Week Fifteen

Dearest Family,

First off, thank you. I have felt your prayers this past week. I am very grateful for everything that you have done for me. I love you all so much! The Lord is blessing me, and I know that he is blessing you. Thank you.

This past week has been hard, but a blessing. I have come to realize, that I am a daughter of God, and that everything He has given me, is a blessing. Even when it seems like it is a curse. We are all very blessed to be here, and have chosen the right path. There are some hard times that we as humans go through, but it is to help us, and to help someone else. Everything is a blessing.

We have been able to go around our area, and experience new things! :) One of them is a new car!!! The car we had was a 2013 Chevy Malibu Cruze. It was blue, and her name was CiCi. We loved her very dearly. Well, when we were at our mission wide conference, we were told that we had to get a new car. We were devastated. We loved CiCi, and were told that she was going to stay with us for a while. It was heartbreaking. Well, we have come to find out, that we love this car so much better! I am going to attach a picture, but I will still tell you about it. The car is a 2014 Chevy Malibu Cruze. Yes, they are letting me drive a brand new car. It only has like 2600 miles on it. It is so pretty! I have come to accept the brand new car. It is very nice, and I cant wait till I can drive it!!! :D :D Me and Sister Young are very excited :)

This week we have also been able to find, teach, preach, and baptize!!! :) It was a very good week :) This past two weeks, President Van Cott, challenged us to find 8 new investigators. I am going to be honest, we were not able to meet that goal. We may get to meet that goal this week though :) We just needed a little more time :) On Thursday, we were on exchanges, which meant that Sister Anderson and I were together. We are both still very young, and were having a really hard day. We had taught 2 lessons in the morning, but coming out of them, we were not feeling to good. It was really weird. Well, everything else that day had fallen through. Things were just really tough. We were both feeling like failures, and every time we went to someone's house, we would walk to the door, or right before we were going to get out of the car, we were getting terrible feelings. Like we should not be there, and to leave as soon as we could. The hard part, was that we were going to less active members homes. It was so crazy! We knew that we should see them, but we felt so sick to our stomachs about being there. Well, we had gone through our whole planner, and seen or tried to see everyone on it. We pulled over, knowing that we had 30 mins until dinner to do something, and not knowing where to go. We decided to pray. As I was saying the prayer I was told a name to go and see. This name was Laura Neely. Well, there is a crazy thing about this name. Laura Neely lives in East Highland. My area covers West Highland. This sister wasn't even in my area!!! I knew almost nothing about her. Sister Anderson knew a little more, but not much. Sister Anderson covers East Highland. Well, me being me, I decided to push the name aside. I kept telling myself, she is not in your area. YOU CANNOT GO THERE!!! Well, after the prayer, her name kept coming to my mind. It was like someone was yelling at me. It was crazy. I had looked at sister Anderson, and was like, "well, this is really weird. I am receiving revelation for your area." I told her that we should go and see Laura. She started crying! She felt the same way too!! Only, she had heard her sons name, Robert. So, we left my area, and went to go and see Laura. Well, Sister Anderson was freaking out a little. The day before, She and Sister Mucke had gone to go and see them. The husband was there, and had told the Sisters that his family was not going to convert. He wanted nothing to do with the church. (Laura and Robert are investigators, just so you know.) Sister Anderson got very scared. Well, that was the people we were going to go and see. Another thing, I had been to that house only once, and I was the one driving to the home. I had almost no idea where I was going. So, we went. When we got there, we had a prayer, and a little pep talk to try and get the courage to go and knock on this door. We did eventually get to the door. When we knocked, the dad was the one who opened it. We asked how he was doing, and said hello, and then didn't know what to say. We hadn't planned it that far... So, Sister Anderson was like, "Is everything okay? Are you okay?" The guy just looked at us and was like, "I am fine. We are all fine." He also had a really weird expression on his face. It was funny. I looked at this man and told him the truth. I told him, "Look, we have no idea why we are here. We were trying to see other people, but everything fell through. We prayed, and.." then he cut me off. He was like "And you felt inspired to come to my home. That makes me feel really safe." We were both shocked. Well, I hadn't introduced myself yet, so I did. And we talked. Turns out, that this man works for the homicide department. (They are actually real! I just thought that they were on TV... Silly me...) That day, they had found 4 graves of people. He looked a little worried. They now have that huge case that they are working on. It is crazy. Well, We had both felt like we should let him know that you can pray, and that your Heavenly Father loves you, and hears your prayers. He said that he felt comforted. We then left. As we were walking away, Sister Anderson was like, "We were there, to let Robert (the son) know that his Father in Heaven loves him. We were there to show him that God has not forgotten about him." It was an amazing experience. Just crazy.Then we headed to dinner.

We were having dinner with the Skoy's, who both served missions, and Brother Skoy is our ward mission leader. When we got there, they had one of their son's non member friends over for dinner. Sister Skoy put the missionaries and the two boys at the table, and then Brother and Sister Skoy sat at the island bar. It was so great. All four missionaries were there, so the Sisters and the Elders. It was great to just be able to talk and to get to know people better we had fun. After dinner we shared the Mormon message, Men's Hearts Shall Fail Them. It is an amazing message, you should all go and watch it. We talked about how the Book of Mormon can help each and everyone of us. It was really powerful. We had said the prayer, and were getting up to leave when Graham (the non member friend) was like, "You are all so different. I do not understand what is so different about you. You focus on life, and I really like that. I just don't understand." It was at that point that Sister Skoy was like, "Graham, do you want to know more? The Missionaries can teach you." We (the missionaries) were all in shock. Here we are, sitting in our Ward Mission Leaders home, and we are getting a new investigator. It was amazing!!! We were so excited!!! When we got back home, Sister Anderson talked, and for the first time, I realized that I could do this. I can be a missionary. I do not need my trainer. I will be able to serve my God, and help those that need my help. It was amazing. One of the first Ah-ha moments I have had. It was great!! :)

Well, the next day we went and taught Graham. He has accepted a Book of Mormon, and is going to be reading it. He is so excited to learn, and just soaks up the information. After we taught the restoration, Sister Skoy asked him to teach it to us, and he summed everything up. It was amazing!! We get to see him again on the 2 of December. He has finals the next couple of weeks, so we will teach him then. We are so excited!!

The day before we had exchanges, we looked through our records, and found a former investigator that we should go and see. So we did. We went to this house, and asked for the former's, and they had moved. So we introduced our selves, and are going to go and see the family when we are done with our email! :) We are so excited!! Today we are also going to go and see another former that lives in the same area. We are going to get 5 new investigators today :) That will be more than we have gotten in the past 3 1/2 months. It is so exciting!! :D

We also had a mission wide conference this past Saturday. It was amazing! There are 220 something missionaries out in the mission right now! President wants everyone to be baptizing 2 investigators per companionship per month. He wants that to start happening in February. That means that there will be 2 wards being baptized every month!! We are all so excited!! :) He also wants us to all find 4 new investigators every week. These are long time goals. 70% of all the missionaries out are in the 12 week training program. Which means that the mission is very new. By February, we shouldn't have a ton of missionaries coming out. It will be great!! I cant wait to see how the mission is going to grow!! :)

Saturday night was also Linda's baptism. It was so good! She was so excited to be baptized, and to take that step to her Father in Heaven. It went really well, surprisingly. The baptism was spiritual and uplifting, it was focused on her, and the blessings she received, it was great. There wasn't a lot of people there, but more than our ward mission leader though. It was perfect, until we had refreshments. We had made a couple of the refreshments, and bought drink mixes for it, and it was gonna be great. Well, what we didn't realize, was that we bought kool-aid mix packets for 2-quarts of water. Did you know that the pitchers at the church are 4-quart pitchers?? Do you also know what happens when you put too much water for the mix, not good. It was so funny!! The drinks were sour, and not good at all. We felt soooo bad!! But everyone was having a good time, so that was nice. All in all, it was a great night and something that I will remember for a long time :)

It is kinda fun to be a trainer :) I am not a complete trainer, but I get to still practice. :) Sister Anderson is great though. She knows that we are both new at it, and is patient with me :) Things are going well though. I am still nervous when I make phone calls, and when we go to doors that we haven't been to before, but it is all still well :) I am learning just as much as Sister Anderson is learning. I have been able to learn how to rely on the spirit so much more! It is amazing to feel the spirit testify something to you. I am going to miss having it be so prevalent when I get off the mission. It will all be well :)

Sister Anderson is great! She is from Monterrey Utah, and is the sweetest thing ever!! She was going into theater, but has decided that it is not for her. She is great :) We have planned to do a road trip when we get off our missions! :) It is going to be great! she is 19, and when to UVU. I love her! We connect a lot, and really get along with each other :) I enjoy her :)

Sister Young is doing well. it is amazing how comfortable we are with each other. She is like a sister to me, and I really appreciate that. We are able to joke around with each other, and we love it. I am so blessed to have her!! :)

Have a great week!! You are all in my prayers!!

Week Fourteen

Dearest Family :)

I am just gonna say, I cant believe that it is the middle of November all ready!! Just saying.

Guess what! I found out some really cool facts from President Van Cott. He sent them in our letter. Here they are:
 - This is going to be an historic week in the California Redlands Mission. Since we arrived in July we have gone from 156 missionaries to 212. We have also had four more senior missionaries arrive with another four coming in the next couple months. That will put us at 222 missionaries! As of right now that is where our missionary complement is set which means we may go a little above that number or a little below.
Why is that exciting? We have one more good sized transfer on December 10th requiring us to open a few more areas and then we will be more stable. It means that now we can focus on our areas and the work that we have been called to do. It means in three to four months we will all be trained and ready to be effective missionaries. We will be ready to receive blessings for our diligent preparations!


How neat is that!! Our mission is going to hit maximum capacity this coming transfer! Over half the mission is in the 12 week training program. That is the program they now do, because we only get 12 days in the MTC. It is so crazy!! The training program includes the missionaries being trained, and the trainers. It is neat :)

OKAY. Now about my week.

This has been a good week. Everything seems to be a blur though, so bear with me. It is crazy that it is already monday. Time is flying by.

Great news!! Linda, the sister we are teaching, is getting baptized on Saturday!! We are all so excited!! She is getting baptized, then confirmed, then is moving to Colorado :( it is sad, but we know that this is what she is supposed to do. She is going to Colorado for a job, so it will be good :)

We also are going to be meeting with Ray and Delilah this coming week. They are the couple that I felt inspired to go to there house, and then Sister Straatman and I taught them a little of the first lesson. It was really cool. They are reading their Book of Mormon, so hopefully everything is going great! :)

We aren't teaching Robin any more :( we kept calling her, and stopping by, and she hasn't been picking up, and has been telling us to leave :( It is really sad. We have decided to give her sometime. She will come back when she is ready :)

The ward is kinda getting excited about missionary work. It has taken us a while to get things done, and to really push the missionary work. The stake president is really trying to push missionary work. In his stake 5 new areas just got opened. He has over 20 missionaries to work with. Some of the wards are doing really well with missionary work. A lot of the missionaries have their daily planners full everyday. A lot of the wards are amazing with their missionary work. Our ward has some really good ideas. The ward is getting there :) It will be good :)

We had exchanges this week, which means that Sister Anderson and I were together for the first time. The exchanges lasted two day this week instead of just one. The other sisters had a training with president and the other zone leaders, and the other sister training leaders. When they had that, me and Sister Anderson had to go and take the other her car to the dealership. There has been a very funky noise in the car. It is kinda like a thunking, and it happens randomly, at random times. Well, we took it to the dealership, spent 5 hours there, and they blamed the noise on a water bottle. It was so upsetting. We put that water bottle there that morning, so that we could have something to drink during the day. The sad part was, we had appointments for that entire day. We had to call and cancel almost all of them. It was really really upsetting.
Cool story though :) When we were in Redlands,we were by Citrus Plaza. It is like a big shopping area. It has Kholes, a book store, Target, Cafe Rio, Coldstone, Jamba Juice, and some other places. Well, we were hungry. So we took the courtesy shuttle from the dealership to Cafe Rio.  When we got into Cafe Rio we were standing in line, and this lady started talking to us. She is a member of the church and was wondering where we were serving and that kind of a thing. She was really sweet too :) Well, the line was moving along, and we thought nothing of it. When we caught up to her again, she turned around and gave me and Sister Anderson both 10 dollars. This sister, who did not know who we were except for knowing that we were missionaries, decided to buy our lunch for us. She wasn't in either of our wards. It was so nice! It made me realize, that the Lord is aware of us, and the things we need. He places simple acts of kindness in our paths, to show us His love. It was great. :)

Th day after that really cool experience, we were on exchanges again. We got to go and see some people, and then went down the ward list, and realized that there were a lot of people that we hadn't seen, and knew nothing about. We went to some of there houses and were having a really tough day. Sister Anderson and I were both really struggling and were just having a hard time. None of the people we had seen wanted to really talk to us, and it was just hard. Well, we stopped at this one lady's house, and there was a man outside. We started talking, and found out that the sister that lives there, got remarried to this man. We were like okay, no big deal. He told us that they weren't interested in the church anymore, and that they didn't want to do the Mormon thing anymore. It was a little sad :( But, we complemented him on his garden. When we did that, he then took us all around his garden. He has so many fruit trees, and plants! His entire backyard was full of different fruit trees, and everything. I have tasted guavas now! It is great :) He told us to come back whenever we would like more guavas :) We might just take him up on that offer.

We also met a new family in the ward. Their names are the Imig's. They are a young couple with a 4 year old girl, and a baby on the way! They just moved here from Utah I think, and are fantastic! We are going to see them this week, and get to know them better :)

Other than that, nothing much has really happened. We went to the Ward Mission Leader meeting for the stake. It was amazing, and there was so much to learn.

This work is amazing! I love being a missionary, and I am amazed at how fast the time is flying by!

I can't really think of anything funny. I know that there must have been something that happened, but I can't remember. I am sure that once I get off my email and we are shopping, I will think of something funny. Isn't that how is always happens? :P

My companion and roommates are great :) We all get along, and then there are sometimes when a little bit of drama happens. I am trying really hard to stay out of it. I am doing pretty good at that. I tend to just sit back a not say much. It is working so far. I am becoming a really good listener :) I guess that is what happens when you have to listen to the spirit, and the person you are teaching at once :) It is working out really well :)

Sister Anderson is great! I love her so much! We have decided that if at all possible, we want to go on a road trip when we both get back from our missions. She is from Utah, so it will work great! Sister Young has also said that she wants to come :) I am excited!!

President and Sister Van Cott are amazing! They are incredible people! They are both young, and have a daughter out on a mission right now. They have 5 kids. 2 daughters and 3 sons. Their oldest is the daughter and she is 19, and then their youngest is a boy, and he is 7. They are all so cute! Sister Van Cott is really good at taking care of us, and helping us when we are sick. President Van Cott is an amazing man. When he speaks it is amazing! You can hear the spirit come through his words, and it just hits you like a wave. It is crazy. They are also really funny. Just like a normal person would be. :) I enjoy them, a lot :)

The best teaching experience I have had... hmm... Idk. They all have been great. I think the one I really liked this week, is when we taught Linda about tithing and fast offerings. It was so neat to be able to tie in eternal life, and the temple into that lesson. She is so excited to get baptized, and then to go to the temple and be baptized for her family. She is already working on her family history work :) It is great :)

Well, I should be going.

I love you all so very much!! Have a great week! You are all in my prayers!

Love always,
Sister Randall

Week Thirteen

Dearest Family,

This week has been a busy one. We have done lots and lots of service. Oh. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Our ward is making us fat. We have so many treats, and candy that is in our apartment. It is crazy. We enjoy it though :) Not to much to complain about. It will only be a little weight gain... I hope only a little...

Anyways. This week has been good. I have pulled weeds, and anything green in a garden. I have helped someone move. We took down some extensive Halloween decorations, and we also served food for 7 hours at a Redlands fair. I now have a very funky tan line. Oh well. It was a lot of fun. We got to see Sister Straatman again, which was very nice :)

We have taught some lessons this week. The total lessons we taught was 20. Our goal was 20. it is really exciting :) The Lord is defiantly providing miracles in our area :)

My favorite part about this week... hmm... I think it would have to be all the service we have done. A lot of it was with other missionaries, so we got to know them a lot. :) It was a lot of fun :)

Funny Story: We were helping serve lunch and dinner at this fair thing, and all the missionaries were serving people. I ended up standing next to one of our AP's and I was giving out the rolls. I kept telling people, "if you wanna open your buns, it will make a great sandwich". After the crowd died down a little, the elder was like, "its a little awkward for me when you talk about buns like that. I am sure people don't want their bus to be opened and made into a sandwich." I had NO idea that it would have seemed like that. So, when someone else came I said "if you want to open your roll, it will make a great sandwich." The elder just grinned. it was really funny. I guess you had to be there... idk... not much else has been funny. I just keep saying things and my dry humor comes out, and others laugh. idk.

We are still teaching Robin, but not as much as we used to. We aren't sure what it is that we are supposed to do anymore. She isn't really progressing. All well. It will all work out.

We are still teaching Linda as well. She has a baptismal date for November 16th, but she is going to be moving soon. We are trying to decide whether or not we should baptize her now. She wants to be baptized before she moves, but we aren't very sure how we fell about it. I guess it will take lots of fasting and prayer.

We did get a new investigator this week. Her name is Sharon. She lives in the apartment right behind us. She is an older single lady, and very sweet. She has had a rough life, but knows that god is there for her. :) She is cute :)

The new missionary in out apartment is Sister Anderson. She is amazing!! I love her!! It will be lots of fun :) She is from Utah, and is so sweet. She loves theater, and has been through some hard trials. She said that from the first moment she saw me, she felt more of a connection then she did with Sister Mucke. It was neat to hear. She is 19, and just so cute :) I love her so much!

It is kinda nice to not be a newbie. The bad part, is that I am still kinda treated like one. It has a lot to do with the fact that I am not training. It is weird how much that has to do with the way that the other missionaries look at you. Our of the district that came out with me, one elder has gone home, and everyone is training except for me and another elder. It is really hard. I know that it shouldn't affect me, but it kinda does. I don't like being treated inferior. I will live though. The Lord has placed me here, and kept me with Sister Young for a reason. She is great, and I love her so much! I have come to think that I am not supposed to train. I have a feeling that the Lord is going to keep me in apartments where there are two companion ships, and I am supposed to help the ones that aren't my companions. It feels right to say that. I may never train, but I can know that the Lord will always have a purpose for me.

I love this work!! The Lord has blessed my life so much. I know that this ward cares for me, and that I am supposed to be here. We are seeing those miracles that have been promised to us. It is a wonderful work.

Thank you so much for all that you sacrifice for me. Without the support of those that love me, I know that this work would be much harder. I am truly blesses. Thank you for your prayers.

Know that I am praying for you, and that I love you all so much!!

Have a great week :)

Week Twelve

Hello Family :)

Transfer information is coming out today.... Just found out. I am going to be staying in the same ward, with Sister Young :) It will be fun. Sister Straatman is going to be leaving though... She is going to be training a new missionary, and is serving in the ward that our mission president is in. I am going to miss her. We are in the same stake though, which is really nice.

This week has been a week of trials. Satan has not wanted us to teach anyone this week. It has been hard. There have been some good things though :)

Last Monday was P-day, which meant that we were emailing, shopping, eating, the normal stuff.

On Tuesday though, we got to have one of the general authorities come to see us. It was Elder Walker, and I found out from Shanae, that Elder Walker is the one who trained her for the temple open house when she was on her mission. It is so crazy! It was really cool to hear from him. It really made me think about my future family. The spirit was so strong, and I could see the things that he was saying apply to my future family. It was great :)

Well, during the meeting with Elder Walker, we had car inspections. We were told to leave the keys in the door, and everything unlocked and open, so we did that. We left the keys on the inside of the door, and everything unlocked and opened. Well, they ended up locking our car and closing everything after they were don't inspecting, which meant that our keys were locked on the inside. The sad thing, is that that is not the worst part. We were in banning. Which is a farming town, that is 40 mins away from our apartment, and the mission office. Luckily the other sister that we live with were at the meeting with us. They ended up taking us all the way back to the mission office, we picked up a set of spare keys, and then drove all the way back to banning. When we got back to our car, the spare keys didn't work. We ended up having to call AAA to come and unlock our car. -.- it was not very fun. It was an adventure.

On Wednesday, we had a few set appointments, and when we went to our first, we hit a curb and heard a huge bang. When Sister Young hit the curb she popped the tire. We ended up having to change the tire, go to one of the other appointments we had, and cancel all the other appointments. It was an interesting day. I did observe how to change a tire. Which was good. We had to get the tire fixed, because on Thursday it would be exchanges. It turns out that the side wall of the tire is what blew, so another tire for our car. It wasn't too bad though. Pep boys put a wrong size of a tire on, so we didn't have to pay for it :)

On Thursday, we had exchanges. Sister Straatman and I were working in the City Creek ward, which is not my area. We went and saw some people, and just got to know each other. She is able to be herself around me, and we joke around a lot. It is really fun :)

On Friday, we were going to have an entire day of service. We had the harvest festival that night, so in the morning after studies we helped the wards set up the decorations for it. It was so fun to see the gym go from something bland, to something grand. I have decided that I really miss decorating the house every month. I know that I hated it at the time, but now I really want to start it. When I get my own house, I am going to do it. :) I miss it too much. Well, we had another adventure that day. On our way to the church, we were turning into the parking lot and Sister Young hit the curb again. We heard a huge bang, and we blew the tire. We made a huge hole in the side wall of the tire again. I now know how to change a tire though :) I am very proud of this fact :) The tire put a huge dent into our day. After we helped decorate the gym, we went to help an older sister in our ward pack her house. She is moving up north to live with her husband full time. He works near Sacramento, and she lived here in highland. They only sometimes saw each other on the weekends, so we helped with that. Afterwards we went back to the church to pick up a cooler to go to Carls Jr. to pick up some ice. Did you know that Carls Jr, give out free ice? I didn't, it was way cool :) We then went and fixed our tire, and made it back to the church just in time to start the harvest festival. It was so much fun to see the kids in their costumes :) It reminded me a lot about Georgia :) It was great :)

On Saturday, we spent almost all day working on our studies and weekly planning. It was crazy how long it took. We did have a couple hours when we went and saw a member, and then had lunch. So I guess it wasn't a ton of time. That night we had the Adult session of stake conference. It was really neat. The missionaries all sat on the stand for a special musical number. We ended up getting up, and were told to not sing very well. The organist was told to play with a lot of stops, and the conductor was told not to do a good job. Well, part way through us singing very badly, the stake president got up and stopped us. He told the ward mission leaders, and the bishops to some and sing with us. He also told the organist to pull out some of the stops and the conductor to actually try. So we did. The missionaries didn't sing great though, and it didn't sound very good. The stake president stopped us again, and asked the ward missionaries to come up to the stand, and the organist to pull out all the stops, and the conductor to actually do his job. He also asked the congregation to stand and sing with us. It was then that the missionaries and everyone sang their best. It was a powerful musical number and a great object lesson. It really emphasized that the missionaries cannot do the missionary work in the wards alone. Missionaries are sent to help with the work, not do it all ourselves. It was very powerful.

On Sunday, we had stake conference, and did all of our studies. I am out of training!!! It is so neat :) It was a good Sunday, and we got to go to our ward mission leaders home for dinner. It was great. It was also the missionary departing devotional. I got to play piano for it. I was so nervous!! I don't think I have every been that nervous to play. To me it seemed like I messed up so much. I thought it sounded horrible. To the rest of the people there, they said it was amazing. Sister Young keeps telling me that I need to have confidence in myself. It was nice though. I have missed playing the piano. It was great to start doing that again.

Overall, this week has been good. Full of adventures, because the difference between a trial and an adventure is your attitude.

I love you all so much. I know that the Lord is watching over us, and that he know exactly what we need.

Like with transfers. Heavenly Father is keeping me in my home ward with the same companion that I love so much. I know that this is the Lords work. I know that His hand has been in my life, keeping us safe, and protected.

The teaching for Linda (the baptized boy’s grandma’s cousin) is going great. We love working with her, and she is going to be baptized on November 16!! It is really exciting. She is so ready to be baptized, and to take that step to be with Heavenly Father.

You have heard of my crazy week with so many adventures. It was hard, but really good as well.

I love you all so very much! I hope that things are going well.

Week Eleven

Dearest Family,

Can you believe that it is almost the end of my second transfer? I cant. Next week we find out if we will be transferred or not. Who knows.

This week went well. We had a baptism on Saturday!! It was for Jaeson, the 11 year old that we have been teaching. It was so exciting to see him be baptized, and to experience that. We were a little stressed getting it all ready, but when it was time to get doing, it all went well.

He was so excited to be baptized that day. He had one of the biggest grins on his face. When we were talking afterwards, he said that he felt excited. It was so cute to watch him just glow. Definitely a rewarding feeling. He seemed to really enjoy the attention, and the feelings that he got when he was baptized. Troy seemed to love baptizing him. When we asked him if he would, Troy said that he felt really privileged to be able to do it. It was exciting for Jaeson, and for Troy. We had about 30 people all together at the baptism. It was a little sad, especially because Sister Young had call about 40 member families to come to the baptism. We have learned that we need to have baptisms on Sunday’s, because more people will be able to show up, and to support our investigators.  It went well though J I did not give a talk. I was the chorister, so I was conducting for Sister Holmes, who was playing the piano. It was so cute. At the end of the baptism in the closing song, I was conducting the music, and Jaeson came up to the front, and wrapped his arms around me while we were singing. We shared a program, and the music. It was so cute! Sister Young got a picture, but I forgot to get it from her… All well. I am sure I will get it soon J Jaeson’s grandmas, and Linda loved the baptism. It was more than they could have hoped for. It was so toughing to see them so happy and so supportive of Jaeson. Brother Lomenick and Sister Young gave talks. They were so good, and so touching. It was neat to see the Spirit working through them, and then to see the Spirit on Jaeson’s face. It was just powerful to listen to them. Sister Young focused on Jaeson. She spoke right to him, the rest of us were just kinda listening. It was powerful. It was stressful, because we had to do everything, and our ward mission leader was out of town. We made almost all the desserts, and then had to clean the building, fill the font, set up drinks, find the clothes, and just make sure everything was prepared. It was also stressful, because the other Stake was having their stake conference at 5 in our building, and we had the baptism at 3. Kinda crazy, but it worked out J We do not have Linda committed to a baptismal date yet. We are going to hopefully commit her tomorrow forNovember 16^th. It means that I may not be the one to teach her all the lessons, because of transfers, but I am sure that President will let me come and see the baptism at least. It should be good. 

Well, this coming week is going to be good, and busy. We have exchanges on Thursday (My 3rd month) Tomorrow we see Elder William Walker, who is one of the Seventies, and he goes to the temple dedications around the world. He works right next to President Monson. He is coming to our mission to say hello. We also have the relief society dinner tomorrow night, Friday is the harvest festival, so trunk or treating and then this weekend is also Stake Conference. And then next week we find out if we are getting transferred. It is going to be busy.

I love you all so very much! For this week, I want you to look up Isaiah 41:10. Look at the footnotes, and cross reference it. It is amazing how powerful a couple of scriptures are. Also, I want you to make a goal. Take a paperback Book of Mormon, and read through it. Highlight in different colors each of the following:

·         Each Reference to Jesus Christ (any of His names of pronouns referring to Him)

·         His words (spoken by Him, or by prophets when they say “Thus saith the Lord”)

·         His attributes.

·         The doctrines and principles contained in the Book of Mormon.

At the bottom of each page, tally up the number of items referenced.

I am going to be starting this too. I want to hear how it is going, and the expierences you are having. At the end of the mission, we will all compare Book of Mormons. It will be fun. 

I love you all so very much! I know that the Lord is putting people in our paths that will help us progress, and have us to help them. I know that this is the true gospel. I know that we have been given the Spirit, and that the Lord hears our prayers. We need not fear. The Lord is always there for us and will always be there. We can always be forgiven for the mistakes that we make. His love will never end.

We are teaching Linda, and she is Jaeson's grandma's cousin. Good luck figuring out the relationship, and once you do, please let me know. She sat in all the lessons that we had with Jaeson, and then has started taking them herself. She talked to Bishop Holmes about being baptized, and keeps telling everyone that she will be. It is great :) She is so excited, and can't wait to become a member like Jaeson and his grandma are. I love it.

The weeks have been going by so fast. This week I will hit my 3 month mark. It is crazy to think that it has already been three months since I became a missionary. Craziness.

We are also still teaching Robin. She isn't progressing and doesn't seem to be very interested, and is not reading the Book of Mormon. But that is okay. We are still going to see her at least once a week, and will teach her about the gospel.

Things are going well. My mental health is improving, which is very nice. The sad part, is that I feel myself getting a cold. But, I have thieves that I have been using, so hopefully I wont get sick!! :)

We have exchanges a lot now. Which means that Sister Young leaves to go to another area, and teaches the other missionaries how to be better ones :) It also means that i get to be with Sister Straatman, which is very nice. She came out the same time I did, and is a wonderful sister  missionary. She is so cute! We have decided that we are going to be best friends :)

I love being a missionary!! It is amazing to be able to feel the spirit, and to be able to teach others about Christ. I love the work!

Funny stories –

So, on the day of the baptism, we picked up one of those really big pitchers that look cute, and took it to the baptism. We also had to take it back to the Olson’s. Well, on the way back it was full, and we had put it in the back seat, to just set it there while we took care of other things in the building. Well, we forgot it was there. We got it all the way to the Olson’s without it tipping over, but we drove past the Olson’s and had to make a U-turn. We had totally forgotten that it was back there, until I heard it spill. The entire container of lemonade, all over the backseat of the car. It soaked our seats, and also Sister Young’s scriptures… It was not the best. We can now laugh over it though Which is good :P

Another Funny story –

We had decided to write letters to a couple of the families that have done a lot for us, and we took them to the Millers and the Frosts. Well, when we went to the Millers, Sister Miller had just gotten home, so we drove around the block, and waited for her to go inside before we went to the door. Well, Sister Miller had gone inside, and I was supposed to go put the letter in the door. So I went to do that. Brother Miller must have seen me through the window, because just as I was about to go to the door, he opened it. I just froze, and was like, “Shoot, you weren’t supposed to open the door.” He looked at me, and then shut the door. I slipped the card into the door, and then started walking away. He opened the door, and was like “run, before they see you. Run, RUN!!” It was the funniest thing ever!! We laughed about it all the way home. It made our night. 

Well, I don't know what else to say.... I love you all so very much! I love hearing from you, and getting your letters. They mean so much to me!

Love you all so very much!!

This is it! Week Ten

My Dearest Lovely Family!

This week has been a good, busy week. We have been able to do lots of service :) Which means that we got to help the members decorate for Halloween!! It was so much fun! We enjoyed it a lot.

We went on exchanges again this week, so I got to be with Sister Straatman again :) She is amazing! I love her to death! We have decided that we are going to stay friends. We won't be going to the same school, but she thinks she is going to get married, and then stay in Logan Utah, which means that I can go and see her on the weekends! She is the cutest little thing ever! She is the same age as me, and has been out the same amount as I have. She is amazing :) I love her :)

Well, we did exchanges, and we taught lessons, and you will never guess what is going to happen......................(pause for dramatic effect)....................... WE ARE HAVING A BAPTISM!!!! It is this coming Saturday at 3 pm. We are baptizing Jaeson. He is the 11 year old boy that we have been teaching. He is so cute! He read the entire book of Moroni the first week we taught him, because he read about the promise in the Introduction of the Book of Mormon. He said that it told him to read it, so he did. It was so cute!! He is counting down the days until his baptism. It is really neat, because he asked Bishop Holmes to baptize him. Bishop Holmes got a little chocked up. It was really sweet of Jaeson to think of Bishop. I thought it was sweet :)

We have also been teaching Linda. She lives in the same house as Jaeson, and is his grandma's cousin. She is also really sweet, and we are excited to be teaching her!

I love this work. It is amazing the miracles that we have received because of our obedience to the Lord, and to the guidelines that the church has placed for missionaries. The rules aren't there for us to feel trapped, or held down, but they are there to protect us, and to keep us safe.

We were told a story last night about a little boy who was flying a kite with his dad. There was a lot of wind, and the kite was flying high, and staying strong. The dad thought that he would teach his son a lesson. The dad asked the boy, "Son what do you think we need the string to fly the kite". The boy said that the string was there to ground the kite, so that it doesn't fly away. At that time, the dad took some scissors and cut the string. The kite fell down. Without that string the kite can't fly. It is the same with the commandments, and the guidelines that the Lord has given us. They aren't put here for us to feel like we can't do anything, and that they are holding us back, but they are there to help us meet our full potential. They are there to guide us back to our Father in Heaven. I didn't really realize how much the commandments have blessed my life, until I came out here. There are so many people that live in broken homes, and have really hard lives because they haven't been following the commandments. I am so thankful for being raised into the gospel. It has blessed me so much.

"I challenge everyone to think of their lives without the gospel. What would it have been like??

Now think of the blessing that you have because of the gospel. What are some of those??

We are all so blessed because we have to gospel. I know that I am. I invite all of you to share at least one of those blessings with someone not of our faith. Let them know of the miracles that they can have, and the blessing that they can receive because of the gospel. I will check on your progress next week."

We have shared that with the members that we have dinner with. It is amazing to see the impact that it has on their lives. We as members don't think of the blessing that we have because of the church very often. I know that there are so any blessing out there, and I want you to realize them as well :)

I also want to challenge each and everyone of you to read from the Book of Mormon as a family everyday. We are told that as we do this, our family lives become simpler. We are told, and I have seen this happen, that as we read together as a family, that there will be less contention. There will be peace in the home. I know that this can happen. I know that you will receive the peace from the Book of Mormon as you read it. It doesn't even have to be a lot. Read a couple of verses or a chapter every night. I know that it will help.

I want you all to know that I know that this church is true. I know that we can turn to our Father in Heaven everyday, whenever we need Him. I know how powerful prayer is, and I know that He hears and answers our prayers.

I cant remember if I told you or not, but I had a really powerful experience with prayer this general conference. Sister Young and I have been praying for the past 10 weeks for help and guidance with my depression. We have felt that we haven't quite received an answer, but we have been promised that we would receive one, so we kept praying. Well at General conference, about a minute before the Saturday afternoon session, I had a huge wave of depression hit me. We ended up going out into the foyer, and I looked at my companion and my roommates, and said that it was just my depression, and that I hated it. We said a prayer together, so that I would be able to focus on conference, and not feel too overwhelmed. It was in that session that Elder Holland talked about Major Depressive Disorder. It was then that all of our prayers were answered. I know our Father in Heaven hears us. I know that He will answer our prayers. It may not happen in the way we thought, or in the time that we thought. Trust me, it would have been very nice to have that answer come to us our first week out here, but it didn't.

He hears each and everyone of us. It is amazing how powerful the Lord can work.

I love missionary work, and I am so thankful to be put here :) This is His work, not mine.

I love you all so very much!! Know that I am praying for you all, and that I hope all is going well with you!

I love you all!

Week Nine... Crazy how long it has been...

Hello my dearest loving family :)

This week has been full of miracles. I am going to copy and paste my email to my president. it tells of a really cool story!

Sister Young and Sister Mucke we out on exchanges this week, which meant that Sister Straatman and I were together. Sister Straatman is an amazing sister. I love her dearly, and I know that the Lord is looking out for her. Well, when we were together, we stopped by a potential investigator. Sister Young and I found her the day before, and decided that we needed to go and see her again, so we did. When Sister Straatman and I went to her home, we were invited in, and were able to meet her family. We found out that she was raised Catholic, and was a born again Christian for 16 years. The reason she was willing to have us into her home, was because of her husband. He has studied many different religions, and is helping his wife be more open to what others have to say. I know that there is a scripture that talks about how if we have the spirit of the Lord, then we will not be confounded before men, and that scripture explained our night. She was really curious about why we have the Bible and the Book of Mormon. It was incredible to go and have the Spirit speak to her. At the beginning of the night, we invited them to read the Book of Mormon, and he said yes, but she said no. right before we left though, she asked us for a Book of Mormon, and said that she was going to pray to know if it was true.

 I know that the Lord gave us this miracle because of our faith, and our prayers. It is something that I needed to see happen, and I know that the Lord put Sister Straatman and I there at that time for a reason.

It is incredible how the Lord works for us.

The sister that we taught is my first investigator that I found!! We went to her house, because I felt inspired to go there!! It was amazing to know that I was there, because the Lord wanted me to be there. I love this work!! I know with no doubt, that this family is going to get baptized :) The Lord has prepared them, and all I have to do is be there, and then He will speak to them.

How amazing was conference?!?! Elder Hollands talk meant so much to me. It was really neat, not a minute before the Saturday afternoon session started, I told my companion how much I hated depression. And then the Lord sent Elder Holland to speak to me. To tell me that all was going to be okay. I love the inspiration that the prophet and the apostles receive. I received so much comfort with Elder Holland said that broken minds can be healed. my depression is just something that I am going to have here, in the mortal world. It is not going to be with me when i go to heaven. It will leave. I know that this is a challenge that God gave to me, so that I would be able to learn and grow, and because He knew that I could handle it.

My depression has gotten better. it is still there, but I am able to work through it. my companion is a huge help. she can tell when things are starting to get worse, and she sits me down, and tells me to talk to her. I know that the talk that Elder Holland was an answer to our prayers. For the past 9 weeks we have both been praying to have Sister young know how to help me, and then He answered us. I keep hearing the scripture that says that He will answer our prayers, in his own way, and his own time.

I am praying for you all daily. I love you so much, and i want you to know, that I know that the Lord is there for us. I know that we can receive answers to our prayers, no matter what the trial may be. He hears us, and He answers us. I know that we can turn to Him always. He will be there, even when we think He isn't.

Chaylee emailing at the Library

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I love you all so very much!! Never forget that.

Let me know if there is anything that i can do for you!

Love you bunches!