Another transfer, an old companion!

I was laughing so much about the Farrell basketball game. That is such a crazy school. I can't believe someone got arrested! Wild.

Sledding sounds so fun! Some of the elders have been sledding here, but the sisters don't have warm clothes and so they never wanted to go. I would have gone, but obviously we have to stay with our companions! haha. Glad you had fun with the YM/YW.

That's so exciting about the missionary couple coming to Slippery Rock. We work with a couple of different senior couples in the Tree and I absolutely love them! 

What would I like to tell the Slippery Rock Youth?? Hm... Go on a mission! John Bytheway said, "True Christlike service is seldom convenient!" There will always be excuses to put off or deny going on a mission. But it is so important to remember that for 18 months-2 years, you will serve the same God who gave you everything you have! 

I don't know how to have a quote, but something to the effect that you need to give up your own time to serve the Lord. 

Oh my goodness, FORCE Rachel McCarl to write me!!

So this week.. Tuesday, 3 of the Park City sisters were in Salt Lake to go to the temple (you get to go through when you are in your last transfer). So their 3 companions (me, Sister Zeiner, and Sister Cutler) stayed to work at the Family Tree. We also got our transfer announcements on Tuesday... So.. I am in my fourth transfer, and now my FOURTH area, with my FIFTH companion. I am still in Park City, but I am serving in the Park City West area instead of Park City East. And my companion is... Sister Zeiner! My MTC companion! Wild. 

Sis Jara finishes her mission!

On Tuesday night, we were still with our companions, but Wednesday morning, they all left. I cried so much when Sister Jara left! I was feeling like I had a good handle on things and that I would be fine, but then when she started walking towards the car that would take her to Salt Lake, I started bawling out of nowhere! I love that girl!

Wednesday, I met the Whites, who Sister Zeiner and I are living with. It is so different from our other apartment! It is so big! We are living in the White's basement.. It is a beautiful and big house, but the only downfall is that it is sort of really really freezing! We also met the new Zone Leader, Elder Gomez. 

On Thursday, I saw 2 moose!! I've never seen one before! I was so excited! I only saw them from a distance, but I heard that they are all around this area, so I am looking forward to seeing more!

Yesterday, Sister Zeiner and I had a lesson with this AMAZING girl who is planning on being baptized this week! The only problem is that she is only 16 and needs her parents' permission to be baptized. Her father is a member and is OK with it, but her mother is Catholic and thinks that she should wait. We are all fasting for her on Tuesday so that her mother's heart will be softened and she will be allowed to be baptized! 

Everything is going great here. Sister Zeiner and I both felt kind of sick this past week, so it was a little bit rough. But I know that it will be a great transfer. I can already tell that we have really great members and people in this area! 

I love love love you! Hope that all is well! Mwah! <3

Sundance hits Park City! :) Sis Jaras going home :(

Sis Jara and I in Park City!

I have officially been out for 5 months, as of Saturday!

 

I got your letter the other day. I can't wait to get another letter from Adam. It's really special when I get to talk to him. I love my brothers! When I get older (and am not on a mission), we will have family reunions frequently!

 

I feel like Shane has been working on his Eagle Project for a long time now! That's awesome that he is sticking with it and that he is getting so much help from friends and family. Make him write thank you cards!

 

That sounds like a really fun fireside. Some ideas: Make sure that you have pass-along cards so that members can take them and give them to friends! Also, challenge everyone to give away a BOM and maybe have some copies available for them to take and give away. Maybe have a referral sheet-- If anyone can think of a friend/family worker/co-worker that would receive the missionaries, they can put their name, number, address down. It's great to get people to remember their missions and the missionaries, but put an emphasis that the members can be missionaries too! I don't know. Just some ideas! Wishing I could Skype! I think Rachel McCarl would be a great speaker! I remember when she got home from her mission and spoke. It's partly because of her that I wanted to go on a mission. She speaks with the Spirit and has a really strong testimony and knowledge of the scriptures. I love that girl!

 

I loved your little story about Charlie saying that I am on vacation. I am in a huge vacation city, so everyone always thinks that I can go skiing or snowboarding on weekends. The Sundance Film Festival is in Park City for the next couple of weeks. The Family Tree Visitors' Center is right on Main Street where a lot of the action takes place! The streets are closed down and there are so many people. It's wild. There are a lot of people who dress crazy and we just watch them from the windows. haha. It's really fun though because people come from all over the world. I love that part. And I love when they come into the Family Tree, especially!

 

Sis Jara with Casey's hat.

Sister Jara is leaving this Wednesday and I will get my new companion. I am so sad! I know that my new companion will be great and things will be fine, but Sister Jara has become one of my very best friends! She is going to do so much good in Chile and I know that she is ready to go, but it will be so hard to say goodbye!

 

The Judds working to get a splinter out of my hand!

There are so so many changes happening in the Family Tree. The directors when I got here were Elder and Sister Mulford. They just had their last day last week and now we have Elder and Sister Jerman. There are 2 new sets of Senior Couples and there are 3 sister missionaries leaving this week! Everything is going to take some adjusting!

Have you been reading the New Testament with the mission? I love love love the New Testament. Have you seen the Bible videos on LDS.org? They are so so good and they are helpful to watch, especially when reading the New Testament. (http://www.lds.org/bible-videos/videos?lang=eng)

 

Bowling with the zone

Last P-day we went bowling with the district. Casey and Cortney came too! It was a lot of fun!

Book of Mormon Celebration

Last Thursday, one of the wards had a Relief Society Book of Mormon celebration. We took an investigator and her 5-year-old daughter. She really liked it! It was a great event. It was kind of like a Primary Program, but for adults. haha. There was a little dialogue and then there were a lot of songs.

 

I loved this week! Sundance is kind of crazy and wild, but it brings more people to the city and in turn, brings more people into the Family Tree. On Thursday, this man came in and spoke just a little bit of English. He said that he is from China, but is living in the U.S. for a short time as a film director and a part-time professor. He said that we probably couldn't find anything on his family, but we tried and he really liked the FamilySearch.org website and said that it helped a lot. He was super nice and we had a really good conversation and he accepted to have the missionaries visit him at his house in New York after the festival. So the next day, Friday, a girl came in, saying that her friend told her to come because we had some good information. I asked what her friend's name was & she said the name of the guy that I met the day before! Right away, she accepted to have missionaries come to her house and teach her. She is from China, too, and said that she has always wanted to know more about Jesus Christ. We watched a video and she felt the Spirit strongly. She accepted a Book of Mormon and was so so happy about it! She is sooo great. It was one of the coolest experiences just to see how the Lord prepares people. Anyway, I am hoping to keep in touch with her and I hope that she has a good experience with the missionaries!

 

The French at a glance book would be fine to send. It's small and light and I could keep up on basic phrases. I met a little boy the other night when we went to a member's house. The little boy is in a French immersion program at school. We were speaking French to each other and he's not even 8, I don't think! haha.

 

Well, I love love love you! I hope that everything is going well. You are the best! I miss you! Thank you for everything that you do! Mwaah!

 

<3

Park City's generosity!

I am so jealous of your HP pajama party!

I got different boots than Sister Jara. Mine are cuter! (As cute as winter boots can get!) They are from Bass and hers were from Columbia.

We do have a lot of snow. Sometimes our car gets "grounded" which means that we can't drive because it's too snowy on the roads.

Last Monday for Pday we went to eat at Cafe Rio (so good!) and a woman paid for our meals! She was so sweet. She said that she would pay if we would come talk to her and her daughter, who is preparing for a mission. 

Then I got my hair cut...in a real salon! A member cut it for free. It was nice. It felt so good to get rid of those split ends and straighten out my bangs. haha

Casey, Courtney and Sis Jara

Cortney and Casey surprised Sister Jara and I by picking us up at Walmart. They took me to get some new warm winter boots and then said they had a surprise for us! They took us to "Color Me Mine" which is a place with a bunch of white ceramics, like plates or objects in the shapes of dogs or whatever. You pick out whatever you want and you paint it and they put it in the kiln and you get it back in a couple of days. We had so much fun! and they paid! They are so great. 

I colored a Sunflower!

On Thursday, Jan 8, we had a farewell party. There are 3 Park City sisters going home at the end of this week!! Crazy! My companion, Sister Jara, and also Sisters Garibaldo and Penrod. There are so many changes around here! We are also getting a new Family Tree director. So a bunch of the past senior couples came up and we had a little reunion/farewell. I cried. I am going to miss Sister Jara so much! She is the best companion ever and all we ever do is laugh.

Last Friday, I got an email from a girl that came into the Family Tree a couple of weeks ago. She is a non-member from California. She said the sweetest things! She wrote about how she wants to surround herself with people like me and that she wants to come closer to God and get on the right path. Hopefully I can start teaching her through email. She said she wants to travel the world with me when I am done with my mission. haha. She's my kind of girl!!

On Saturday, Sister Jara woke up at 4 a.m. and said, "Sister Wall..." and miraculously, I woke up right away. She told me that she was scared because she had a really bad dream, so I sang her some songs. haha. That whole Saturday, we were outside tracting! We only stopped for lunch and for dinner! It was fuh-reeezing. We had a lot of success though so it was worth it!

On Sunday, we went to the Christensens for dinner and Family Home Evening. We spent an hour or so with Cortney and Casey and the family. When we had to leave, Sister Jara was so sad because they are one of our favorite families and she is sad to leave them.

It was a good week!

New Year's in my onsies! Brrrr

Midnight on New Year's Eve 2013 with Sister Jara!

This Monday was New Year's Eve. We went to the missionary conference, where we saw the apostle, Elder Christofferson speak. He was really wonderful and shook each missionary's hand. Something that he said really touched me and I've been trying to tell everyone about it!! He said that when we return to our Heavenly Father, we will recognize him and we will know him, just like He knows us! Isn't that great? I think it's like, you won't see me for 18 months, and I won't see you (with the exception of Skype), so we will vaguely forget about each other's details. I won't forget-forget, but I won't think about the way that you laugh or your habits or your voice. But as soon as I see you again, all of that knowledge will come back. Everything will be the same as it always was. It will feel familiar. And I definitely know that it will be that way with Heavenly Father, too.

Cheetah onesie from Sister Burtenshaw!!!

 After the apostle spoke, the missionaries were allowed to play sports like basketball or volleyball (of course I didn't). We could watch the movie Brave, or we could just hang out. Being up in Park City, I hardly get to see the other missionaries in the valley, so I hung out with some of the missionaries that I have met on my mission. Mostly, I was walking around with Sister Burtenshaw from my West Jordan zone. I absolutely love her! She gave me a cheetah print onesie for Christmas, by the way. It's amazing. hahah.

Sister Burtenshaw and I on New Year's Eve --

Sad that we have to leave each other!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, I set some New Year's resolutions and reflected on my goals that I had for last year. I think that I did pretty good! Some of the things that I think I did really well on last year.. "Bring Anis to SRU" (Yes!), "Go on a mission" (Yes!), "Send lots of mail" (Definitely!). I am really looking forward to this year. It will be the only year in my life that I am completely dedicated and focused on serving the Lord. My goals are all mission-oriented, like, "Invite others to come unto Christ," and "Give, oh give away," which means that I want to be generous with my time and energy and possessions. I want to completely serve the people here and forget myself in the work.

I started my One Line a Day journal over. It's fun to read about the things from last year. One of the funny ones was on January 4, last year: "Too many hours at Kohl's with Zooey and Mutti, Starving at Shane's basketball game, Flat tire on the van from Mutti running over a curb." haha. Do you remember that?? Another good one is from January 14: "Blueberry muffins, Terrible movie at the dollar theater, Paper at Michael's, Vegi-meatball subs, & Trying on mom's wedding dress." I loved that day!!

On Thursday, we were tracting (knocking doors) some apartments (it was FREEZING). We knocked on 305 and a little girl answered the door that I recognized. I thought, How do I know her?? Her mom came up and I said, "I know you!.." It took me a minute, but I realized that we had met this woman while tracting another apartment complex on my first day in Park City. She had been at her sister's apartment and was nice to us, but wasn't very interested in hearing our message. So when we knocked on HER door, I think that we were all surprised! This time, though, she was very very open and honest with us. She said that she felt comfortable talking to us. It was a complete change and I know that it wasn't a coincidence. I know that Heavenly Father had been preparing her! 

On Friday was Sister Zeiner's birthday. Big 22! We all went out to lunch at Ruby Tuesday's and had a lot of fun. We worked in the Visitor's Center that night. A recent convert from New York and her member friend came in, just to visit. The friend lived in Utah but the Recent Convert was so so excited to visit and see all of the members and all of the temples. She was glowing. We talked to these girls for quite a while and heard all about them. The member said that she was trying to decide whether or not to go on a mission because she hadn't received any answer to her prayers asking if she should go. I shared my experience with her about not getting an answer either and I told her that Heavenly Father wants US to make the decision sometimes. I told her that she should pray for him to bless her path or block it. She started to cry and I felt so positive that she needed to hear about my experience. 

I love love love LOVE being a missionary. It was OK my first transfer; my second transfer I really liked it; and now I absolutely LOVE it. I am seeing miracles every single day. My companion and I are lead by the Spirit and we are always laughing and enjoying our experiences. I am meeting so many people that I immediately love. I am sharing my testimony about the most important thing in my life. I am learning and growing and changing. I am so so grateful to be here and I am so happy that I made the decision to serve the Lord. I am humbled that Heavenly Father would let me be a representative for his son, Jesus Christ. This is the best thing ever.

 I really love you and I appreciate all that you do for me! Thank you for your letters and your love and your support and prayers!

 

Sister Garibaldo, Sister Jara, and Sister Piton (she's done with her mission--just visiting!) on New Year's Eve.

 

Happy News Years Eve - My wonderful week of Christmas!

Sis Wall and Sis Jara

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!!

Awhh, I love all of the pictures that you sent me. Thank you. That seems like a really fun time going sledding. We want to go as a zone next week. I am nervous though because I have NO warm clothes! Wahh! In the picture of them taking down the birdhouses, the boots that the girl is wearing are the kind that I want! My feet have been so freezing! Sister Jara gave me one of her coats. It is purple and bright and warm, but it is wool! I have been wearing it though, despite the itchyness. 

I am so sad that I will miss your chinese New Year's Eve food! We might go to a family's house tomorrow and eat Japanese food, though, so maybe it will be kind of the same. haha.

I am glad that you are joining the ARC again. You seem like you always enjoy it. I feel like my face is getting fatter, but the rest of my body is staying the same! haha. What can I do about this?

Today is the last day of 2012 and then I get to start my "One Line a Day Journal" over again.. I am actually really excited about this!! I will make sure to remind you of fun things that we did on the same day last year. haha. 

I know the morning was pretty hectic, but I am so glad that I got to talk with you on Christmas evening! I probably already told you some of the things, but I will just recount my week to you!

Sunday, Sister Jara and I went to the Park City ward for church. They had 11 instruments total, including 2 harps, which were my favorite!! By the way, can I have a harp when I get home? They are only about 8,000 dollars. So.. yes? ...It was a really good sacrament though. Elizabeth Smart played a couple of songs on the harp. 

On Monday, Christmas Eve, we could go anywhere in the mission that we wanted. The Spanish speaking sisters, Sister Jara, and I went down to the valley to visit some families that we know. I got to see the boys that I taught, which was awesome! The oldest moved to California, but the brothers were still living there and taking the discussions with the elders, which made me so excited. In the evening, we went to a mission conference, where we saw Elder Oaks and his wife speak. I had the opportunity to say the closing prayer in front of the entire mission and an apostle! 

Tuesday, as you know, was Christmas! We had a meeting at the Family Tree in the morning. A family from the ward came and gave us stockings with all kinds of presents... It was so sweet! Then the missionaries in our zone went to the Alden family home (they own Skull candy) and their house was a castle! I am sending a few pictures so you can see. They lived IN the mountains and we could literally see people skiing in their backyard. They were a really really nice family!! We had a buffet-style dinner with chef-prepared food! Brother Alden wore onesie pajamas, and I think that was my favorite part about the entire morning. We worked at the Family Tree in the middle of the day and then in the evening, we had dinner with the Portwood family, (you met Sister Portwood on Skype). My favorite part of the day was talking with you and the rest of the family!! I loved seeing and talking to all of you! I am sad that I didn't get to talk to Michael but please let him know that I love him!

Wednesday, we had a really wonderful experience. We visited a home where we expected there to be 4 unbaptized children. (We found their names on a list). When we got there, there were 2 boys about 10-years-old and their mom. We talked to them a little bit and finally I told them the reason we were there. The mom seemed kind of surprised and said that all of her 4 boys were baptized. As we talked a bit more, I figured that we would just share a scripture and leave. I kept getting the feeling that I needed to share a scripture about the Atonement, but kind of ignored it because it didn't seem relevant to the conversation. Then the woman told us about how she was a convert and although she is very active in the church, she has never had a testimony of the Atonement. She said that she understood it, but didn't think it could be applied to her. I felt the Spirit so strongly because when she said that, I knew that we were there for a reason. I read her the story, "The Room," which talks about how Jesus Christ signs his name for the mistakes that we've made. When I finished reading, I looked up and she was crying. We briefly shared our testimonies of the Atonement, but I know that the Holy Ghost can teach more effectively than I can, so we said a closing prayer and got ready to leave. As we were leaving, the woman said, "If you think that your efforts in the snow were wasted...Trust me, they were not." It is one of my favorite moments of my mission so far!!

On Friday, we worked at the Family Tree and I had some great experiences. I am really starting to love it here. The people come in and see us, rather than us having to go out and find them! We are so lucky. I gave out 2 copies of the Book of Mormon that night and wrote a little note to each of the women. Also, Jana (pronounced Hannah), (the member that I gave my CTR ring to), came in to talk to us for a bit. While we were talking, she was saying the nicest things to me!!! She was saying that I am different from every other missionary that she's met before; that I am very natural and easy to talk to; and that I am very good at "convincing." haha. I felt so happy and it was nice to hear all of those compliments! 

Sis Jara, Casey and Sis Wall

On Saturday, Casey was baptized!!!!! I was excited for it the entire day. We ate dinner with him and Courtney, (his friend)'s family beforehand. When we showed up for the baptismal service, Casey was smiling SO much. And when he was baptized, everyone was kind of laughing because he was like a giddy child (he is 22). He came up from the water, grinning, and gave everyone the thumbs up. Then he raised his arms in the air like Rocky. haha. It was the most excited I've ever seen anyone for a baptism! On Sunday, he received the Holy Ghost and was just as excited :)

It has been a wonderful week! I love Park City and feel so lucky to be here. I haven't gotten a hold of Russ' friend, although I've called her about 3 times on each number. I will keep trying.

Tonight we have a New Year's Eve conference, where we will be hearing Elder Christofferson speak. I am really excited! Hopefully I don't have to say any of the prayers, though!

I love you so much! Have a wonderful New Year!!

Our small apartment!!

Our apartment in PC is so small! We walk into a closet like space & have to walk up a ladder to get to our beds & a tiny closet! I had to take my clothes out of my suitcase & carry them up the ladder. haha