Blessings from Heaven!

Today, tomorrow, and Wednesday morning, I am in a new companionship! Transfers are on Wednesday and so things are kind of crazy right now. Sister Piton's companion is going to Park City so she needed a companion for a few days... That's me! So I am in another area until we go to the Temple on Wednesday for Halloween. Crazy! Sis. Piton is really great though and I think that we will get along well.. And surprise-- I get to go to temple square again!! They were planning on taking their investigator tonight, so I get to go! So exciting. I think that this is just temporary and I will be back in my trio on Wednesday.
Last Monday, Pday, Sister Abarca, Sister Seo and I went to the chiropractor because they were both having some back/shoulder pains. He is a member and offered to do it for free. I was just sitting and writing letters but the doctor asked if I needed aligned or anything. I said no, that I wasn't having any pain and he suggested that he align me so that it could prevent pain.. Reluctantly, I laid on the table and he did weird things to my back. Well all week long, I've been in pain! No more chiropractor for me!
Last Pday we went as a zone to a pumpkin patch and corn maze. Members own it and said that we could have any pumpkins that we wanted! We each took one- Sister Abarca got a big one to carve, Sister Seo and I got little baby ones because we thought that they were cute. I sent some pictures. It was a lot of fun. Sister Abarca did most of the carving and ended up throwing the pumpkin away because we didn't want to keep it in the car. Sister Seo and I carved a tiny face into our little pumpkin and took it home. It's on the kitchen window sill :) We also took a baby pumpkin home and left it outside. So festive!
On Tuesday morning, the district leader brought blueberry pancakes to our district meeting. We didn't have plates or utensils so we ate them with our hands. I put a bunch of nutella on mine.. Mmm! There was also an announcement that we can teach lessons to members now. We are encouraged to practice our teaching with them, that way we can build trust with the members and hopefully they will want to be better missionaries themselves!
We also went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple on Tuesday. It was great! I remembered going there with you and Matt when you all were here. We went with our district. We drove two other sisters to the temple with us and dropped them off in their area when we were done. As we were leaving their home, we noticed an old woman raking leaves in her yard with her grandson. We stopped and were helping them rake and shovel the leaves into garbage cans. I was talking with the little boy as we were raking and I was asking him questions like, "So are you in Primary?" He didn't know about primary but the old woman had said she was a member. I kept talking to him, asking if he ever went to church with his grandmother. He seemed confused but kept answering my questions. Finally, I found out that he was the old woman's neighbor, not her grandson! I had been asking him questions about his grandmother and if she lived with them and about their relationship for like twenty minutes! He was probably so confused!! haha!
On Tuesday evening, we went to have one of our first lessons with members. We went to Sister Abel's, Relief Society president. After the lesson, I was talking about how heavy my bag was because I have to carry around my giant set of scriptures. She went and got a quad of a little set of scriptures. They are so tiny and light!! I thought she was going to let me borrow them-- but she told me to keep them!! I started crying!! I am so so grateful!
It has been so so fun working with Sister Seo in our companionship!! English is her second language and so sometimes things get lost in translation. Here are some things that Sister Seo is learning:: We taught her the Potty Dance song from the diaper commercials ("Do the..CLAP CLAP..Potty Dance!"), she thought that I said, "Party Dance" at first, but now she loves it...We taught her what a scarecrow is, but she pronounces it "Scare Crock"... I love her to death.
On Wednesday, we found two new investigators! One man is married to a member and he said that this is the perfect time in his life for the missionary discussions! He said that he wasn't supposed to be home the night that we stopped by, but that it was meant to be. The other man works with a member and was helping unload the truck. Sister Abarca talked to him in Spanish and we found out that he has taken the missionary discussions before and is willing to take them again. So exciting!
Also on Wednesday, we went to Sister Prows' house just to say hi. We noticed tape on her walls and asked if we could help her with service and paint her walls. Surprisingly enough, she said yes!! Members never say yes!! She left to buy paint brushes and we left to put on Pday clothes. It was so fun!
On Friday evening, we baked a cake for Sis. Abel (the one who helped us decorate her neighbor's door and also gave me the scriptures). Her birthday was Oct. 27, the next day, so we went over to her condo and decorated her door and her garage like crazy! We put tons of balloons and streamers. And the neighbor came to help us!! He lives right next door to her so he saw us and came over to hang things up high! He said that doing things like that did more for people than we realize :) Also, he went to church on Sunday! He has been reading his scriptures and praying, too. He is progressing really well!
On Friday we went to a Trunk or Treat and got tons of candy! We didn't even have to dress up!
So since Sister Seo has been living with us, I have been sleeping on a foam thing on the floor. I sleep like a rock, so it hasn't been a problem at all. Well Sis. Abarca let everyone know that I was sleeping on the floor and Sis. Abel gave us a blowup air mattress. That made things better, but I slept completely fine either way.. But Sis. Abarca kept telling people that I didn't have a bed and someone volunteered to give me one! So on Saturday, a woman named Brittany and her brother brought me a NEW bed! She bought it for me! I feel so so blessed.
Oh my goodness. The CRAZIEST thing happened on Saturday night! We plan every single night for the next day, so Sister Byrd was on the schedule for Saturday night. When we stopped by, she said that she was sick and she looked really pale so we didn't plan on going inside. We just talked to her for a minute and as I was talking to her, she said, "What?" really confused and turned around to talk to her kids. She has 4 little boys and is a single mother, so I figured she was distracted. She turned back to me and I repeated what I said and then I noticed something was really wrong. She stumpled and completely passed out and fell face first into the wall. She hit her forehead really hard. Her little boys, bless their hearts, were SCREAMING their heads off. Sister Abarca went inside to help Sis. Byrd and I called 911. The fire department came and Sis. Byrd was taken to the hospital! She texted us the next day and said that she was doing fine, but we haven't found out what is wrong with her yet. Hopefully we can stop by soon and find out.

I love you so much and miss you! Mwah! <3
Love, Sister Wall

2 Month Mark!

TODAY IS MY 2 MONTH MARK!
We are allowed to take investigators to SLC temple square tour if they are on date to be baptized! That's why I've gotten to go twice now!! Plus in the MTC I got to go twice for visitor's center training.
Did you get the pictures of Sis Abarca & I eating donuts on a string?? We went to the HP4 chili cookoff and Halloween party on Saturday. It was pretty fun. There were a lot of little kids in costumes. Someone brought my companion and I salads from Olive Garden because they knew I don't eat meat! The members are SO nice here! Right before the chili cookoff we went to temple square with the Teeples. One of the sisters giving the tour was Sis Osorio (I think that's how you spell it)--a sister that I worked with at EFY! She was another counselor there! I also saw in passing a counselor named Fabiola. It was wild :) 

Tri-companionship with popcorn balls!! Sister Abarca, Sister Seo, and Sister Wall

Sister Seo was with us for 3 days this week because her companion went to Park City to train the sisters there. She came and slept over and worked with us for about 2 days. I don't know if you remember me telling you about her, but she is the Korean sister that came out of the MTC at the same time with me. I love her to death. Some really exciting news-- SISTER SEO IS IN OUR COMPANIONSHIP NOW! She came over at 9:30 last night. She and her companion had an emergency transfer and now she is in our companionship & living with us! We had interviews with President Miller on Friday and he told Sister Seo that she would probably be in a companionship with Sister Abarca and I for another transfer.. which means that I am staying in Riverton! I am pretty happy about that and I am so so glad that Sister Seo will be with us.
Sister Abarca was told by the mission president that she will be leaving before Christmas. She was originally going to extend her mission for January but now she will be leaving on time. It's likely that I will be her last companion! Crazy!
We gave another talk on Sunday but for a different ward--Harvest Park 1. Sister Lovell, our landlady/mom, is in that ward and sat in the very front row. I gave a similar talk to last weeks but was lead by the spirit. I talked about Adam and what a miracle it was that he remembers the Book of Mormon stories. I am so glad that he has the desire to be with his family forever. Has he still been going to church? I sent him the Family Proclamation in the mail. 

We had a Young Woman come and work with us on Wednesday. Her name is Cierra and she is 17 and wants to go on a mission so she came tracting with us!! We visited the houses of a lot of less-active members in a neighborhood. It went really well and she said she loved it and wants to come with us again!
We get to go to the temple tomorrow!! Oquirrh temple. (Spellling?) There is this one spot when we are driving that you can see all 3 of the temples.. I LOVE IT SO MUCH! I want to live near a temple some day and go inside at least once a week. It is such a blessing to see temples so often.

I love love love you! Thank you for everything. You are great. Mwah! Miss you <3

Last week we went to the aquarium for p-day. Our whole zone of elders and sisters went. It was so fun!

Our district.. Jumping! at the aquarium

Our district at the Aquarium

Sister Seo and I at the aquarium

Donut eating contest! Harvest Park Stake

Dear Sister Karl - We are loving Sister Wall and her service in our stake. This is her and Sister Abarca at our ward fall festival in our doughnut eating contest. She has such a sweet testimony and is very faithfully serving. Thanks for sharing her with us.

Brian Curtis, Harvest Park Stake

Salt Lake City Rocks!

The new missionaries and their trainers had a meeting at the mission office on Wednesday. We split up into trainees and trainers. I got to be with Sister Zeiner, my MTC companion, and Sister Seo, another missionary that I met on the way from the MTC to the field. She is the Korean sister that is in some of my pictures. I love love love her! I really loved spending time with them and seeing what we could do to boost our training.  

Salt Lake Temple

Wednesday evening, we went on a TEMPLE SQUARE TOUR with our investigator! We also went with his girlfriend, and her mother! It was soooo successful! We met up with 2 sisters there who walked with us and described different things. We looked at the BOM paintings and confirmed his baptismal date for October 20 (THIS WEEKEND!!!). We also looked at the model of the SLC temple and talked about the eternal ordinances that are performed inside. He loved it. I know that he felt the Spirit during the whole time that we were there! Then we left the temple square sisters and walked around the SLC temple. Ahhh! It was beautiful. I LOVE the temple. If I don't get married in the Paris temple, I want it to be SLC for sure! ;)

Sister Abarca and I hugging the SLC temple!

We are planning on taking another tour of temple square this Saturday with our other investigator and her family. I am so excited!! They went to church on Sunday and have been praying, which is major progress. The husband is preparing himself to baptize his wife and their daughter. It's wonderful.
Thursday was an AMAZING day! There was a little yorkie dog barking at us as we were tracting the condos. I was like, "It's a Holy Ghost dog! He will tell us where to go!" My companion was like ...Ahhh.. He barked and ran past a door and around the corner, out of sight. I said, "I think he wants us to go here..." So we went and knocked on the door and met a woman, who scheduled a return appointment appointment with us!! My companion said, "I can't believe that worked!" haha! As we left her door, we saw a pregnant woman carrying garbage and asked if we could help her carry her garbage cans in. She said no thank you, but we went over and helped her anyway ;) As we walked with her, we told her who we are and she let us stay and talk to her about the church!! She wants to continue to meet with us! Ahh, I love her!
On Sunday, my companion and I gave talks in the Harvest Park 2nd ward. 2 young women spoke before us about the new announcement for missionaries and I loved it! I was nervous to speak but my talk was about how exciting the gospel is and how wonderful it feels to share what we know, and I realized, Wow! I get to share my testimony with a giant congregation--I should be EXCITED, not scared!! So I got up and was really positive and talked about the different aspects of the Doctrine of Christ and how I love to share the things that make me happy.  After we finished sacrament, so many people told me how great my talk was :) A young man came up and was like, "I am SO glad to see that someone else is excited about the gospel-- I thought I was the only one!" I said, "Never lose that!!" He told us that he is planning on serving a mission and I told him to take that excitement with him! A lot of the young women came to us and told us how they loved our talks and were excited to serve missions! They invited us to class and to YW with them! It was really wonderful.
On Friday, we went to Sister Abel's house, the RS president, for dinner. We ate and watched Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration... I LOVE THAT MOVIE. We also baked a cake for her neighbor who I think I told you about. It was his birthday on Saturday and he was turning 28 (MY FAVORITE NUMBER!) We went and attacked his porch with tons of birthday decorations. It was raining but we had Sis. Abel stand and watch for his car. I had to pee really bad the whole time and was laughing so hard because Sis. Abel kept saying, "ARE YOU GUYS DONE YET? I'M GONNA GET PNEUMONIA!" hhaha. We left the cake and ran.
I love it here. Everything is going really well. 

We went to Subway for lunch and someone paid for our food! Free Subway and a peach milkshake! Mmm!

 

Conference and a new pink bike!

So many things to write about!

Did you all watch General Conference? SO GOOD! Missionaries who have been out for like 6 months can go to one session of the conference, so my companion had a ticket. But missionaries who have an investigator on date to be baptized can also go to conference with their investigator. So I got to go too! Saturday, 10 am session! We also got enough tickets for a couple of other people. Sister Abarca sat in the missionary section, but I sat with all of the people we got tickets for. We were in the front row of the balcony, very center. I sat with: a new convert, and the man who baptized him. Sister Kummer, a member, and a progressing investigator on date for October 20. And a less active member. It was really really cool to sit with all of my new friends and people who are at different stages of conversion. Sighh.

We watched the Saturday afternoon session with the Madsens and then went to the Kummer's for the 2 sessions on Sunday. We taught a lesson after each session. It was really really good. Oh! At the Kummer's, they made amaaazing oatmeal pancakes with homemade syrup. They served orange juice and milk, so I got a giant glass of milk. The pancakes were super sweet so I took a large drink of milk and it was sour and stung my throat and it was completely awful. I said out loud, "...What kind of milk is this?" They looked at the gallon on the counter and were like, "That's buttermilk! You drank that?!" It was really funny and also terrifying.

Our investigater is a GOLDEN investigator. He is so open to learning and he is really sweet. We are going on a tour of temple square with him on Wednesday! Yes! I committed him to baptism on the first lesson, he accepted. He went to the LIVE general conference and asked what the Spirit feels like. I told him and he said that is what he felt! He continued to watch conference the rest of the weekend and now we are going to temple square. He is awesome awesome awesome. Oh, also. He asked his girlfriend's mom, what he had to do to marry he rdaughter in the temple. He asked if he needs to serve a mission, which he can't because he has a little kid. But just that thought. Ahh. He's great.

So we found out that everyone in the mission needs a bike, even if they have a car. We asked a couple of people at church to look if they had extra bikes I could borrow. Elder Anderson and Elder Erikson got me TWO bikes, but they needed fixing up, they said. So I was counting on one of those bikes, when we got home from the Sat. morning conference session. We were heading to the basement and on the side of the house there was a brand new pink bicycle with a card on it! The signature just said, "SR," which is kind of anonymous! We think it is from Sister Rouge in one of the wards, but we're not sure. So so generous! The people here are very giving. We went to Chili's for lunch the other afternoon and as we asked for our check, the waiter told us that two women from another table paid for us! I can't get used to this.

Guess what? We get to go to the Jordan River for Halloween! We get to go through a session! I am so happy! We also get to attend a fireside talk with President Hinkley's son! So cool.

My companion keeps calling me "Molly Mormon," which I thought might bother me, but I kind of don't mind. I want to be as close to the iron rod as I can!

We met a sister the other day when she invited us to dinner. We are kindred spirits! Her name is Sister Sneiter! She is a drama teacher and was an English and Creative Writing teacher. She makes cards and sews on pieces of fabric. I loved her house and her decorations and her books. She is just so great!

We only receive letters and get to send letters on Mondays, our P-day. We wait all week long and get them all at once on Monday. It was pretty cool last week though, because I got 11 letters and an envelope from the president, too! It was worth the wait :)

That's amazing about Alesha Olsen! Find out which Ward she is in! I cover the Harvest Park stake. You can tell her that!

Ahhh! I love Molly! I have been thinking about Slam club a lot lately! Wahh! I don't miss TV or internet or music from home--all I miss is WORDS! I miss watching Slam, writing, reading, going to Poetry.. Ughh. Trying to push it to the back of my brain, but I just love words.

Um um um. That's all for now! I love you and you are so great!

Ps. How do you feel about President Monson's announcement about missionary ages? So cool that Shane can go when he graduates! I hope that he does!

An awesome week in Utah!

Sister Abarca rollerskating in a skirt on our first P-day! (sept 24)

Sister Lovell, our landlord, likes to give us organic remedies to our sickness. This is Sister Abarca and I right before we chugged glasses of barley water (YUCK!) We later learned that we were only supposed to take a sip every few hours.

 Thanks for the emails and letters. Thank you for the stamps! I will take em any time! haha. Thank you. They were much needed.

Also about the clothes, could you send tights? I didn't bring any and my legs are always cold!

My missionary bag doesn't hold all of my stuff but my companion lets me use one of her extra purses. My scriptures are just huge! haha.

My new black shoes are getting worn down from walking a lot already!! I keep switching between my 2 pairs of black shoes so they will probably get worn out at the same time.

We went to 6 hours of church yesturday! I bore my testimony in 2 sacrament meetings.

I have been eating so much out here! I literally gained 10 pounds in a month! haha. It's a good thing though. And I don't think you can tell.. haha. More than I've weighed in my life! We get dinners with members every night and they always have something for me, like they just have cheese lasagna for everyone or whatever. It's so nice! And people always send us home with desserts! They are soo so generous. We get cookies and leftovers a lot. I have been eating a lot of almonds and nuts and carrots and fruits so I hope I'm still healthy! Oh! And my companion and I made fried zucchini the other night! haha. And one house that we went to, they had 12 cartons of icecream to choose from! Crazy! I'll send a pic!

Did you watch the RS broadcast? It was so good! We got together all of the sisters in the zone to watch it. I saw my MTC companion!! I almost cried because I was so happy! I'll send some pics.

Yesterday was so so good! We had 2 different lessons with nonmembers. One woman grew up in a polygamist family but is married (just to one man!) now. He grew up as a member of the LDS church but has been inactive for a long time. We talked about the Word of Wisdom and I committed her to baptism on October 26!! Her husband said that he is willing to work to be worthy so that he can baptize his wife and his daughter on that date. Their daughter is 9 and wasn't there, but that would be 2 baptisms right there! So their whole family will be at the next lesson. It was really cool. I felt the Holy Ghost and I think that they did, too, and that they really have a desire to have that feeling in their home.

We also had a lesson with a guy, whose girlfriend is a member. they're in their 20s. We taught Plan of Salvation and I committed him to baptism, too!! He accepted! So wonderful! He is so ready. He was like YES! and he is going to General Conference with his girlfriends mom. So exciting. He also said he'd go on a tour of Salt Lake Temple Square with us! I am really happy.

Sister Abarca and I with the Christansen kids right before their baptism! (Sept. 29) The 5 of us sang "" before their confirmation.

We had 3 baptisms on Sunday for people that my companion and her last companion had started teaching. The Christiansens. 3 of the children. It was really cool; Sister Abarca (my companion) and I, got to stand on the side of the baptismal font as they were getting baptized!! The one little girl got baptized in Spanish because her uncle served his mission in a Spanish-speaking country. She is totally caucasian though. haha. It was still cool.