Transfer to Park City!

Christmas event with Sister Jara, my new companion

I got transferred to Park City! I am with a new companion, Sister Jara. She is going home after this transfer, just like Sister Stone! So sad! But I love Sister Jara (pronounced Hara, roll the R!) She is from Chile and she is honestly so fun. We work really well together. We picked up 4 new investigators and we've only been together since Wednesday! YAY!

Trax with kalei (before she was baptized)

The transfer was sad because I really loved my West Jordan district! I visited the 3 boys and Kalei, the recent convert, before I left the area.. I was so sad!! I wrote notes to the 3 boys and gave them photo collages of our trip to Temple Square. I also gave them the Testaments movie! I think that they were sad to see me go, too. 

Temple square with the boys 

 

Wednesday was the transfer. Sister Jara and I got lost on our way to Park City. We've gotten lost driving so many times since then. haha. She speaks English, but sometimes she mixes up "left" and "right." I love her so much though.

We are currently at the Family Tree Visitor Center. It's P-day so we're not working, but it's pretty cool here. You will have to come visit when I am done with my mission! I still don't know how to do FamilySearch that well, but I like giving tours. The center is really small so there's not much to show, but it's easy to bear my testimony. 

My first day here, we rode the bus and met a man. We talked to him a bit and told him about the BOM and asked him what he thought. He said, "I am thinking...Where can I get this book?!" haha. He came to church with us on Sunday and we gave him a copy of the BOM.

Thursday, one of our investigators said a prayer and said, "Thank you for bringing these cute ladies to me." hahah. 

Friday, we went to the mission office for some Christmas activities. There was a talent show and I got to see the missionaries from my old district in West Jordan. On  Friday night, a member, Hannah, brought in her member friend and a non-member friend. They were all really cool and nice! Hannah asked where she could find a CTR ring because she lost hers. She was so sad! So I gave her mine. The one that you had given me. I'm sorry! I have just been noticing that some of my favorite people are really generous and don't think about their possessions that much, so I am trying to be charitable with my things! I don't care that I don't have it, because I know that I can get another one :) 

I am forgetting all of my French! Can you see if you can find my French phrase book in my books and send it to me? I am so sad! 

I am so excited to Skype on Christmas! We are going to the family who owns a company called Skull Candy. It's a famous snowboarding company, I guess, but I just knew that they made headphones. Tell Shane or Matthew, they'll probably have heard of it. Anyway, I heard that they have a GIANT house. They let the missionaries come over and use all of their computers to Skype on Christmas, which is so so nice of them! I am excited to see you! I will call before and then let you know I will be on Skype.

I have been trying to do family genealogy, but it's so hard! Thankfully there are a bunch of names on my Family Tree on Familysearch. 

I love you! Can't wait to see you and talk to you on Christmas!

Many Miracles!

We didn't get to watch the Christmas broadcast last night..What a bummer!! :( We were teaching a lesson but had the tv on before the lesson. I got to hear Silent Night and that's about it. 

That's really cool that the new missionary knows Shaylee! 

Slippery Rock Young Women Project : Caps for Tots!

Congrats on all of the hats and the scarf. Good job, mama! Christmas seems so soon! It feels like I won't really have a Christmas though, so I'm not too worried about it. haha.

My head and knee are healed! I am doing fine :)

This past week, we experienced many miracles! We had a missed call and a voicemail from one of the Young Womens presidents. I listened to the message the first time by myself and then flipped out and ran to Sister Stone just saying, oh my gosh oh my gosh!  There is a girl that has been going to Young Womens activities and church for a year. The YW were planning on going to do baptisms for the dead and the girl asked what that was. They explained and then she said, "but I've never been baptized." They thought that she was a member this whole time! So we met up with her and taught her a lesson, then we took her to a baptism with us. She wants to be baptized THIS SATURDAY. She is such a sweet girl and has been prepared for this. We have already taught her two lessons, so we just need to teach two more and then have the baptismal interview and she can be baptized! Yay! The young women are so supportive. We have been having the lessons at one of the girl's houses and the YW have asked if they can come sit in. It is so nice to see so much love and support. I know it will really help her to be converted.

On Friday, we went to Temple Square with three of our investigators. They are three teenage boys who are so great; they are 16, 18, and 20. Two of them are brothers and the other is their bestfriend, and they all just pretend that they are brothers. The friend lives with them and even calls their mother "mom." I absolutely LOVE these boys. One of them, the youngest, is a punk! Literally. haha. Anyway, we took them to Temple Square and then did a tour. It was a little crazy at once because there are so many of them, but by the time we went to see the Christus statue, the Spirit was so strong! I stayed by the youngest one pretty much the whole time and he kept saying how happy he felt and that he knew what we were teaching was true. I invited all three of them to be baptized and they all said yes! It was such a wonderful day. After the tour, we walked around Temple Square and looked at all of the Christmas lights. Ahhh, I was SO happy! It was amazing and beautiful! On the way back home, the boys said that we were the most fun missionaries that they've met. haha.

On Saturday, we went to the baptism of two young boys that we've been teaching, they are 9 and 13. They are in the Elders area, but haven't been receptive to the elders, so we were teaching them. There were so many people at the baptism! It was a wonderful success and everyone felt the Spirit really strongly. They are such great boys. The older one volunteered for service and always raised his hand to answer questions in class even before he was baptized. They were both confirmed on Sunday. Their mom and both of them got up to bear their testimonies, too.

Even though we have had a very successful week, I have been struggling a little bit. Being on a mission can be very hard. But I know that I made a promise to Heavenly Father that I would do this, so I promise that I will try my hardest to make Him proud. Both you and Matthew have said that I am too close to see my influence on people's lives. I feel like that really is true. I have a lot of cool experiences that don't lead to baptism, so sometimes I don't understand the significance of them. Our weekly numbers that we report don't reflect the hard work that we are doing, which is what gets me down. We talk to so many people and try so hard, but then if people don't go to church, it looks like we aren't doing anything. Sometimes I feel like I am just the seed planter and never the gardener. I am planting these seeds in people, sharing the gospel with them, giving them a glimpse of the Spirit, but I don't get to see the end result of our labors. I know that's not necessarily what is important, but it can be tough sometimes. But even though it gets hard, I am constantly striving to stay positive and be confident. 

Hey, I finally received Adam's letter to the MTC! I also got the last letter that you and Russ sent to me in the MTC. It is dated September 15! Funny!

Peyton's birthday is coming up, yeah?? I will be sure to send her a card. I mostly just write letters to you and Ellie. I hardly have time on Pdays so Peyton's letter hasn't gotten a response yet, but it will.

I got Sister Seo's address from the mission office... It was written in Korean!! hah! So I just photocopied it and pasted it to the front of an envelope! I hope that she gets it! 

I am glad that people are responding well to my letters. It's funny that people actually read the blog. I wouldn't expect people to be interested, mostly because I feel like aside from this week, I haven't had many interesting experiences.

I will try to look for better bike bottoms after winter, maybe. Right now my pj pants keep my legs warm under my skirt. haha.

I love you so much! Thank you for everything that you do for me! I miss you lots!

  

3 month mark!

You asked how I am doing. I think that I am completely healed from my concussion aside from the giant bruise on my knee. It is healing slowly but surely. Sister Stone and I both picked up colds over the weekend though, so we are doing a lot of sleeping and blowing our noses. Other than that, I am doing well! Thank you so much for your winter package. It has really come in handy!

This past week hasn't been too eventful. We had a special training on Wednesday, Nov. 21, which I think has helped a lot. Right after the training, we went out to work and picked up a couple of new investigators. It was a miracle day.

Thanksgiving was good. It was the mark of my 3 months as a missionary! We went to breakfast with a family from Sister Stone's other area. Then we went to lunch with a family from here, the Ivories. Then we went to a dinner at a member's house with the rest of the missionaries in our district. It was pretty fun.

On Friday, Nov. 23, we came across two women who had just gotten done doing their visiting teaching. They offered us a ride to our dinner appointment and it was very cold so we accepted. The driver asked where we were from and when I told her that I was from Pittsburgh, she asked if that was anywhere near Slippery Rock! I explained that I am in the Pittsburgh Stake but that I am actually from Slippery Rock, and she asked if I know Maryclare! The sister's name was Sister Eldridge and she said that Maryclare is like her adopted daughter. Pretty cool, huh!

On Saturday, Nov. 24, we had dinner with the Klundt family. The mom takes classes at BYU and is an art major. She's really cool and super nice. She showed me some of the books that she has made for a bookmaking class. Ahhh. I was so jealous. I wish we had classes like that at Slippery Rock. Abbey Klundt, her daughter, was also cool. She is planning on going on a mission so we talked a lot about that.

Well, I hope that everything is going well. I love you! Miss you! Have a great week :)

So, don't freak out- a trip to the ER!

Doin' missionary work!

Happy Almost Thanksgiving!

Today we are going shopping!! I really need sweaters and warmer winter clothes! I am excited to shop.

This morning when I was brushing my hair, I thought of when you used to say, "What do Ariel and her hair have in common?" haha <3

I have been buying those fruit Silk drinks when I go grocery shopping. They are so good! and they are supposed to have a lot of protein.

On Monday, November 12, we visited one of the former investigators. She said a quote when I was talking to her and said, "Buddy Wakefield said that." ..Buddy Wakefield is a SLAM poet and I recognized it right away! She and I clicked so much. She even said that she felt like she wasn't supposed to be born in this generation, which is something I have always felt. I am so excited to teach her again. Don't know if anything will come of it, but she's really cool and we have a lot in common :)

So, don't freak out--but if you've looked at the pictures, you can see that I went to the hospital this week. On Tuesday night, November 13, I got in a bike accident! We were riding our bikes to a dinner appointment with the Allens. It was about 6 pm. I don't remember what happened because the doctor said I have amnesia, but Sister Stone was behind me and has told the story of what happened so many times now. So I was going up the curb, (the curbs to get onto driveways here are like 3 ridiculous inches tall), and my bike tire turned at the wrong angle and I just fell off of my bike. I hit my head on the concrete and even though I had a helmet on, I got knocked out. I layed there for a minute, not moving, and then I held my head and said "Ow..Ow..Ow." really quitely. Sis. Stone told me not to get up, so I lay there for a minute and then sat up. I remember being very confused and not understanding what happened. When I finally stood up, Sis. Stone was like, "Ahh! I don't know what to do! What should we do??!" and I just said that we should go to the dinner appointment, because we had a lesson with an investigator during that dinner and I didn't want to miss it. 

Waiting at the doctors

Sister Stone and I at the ER

On Wednesday, we went to the regular doctor and they didn't have the right machines to check my head so they told me to go to the ER. We went to the ER and were there for like 4 hours. I thought about those episodes of House when they go into the machines and something goes wrong. haha. A guy came in and told me he was going to take me to get the CT scan and I asked if I could walk. He said they he would wheel me on the bed and I was like, "That's a bit dramatic!" He said that I needed the entire ER experience. hahah. So the whole way that he is pushing me, Sister Stone is dying laughing and I just keep making comments about how it is so unnecessary to be pushed. haha. It turned out that I have a concussion, but nothing else is wrong with my brain. They told me to take it easy and try not to get another concussion because it can cause brain damage. I have had a continual headache all week and I needed to sleep for like 2 days straight, but I think I am getting better. I am working through the pain. Other damage from the accident: I had a bruise on my eye, a scratch on my cheek, a bruise on my chin, a very very badly bruised knee, a bad headache, and pain in my jaw. 

Know that I am okay! Heavenly Father protected me from too bad of damage. I was wearing a lot of layers because of the cold, so luckily, I didn't get too many scratches! 

Elder Spencer and Elder Bertch brought me cookies and balloons!

I love you so much! Have a happy thanksgiving! I miss all of you <3

Sis Wall's adventures!

Sis Wall and Sis Jones

Utah snow!

  ..            I am keeping up on my Book of Mormon reading. How is it going for you? I love how the last couple of chapters have been like a Shakespeare play. The king and queen and entire town fainting. So funny.

I don't have any ideas for your missionary fireside, but it sounds like fun! Definitely play "Called to Serve" at some point! Maybe have the Primary kids sing, "I hope they call me on a mission." Something like that. I always get emotional when I think about little kids growing up and serving missions! haha.

That's really great that Ruby said I am having success. There have been a lot of baptisms that fall through, which really stinks. I try to not let it discourage me, but sometimes it makes me really sad. Satan is working so hard to prevent people from being happy! He tells them that working towards baptism and repentance and making a change is too hard. He makes them feel like faith should be proven first. He lies! Ah! It makes me so frustrated. I just want to shake people and tell them that this life is so short and their decisions here will make such a difference for them in the life after! I love this gospel and the plan that Heavenly Father has for each of us! It seems easier to give up or not follow the commandments, but Heavenly Father's plan is worth it! He sees our potential so much more than we can ever see it. The hardest times to be a missionary are when we have to drop investigators because they aren't keeping their commitments or because they say that they don't want to be baptized yet.

We were supposed to be planning a wedding and baptism for a couple, but they decided that it is financially impossible. They don't have enough faith right now, and it is really sad. They are postponing their wedding and baptism until after they have their baby. Please pray that they might be able to have the faith to some day make those covenants.

On Nov. 3, we had a baptism for a boy. His brother went and also came to church with him the next day. We are meeting with them tomorrow and hope to start teaching his brother the lessons, too!

On Nov. 10, we had a baptism for an 11-yr-old girl. She is so sweet and funny. Her whole family is really goofy. I sent some pictures. That evening, we attended a baptism for the sister missionaries in another stake. Sister Stone, my companion, gave a talk. It was amazing to see two souls come unto Christ in one day! What an amazing blessing. I am sure that the angels are rejoicing in Heaven.

Missionaries at the SLC Visitor Center

On Thursday, November 8, the missionaries who have been here for 2 transfers were able to go to Salt Lake City, temple square. We got to do a session in the temple, go to the history museum, and eat lunch in the Joseph Smith memorial building. We all took the Trax, which is like a train system. I showed up, so excited to spend the day with Sister Seo, only to find that she went home. It made me so sad. Sister Abarca showed up with another companion and told me that Sister Seo went home to Korea because her shoulders and back were in too much pain. Their area had the car taken away, which probably means that they were walking in the cold and riding bikes. I love Sister Seo and am so sad that I didn't get to say goodbye to her :( The new companion, Sister Thiboult, that went with us to temple square, is from Canada. She is only in SLCS mission until her visa comes and she can go to her mission in Paris, France! I spent the say with Sister Thiboult and Sister Jones, another sister who came out at the same time as me. We had a lot of fun. On the way back from Trax, an elder came up to me and told me to talk to a woman sitting on the bench. I went over and started talking to the woman. It went really well. I asked her, "If I give you this Book of Mormon, will you really read it?" and she said Yes. I gave her the BOM and the phone number for Sister Stone and I and asked her to call us after she prayed to know that the book is true. She said that she would. I don't know if she will actually call or not, but it was pretty exciting to talk to her and have her accept the book. It was also pretty fun to be the only missionary to give away a Book of Mormon at the Trax!

Well, that's all for now. I love you very much. Miss you. Hope all is well!

 

 

The wedding planner!

Oh my goodness there are so many things to write about and I have about 4 seconds!! I am in West Jordan now with a new companion, Sister Stone. She is soo great and really goofy and wild and I love her.

Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday I was with Sister Piton in her area. President Miller called and said that her companion was leaving and so she needed a sister to be with her. It was actually REALLY amazing. We went to Temple Square on Monday night with her investigator!! I am so lucky.

Tuesday, the entire district went to lunch at the Kummer's! She made grilled cheese for all 8 of us. It was so cute.

Right afterwards, I got my transfer call! Sister Piton and I jumped for joy.

I went back to the Lovell's and packed my things and said goodbye.

Wednesday night, our entire mission got to go through a temple session at the Jordan River temple. We also heard Elder Hinckley speak.

Sister Stone and I are having lots of adventures!! We do not have a vehicle, so we were walking for a few days but then we decided to go on bikes.. It has been wild!! We keep having unfortunate tire situations.. haha. It is a lot of fun though. Sister Stone is so bubbly and goofy. I love her.

We are working with 2 investigators. They were scheduled to get married and baptized later in the month but when I was in a lesson with them, they decided to move the date to this Thursday!! And they decided to do both on the same day!! A marriage and double baptism!! YAY! They are a really great couple and I am so excited. Sister Stone and I get to plan the wedding! Ahh!

I have so much to write about but absolutely no time! And I have no stamps to send you a letter! Ahh! I love love love you and hope you know that all is well! Mwah!

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