BEST WEEK EVER (8/15/16 email)

In the beginning of this transfer, we had about zero people we were meeting with and we felt like we could never build it up because we are constantly in meetings so we have hardly any time to meet new people. We were quickly chastised by these two zone leaders who said that God isn't held back by how much time we have to be outside, and that regardless of the amount of meetings we have, He can bless us with miracles. That completely changed our perspective, and now we're seeing the miracles! Also our mission president is really focusing on the importance of building relationships and sharing the Gospel because you sincerely love the people you teach and you want them to be happy, so that's majorly helped too.

Our investigator, H (getting baptized on September 3), just applied to BYU-I! She was so worried about money and the cost of housing and school, but we told her about BYU-I and she was freaking out about how affordable school and housing are there! Everything is just falling into place for her and she's so excited to get baptized.

Here's a picture of us at the temple with her!

We went into the visitors center and Brother Brown 

(our wonderful ward mission leader) was in a video!! He's pretty much a celebrity! 

Honestly, though, Brother Brown is the sweetest and most amazing man. 

Whenever you talk to him you just want to hug the man! I am so grateful for him!

The STLs at MLC lunch with the Turners

This girl, M, in the ward just got back from her mission in CA, 

so her dad decorated the house in CA things. I felt so at home. 💕

Ahhhh I love these two people! We were walking back to our car from an appointment and we saw them in their garage with the door opened, so we walked up, and before we could even introduce ourselves they asked us to sit down! They started running around getting watermelon and various treats to feed us. They were talking about how old they're getting and how they can't do things like they used to, so we asked if we could come help clean their house or something, and the husband kept saying, "No! We treat you like priests. We feed you. You bless our home." But eventually the wife accepted our help and we're coming to clean the kitchen tomorrow and then she'll feed us lunch. Soooo cute! I just wish all of America had that culture. They're not interested in Christianity at all, but they let us talk and want to get to know us and serve in any way they can. I LOVE THEM!!

I think I'm happier than I ever have been in my life. It's such an amazing opportunity to share what's blessed me and brought me happiness with those I love. I get to meet amazing people every day and--whether they're interested in the Gospel or not--we make some friendships that will last forever. I love being a missionary!

Zone hike (8/8/16 email) 👟🌲

We went on a pretty hike in Washougal his morning! Living so close to the Gorge is amazing!!

But first: let me tell you about this week. We met an amazing girl named V and her grandma decorates various eggs and makes them look so elegant and beautiful. By the time she finishes one she's out hundreds of dollars into it and countless hours. They are BEAUTIFUL and I have never seen anything like it. Anyways we started talking about God's plan for us and she said, "I actually believe there's probably different levels of Heaven rather than there just being heaven and hell." Wow she is a smart girl! We taught her about the Three Degrees of Glory and she loved it. She just said, "Woah. That sounds much more like God's plan than what I've learned before!" So she's amazing and she's coming to our potluck tonight.

On exchanges this week we drove past our companions' bikes, so we had to stop and TP them. 

Yeah, some things never change!

Our pretty hike we went on!

We hiked to this waterfall and Sister Sitala took a picture of us because she always says that 

Sister Arnett and I are "too good of friends." Lol I'm starting to see it...awk.

I am just loving the mission! The sisters are all amazing that we get to go on exchanges with. I'm really tired lol sorry my email's not super exciting. But have a great week!

Exchanges and referrals (8/1/16 email)

This week we met with an AMAZING girl, M. She's had LDS friends growing up and they've shared bits and pieces of the Gospel with her throughout the years, and they recently invited her to meet with the missionaries. We had a great lesson with her, but I'm pretty sure the fact that it was us two and four of her friends teaching her was kind of overwhelming. In the future we probably will just have it more one on one. But she's seriously so genuine and sincere and amazing! She came to a baptism on Saturday, and the guy getting baptized was in a very similar situation to hers. They're both 18 and their families aren't supportive of them looking into the Church. The boy that got baptized said he's wanted to be baptized for years but he was waiting until he turned 18. He's even gone on the youth temple trips, but he just goes to the visitor's center. He spent years sneaking out of the house to go to seminary and church! He just is so dedicated because he knows this is God's church, and I think it was meant to be that M got to meet him.

Also these guys in the ward that come up here every summer to sell pest control (everyone calls them the bug boys) are the #1 best missionaries! They met some girls in the hot tub the other day and invited them to church, and they came! And now they're asking them if they want to meet with us! Also one of the bug boys is the one who invited M to meet with us. They're just the example of sharing the Gospel with everyone. And it's not for any reason other than the fact that they want to help people! We keep getting more and more bug boy referrals every day.

We went on back-to-back-to-back exchanges this week with three companionships of sisters, and they were all so much fun! I love being a sister training leader because you get to know everyone so much better than you could otherwise. You seriously make so many life-long friends on the mission that you never would've made if you didn't go. Missions are amazing!

For my one year mark last week, I only asked for one thing: we could wake up an hour early to have a longer workout. I was worried my companion wouldn't be up for it, but Sister Arnett was all for it! She loved it so much that we made it a weekly thing, and now every Saturday we have extra workout time. Heavenly Father really blessed me with Sister Arnett because we have such a similar mindset on everything and it is soooo easy for me to work with her because there's nothing we disagree on. I almost think I'm not growing enough with her just because it's too easy to get along with her. But I'll take it!

Our friends made us breakfast for dinner a while ago and it was the best thing ever!

We went over to T's house for a lesson, 

and all the neighborhood kids love us so they came running in the house for a lesson. 

We taught them about honesty and prayer, 

and this ADORABLE girl asked if they could each say a prayer at the end of the lesson. 

Lol we went in a circle and each one of us got to say a short prayer. 

It was almost everyone's first time saying a prayer too! I love these little children! 

I think serving in the YSA ward is making me miss children even more. 😪

This morning we had DLC over pancakes. 

Our zone leaders were given a bunch of blueberries yesterday, 

so they decided to make us all blueberry pancakes for our meeting. Best DLC ever! 

Wow I'm starting to realize just how many of my pictures I send in these emails are about food...

THE SWITCH (7/18/16 email)

Sister Okerlund and Sister Arnett have officially switched places! On Wednesday we just switched companions/areas and here we are. I LOVE SISTER ARNETT! Saying goodbye to Sister Okerlund was rough because we got along so well so quickly, but it helped knowing I'd get Sister Arnett. She is so much fun and open and easy going and just herself.

Well I forgot to send pictures from the 4th of July...so here ya go! 

It's crazy in WA because everyone does their own aerial fireworks in the neighborhoods 

so we had a bunch of ash landing on us all night. Such a dream! 

Here's Sister Okerlund and I soaking it all in.

Our friend, S, has a very friendly leopard gecko...sometimes a little too friendly.

J came and visited us from Beaverton and took us to Froyo!!! I LOVE THIS GIRL! 

We got to catch up on each others' lives for a bit which was exactly what I needed!

We got pictures from when we were part of a missionary panel at a youth conference. 

So official looking 😏

In MLC on Thursday, Sister Lowder noticed that we were shivering so she brought us blankets. 

We are so pampered here! Sitting through meetings wrapped up in blankets.

Everyone kept commenting on how much we were matching yesterday so we tried to take a selfie, but we couldn't get the full outfit...so then we tried to set it on timer but that didn't quite work either. Lol but it totally looked like we tried to twin!

We saw some people on a tandem bike, so we asked if we could take a picture on it

...but we didn't anticipate how hard it'd be to get on in pencil skirts. 

I literally had to jump on and couldn't touch my feet to the ground so Sister Arnett had to stabilize it. And then after all that effort we saw the picture and Sister Arnett blinked! Lol we tried so hard...

Something I've been thinking about recently is the fact that the people we meet with will never know how much we think and pray about them. We pray for their protection and we study with them in mind to know what they need to hear right now. It's crazy, but nobody will ever know how important they are to us! We just get a little glimpse of how Heavenly Father must feel about us. Missions are just so mind blowing!

Also...this Pokemon Go thing?? Lol everyone is constantly running down the streets trying to catch Pokemon everywhere we go! This is hilarious!

Remember how I was really overwhelmed and stressed out a few weeks ago? Well I just realized the main reason why! We didn't have any study time my first four weeks in YSA. I never realized how much studying the scriptures helps you relax and feel comforted until I went four weeks without it. There seriously is power that comes from scripture study! As long as we make time for it, we'll be able to feel so much more on top of things!

TRANSFERS (7/11/16 email)

Transfers are on Wednesday! I'm staying and getting Sister Arnett and Sister Okerlund is going to Felida with Sister Morton! I seriously love Sister Okerlund and obvi I'll miss her, but I'm also so excited to get Sister Arnett! I have seriously been blessed with the best
companions in the world.

Yesterday I got to interpret in church!! Our friend who's hard of hearing graduated this year and wants to come to YSA sometimes. She came yesterday and I got to INTERPRET!!!

We have been meeting with this girl, H, and she was on date a while ago but that didn't work out. So we were planning on inviting her to set a goal of a date far in the future and she could slowly prepare at her own pace. We prayed about it and felt like October 8 would be good. So we invited her to prepare for October 8 and she said, "Well actually I'm going to move in September and I don't want to get baptized in a new area, so could I get baptized earlier?" So that made us pretty happy. We told her she needs to do things to prepare and she was so down! She came to church and asked us questions about her scripture reading and everything. 💕

Our last YSA ward correlation with Sister Okerlund 😪

I got to go on exchanges in Nehalem back on my old bike! 💕 MEMORIES!! 

Nehalem still has my heart...and the Tongan ward. My dream is for the Tongan ward to become a sisters area and I'll be white washed in. One day!

Back to normal (7/4/16 email)

Don't worry, everyone. I'm back and better than ever! I kind of hit a breaking point last week when we were on exchanges actually. I was still in that constant overwhelmed state and we went on exchanges...I was not ready for it! We're supposed to be there for the sisters when they need someone to talk to, but I wasn't in the place to be someone else's rock. We had a long talk on the way home, and then after planning she took a shower. While she was in the shower I just knelt down and let out all of my assorted emotions to God. I asked Him for support because I know I can't help these sisters...or the Clark YSA ward...or anyone on my own. I asked Him for strength because I've been starting to find out how weak I am. Anyways I had a long and emotional conversation with Him and I've felt AMAZING ever since! I immediately felt calm and I had no doubt that I can rely on Him for anything. So I feel like I'm finally 100% back in my body!

I found this picture of Elder Lambert and the STLs the other day. 

He is just so loved by everyone he has ever met, 

and I'm sure he's still making people smile on the other side.
We love you, Elder Lambert!

It was B's birthday! She loves funfetti cake and the color purple, so this is what I made for her. 

She is the sweetest human. I just love this girl! 

Here's a scripture that explains my feelings right now: Alma 26:35-36. 

35 Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yeah, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.

36 Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.

...hello! We should be so much happier than we are because we have a Heavenly Father who loves us and is always thinking of us! That's what my week-ago self needed to hear.

Oh also we had a great lesson with N! Did I ever tell you about her? She hasn't been the best at replying to texts or calls, so we've stopped by twice and both times she's said it's right after she prays for help. Anyway we had a great lesson with her just answering questions she's had from hearing random things about the Church. There is such a drastic difference from when people ask the same questions but have different motives...I don't think that sentence was in English, but I hope it makes sense to people. Lol sorry I'm always in a hurry when I email. But she was genuinely asking these deep questions because she wanted to know the truth and we loved it, but sometimes people ask the same questions with different motives and it just goes nowhere. So we try to end the conversation on a good note and leave.

Also S came to church! She left after sacrament meeting, but it was still great and she said she feels so peaceful there!

Have a wonderful 4th of July! We're going to have a BBQ for lunch with a bunch of missionaries, then play kickball, then have another BBQ for dinner with the YSA ward! I love America...and hot dogs...and playing outside!