I made it to CANADA and its -40!

December 26, 2017

Hello everyone!! I hope you all had a Merry Christmas!! And Happy Boxing Day. It's pretty big here! I don't remember it being that big in Utah but maybe I just didn't pay attention? It's like another Black Friday. Here are some things that happened this week..

-While I was still in Warroad we got fed this type of fish called Ludafisk. I wish that I could say it was super good but I will admit it was hard getting it down! Has anyone ever had it?

-I left Warroad on Wednesday and traveled all day long to Regina. Total of about 15 hours in the car so it was a long day! We had a lesson with Trish before I left and it went pretty well. It's hard leaving because I have grown to love her and everyone else SO much but I am ready for a change! 

-I am now serving in the Wascana Ward and my companion is Sister Gatten from West Jordan, Utah. We actually met once before we left so that's pretty cool! We went to the Logan Temple together! Her roommate was an ambassador at USU with me so we connected before and now we are companions! She is great. It's kinda funny because she is pretty tall and I am pretty short so it's a bit weird standing next to her. I think I will probably have that problem with most of my companions though! 

-Now that I am in Canada I can start working on my Canadian accent;) I am super excited!!

-The members have been great here so far! There is a couple that takes all the missionaries in Regina out to eat every week and then another older couple who had us over basically all of Christmas day! 

-Christmas was fun! I loved seeing my family and getting to talk to them! We played games and watched Moana! It's fun serving in a city and being around other missionaries! Definitely different than warroad! There are 7 sets of missionaries here and 3 wards so a set of sisters and elders in each, then one set of elders that is for YSA and an Inner CIty group. 

- Yesterday the average was -41 degrees with wind chill... Today is about the same. THis whole week is supposed to be that cold! We aren't allowed to be outside proselyting once it gets below 40 so this week will probably be pretty slow. We will have to try and set up a lot of appointments and find people through our area book. We will see how it goes! Hopefully I don't get frostbite:) 

I loved this scripture from my studies this week!...

John 6:35 "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." I know that if we come unto Christ and believe in Him and the power of the Atonement our needs will be met! Love you all! Thanks for all the love and support! Have a great week:)

Two Senior Missionary couples that I LOVE

Christmas eve with all the sisters!! 

Lunch with a member from Winnipeg who came to visit!!

Tracting in the cold.. I am so short haha

Christmas with the Teifenbachs!!

Be Prepared

December 18, 2017

This week was good!! Hopefully I can remember everything that happened. It may be a scattered email so I will apologize in advance.

Here are some highlights from the week:

-We met with Trish and had a good lesson. Her concern now is that it is hard for her to believe that there is only ONE true church. It seems to be a different one each week! She seems to be sincere about wanting to know the truth though so I hope that she will continue to study and learn and receive an answer!!

-We knocked on a door and this guy answered, we asked if we could share a christmas video and he said sure. So then we asked if we could use his phone and he said yes, went and got it, and then held it up like he was taking a picture of us. I looked at him funny and said, "No, don't take a picture of us," thinking he was like mocking us or something. THen he said, "Oh, I thought I was supposed to take a video and share it on facebook or something. Hahaha so maybe we will start trying that.. Having people video us teaching them and then share it with their friends;) 

-We have gotten SO much food and treats this week! Everyone feels bad for us since we are not home for the holidays. I've decided it is the best time to be a missionary though!! 

-We had dinner with Benson Brown and his girlfriend, (the couple from Hyrum) again this week! It was super yummy:) They fed us funeral potatoes which I think may only be a Utah thing so that was good! 

-This week we decided to pray for a referral becuase we have not been seeing much success with knocking on doors. Our prayer was answered today when one of our members texted us a name and a number of his employee! That was really exciting!! We called him and he was very interested so we are super excited about that! Prayers are answered!! 

-We got stuck again this week!!! It was terrible. We were in someone's driveway and the snow was not deep at all but it was very slick. Everyone has been telling us to get shovels, blankets, kitty litter, etc. in our car but we just haven't gotten around to it. We needed it this week though. Eventually, after we said a lot of prayers, and did a lot of digging with our hands we were able to get out. After that we were soaked though! Definitely learned our lesson! It made me think of spiritual preparedness! We all need to prepare ourselves now for when the Savior comes again! Don't wait!

Alma 5:28 "Behold, are ye stripped of pride? I say unto you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet God. Behold, ye must prepare quickly, for the kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath not eternal life." 

-Transfers are this week. Unfortunately I will be leaving Warroad:( I have grown to love the people here so much so it will be really hard to leave! I am headed to Regina, which is a city in Saskatchewan so that will be a change of pace! Excited to see what is in store! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!! 

Christmas in Coming

December 11, 2017

This week was good! We had Christmas Zone Conference in Winnipeg and it was great! We got lots of good training and I was able to see my MTC companions, and a few other familiar faces so that was fun! We also had our branch Christmas party this week! I love everyone in the branch so much! I am so glad I have been able to get to know them all so well. It is going to be really hard to leave! Maybe I will get another transfer though:) I was also able to give another talk in sacrament this week. My first week here I gave a talk on missionary work.. Now 5 months later they asked me to give another talk on missionary work. I guess it is only fitting that the missionaries do it:) I thought about just using the same talk but then I couldn't find it;) 

Not much progress with Trish this week. It makes me really sad but it might not be her time. Hopefully we have planted some seeds though! Or maybe we will see some miracles in the next couple weeks:) 

Everyone has been getting sick and so we haven't been able to meet with most of our investigators. I am hoping that I won't get the sickness that seems to be going around! 

We were able to give Frank a picture this week of Christ getting baptized. Shout out to the Stokes family for making that possible:) He loved it so much!! You can just see the light in his eyes:) 

That's about it for this week! I read a quote from Ezra Taft Benson this week and wanted to share..

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life to God will find eternal life." Lets all lose our lives to God!!! He can make so much more out of us than we ever can alone:) Love you all! Have a great week:) 

Computers are being really slow today so I don't know if I will get to send any pictures.. Next week though!

Roller Coaster

December 4th 2017

This week was a bit discouraging. We had a lot of appointments fall through and were not able to see many of our investigators. We had a lesson with Trish and it didn't go as well as we would have hoped. Then she didn't come to church the next day either:( That was pretty disappointing. She texted us and said that she is finding comfort in her own church and family. So I was pretty devastated yesterday. But we are not giving up on her! I know it isn't going to be easy, but we are going to keep doing our best to teach her and hope and have faith that Heavenly Father will make up the difference! Missions are like a rollercoaster.. things are really good for a week or so and then it drops and things get hard and your faith is tried, but then it starts to get better and you have a peak, and the cycle just continues. So I am hoping for another peak this week!

We had exchanges in Winnipeg this week and I was able to go with Sister Jimenez from Peru again. We had another spanish lesson! We also got to eat some good philipino food from some members there. On Sunday Sister Meikle, a member here came up to me and showed a message she had gotten on facebook from Jon Meikle in Smithfield. He said how great my family was and what a small world it was that I was serving here. I agree! Then her husband.. also Jon Meikle got up and bore his testimony and talked about it too. Such a small world! 

This week in my studies I really like the scripture 3 Nephi 13:22 " The light of your body is the eye; if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." If we keep our eye single to God and have an eternal perspective I know that we will be full of light!! Sorry for the short email this week. Not a lot to talk about, I will try to send pics though!

The Miekles

Light the World

November 27, 2017

This week was great!! We were able to see so many miracles! The first one being that is was a bit warmer:) I think Heavenly Father felt bad that I was complaining so much so He gave us some warmer weather before it really gets cold. I have learned to just embrace it and tell myself that I like winter.. That seems to help sometimes! Here are some highlights of the week..

We saw olympic hockey player Gigi Marvin at the library! That was cool! When do the olympics start? They are this year right?

We had a yummy thanksgiving at the Meikle's house! Lots of good food. I forgot to take a picture though:(

We drove into district meeting this week and that was fun to see our district. None of us got transferred this past transfer so it has been fun to all stay together! We stayed the night with the other sisters and they have a wood burning stove or furnace (Not sure what it's called..) so we roasted marshmallows! 

We we tracted into a young dad this week and he let us come back for a lesson! He just kept saying how he was looking for religion and something to help raise his son and be a good example to him. His little boy was SOOOO cute! It was hard to teach a lesson because I wanted to play with the little boy. He was about 18 months. We are supposed to be seeing them again tomorrow so hopefully all works out with that! 

We were also able to see Trish again this week! She is so great! She is still reading the book of mormon and praying everyday but still looking for her answer before she will get baptized. I think she is a little scared because her whole family is catholic and that is how she raised her kids and so she doesn't want to stray from that. She told us that she believes joseph smith was a prophet though which is HUGE!! I was really excited about that. Hopefully we can help her to recognize answers to her prayers, because I know she will get one if she hasn't already! So if anyone has any tips on how to recognize answers send them my way!! Also she told us that she wasn't going to move anymore! That was a miracle! SHe just has to find a job in this area, so we are praying for that!! 

Seeing people change and feel the spirit in their lives is one of the greatest things about being a missionary!! I am SO grateful for this wonderful opportunity that I have. I KNOW this church is true without a doubt! And I know that Heavenly Father works miracles in our lives if we have the faith to see them! 

1 Nephi 7:12 

"the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him. Wherefore, let us be faithful to him." 

Love you all! I hope you will all participate in the Light the World this year! If you havent see the video yet look it up on mormon,org. It's so great! 

Happy Thanksgiving

November 20, 2017

Heloooooo!!! This week was pretty good. Not much happened though so it went super slow. Trish has been out of town the past couple weeks so we have only been able to see her once for a quick visit. She is still reading though so that's good! Hopefully we will see her progress more soon! There is this bread stuff we got to try this week. It is called Lefsa. We helped a former investigator make it one day and then Delores fed it to us for dinner one night! It's kinda just like a glorified tortilla. We met a guy named Amos this week who bible bashed us pretty bad.. He had a huge family so hopefully someday they will be baptized!! We got a referral from a member forever ago that we finally got to contact this week. Unfortunately she wasn't interested but she gave us some super yummy cinnamon bread that I've been eating all weekend:) It warmed up a bit at the beginning of the week and so there was lots of slush, then the temperature dropped again and everything froze, making it REALLY slick. The boots that I have been wearing don't have super great traction so I fell a lot this week. Only a couple were pretty bad, and I survived with only a few minor injuries. We were outside for most of the day on Saturday and it was FREEZING!! We went back to our apartment for dinner and both had windburn pretty bad. We tried to take a picture but there was fog on my camera from being out in the cold so it wasn't great quality. Deer season is finally over.. so now there are dead deer everywhere. We saw a lot this week either hanging from trees, cut up on people's porches or garages. or in people's kitchens. One guy had just a head hanging in his garage.. that was pretty gross! We started a Jesus Christ study as a mission this week and it has been really cool! I have really loved learning more about the Savior, just in time to kick off the Christmas season!!
One of my favorite talks from general conference was Elder Rasband's.. "If we act in faith, one step at a time, we will be guided by the Lord's hand. By divine design He is in the small details of our lives as well as the major milestone." I know this to be true and I know that Heavenly Father is guiding us every step of the way. There's a power that can cause things to happen that need to happen!!! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving:) 

Canada doesn't want me yet:)

Transfers are this week! I will be staying here in Warroad with Sister Knight for another transfer! Canada just doesn't want me yet:) It is a shorter transfer because of Christmas so it's only 5 weeks. I am grateful I have at least 5 more here though!! It will be an exciting transfer! 

Not much happened this week. We did a lot of finding and found some potentials. We were tracting one day and this guy pulled up on a four-wheeler with blood all over his shirt. I thought to myself, "Oh no this guy is going to murder us." But turns out he was just butchering pigs haha. He said we could come back the next day so we did and turns out it wasn't actually his house... But the guy that lived there was interested! So that was a miracle! Also we walked into the library today and he was sitting at the computers. So we talked to him a little bit more. We were a bit awkward and caught off guard to see him so we didn't say as much as we should have:( Hopefully we will get to teach him an actual lesson soon though and our awkwardness didn't ruin it! 

We were out finding another night and stopped at this house. We knocked on it and no one answered but there were lights on so they either didn't hear us or ignored us. Then we were turning around to go back onto the road and we got stuck.. So I was out trying to push us out when someone drove by and came to help. Then the guy from inside the house came out to help too. We were grateful but also very embarrassed.. 

We also put up our Christmas decorations today! I am super excited:) We found a tree in our closet. It looks pretty sad but we made it work!! 

We had branch conference this week so President and Sister Craig as well as President and Sister Robison (President Craig's counselor and his wife) were here for the weekend. That was great to see them! I learned a lot from their council. On Saturday there was a fireside that we went to and Sister Robison showed a video about some kids in Logan. It was a mormon message that was a made a couple years ago but it was kinda cool to see people I knew and places I knew! Fun to have that connection. She talked about how the last part of the doctrine of Christ is Endure to the End.. When really we are Enduring to Happiness! I thought that was a cool way to think of it. We are to endure, or press forward joyfully through everything life throws at us. It's definitely easier said than done, but I know if we do we will find happiness now and in the life to come! 

Hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Last, but not least.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AMAZING DAD!! Everyone make sure to tell him Happy Birthday and how amazing he is!! 

Tracting in a Winter Wonderland

November 6, 2017

This week was great! Here are some highlights and things that happened..

-We had zone conference and that was awesome!! I learned so much from President and Sister Craig and all of the other missionaries in our zone. It was also fun to see other missionaries for a change:)

-President Craig made the announcement that our mission would be getting smart phones within the next couple months! Hopefully in time for Christmas so we can share the Christmas initiative easily! I am so excited for the Christmas season!! 

-We were tracting one day and we met a dog named Daisy. Her owners weren't home so we left the house and then she just kept following us down the road. She would walk with us to each doorstep and everything. Haha everyone thought it was our dog!  Finally she went home once we got in our car to leave the area. She was nice company:)

-It's deer hunting season and they take it VERY seriously here! There was no school today and Marvin's (the big company here) even took the day off. Plus no one is home because everyone is hunting! One of the people we visited yesterday told us we needed to wear orange hats so no one shoots at us...

-On Saturday it snowed all day long! And I don't think I saw one snow plow out. It has snowed a lot this week and the temperatures have drastically dropped.. I don't think they believe in snow plows here! It makes the roads a little bit scarier, but we are staying safe and driving slow! 

-We got home the other night and went and talked to our neighbor Delores for a little bit. We walked in and she was watching a Hallmark movie. I really had to resist the urge to watch it. It was hard!! Have there been any good ones yet this year? 

-We had another lesson with our investigator Trish this week and it was so great!! She is amazing! The spirit was SO strong in that lesson! Last week she was asking us where we got the standards and values that we believe in so we gave her a For The Strength of Youth pamphlet. She read the whole thing and used it in a job interview/presentation she had!!! We were so excited to hear that! I really want her to get baptized, and I am confident she will but she might be moving soon so I am a bit worried. We will see though! Keep her in your prayers!! 

-Last week on exchanges we taught a family english. It was super cool! There names are Sawson and Adnan and they are from Syria I think! 

-Today we helped Delores put up her Christmas tree and decorate it! She wanted to do it this week just in case I leave next week at transfers. She is the sweetest:) 

I have been working a lot on having patience this week and I read a quote from Preach my Gospel by President Monson that I really liked, "Life if full of difficulties, some minor and others a more serious nature. There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required." 

I have realized that patience is something we always need. Especially patience with our Heavenly Father. In zone conference Sister Craig quoted Elder Holland and said something like, "Heavenly Father is not so much concerned about our comfort, but about our upward progression." That is definitely true! He is testing us to make us stronger! So we just need to have patience:) 

Love you all and hope you have an awesome week! 

(Pictures are... exchanges, zone conference sleepover:), WE ARE COLD, hockey town USA, bears from last week)

Bears and SNOW

This week started out pretty slow but ended great!! We went to the ice rink in Warroad for last p-day and walked around with one of the members. She told us about hockey players that are on the Olympic teams that are from Warroad! The girl was named Gigi Marvin and I cant remember the boys name but kinda cool! Warroad is known as "Hockeytown USA" 

We saw bears this week! We were walking home from the library on Wednesday and their were two black bear cubs just hanging out in a tree right in the middle of town! 

It also started snowing this week! We went for exchanges in Winnipeg on Wednesday night and woke up to snow in the morning! It was pretty cold all day! Luckily on of our STL's had an extra coat that she let me borrow for the day! When we got back to Warroad on Friday there was snow on the ground and it was freezing:( Winter came way too fast! And it's just the beginning:(

After we got back to Warroad we were able to have a lesson with our investigator Trish. She is the one who has a son going to the U. It went super well!! We were so excited and then she came to church on Sunday too! I am excited to see her progress. She is awesome! Plus she gave me a coat so I don't have to buy one. She had a Japanese exchange student staying with her last year and she left it behind so she was trying to find someone to give it to. I got lucky!! 

We drove into Winnipeg this morning and it was storming pretty bad. There wasn't too much snow coming down but the wind is really bad because it's so flat! We almost slid off the road! It was a bit scary but we made it! And I was able to get some winter stuff so hopefully I am prepared for the -40's... 

Zone conference is tomorrow so I am super excited for that!! That's about it for this week! Love and miss you all! 
Sorry no pics this week.. Library computers are too slow:)

Christmas, Deer, BEETLES, 4mths

This week went super fast! i cant believe it's already Monday again!! Here are some highlights from the week..

We helped our neighbor Delores put up her Christmas decorations this week. She likes to do it before it gets too cold and she needed some help. Of course we were happy to:) 

We have a few ladies in the branch that are Phillipino and one of them fed us this week. Her name is Sister Clark and she is the coolest lady. So we had some Phillipino soup this week. 

There are these bugs called asian beetles EVERYWHERE. I guess they bring them in from China every year to eat some other bugs and this year they are super bad! They look like lady bugs but they sting. We live on the third floor of the apartment building so thankfully we dont get too many in our apartment! 

We were tracting this week and we found a house with signs that said, "There's nothering here worth dying for," and "Beware of owner." I don't think they wanted visitors.. I was hoping to be able to meet them but they weren't home:(  

We were knocking doors another night and it was pretty dark outside. We knocked on a house that was a little creepy. We knocked once and then decided to leave because we were scared.. as we were walking away from the house I was a couple steps behind Sister Knight so I thought I would be funny and scare her. I grabbed her and told her to run and then started running too. We laughed about it later:) 

I almost hit a deer this week. I thought I saw something a ahead of us so I slammed on my breaks and we barely stopped right before it. It was a close call! 

We also had interviews this week with President Craig so that was awesome!!! 

I have been out for 4 months now! Time is going SO fast it's crazy!! 

I was reading in Alma 37 and I really liked it.. Verse 37 says, "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good.." Then he talked about the Liahona and how they were directed the the promised land but only according to their faith and diligence. if they were slothful they did not prosper. Verse 35 says, "Just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise." Just like Lehi and his family, we have so many things to guide us to a straight course to eternal bliss or a promised land. Just don't be slothful. The way is prepared and if we will look to God we may live forever!

Sorry for such a scattered email. Hope you all have a wonderful week!! 

The Church is TRUE

October 16, 2017
Good week!! Except for it is starting to get colder and I haven't let myself wear tights yet.. I just don't want to except it. Last week for pday we went to a corn maze! Usually it is not open on Monday's but we got lucky because it was Canadian Thanksgiving! 

So our mission has the goal of 204 baptisms in the year 2017 and the year is winding down so we are trying to do everything we can to reach that goal! We were going through our area books to find former investigators that we could try teaching again and we found a few people! We went and stopped by one of them and unfortunately they had moved.. but we still talked to the guy that lived there! He said we could probably come back. Then he texted us the next day and said he really liked the pamplet and wanted to learn more! Unfortunately he lives in a town that we only have enough miles to go to once a week so we havent been able to meet with him yet but hopefully soon!! 

We also started teaching a lady who is super cool! Her son just started school at U of U. We invited her to be baptized and she said she would work towards it.. Then the next day she texted us and said she wasn't ready for such a big commitment. She will change her mind though when she realizes the church is TRUE!!:) 

One of the members of the branch took us out to lunch this week at this pretty nice restaurant. It was really good and I ate way too much!! Then the next evening a part member couple took us out to the same restaurant.. so I ate a lot again:( It was really good though!!!

We tracted into a lot of older people this week. I like older people because they let us in without realizing who we are.. Then they  tell us that they have their own religion, but at least they let us in! Especially when it is freezing! 

We had a lot of appointments fall through so that was a bummer. Hopefully this week will be better though! Overall it was a pretty good week though! 

Favorite scripture of the week: John 8:12 "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 

There is no need for us to walk in darkness when we have Christ to follow!! Love you all!