TEAM TRAINING (5/9/16 email)

Sister Fielding and I got a call from President Taylor on Saturday
night informing us that we'll both be training the new sister for a
little bit! Sister Davis is the new ASL sister coming from the MTC
tomorrow and she'll be in a trio with us until next transfers on June 1.
So I get three more weeks in ASL than I expected! But he said not
to get my hopes up because I'm going back to the English life on
June 1. I'm just so happy I get three more weeks in ASL AAAND I
get to be with Sister Davis for those three weeks! And she's a ginger
too! What whaaaat!

We went to visit a former investigator in Longview, WA on Saturday and
it was such a miracle! We asked him if other sisters had given him a
Book of Mormon and he said, "No, but I really want one. I've seen the
blue book, but I've never had one!" Then we got one out of our bag and
he said, "Yeah that's it!!" He was so excited to read from it and
study it. He said he's seen the SLC temple and it was so beautiful so
we told him there's also a temple in Portland and we could visit
sometime. He is sooo excited! And he seems so much more motivated to
do things on his own than most people we run into. Dreams do come
true!

T is getting baptized this weekend!! We are so excited! She is the
most prepared person you could imagine. Every time we come over she
says, "So I read about 8 more articles from LDS.org last week and I
wrote down some questions I have." Who does that?? And she's barely in
her 20s! She's seriously the best!

We have this one member in our branch who's a recent convert, N. He's

74 and from Cuba. He's deaf and his son is hearing but barely speaks

English. N doesn't know a lick of ASL, so communication is such a

struggle! He grew up with a lot of home signs and possibly some formal

sign language (but I have no clue what sign language they use in

Cuba...all I know is he doesn't know any ASL except for the word

Jesus). Anyway, we decided it's time to teach him ASL. We printed out

pages of pictures and brought them over to teach him and his son, F.

He is so excited to learn!! As we were leaving he told us he was going

to study the papers we left with him all day every day. Then at church

yesterday whenever someone signed something he recognized he'd turn to

us and proudly say, "I know." He's so cute! 

Here's a picture of us walking him to the bus yesterday (long story short: he got in a car accident and doesn't have a license, but he doesn't know what a license is...he has a government ID that he thinks is a license and we haven't been able to make it clear enough to him that that doesn't mean he can drive - so to try to get him not to drive we walked and took the bus with him to church). He was so cranky the whole time because the walk was 2.5 miles and he was not a fan! He kept saying, "I'm 74! You're 20! We need to take it slower!" It was a good idea after all to pick him up at 7:45 even though church started at 10:15. I don't know if he'll ever do that again though...definitely not without someone walking with him!

I don't know if I've told is to anyone, but it's always been a secret dream of mine to have my face pushed into a pie or cake. And it finally happened! Hermana Eldredge hit her hump day last week so we made a dumb rap/music video and at the he end she surprised me with a chocolate cream pie in the face! I almost fell off the table to my death from laughing so hard and not being able to breathe because everything connecting my lungs to fresh air was clogged with whipped cream.

 I got to see my little twin yesterday! 

We went to Penny's to FT our families and she was there to surprise me!

FT with the fam <3

👐🏽🤘🏼🙏🏽 (4/25/16 email)

This week was AMAZING! Seriously loads of miracles!!

We heard that there were two less-active members that are in a hearing
ward but are going deaf and don't know ASL. So we stopped by both of
them and set up appointments to come back so they can practice their
ASL. They both are so excited, and one of them asked if it's okay for
her and her deaf son to invite other deaf friends they have to the
lessons so they can see if they want to take the discussions
themselves!

Then we stopped by this one potential investigator from the Area Book
(a little hearing girl living with her deaf mom and grandma) that the
missionaries hadn't been able to contact in so long but they had left a
Book of Mormon Stories with them months ago. They answered the door,
invited us in, and the little girl said she's been reading the book and has
questions. They set up a time for us to come back in a couple weeks!
(It's so hard to schedule appointments in ASL because we're only in
Longview once - sometimes twice - a week and all of our appointments
are so far apart we can't stop by on the way to another appointment
...the strug. So that's why we scheduled it so far in advanced.)

Also, if you can't already tell, Sister Fielding loves taking pictures lol, 

so that's why there's an overload of selfies. 

WA and OR are just so pretty and whenever we see a pretty area, Sister Fielding is like,

"selfie time!" But then we can't even get the background to show if we want our faces to be visible. First world probs...

I hit my hump dayyyyy! My sweet mom sent me the best package you could imagine. 

Is there anyone better than her? No. The answer is just no! I LOVE MY WONDERFUL MOTHER!!

Well I seriously love the mission. I have never grown so much but I've also never been so aware of my weaknesses lol. I guess it's necessary though! Oh also, super random, but I love serving ASL bc it's not weird to say, "I love you," to everyone you talk to. I say that all the time, but you have to be careful who you say it to in the hearing culture because sometimes they might get the wrong idea! But in ASL its just a thing! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! Well, I hope y'all have a grand week.

👉🏻🤘🏼🖖🏽☝🏾️👐🏿 (4/18/16 email)

A foster child in the area that's been taught by the missionaries for
so long has been dying to get baptized and finally got permission from
the state!! The service will be next week! 🎉🎉

Also, I don't remember if I already said this last week, but our
investigator, L, is praying about baptism on May 8!

Also our other investigator, T, is praying about baptism on May 14.
She had an amazing answer to her prayers and said she knows she
doesn't know everything right now, but she'll know exactly what she
needs to know when she needs to know it.

I found another Swope family the other day! Shoutout to the Swopes!!!

Our roommates found some huge, disgusting Pink Panther and decided to put it in our shower to scare us. I was innocently opening the curtain to get in the shower one day and I don't think I've ever screamed so loud in my life!! Lol the Hermanas are the greatest roommates.

These missionaries came across this sign the other day, so they referred us over to the area. 

We found the deaf family there, and they're super nice! 

Lol I just thought the sign was funny bc my comp and I have never seen one like it before.

I read this talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf called "Grateful in any Circumstances" the other day and oh my goodness it was amazing! Here's just a sample:

“It is easy to be grateful for things when life seems to be going our way. But what then of those times when what we wish for seems to be far out of reach? Could I suggest that we see gratitude as a disposition, a way of life that stands independent of our current situation? In other words, I’m suggesting that instead of being thankful for things, we focus on being thankful in our circumstances—whatever they may be. We sometimes think that being grateful is what we do after our problems are solved, but how terribly shortsighted that is. How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?"

I was trying to make the quote smaller but I just couldn't get myself to delete any part of it! It's so good!! Our perspective seriously makes the biggest difference in our lives. We have all been blessed with so much and it's up to us to recognize that. 

Love you all 😘

Still living the dream (4/11/16 email)

I am still loving being able to use ASL every day. This is such a
dream! This morning we interpreted for seminary, and last night we
interpreted for a stake conference. I LOVE THIS!! I honestly can't
fully explain why, but ASL just makes me so dang full of happiness!

This week was AMAZING!! Our investigator, L, said she'll be praying
about baptism on May 8...which will also be Mother's Day apparently! So
cool! She's awesome and she loves church! We also have another
investigator that doesn't know ASL (he knows some other sign language)
so it is so hard to communicate with him. But he is so sweet and he's
understanding some things we share! He's coming to church next week!

This is the I-5 bridge behind us, which we drive over almost everyday. 

I love living on the Gorge! It's so pretty!

Sister Singleton came back to visit! 

Her mom and sister came with her and they are such a cute family! I love them!! 

Also we were unintentionally twinning.

There was a really pretty view of the Columbia behind us, but you can't really see it in the picture lol

My sleeping companion. We drive so much being ASL that it gets hard to stay awake

I GOT TO SEE THE LYMANS!! 

Oh my gosh I love their family! We had dinner over there and it was so fun. They are just so great!

Our zone went on another Gorge hike. I love this place!

Well, everyone, I love being on a mission! It is so hard in ways I never expected, but it's like nothing else I've ever experienced! I know this church is God's church restored on the earth and we can all know that through prayer. Sharing the Gospel is such a blessing!

ASL LIFEEEEEE (3/28/16 email)

I LOVE BEING ASL!! Seriously this is the life! After every appointment

my companion makes fun of me because I just can't stop smiling. Signing

makes me want to just dance around and sing to everyone!

At the deaf branch I got the best compliment I ever could've received!

Multiple members asked if if I grew up with deaf parents because of

how well I'm signing! I was so nervous because I feel like I've gotten

so rusty, but apparently not! This is such a dream come true! I JUST

LOVE DEAF PEOPLE!!

Last Tuesday, the day after I became an ASL sister, we gave a training

at the zone conference on how to find and communicate with deaf

people. We made a video of us signing and sent it to all the

missionaries and we taught them how to sign, "We're missionaries from

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Wait just a moment."

Then they can pull their iPad out of their bag and show them the video

of us explain that they don't know ASL but if they give the

missionaries their information, we'll come by and help them to learn

more. It was so great! I really hope it ends up being helpful, because

a lot of people have said they don't know what to do when they see

deaf people.

Here's a picture of me with a super old (I think 18 year old) little

dog. So cute!

This is the sweetest man, N, from Cuba! He doesn't know much ASL so he gestures a lot, 

but he is ALWAYS smiling and laughing...and usually dancing too haha! So tender.

Craziness!! (3/21/16 email)

So I just got a call from President Taylor saying I'm being emergency

transferred to be an ASL sister since one of the ASL sisters has to go home 

due to health reasons. SURPRISE! I just finished packing up the car and I'll

be up in Vancouver in an hour!!

Well here's a picture of me using tactile signing for the first time.

This sweet woman is deaf and almost completely blind and I just love

her! (This was when we were on exchanges with the ASL sisters this

week which I LOVED!!)

This was when I got to go on exchanges with Sister Reeves! Such a dream come true!! 

We were reunited for a whole 24 hours!

Saying goodbye to the sweetest family! I love these girls.

Saying goodbye to N, our recent convert--I just love her! 

She's come sooo far, and the Gospel has blessed her more than I can explain.

Saying goodbye to this future missionary, who I just love and adore.

The S fam! (minus the baby twins because they were sleeping) 

I sure will miss them, but I know we'll be in contact because they're amazing and just love their missionaries.

Sorry this is all for now! I'm really rushing haha love you! AND I LOVE ASL AND DEAF PEOPLE, SO I AM SO EXCITED!