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Week 7 - Technically this is week 10. . . oh well. I loved this week. IT WAS CHRISTMAS!! Okay no more yelling, but I really loved this week. I'm still sick. . . and yes it has been almost over a month and yes I'm seeing a doctor, so no one panic. We had a pretty slow week because it was Christmas, but amazing things still happened. We met a woman who had just moved in and met missionaries in Southern California, where she had lived before! It was honestly magical. She came to church and loved it and loved that she could listen to the Book of Mormon! Other than her most of the people we are teaching are gone until January visiting family. But that's okay, we were then able to focus on those who needed us right then. Heavenly Father will help work things out. We spent Christmas Eve and Day at several members houses. They were so kind and made those days even better. We've gotten so much food and treats from members though. It's made it really hard to be healthy. ...

Hello everyone! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! This is one of my favorite times of the year. I've always loved the lights, being with family, and the spirit that you feel. It always makes me so happy. Our Mission President allowed all us missionaries to watch a movie today. We chose to watch The Polar Express! It is one if my favorite Christmas movies. The best part about that movie is the message of the movie (and the music). The whole message is that believing isn't seeing. It's exactly what faith is, believing without seeing. I've had an interesting experience with faith so far. Everything you do on a mission is based on your faith. Finding people, teaching lessons, talking to people, preparing for lessons, and bearing testimony. I've had to learn quickly (and I'm still struggling with it) to be completely faithful and rely on Heavenly Father for everything. The baptisms and conformations, all by faith. The people we've found and the lessons we've taught, f...

This week was absolutely amazing and ended on two even more amazing notes. We started teaching 5 new people this week. It was nuts! We definitely didn't think we'd get that many and honestly Heavenly Father did most of the work, we just get to participate in helping them along the covenant path. On Sunday we had two baptisms after church! They were two siblings, 9 and 11, named A and K. Teaching them and helping them to get on the covenant path has been amazing and I'm so excited to continue to help be a guide. They get confirmed this next Sunday before Christmas and I'm looking forward to other people we are teaching getting to see that happen! The rainy season is in full swing, aka winter. As were on bikes it's been fun to deal with that and then no fenders, but luckily we just got fenders!! Wahoo! I'm so excited not to have a stripe of water, oil, and dirt up my back and on my backpack. But I have been learning a really big lesson. That even though you ...

So apparently it's pronounced creesh and it literally means "a model or tableau representing the scene of Jesus Christ's birth, displayed in homes or public places at Christmas." So basically means nativity? Well, I only learned that this week because we had a huge nativity festival! This was so big and so many people from the community came! We had a few people who we've been teaching come and they loved it so much! The month before the festival or creche, we were handing out so many invitations! We wanted everyone to come. And everyone who came loved it! We had two really amazing lessons this week. One as someone's first lesson, and the second being someone's third lesson! They really understood what we were teaching them really easily! Which surprised me and Sister Kempe, but we are so grateful for Heavenly Father giving us a chance to participate in His work. My letter is going to be really short this week. I've been sick for the past week, trying...

Hello everyone! This week has been a wonderful week, one full of adjustments. I started off the week at the MTC in Provo and have ended the week in the wonderful city of Santa Rosa California. Traveling here was crazy, but we made it safe and I now have a Trainer for the field and am settling in quite well. My Trainers name is Sister Kempe. She is brilliant and I am so lucky to have her helping me adjust to being on a mission.  This week I've had everything from teaching a first discussions, to non-members wanting to be baptized, to a member visit and dinner. I've handed out so many copies of the Book of Mormon and knocked on many doors. I think the thing that I've struggled with most is knocking on doors. When I first got here I disliked it so much. I knew we were doing it for a good cause, but daylight savings had just hit so it got dark when we went out tracting, I was cold, and we had already gotten so many doors slammed in our faces.  I never tho...

Hi Everyone!!  Light the World- Video This week has been a week full of work and joy! (you know I've started off every email with this and I really need to find a new way to start my emails) But seriously, I've met so many cool people this week. We had 12 lessons this week and six of those have been non-members! Each lesson that we do I'm amazed by how much the Spirit works on both the teacher and the student to help them understand it more. We had a lesson with a woman named Lety. She had recently lost her mother a year ago, so we taught her about the Plan of Salvation. When we got to the Spirit World she started to tear up and said she was thinking about her mother. It was a cool experience. We left her with the task to read the two pamphlets we left her and we get to go back this Thursday!  We also had our very first rain here in Santa Rosa. That has been great! (How do you write sarcasm?? Italics? oDd leTeRing? 🤷‍♀️) We're on bikes so the rain affects us ...

Hi everyone! This week has been an awesome week! We've been teaching some amazing people that were so excited for. Two are 9 and 11 years old and we set up their baptismal date yesterday! It's going to be on the 14th of December and then a month and a half later we are going to be able to set up a date for their younger brother!  We also have this sweet couple named Larry and Valerie who are really interested in the church and are excited to learn more about it. We get to see them on Tuesday and share about the Plan of Salvation! That's my companions favorite lesson to teach!  Other than that I had my first district counsel this week and biked five miles to the chapel it was being held at. It was mostly trails though so not too bad. But the bike home was a bit rough because it was five miles back, but I made it and then biked four more miles that day! I was so sore that night but I slept so well.  I have also finally memorized the First Vision and becaus...