!

So a few excited things happened this week! First Hope is making huge steps towards baptism! When she told us she was taking those steps me and my companion started jumping up and down in excitment! we seem to do that a lot... We are so proud of Hope! she reminds me a lot of whitney! This weekend she went to Austin and the first place she went was whole foods! she is so adorable and said she was bringing us back bread from there. We love her so much! then she sent us the greatest text in history! "you gusy are awesome for being awesome and bringing me back to God" So yeah when we got that text we started jumping up and down again with crying! sounds cheesy but heck I love cheesy! that moment was the best part of my mission so far!

Also so last week I told y'all how chelsea (the girl with the dream) ditched us. But here in the TLM we do not get ditched that easy... and luckily for me I have the stalking skills of a pro! so thats what we did! We knew she worked the morning shift at the local mcdonalds. So after morning studies we went to scope it out! turns out she wasn't there cause her moms in town... but we got mcdonalds breakfast so wasn't a total loss!

Another crazy story for y'all! So as we were knocking we started talking to this guy. He started talking about how God called him as an apostle and that he could dicern gifts and stuff. SO ya know we're nice and we listened to him but boy was he a little strange.. He told my companion that she had the gift that all she had to do was sing and it would bring people to tears and closer to Christ... now i've heard her sing... and she isn't bad at all! but I dont think I would cry if she sang.. she's not susan boyal.... anyway then he started praying in tonges and stuff! it was weird for sure.

Anyway last but not least! I finished the Book Of Mormon!!! and it was awesome! its crazy! before a read it just to read it not gonna lie.. but now that im reading it to learn! holy cow best self help book ever! I love it so much! I dont have time to write howmuch I love it but I do and its true! P.S. HAPPY HALOWEEN! last week.... Love you all! and whoever is reading this is awesome!

October 30, 2012

    Well this week hasn't been the best but that just means great things are coming! right? We'll start with the not so great stuff then end on a happy note! So first Chelsea the investigator that had teh dream and we have had some great visits with. On thursday we had another great lesson with her and taught her the importance of prayer and scripture study. She has had trouble praying and we took her to the chapel and had her pray there. She said it was so easy to pray there and that she felt the spirit way strong. She also said she was still good to be baptized so we showed her the font and everthing and It ended on a way good note. Then friday came and we text her to see when she could meet with us again and she asked us to leave her alone... We're pretty sure it was her new boyfriend telling her to do that. Oh I hate boys! We're calling her wednesday to check up on her and hopefully get her to start meeting with us again.

    This week has been a lot of knocking cause we lost 2 investigators but luckily Heavenly Father knows that this girl needs to be entertained! So we got to try a potential and this old guy answers and starts talking with us about stuff. Then he starts saying that God told him he was going to die in a few days and that he needed to give us a message to share with the world. He asked if we would pray with him. During the prayer about half way through he starts jib jabbin I dont know what he's saying im thinking he's having a stroke! then he just stops... and is like now you know the message he wanted you to know is that you can go and walk in a room and heal everyone in the room. Then he starts going off how if you get a i Phone keep a cheap phone in your pocket so people steal that one. Oh my heavens he just walked in the library! Oh gosh! this is awkward! anyway so then he puts his hands on our shoulders and starts talking in tougnes again then says there now you have the power... So pretty sure he tried to give us teh preisthood... SO that was an adventure. Oh gosh I cant believe he just walked in here...

   Anyway So we are also teaching this kid Aaron! he is super legit but super ADD. Just an example half way thru Joseph Smiths first vision he just walked off and changed he pants then came back like nothing happened.. and he's always like you guys cold? I can shut the door. haha He is probably my favorite person to teach! anyway so we had a bap date with him for the 10th of november... yeah he got put in jail this week so he wont make it to that. so the 4 bap dates we set 2 of them dropped us and 2 of them have problems so they cant... But the 2 are still going strong and wanting to!

  And Last of all! how I was an idiot! so me and my companion were talking and I was like this whole Jinx game is so stupid what kind of idiot cant say stop within the time you count to 10... and we were both talking for like 5 minutes about how stupid you would have to be... well guess im that stupid cause the next day she jinxed me! and I couldn't make the word stop come out of my mouth for the life of me!

  Well fun fact the gospel is true! I love it so much! its crazy how I have seen it change peoples lifes! I'm so jealous that Utah got snow! I bought a coat this week and I was like yeah I cant wait for it to be cold enough to wear it! so it got down to like 47 and i was like im doing it! If it aint cold enough here I'll just pretend!

So this picture is what I ate for lunch yesterday.. dont wanna get behind on instagram! and the other is of my district!  Love y'all and thanks for the letters and support!

October 22, 2012

This week has been an adventure! So last monday after we left the library our car broke down.... the battery was dead so we jumped it and went to Wal Mart then when we left wal mart it was dead again! luckily I have experience with cars that dont like working... RIP Donny.... So I said to my companion we need a new battery... but we got it started again and it was great but I knew we still needed a new battery cause this was not going to work. So we went to the church to play some volley ball for a few hours then we came out side... it was dead again but this time it wouldn't jump and I said yup we need a new battery. But the elders didnt have time to help us at all so we had to get the car towed! luckily I brought my AAA card with me or else we would have had to find another way cause we are so far away from lubbock the mission office didnt really know how to help us. Seeing the Felix our car on the tow truck brought back many Donny memories. We got a new battery and it was all good... or so we thought! the CD player was broken and we couldnt fix the fuse for like 3 days so I used my talents from my Featuring Beulah days and we made up songs to sing while we drove around! It was a hoot!

Then the week just got better! we had a lesson with Hope! we taught her the plan of salvation which was great! she is already reading Mosiah! and she understands everything she has read! When we asked if we could start the lesson with a prayer she was like yea I'll say it! It was an awesome prayer and after she was like ya that was my first time praying in public! it was awesome! then at the end of the lesson we asked her if she would commit to repent everyday and she was like I actually read about that so I have been doing it the past few days! she is just so awesome! Funny story about her lesson. I was putting the spirit world picture down to teach her about that and all the sudden... I was on the floor!!! I didn't know what had happened! one second im on the chair next im on the floor! aparently the folding chair decided to fold up and drop me on the floor! So me and my companion start laughing and Hope and Sis. Fields are wondering if im okay and Elder Fields is just staring probably thinking holy cow these are the girls teaching people? oh it was hilarious!

We have had trouble talking with chelsea this past week so we decided to ask her if she would teach us Tae Kwon Do. So we met her at the church and she started trying to teach us. Thank heaven for those times in Young Womens we took self defence classes! I was trying so hard to do it and she looked at me and was like Sister Rose I would point and laugh at you if you were in my class.... well thanks for that confidence booster chelsea!

We got a few refferals this week that seem pretty legit that we are excited about! Oh I just love the mission so much! this is seriously the greatest thing of my life and wouldn't trade it for anything! Its crazy how much I have learned about the gospel! Im almost done reading the Book Of Mormon and I started in the MTC and its crazy I actually understand whats going on! right now im in 3 Nephi when Christ is preaching to them its amazing! I totally wish I would have read and understood this earlier in my life im pretty sure my life would have been so much easier! not that it was hard to begin with but still! I love this gospel so much and I get like way to excited talking about the Book Of Mormon now im pretty sure I might scare people off because of it! This church is true and it will bring y'all so much happieness just read the book of mormon its so awesome! Even the war chapters im like holy cow I cant put this down! its crazy! love y'all so much! I love getting your letters and i'll try to write back!

So thats Felix getting towed, me being Rose on titanic and the best sign ever!

October 15, 2012

I cant believe its been another week already! This week we had a lot of interesting slash cool things happen. So starting tuesday we were knocking and this lady names Gail (not oprahs best friend...) comes up to us and is like hey! I wanna talk about God with y'all come to my house on thursday! so we did. oh she is a HOOT! She has 4 kids and had them all by the time she was 21 crazy crazy! She loves helping bring people closer to Christ and she looks up sermons on youtube and every sunday puts them on and the whole apartment complex comes to listen. She wanted to get our view on things to help her teach them.... dont know how that will work out. anyway we are going to see her again this week! also on tuesday a few minutes after meeting her me and my companion got a strong impression so go visit Betty our San Angelo grandma. She is going through such a hard time and it sucks because she is just the sweetest lady in the world. She just found out 1/2 her income is being taken away so she has to move out of her hosue. Not to mention her lungs got infected during her surgery so she hadnt been able to work the past 2 weeks so the Antique store had been closed. When we went to visit her she said she was hoping that we would come and if we didnt come soon she was about to call us and tell us she needed our help with the shop right then! so we went around and dusted and moved some stuff for her. Oh I just love her so much! we actually taught her a little about how families can be together forever and she loved that! none of the missionaries have had a chance to really teach her and we dont know why everyone just feels like its not her time yet but she always says that whenever she's in trouble God sends her a mormon! so she's getting there for sure!

So this week we also met Shelby on campus! she's pretty legit! she goes to a biker church right now but it super open and has accepted everything so far. we are meeting with her again tomorrow and she says she has been reading and praying. Oh my we asked her to say the prayer at the end of our first lesson and sidenote im not making fun of her but this was pretty funny. Her prayer was all good then she ended with. Welp im going to read the book of mormon now.... bye... haha it was great! She's so cute and funny. Then we also met with Chelsea this week she said her family was coming into town Nov. 3rd anyway so she's plannin on getting baptized then! which is awesome! We also met with Hope. oh I love her! Everytime she text us me and Sis. Neilson get so excited! so is so precious! she just got two new cats that she loves texting about! I cant wait to meet them and I dont even like cats but since there hers im pretty sure they are adorable! oh we just love Hope so much!

Funny story of the week... we may or may not have knocked a mental institution.... our bad... So we go knocking and we get there and its apartments that look so cute and adorable! and this little lady comes up to us and is like oh your with God! I wish I could do that I'll show you the apartment thats needs you. and so we start following her and shes waddleing along and she's like there that one right there! they are fornicating getting drunk and doing all sorts of stuff. then she starts going off about how theres a spiritual war in these parts and that these people are seeing demons and we need to help them. Then she was like can I say a prayer with y'all? of course!!! so we stood and help hand and she gave the sweetest little prayer in the world! then we start knocking.... first door this lady just kinda stared us down and shut the door... next door this guy obviously on drugs or something and after him me and my companion got the worse feeling so we hauled it out of there! Then we were talking ya know a lot of the time you get used to the spirit being with you and you dont notice it as much. But once it leaves you it makes a huge difference and all you want is to have it back! And thats how we felt all we wanted was to have the spirit back and of course eventually we got it back and we were so happy but that was crazy!

Anyway theres a girl in our branch Katrina. she totally knows Elise! So that was a way cool!! anyway hope everyone has a great week!!! and I love y'all! and Love getting your letters!!!

October 8, 2012

This was the best week on my mission by far!!! So first to start out with a funny story. Monday! we were at the local Wal-Mart and there was a lady in scrubs and my companion said lets go ask her about this medicine she must be a nurse... oh no no no! my mother wears scrubs all the time! and is she smart.. YES is she a nurse? nope! anyway I laughed out loud for sure! Then the week got better on Tuesday! we had our first lesson with Hope! Her boyfriend is a member and has been coming to church for like 4 months but just barley accepted the lessons... well she's getting baptized on the 27th! the spirit was amazing Im sure I looked like a 12 year old meeting Justin Bieber or lets me honest me meeting Justin Bieber cause my smile was so huge! So we have been working with her and she came to conference and took notes and loved it! Also on Tuesday the Elder had a prompting to go get nuggets from mcdonalds (boy was I jealous!) anyway while they were there they met Chelsea and since she is YSA we got to teach her. So we set up an appointment and decided to meet with her at the church on saturday night. We were planing on going to the Relief Society room to teach her but my companion was just like hey lets just go to the primary room... and good thing we did! Right when we sat down and started talking she was like wait no stop.... I had a dream this exact thing happened like 4 years ago. I always wondered what that dream ment but I was in this room and two girls were talking to me and I really remember you, and she pointed to me! I was like oh my gosh! I heard stories like this all the time but I never thought it would happen to me! and she had the dream 4 years ago! thats before I was even thinking about the mission! Chelsea kept saying I know im here for a reason and we told her well yeah! God gave you that dream cause he knew its how you would know what we are teaching is true! It was an amazing experience! knowing that Heavenly Father really does know whats going to happen and to know that my mission call was suppose to be to Lubbock and im needed in San Angelo even if its just for her is amazing! And she totally agree'd to be baptized after conference yesterday! we dont have a date yet cause she wants her mom there but she should be awesome! She's really open when she is texting us but in person she closes up a little so we have to help her with that. 

So conference!!!! holy cow!!! the anouncement for missionaries is crazy! I know I wouldnt have been prepared to go at 19 so for all those ladies... Cassi and Megan ;) that do go then will be my hero's. Oh my another miracle that happened this week was on monday! so we go to FHE with the ward everyweek. So we drive up and get out of the car and this car with two guys pull up and is like hey do you guys have an appointment? my companion was scared and kept walking and I was just like um no... we are going to FHE wanna come. and the passenger turned to the driver and was like I TOLD YOU!  after talking with them more turns our that the driver Morgan is a non member and Tyler is a member and they drove into town looking for a place to live 2 hours before. While they were driving Tyler was like hey its monday night I bet my church is doing a FHE thing somewhere with free food. but they weren't looking for it but guess what THEY FOUND US!!! cause they missed a turn and turned down that street. So now Tyler and Morgan or going to start coming to branch activities and stuff! I mean its like 17 miracles up in here this week!!! Sorry back to conference! Elder Hollands talk was... well he's the boss! I couldn't even take notes I was so glued on the screen! It was amazing! watching conference as a missionary is way different! at home Im not gonna lie I was fallin asleep a lot here I was like only 4 hours a day! thats not enough! it goes by way too fast! 

So on a sad note... I hear Donny O was sold for some cheap cash... not gonna lie when Cassi told me the news I shed a tear or two... or maybe a whole lot. so of course another miracle! my companion had Donny Osmond Christmas.. so yea we celebrated his life by listening to that for 3 days! I also was lucky enough to go to a house with a guitar tuesday night and played the Donny Song for people. they loved it I loved it... the world loved it! I have been telling stories about him all week. He was the best car a girl like me could ask for. So here's to you Donny O! I'll quote the song to remember you by. " When I got in in 08 I knew these years would be great...and the night with the bat, never got you mats. washer fluid kept you clean held me up, I aint lean" The best of times were in that Jeep and I will always remember you. RIP Donny... RIP

I love hearing from everyone! sounds like the family is doing fantastic! Conference was amazing! (even the midget in the choir... yup i saw her) The spirit and talks helped me for sure! This church is true and I know that anyone who really reads the Book Of Mormon will be blessed in their life. Even if you dont think you have time a chapter a day or even a verse a day will help you so much! I know we have heard these things our whole life and just put them in the back of our mind a lot of the time. but even right before my mission through the hard times I was going thru it wasn't untill I started really reading the book of mormon everyday that I got out of the sadness and really knew that I could be happy and that Christ knew what I was going through. I also know I had to go through stuff in my life to help prepare me to become a better missionary! 

Im using Ya'll all the time now even in my head so im pretty legit.. now I just gotta see if theres a way I can say howdy without sounding stupid... LOVE YA'LL!!!! 

October 1, 2012

So its been a pretty great week here in San Angelo it rained so the streets were all flooded and whatnot but thats good cause apparently this town only has a year of water left.. so obviously we went back to campus to walk people. we met a girl names courtney that seems really interested so we will see where that goes.   P.S. Just a reminder please send letters to 6310 114th street. Lubbock Tx, 79424 I get the letters from the other address but its harder to get them and stuff so my bad sorry. ummm this week while we were knocking we found the coolest lady in the world! So her name is Mertle that itself makes her like #2 on the cool list. but she's like 60 and she comes out all gangster dressed and stuff like the hat to the side big long baggy shorts with a huge basketball jersey on. Oh it was fantastic! then she started telling us that her mom passes away a month ago so we went into the plan of salvation a little bit with her and she was like yo yo hold up I gotta run to the doctors but come back for sure and we can talk more I just cant miss this appointment. So I loved her but because she isnt a YSA she is suppose to talk to the elders and they have gone and talked to her a little more dont know how its going but man was she awesome!

 Also Dale got baptized! it as so awesome! he's the one in the gospel band which P.S. court... we need to start one of those. anyway its crazy how you can just see the light in them once they get the holy ghost. we went to visit him and he just looked so happy where before he looked lonley and like he had no reason to be here now he looks happy healthy and excited to live. It really is so amazing! WE are also teaching Quincy. He is making progress its slow but its happening even if he doesn';t realize it so thats way good. He has had all the lessons and everything so tonight we are teaching him a little about temples to see if he wants to go with the branch on their temple trip. It would be cool cause the temple president would come out and talk to him more about the temple and stuff. We also think General Conference will be huge for him if he can come. It stinks cause he works from midnight till noon almost everyday so he is super tired but he always trys to make it to church and stuff but he jsut falls asleep. so we are hoping that General Conference he will be able to stay awake and listen carefully. I think last week i told you about Hannah and Isabel they are still learning and stuff they read the B.O.M but just like random verses we think isabel took a "how to talk to mormons" class they have a lot of those down here to try to prove us wrong cause the ones they looked up were random but dont worry because our church is true we could explain them all. So we are going back to visit them soon. Also Hope! oh my hope is amazing! she has been coming to church for like 4 months with her boyfriend but has never really wanted the discussions and she told us this week that she wants to learn then! so we are going to see her wednesday I think to teach her! It should be pretty awesome!

So the institute class we go to is church history and heaven knows I love church history. so its made me want to read more pioneer stories and stuff so if anyone has any favorites and wants to send them I would love that! Thanks for all your support! Love all you guys. P.S. in my head I totally said ya'll so im pretty much legit... but not really apparently you have to be born in texas to be a legit texan... but whatever. anyway thanks for the letters and everything and remember to change the address to the 6310 114th st. Lubbock Texas. 79424! thanks!

September 24, 2012

Hello! well this week in San Angelo has been amazing as usual! We still are trying to find people to teach and getting the ward members more involved! We got a new branch mission leader this week so that was good! So last P-day was super fun we got to go bowling on base. I scored a high of about 63 so cant complain. So the other night we went to visit one of the members in our branch and my companion has this thing where she doesnt like parking in front of the persons house so she will park like 3 houses away. anyway so the member wasnt home so as we were walking back to the car there was a man standing by it. So of course first thing that comes to mind this guys gonna try to kidnap me because im so adorable! Well turns out he wasn't he was just watching our car for us because there had been kids bashing in car windows the past few nights. so he was actually really nice! anyway we got to talking and his name is Eli he has 3 girls ages like 15,13, and 8 so we taught him a little bit more about our church and he said the only time he was avalible was in the mornings at like 8 so tomorrow we are going to visit him and teach him how families can be together forever.

 

  Other people we are working with is kinda a weird situation... so we were knocking on their next door neighbors door and they heard us and were like oh we love the missionaries come on in! So in the apartment there is a brother thats like 27 a sister thats 24 and they take care of their little brother thats 8. plus they have 2 other girl roomates. anyway its not the best situation but they are trying to do all they can. They went to church with their grandma a few times but nothing to big but she would always have missionaries over so yea. anyway they think mormons are super judgemental and missionaries only care about numbers so right now we are more trying to just be friends with them and be there for them .They keep inviting us to go play GREED! and heaven knows I love that game! anyway they are nice but the situation in the home just isnt the best. So hopefully we can get them to church within the next few weeks.

 

We are also working with Quincy. My companion was working with him before I got here and they actually decided to drop him because even though he was reading and praying everynight and keeping all the comandments he wasn't felling the spirit at all and there was nothing they could really do for him. So they decided that if he didnt come to church on Sunday that they would drop him. So he didn't so up so my second day here we went to tell him that we could still come visit but we couldnt teach him anymore then he told us that he went to church but he went the wrong time cause of work so my companion decided to just see if he noticed any difference since we hadnt been teaching him for a few weeks and thats what brought us to this week. We met with him and he didnt notice a difference at all. but he was still reading still praying ot know if it was true and everything. So we decided just to reteach the lessons and see if anything pops out this time. He's really nice and I would hate to have to drop him.

 

So on this mission there are multiple awkward moments everyday. But we had one last night that was well the ultimate awkward! even my companion said it was the most awkward encounter she has had on the mission. So there is this member that just moved in and his wife isn't a member. so He asked if we could go to his house and pretend like we were tracking and talk with her a little bit. he said mornings were best so we went like 3 times and no one was home so last night we were like lets just go tonight. So we get there and we can tel people are home. so we knock and he answers. keep in mind we have never met him before. anyway so we didnt know what to do cause we knew why we were there he knew why we were there but we still had to pretend like we were just knocking.... but we all kinda just stood there for like 45 seconds and then my companion was like well we would love to come back and visit with ya'll and he just said yea and shut the door. it was just really awkward.haha Heaven knows i love my awkward moments but that was too much.

 

I hear Ian won Big Brother!!!! oh so called that! a little sad Dan took second but thats good! and Donny O gots a new door! lookin fly as usual!

 

I love this gospel so much! I can feel heavenly fathers love for me everyday in my life. Its crazy how tired and exhausted I am but everymorning I cant wait to wake up and im the happiest I have ever been! This week our motto has been that quote from We Bought a Zoo. "you know sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery. And I promise something great will come of it." so we have been using that everytime we go to talk to someone or knock on a door and it really has helped and something great has come of it basically everytime! Ya'll are awesome keep reading the scriptures I have seen how just reading 5 minutes a day has changed people lives and you can just tell they are happier! LOVE YA!

September 19, 2012

HEY! hows it going family! Heard BYU lost.. thats not very fun at all! my mission presidents wife called last night and said I had a lot of letters she was forawrding to me so thanks to everyone that wrote me Im pretty stoked to read them! So this week has been pretty fantastic! its been super cloudy this week and rained for like 2 days straight so thats awesome! Pretty much we are still trying to find more people to teach. Last week I think I mentioned Dale said he wanted to get baptized which was way cool but then he called and told us that if he gets baptized that his brother will kick him out of the house so we are still trying to figure that out cause even though I have only been here a week or two I can already tell that the gospel makes him so much happier. Other than that we really have pretty much just been knocking. Tuesday was Zone conference so we drove about 2 hours (ROAD TRIP!!!) to get there and it was nice to learn how to become better missionaries there and get to know missionaries in our zone better.

Like I said we have been doing a lot of knocking to try to find people because our branch is so small we have pretty much used all the referals but we are still trying to get more. anywho so Wednesday it was raining and we decided to go to the university to see if we could find people. When we got there we saw a girl with no umbrella and thats when we decided we would walk people to class with our umbrellas! suprisingly a lot of people took us up on our offer but the umbrellas were'nt big enough so we were basically super wet. But we did get to talk to a lot of people and gave a few book of mormons out so that was way good. Since it was going so good we decided to go buy a big umbrella! so we went to wal mart and got a big one to walk people with. well when we got back people stoped accepting our offer to walk them to class... so we didnt even get to use it really. but im sure it will rain again!  We also got to go to the institute on the military base. That was way cool! its crazy how much they have to do for school and they cant take any homework back to their dorms so they have to do it all in the class room. heaven knows I couldnt do that! This week we also visited a married couple that came to church on sunday. They had a lot of questions and you can really tell the Lord has prepared her to hear the gospel she's really open and wants to learn more. she accepted a Book Of Mormon and for her thats a big deal! she basically said she would get baptized if she could still drink tea. So we tried to talk to her more about that and she just kept saying i know its me and i dont drink alcohol but i really love my tea. so shes pretty funny.

Oh my I dont know if I told you guys about Betty! she is this sweet old lady that own an antique shop down here. Every pair of sister missionaries down here for the past year have been visiting her every week. not really teaching just talking. She is our San Angelo mom and she is just awesome! She is pretty much the funniest old lady ever. She has 4 little wiener dogs that she loves more than anything else and they are adorable. makes me miss my puppies. P.S. Everytime we knock and hear dogs I legit miss the puppies barking. So you at home are very lucky you get that! anyway she is just so funny and awesome thats pretty much it. I would still love pictures of my puppies.... OH!!! hows Donny! I know he was getting pretty high on miles.. did the door get fixed? I keep seeing red jeeps and im like oh donny what I would give to bring you with me...

 

So the pictures one Is of my MTC district, and the other you pretty much just need to read the sign its kinda hilarious. And me with David Archuleta... I hope they work....

September 10, 2012

What up my dear friends! how is it in the UTAH! heard USU beat
UofU..... ouch! well first if anyone wants to mail me letters that
would be nice.. my address is SIster Lexie Rose 6310 114st. Lubbock,
TX 79424 at least I think so. haha try it you'll like it! OH MY RUMOR
HAS IT EDDIE MURPHY DIED!!! We need to know if this is true stat! STAT
MEANS NOW PEOPLE!
     Well its just fantastic here! I know I told some people but all I
wanted was to be on a military base and in a YSA ward... welp guess
who got both their first transfur... THIS GUY!! jealous much? I think
you should be! My companion Sister Nielson is pretty much me but has
big hair.... we watch all the same shows including supernatural! and
she also enjoys Keeping up with the K's but who wouldn't? so we pretty
much have the most entertaining pillow talk in the world! always
laughing haveing a good time! OH yeah so im in San Angelo guess you
might want to know that... My first day here after a 8 hour bus ride
(which talk about awesome road trip) we didnt get here till around 7
so we just had time to visit 2 people. the first was Joe he is a
recent convert so we were just checking up on him. Then we went and
visited Dale, Dale is just awesome... He lives alone with his cat and
is in a gospel band that goes to old people homes and sings for them.
We had to transfur him to the elders because he isnt a YSA but he
agreed to be baptized! I like to think I was a part of it...
     So since we are over the YSA we get to go to campus and look for
poeple to teach! we talked to some people and found 2 members that
were looking and couldnt find our church anywhere so that was good! We
also went knocking at some student housing and found stephen we gave
him a Book Of Mormon and he was like yeah Ill read the whole thing
this weekend. so we are meeting with him tomorrow. should be fun! we
also met Edward and he seemed really legit and interested.
    So basically saturday wasnt fun at all... Edward didnt show up
everyone was ignoring us and no one would talk to us but thats okay
cause thats the day Dale said he would be baptized so we're good! then
to top it all off we got locked out of our house... so wasnt the best
day but probably wasnt the worst in history I mean... miley cut her
hair....
Plus Sunday is FUNDAY! so we get to go to the YSA branch there only
about 30 people in it and they are all besties! so thats way fun! many
of them are in the military so the ward changed a lot! because
saturday was so bad we decided to fast and before noon we already
started seeing blessings from the fast! some random guy we gave a card
to yesterday had a friend that saw him and wanted to meet with us so
we are going to visit them some time this week. and a could that we
invited to church and they said they wouldnt come totally came! it was
way cool! Sorry im so jumpy in my letters... so basically we only have
a few people to teach cause my dang companion went and got all the
investigators baptized... good for them i gues... JK I kid.. its
awesome! So also my companion in a huge Justin Bieber fan like
myself... so we may or may not listen to Pray at least 3 times a
day... OH MY I DIDNT EVEN TELL YOU ABOUT BIKE DAY! so every thursday
is bike day... so although it was hot we said we should better ride
our bikes and the lord will bless us. so we rode to campus and it was
fantastic about a 20 minutes ride so not to bad. but then after a few
hours there it was time for dinner so we got on our bikes and headed
for home... then all the sudden I look down and my wheel was fallling
off... talk about awkie sitch... so we pulled over and called the
elders for a ride... turns out a screw fell out at some point so we
have to go buy another one. ( so mom please check my account later...)
but thats okay cause while we were chillin there we got the idea for
our companionship theme song.... wait for it..... Run This Town...
yeah sure its not a church song so we cant listen to it but we are
totally gonna run this town tonight and every night! Im sure theres
more and I actually know there is but my fingers hurt from typing...
so this is awkie.... Love you all!

August 28, 2012

FAMILY

Hey family! this week has been awesome here at the MTC thanks so much for tha package I got it
yesterdaya and it was heavenly! So we leave on Monday! Its less than a week away! We leave in the
morning so If im able to call it will be between 7-10 so im so excited to talk to you! I only get a few
minutes so yeah. umm also I dont get mail on sunday so with dear elder dont send any past friday or
I wont get them! Mom the pillow should be on my bed the temperpedic one works great or just any
pillow really I dont mind and I do have sheets.

FRIENDS!

Hey there! this week has been amazing! So here at the MTC you have fake investigators to teach its
amazing the spirit you get when you teach! the biggest thing I have learned this week is to really take
time a pause and listen to what the spirit wants them to learn not what you think they should know.
One of the Lacy never prays and hated God and we finally got her to realize his love for her and she
prayed! the spirit was awesome! and thats just one of the many we have had! so I love my distict theres
only 4 of us girls but the elders are hilarous as well! I rock it at volleyball! Im better than most the elders
here! so we made teams and a bracket to have a competition lets just say Im the best on my team... or
district... haha but seriously I rock it!

So I told you last we my companion is cordinating sister so we get to visit the other girls in our
zone. we didnt get any new ones but the other ones are hilarious! seriously I laugh so hard when
Im with them! me and Sister nielson get along so well she reminds me a lot of Sharon so its pretty
awesome! my companion is still amazing as usual... um so I know last week I said how we couldnt give
high fives... well it got worse! I dont know if I told you last week cause I didnt want people to worry but
the first 4 days I was pretty sick... like couldnt breathe I thought it was allergies so I took pills for that
everynight but then I started getting better but the too people that sat next to me in class were getting
sick.... it spread I infected our whole zone... So now we cant eve shake hands...

So our devotional last tuesday was Elder Neil A. Anderson IT was amazing! Since it was President
Monsons birthday he did 10 things he thought President Monson would want us to know! I left my
notes in my room so I dont really remember but they were all awesome! the temple on tuesday was
way cool as well! I get to go again in like 10 minutes so Im pretty freaking excited! Its crazy that im
leaving on Monday! im so excited to get to texas but this has gone by way to fast! I still have so much to
learn! oh speaking of learning in relief society every week they have like a 30 minutes lesson after about
health and stuff this week they taught us how to breathe! thanks heavens! I had no idea there was a
right way and wrong way! and boy have I been doing it wrong! #lifesaver

…sorry that sent on accident but this mission is already so awesome sorry I jumped around a lot it just
happens im off to the temple love you all so much and tell Syd Im sorry but I didnt have time to write
her a letter this week but I still love her!