The Joys of a Missionary.

April 21, 2014

The Joys of a Missionary.

Well Hello :)

It is so wonderful to be emailing today.

This week has gone by so F.A.S.T!!!! like in a blink of an eye.

Easter Sunday was amazing.....the next holiday to look forward to: MOTHER'S DAY!!!!

It is right around the corner :) I am so stoked.

Now I will tell you about the joys of my week...which were many :)

Monday's joys.

Monday was joyful. We always have a really good time at Dustin and Maddy's! This time was very interesting. We brought Sister Faux with us and she really helped to answer a lot of Dustin's questions.....but before that we celebrated Dustin's 23rd birthday. We made him a cupcake cake! We told him on Sunday that we would be making him some thing special. Our cake was blue and white and the candles were squiggly and when we lit them they melted all over the cake!!! Hahaha!!!!! We sang to him and he was so embarrassed! We then went and ate at Cafe Rio and it was delicious!! A member payed for it for us again! Free food brings me so much joy. Members are just so awesome!! We then had a great lesson with Amy and Thomas, but then we found out that they are moving :( sad... But we will send missionaries wherever they they go!!

Tuesday's joys.

We got to see our wonderful investigator Chervine :) She is so sincere. You can tell that she wants to be close with her Heavenly Father. She is a great example to me of someone who believes in prayer :) We then were able to see Sister Langston and her adopted daughter Faith. Faith is three and loves the Sister Missionaries. We taught her about the Resurrection and she was just mesmerized!!! We also had dinner at Bishop Durham's house. He is the most concerned Bishop I have ever met. He always ensures that our needs are met. He loves that missionaries. I just love this ward!!! I never want to leave it!!!

Wednesday's joys.

We had District Meeting. It is always joyful to meet as a district! This district meeting was one of the best ones I have ever been to. I was really touched by the message. We all learned about prayer and the importance of it. We then we went into the chapel and thought about things that were on our minds and questions that we may have and then we all went into separate rooms and said a vocal prayer to Heavenly Father. It was a really powerful experience! It was amazing :) Afterwards we went to the Ostrander's home and taught little Frankie. He is super cute and so is his baby brother :) Frankie is getting ready to be baptized when he turns 8 years old :) We then went to the Harlow's home and had Hawaiian food...well not really Hawaiian food...it was Hawaiian Haystacks which I never had in Hawaii....:) They were delicious!

Thursday's joys.

Thursday we had interviews with President Neider.... This was the last one that I will ever have with him :/ But I am excited for the next mission president and what he will bring into the mission :) I love president Neider and Sister Neider. They are amazing and always have the best trainings in the world!!! They are very inspirational. We talked about prayer and the importance of it :) It was awesome and it seems that this week has been really centered on prayer. We also got to see our investigator Timothy :) He is doing really well and we are excited for him to get baptized and he is excited to get baptized. We then had dinner at Dustin and Maddie's house and Dustin PROPOSED to Maddie!!! (We actually heard about this on Sunday :) ) We then made cookies at Sister Jones' House!!!!! It was so much fun :) Then we delivered them to all of our investigators!

Friday's joys.

We spent Friday delivering our delicious Easter Cookies! Everyone loved them. It helped us get into a lot of doors. We were able to sit down and have a short lesson with Chervine and her daughter :) Food is the pathway to the heart. No lie. And it brings people joy! That evening we had dinner with Tim and Ashley. I love them so, so, so much! We also ate with their three cats Mosby, Darla, and Dexter. There is nothing more jumpy then a Sister Tucker eating with three cats. :) I think I offered everyone there a good laugh. We shared a message with them about eternal marriage. We committed them to read "The Proclamation to the Family." That document is so powerful. It brings me joy.

Saturday's joys.

We started the day with a mini exchange. I went with Sister Pulliam while Sister P and Sister Nichols went to a baptism for one of their investigators in another area. It was great to spend a little time doing some heart attacks. Sister Pulliam reported back to me that lots of people felt joy from the hearts. We also had to hunt down a bunch of elders that were hogging the church library key. It was an adventure to find them on their bikes. Later we had our first official lesson with Frank. Brother and Sister Morris came with us. We taught the Restoration lesson. Frank had read the pamphlet we left him and he had a lot of heartfelt questions. I was very impressed. You can tell that he is truly searching for joy :) Then....we met with Brother Buckwalter. He is a widower in our ward. He told about his world travels and his spiritual experiences. He told us how much he loves working at the temple and how it brings him peace. I told him that very day was a year since I went to the temple for myself. It was wonderful.

Sunday's joys.

There was so much joy on Sunday. We were recruited into the ward choir...which is the most awesome ward choir I have ever heard. We sang 5 amazing songs. One of them was called "There'll be Joy." It was my favorite! Then we had a great lesson about the Savior in gospel principles. We all shared our experiences with the Savior. I couldn't help but tear up when Maddy shared about the struggle she has had being a teen mom. She is so strong. After church we booked it over to the Jones' house to help with dinner. There was ham, chicken, salad, deviled eggs, jello salad, baked carrots, funeral potatoes, and coconut cream pie (not as good as Ted's on the North Shore :)) Everything was super delicious. The Jones' invited their nonmember friend Paula to dinner too! We got to share an Easter message with her. It was so neat to see the Jones' reaching out to help their friends find the gospel. The members here know where true joy lies.

Now time for the part of this email titled "Questions of your Soul??????"

How was Easter as a missionary?

It was super awesome! Not the same as being home obviously....but I got to spend it with the Jones Family :)

Did you see the video and/or testimonies #becauseofHim?

YES!!! We watched the video in Gospel Principles! It was amazing :)

You went to the temple a year ago. What prepared to go to the temple?

Taking Temple Prep was the best decision I ever made :)

What does the temple mean to you?

That is a big question. It means everything to me. I wish I could go every week and drink up the spirit there.

I love you all so much :)

Stay sweet!

Love,