Boonies 4 lyfe (9/26/16 email)

This week we met with a 13-year-old boy and had such an awk lesson. He was sooo nice and polite, but we were just awkward. We pretty much talked the whole time and did everything wrong, but somehow at the end of the lesson he said, "I'm starting to think this is true. I'm not ready right now, but I want to work toward baptism." If that doesn't prove that this is God's church, I don't know what does! Everything that we could've done wrong we did, but he still felt the Spirit! So that's exciting, and we have our second lesson with him tomorrow night!

Also our recent convert, B, has a husband, M, who was completely against the church at first. He was still supportive of B, but whenever the sisters came over he'd just tell them why they were wrong as he walked by. But the first lesson I was here for, he sat in and listened, so I just figured he was always like that. Then he asked us what to wear to church bc he wanted to go to support his wife. So he came but kept telling us he didn't want to get baptized (even though we never brought it up to him haha he just really wanted us to know that). But yesterday he came to church and said, "I'm not getting baptized anytime soon, but who knows what the future holds." And he said he wants to stop chewing tobacco! We haven't invited him to do any of this! He's just feeling the Spirit and he said he really enjoys when we come over and when he goes to church.

Here's a picture of our district. 

The elders thought they'd pose like sisters and we'd pose like elders.

We ran into President McAteer in Longview of all places! We asked to take a picture with him, and he said, "Wait, let me get my selfie stick out of my trunk!" Hahaha he cracks me up. Then he took this first selfie from a super low angle, but Sis. Mandin showed him the importance of holding the selfie stick up high. I don't know why, but every man over 40 takes selfies from a low angle.

The signs you come across in the boonies of Woodland.

Sister Mandin got our car stuck, 

so I had to climb through and get our stuff out of it before it got towed. 

The driveways of the homes we visit are just too much for our little Cruze, 

especially when it's raining and slippery.

After Sister Mandin smashed whipped cream on my nose at dinner

Teaching a horse about the restored Gospel

Sister Mandin was like, "How did we even get here?" 
so she secretly took a picture before walking up to the porch with me.

My life is great up here! And I love you all! 
Here's a scripture I like: D&C 64:33. Read it! It's great!

Another volcano hike 🌋 (9/19/16 email)

So many little things happened this week! I don't even know what to tell you. Here are some major highlights:
- We met with this amazing couple, S and L, who weren't sure about the whole Joseph Smith story. They said that anybody could've made that up. But then when we talked about the Book of Mormon, they were like, "Okay this is making more sense now. I'll have to pray about it, but I'm starting to understand now." I am just so grateful for the Book of Mormon because it makes everything so much more clear!
- We invited this less active family, the Hs, to invite their friends to meet with us. We shared a video saying that if you have anything good you want to share it (ex: brownies, a fun game, etc.), so it should be the same thing with the Gospel. Anyway we had a lesson with them last Thursday right after dinner. They surprised us and invited four of their non-member friends and had a complete dinner prepared for all of us! We tried to make it look like we were eating more than we were, and we were holding up pretty well...but then they fed us three desserts! After our second dinner! We were dying. But then we had a lesson and the two high school friends were really excited about reading the Book of Mormon and looking into it!
- We met this one cute woman who hasn't been to church in years, and she just became my best friend! I love her. She said she wants to start housing us! That would be such a dream come true!!
- This other family that hasn't been to church in years also became our best friends and we LOOOOVE going over there and now they feed us every Wednesday, and their daughter is coming to young women's with us. They're so fun!

Exchanges with Sister Mortensen 💕

Self portrait of us and the hermanas. Guess which one's me!

I go a little crazy during weekly planning. I can't sit still for that long at all.

This cute boy was suuuuuuper shy, so I quit trying to talk to him 

and instead just talked to his lizard, and he completely opened up! 

Haha after that he just wanted to show us all of his trains and cool tricks. I MISS CHILDREN!!

Our hike today over at Mt. St. Helens! So pretty...

(I cropped out Sis. Mandin's nostrils bc ain't nobody wanna see that.)

I'm starting to enjoy how obsessed everyone here is with Big Foot. He's just a part of my life now.

Woodland life (9/12/16 email)

Another week has gone by! Time is the weirdest mind game.

We met an amazing girl, S, a couple days ago who met missionaries in Vancouver recently. She has gone through some crazy stuff and really wants to find her purpose in life. It was so meant to be that we met her! She's so excited to meet with us this week and figure out more about why she's here. She's so humble and great!

I got an email from M in my last area this week saying she's getting baptized on October 1! Her parents have been completely against the church all her life and so she didn't tell her parents that she was coming to church for a long time. She was afraid of how her parents might treat her, but we kept inviting her to pray for the strength to bring it up. Anyways she emailed me saying she just felt like she was putting it off so she finally did it and it was really hard, but she feels amazing and peaceful about it. Her parents are far from excited for her, but she said she's never felt so amazing before and she can't even describe the feeling. I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!!!!

When you're waiting for the Elders to come so we can start the meeting.

We helped at a garage sale this week and found this huge magnifying glass thing. 

Exchanges with the Hermanas were amazing!! I love these sisters so much! 

We're having a sleepover tonight and I am so pumped!

Scripture of the week: I've been working on trying to understand the Old Testament recently, and I think Isaiah is just amazing. Confusing but mind blowing. I came across this scripture, Isaiah 6:8, and I just love it. Right when the Lord asked who he could send, Isaiah volunteered. I feel like every one of us can be better about that. In meetings, we often wait for someone else to raise their hand and volunteer. But I think all of us can be quicker to volunteer ourselves. When I was in the YSA ward, our ward correlation meetings were AMAZING. Our ward mission leader would ask, "Who wants to teach Sunday School next month?" and within seconds someone would raise their hand. And others would volunteer for things before they were even asked. It was a dream come true! I just think we can all be more excited to help. Isaiah is so great and I know I'm missing a ton of its deeper meaning, but I still love it!

What a week! (9/5/16 email)

Sorry I have had zero time today, so this is going to be super short, and I don't know when I'll have wifi next so idk when this will send. But this week was great!

Sister Reeves and I got to go through the temple with P, and then out to lunch with her after! 
IT WAS SUCH A DREAM! I LOVE HER!! But the pictures at lunch turned out laaaame. 
We asked the waiter to take some pictures, and he thought he'd be artistic and hold it at an angle. Haha. And then, of all the close up candids, the only one I'm in I have a menu covering my face. Lol. 
But it was great, and I love P!

I planned a sisters hike this morning and it was BEAUTIFUL and so fun. 
Washington is so dang wonderful.

Sister Mandin is hilarious, and our members here are amazing. We're not working with many people at all, but I still just feel so hopeful! Oh and I ran into someone I taught a couple lessons to when I was in my first area! She moved up here and recognized me and wants to meet with us this week! God doesn't do random! Love you all, bye!

Welcome to Woodland (8/29/16 email)

I love it up here so far! Last transfer, the sisters here were over two wards so this ward didn't get much love. Right when I synced my Area Book app I saw that we had zero investigators! But I feel so hopeful! Seriously it's such a blessing because normally I'd feel sad about being here, but I'm so excited to be able to find those people that are searching for the truth. No doubt God helping me out!

This is a super cute couple that we ran into last transfer. They said that Sister Arnett and I were their new daughters and they had us over for lunch every week! When I told them I was leaving they were so confused at first, but they asked me to send them a picture of me in the mail for them to put on their wall of gods so they could pray for me. They are the SWEETEST couple! And they cook so well! I've never loved Indian food so much in my life!

Saying bye to my Fairway Village sisters 💕 love them!!

Saying bye to the lovely Sister Girot 💗

H got baptized!!!!! It was so wonderful! 

She seriously amazes me with how much she's grown and opened up. 

She is just a completely new person. I love that girl!

Sister Mandin and I were in charge of the get-to-know-you game in our zone study this weekend. After spit balling a few ideas, we came up with this mind reader. We made one side the input and one side the output and we wrote 22 questions on sticky notes that they asked each other. Our design was pretty flawless, but some people just didn't know how to use it correctly.

The beautiful Longview zone

We found baby kittens!!

Sister Mandin said her rapper name is White Mystery......

This is Sister H, our Bishop's wife. I LOVE HER! 

She's the SWEETEST and most beautiful woman ever. Life goals! 

We were going through her scrapbook and Sister Mandin thought it was so cute.

Then she went to her kitchen and gave us a bunch of cereal and granola bars and fruit! 

She just loves everyone so much. 💕💕

Her husband had meetings all day from 9:30am-10pm yesterday, so Sister Heath made him this cute lunch. They are so tender! He sacrifices so much for the ward and sometimes he just looks so troubled and worn out when he knows of anyone struggling in the ward. The Heaths are just so lovable!

Here's a super cool scripture: Romans 8:31
It just makes it so clear that we don't need to worry about anything as long as we put God first. Nothing can get us down!

TRANSFER NEWS (8/22/16 email)

So on Friday everyone got their transfer letter and we didn't get any, so we celebrated the fact that Sister Arnett and I are both staying together in the Clark YSA ward. We were so pumped! Buuuuuut then on Sunday, the Elders said something about me leaving and I found out they were correct! Ahhhh! Apparently my letter must have been lost somehow because it's still not here. But I found out I'm going up to Woodland with Sister Mandin! I LOVE SISTER MANDIN! She is the hilarious Canadian that I roomed with in Gresham. Also I'll be further north AKA closer to Collin - only a 14 hour bike ride from Woodland to Seattle. 😏  But seriously, I'm so excited to be in Woodland! I've heard great things about the members in that ward...but it's somewhat in the middle of nowhere.

Here we are with H, who's getting baptized on Thursday! 

She just bought some dresses for her baptism and church. I LOVE HER SO MUCH!

We met this man who said he was in a band, so we asked him for a show. He went inside and got all dressed up, then he came back out and set up his speakers and everything and sang us a song. Afterward, we referred him to the Oakhurst elders, and he's studying with them now!

This super sweet woman who's not a member of the church just loves what missionaries do for the community, so she cuts the missionaries' hair for free! She cut our hair, and then she took a picture to text to our mommies. I love that woman!