Trasnfers are This Week.

My goal this week is to be more consistent with people, to show them that i love them and build there testimony so that they have the desire to be baptized and ask us to be baptized because they love God rather than us asking them and dragging them to the font. Any ideas?

Although those are the negative things going through my mind, i want you to know that God still shows  his love for us by putting little miracles in our every day life. Just to have to opportunity to talk with someone and have a good conversation is a blessing or rather tender mercy of the Lord. Meeting someone else that lives in a house that someone on the street told you that that is where they lived. I'm trying to always think in my head that there are no coincidences. God places each person in our lives for a reason. 

A really neat experience that i want to share this week is with Turia Thompson. We met her when we were just leaving a house and we saw her getting in her car in the back car park ( parking lot) of a shop (store). i wasn't going to go talk to her because of fear and inconvenience but i decided to anyway. She said that her uncle was a member and had been talking to her about it and that we could come around and teach her more about the book of mormon and meet her uncle. so we did! All of our appointments with her would always fall through or get cancelled and it was disappointing. But when we did catch her a few times we would share a scripture and we have had one official lesson with her about the book of mormon. The other day we stopped by and she said that she's been reading it here and there. i invited to her to pray to know if it's true and shared my testimony of how the spirit can speak to us and that she will receive her answer. she called us that night around 10 pm and she was so excited. She said that she received an answer when she prayed. She had this overwhelming feeling of joy come over her and with out a doubt she knew that the book of mormon was true. Ever since that moment she hasn't let the book out of her sight. she is always reading it and actually this week her faith in it and in God was put to the test. She got a call from her landlord saying that her rent hadn't been paid for 3 weeks and that if they didn't pay that day that they would be kicked out of the house by 5. she read that book, prayed and called people all morning. She had faith that God would help her through it. In the end she was able to get the  money and everything worked out. I know that her faith is so strong. She maintained a positive attitude through it all . she is now struggling with her partner... hope things go well. she has a lo of faith. please pray for her, i see this going somewhere.:)

John and Gina have back away a bit. We need to have more daily contact with them so we don't lose them. There uncle told them to go to a moari church and be baptized in their roots. That's the direction they are going but i'm hoping that you putting their name in the temple helps, i have faith that it will, it already had.

Transfers is this week. We should find out today or tomorrow if we get moved. not sure what will happen. i feel a change coming, sadly.. i really love my area and i love my companion! But i will always do whatever the Lord asks.

I am so grateful that i decided to serve a mission. It is definitely the best choice i've ever made. I am not perfect and still have heaps to learn but i feel that i've come a long way.

 i love you all:)

I love this gospel! Share it! Everyone needs it!

So things have been going alright. The sad part i've noticed is that i am declining in my expectations of myself and that the Lord expects of me especially as a leader. But thank goodness there is repentance and always improvement opportunities. I am grateful i can recognize, reevaluate and change. 

This week was actually a very fun week! I'm going to point out some fun things that happened...

so there is this guy that we've been trying to find time to teach. The other day we got a random call of someone who found his wallet and found our card and number in it. They called us because it said sister on it with out number! ha so we got it from that man and were able to give it to zion, the guy we are trying to teach! He was so excited he hugged us, i was not okay with that! ha But it was cool to see someone so happy! 

Another cool thing that happened this week is that we found a family who wants to be baptized! They want a change in their lives and they are so keen to learn! We invited them to be baptized and they agreed but then we talked to them this morning and their uncle convinced them of going back to their roots and getting baptized in that church, a mauri church. they are still keen to learn. Please pray for them and pray that they will be able to feel the spirit when we teach and that they will be able to give up their addictions. They want to but it's so hard! this is john and gina and their daughter callais (callay). I love them so much! They are great!

this week we also taught the youth boys again! i love stopping by when they are in the streets training and teaching them randomly. We did an object lesson on prayer and had them try to tie a knot without letting go of the rope. One knew how to do it but everyone else tried and they couldn't. The way to do it is to fold your arms, hold onto the rope with each hand and unfold your arms and then it ties it. It was cool. We related it to how we all go through struggles but the way to do it is through prayer. the only way you could tie this rope was in the prayer stance! ha it was cool! i love those boys! 

Arohaina is doing well. We've invited her to be baptized many times now and she is so nervous. She came to a baptism the other day with us to see what it was like and it calmed a lot of her fears but i think there is still something deep down thats bothering her and i think she doesn't know how to put it into words. she wants to be baptized but not soon. 

Exchanges with the sisters have been really great! i've been learning how to be a better leader and such and i've also been learning good skills from them. 

this sunday i bore my testimony...i didn't say much but this is what i had been thinking about.

I am so grateful that i chose to get baptized in this church. It was probably the best decision i've ever made. and the second best decision i've ever made is to go on a mission. I am so grateful that i chose to serve a mission. i love it! i love my savior Jesus Christ, i know he lives! i love to follow him:)

This is my testimony! i also know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet and i'm so grateful to have this knowledge. I know the true teachings of Jesus christ have been restored to the earth through Joseph Smith under the direction of Jesus Christ. i love this gospel!

share it! everyone needs it!

love you all!

Sister Bird

I love my mission. I am learning a lot and enjoying every moment!

i cant even believe that another week has gone by. i feel as though i was in this very chair at this internet cafe just yesterday not a week ago! i love my new area. the people there are so wonderful and kind. It's interesting the different responses you get from people. Some don't know who we are, some do, some don't want a word to come out of out mouths! ha but we go with it and try and declare the word to everyone! I want to be as obedient as possible and i've noticed as i do that then i am happy. My companion shared with me and she has never been so happy on her mission. she feels it's because we are always being exactly obedient and looking for ways to be obedient. i' think that is really cool. i love talking with everyone about the gospel. We found 5 new investigators this week, that was exciting. i just hope that we will be able to progress with them and do it right. Not sister birds way but the Lords way with the spirit. It's really cool what happens with the spirit there. 

Each night we come home knackered(exhausted, it's a word they use here for that) ha i love it! you know you worked hard when you come home feeling that way. 

We ate at the bishops this week and they introduced us to dessert crapes. We put nutella, icecream, bananas, custard and then maple syrup. It was pretty good! i would've liked it better without the nutella because i don't like that stuff. but my companion went crazy on it and her stomach was sore for a while. ha she took some home and had some for lunch the next day! crack up.

yesterday sister Samataua matched all day! it was fun. whenever people said something she would act surprised like she didn't know! crack up.

Being a sister training leader is amazing  [ly hard]!!!! I have a problem with coming off wrong and people don't like me for that. i'm concerned about how to gain the trust of the sisters when they don't like me. they judge me before they know me and they judge me based off of what others have said of me previous of them actually getting to know me. It's a bit discouraging. But through this discouraging time, i've had a great companion to help me out first of all and second ive been able to walk a bit of the path the savior walked. Think of how many people didn't like him. Think of how many didn't like him before they even got to know him, they judged him based on what they heard from others and they never took the opportunity to get to know the true him nor did they want to. on top of this Jesus was betrayed by his friends, denied, spit on, whipped, beaten, despised, slapped, yelled at, bruised and crucified. if i  put myself in his shoes with just my companion betraying me or not sticking up for me i would be so down. But christ on top of that went through so much more. And then he still loved those people. i't so hard for me to completely love these sisters when they don't like me. i try so hard but you can just tell they don't like you... ya know. i don't know how christ did it without shedding tears.. maybe he did. i love christ for what he did. i now understand more of what he truly went through because i can relate. i can still love even those who hate me because christ does.

dont' worry about me i really am doing fine, i just thought i'd share with you what i've learned already through my experiences. 

  a few of the sisters who didn't like me finally took a leap of faith and asked for my help. it was amazing to be able to help them and fulfill my calling. some wanted to go home, some wanted to kill themselves. it was amazing to see the spirit work through me:) i love this work!

There is a group of kids 21 and down that this guy has started a youth group with through his organized church. He meets with them everyday to lift weights and play rugby to get them off the streets. it's so cool. so we talked with him about sharing a message with those kids and we did the other day. we started off with some games and card tricks. it was fun and then we shared a message. we then told them if they ever see us on the street to say hi. so this past week we've run into them or seen them 3 times so far and we hear from a distance "hey sisters!!" and there they are calling out to us. it was way cool! i love it! i think we have potential with these kids.

One of our new investigators had just lost his leg. His name is mana. He is 21 and now either in a wheel chair or on crutches. We think he might just actually have a crush on us.. its weird so we are going to bring members to his lessons now. So we showed him how to pray at the end of the lesson and we pointed to the part in the pamphlet that gave examples of how to pray and so he started the closing prayer "dear heavenly father(he then began to read what the pamphlet said) address your heavenly father" sister samataua just started laughing so hard! and because she was laughing i started to laugh. Poor guy. but after we taught him better he still ended up saying the prayer. ha we taught him the plan of salvation and at the end we were asking questions to see if he understood. So we said what did adam and eve eat that allowed them to have children. and he said "animals... humans..... oh oh seafood!" hahahahahahaha i don't even know where he got that! obviously he wasn't paying attentionl. i'm pretty sure he was lost in our eyes and i don't know if he is all there... ha it was a funny experience!

Well family i sure love you! i love my mission. i am learning a lot and enjoying every moment!

I have been called to be Sister Training leader

HEllo!!

Wow i have so much to tell you. Last Preparation day after i email we got calls for transfers, so if i would've waited i could've told you where i was going then, but oh well. So the big news is that i got transferred. I am in Papakura, which is south Auckland where all the polynesians are. It's is so cool! I am in an area called Pukekohe (poo-keh-koe-ee) first ward but it's so big that there are three sets of missionaries in that ward. 2 sets, elders and sisters in the pukekohe main town and me and my companion are on the outskirts and in the town of Tuakau (too-uh-cow). It's a great place to be, i love it. My companion is Sister Samataua (sama- towa), she is samoan and very beautiful and a very good missionary. She has been out in the mission field as long as sister Prince, so like a month less than me. We get a long great.   

But the biggest news of all this change is that i have been called to be Sister Training leader. This is the equivalent as a zone leader. However, i am just over the sisters in my zone. I watch over them and help train them . I take care of any concerns, conflicts, problems, and disobedience that may be occurring. This position is quite difficult but it has definitely already brought me closer to the Savior. I care so much about all the sisters that i'm over. It's scary thing to deal with disobedience,i am bold but this is hard for me to confront someone and tell them that they are doing wrong and need to change. i need some tips on how to handle this please! My companion is a great strength to me, i am so grateful for her. She gives me good insight and keeps me positive and helps me remember all the things i need to do. 

I miss sister Prince but i know i am where i need to be. She is seriously like my best friend. We were so close. I think the hardest thing about getting a new companion is not being close like you were with someone else and starting all over again. But it's doable. :) 

I am happy! i absolutely love full time proselyting! the VC was great but to be honest i was so ready to get out. i felt like i was not progressing and now that i am here i have so many ways to push myself to progress. Being the STL i find that i need to EXACTLY  obedient. i am the example for my sisters to look to. I need to be working extra hard so that i can reflect a good missionary but not just a good missionary, a consecrated missionary. I have been studying lately how to be a consecrated missionary and it's going to take some work, especially because i see all my weaknesses and things i need to be better at but i know that i am willing to work on it and try my very hardest to be it., so that makes it easier. Especially with a companion who supports me and does her best to do the same as me. It's amazing. If you can look up and find the talk "becoming a consecrated misisonary" by TAd R. callister and read it you will see what i am trying to become. It's an amazing talk. I am trying to inspire the missionaries around me, my sisters and district and zone, to become this. We all came out saying we wanted to be the best missionary out there, however, things change when that actually happens. Disobedience creeps in, satan creeps in, and big things that are wrong don't seem wrong anymore so we don't change it. Many things are happening in our zone that are not good, so with our example as leaders we hope to help. i must stay positive about them.

I am excited to have this position. i am honored that the Lord has called me here. i am excited to learn and grown so much more:) it's exciting. i push myself so much harder so that i can be what the Lord wants me  to be for him and the other missionaries. 

We have had so many miracles happen out here in tuakau already, it's amazing! Just yesterday we were going to contact this lady, a former investigator, and she ended up not living there and we met the new lady that lived there. She has been so prepared to hear and accept the gospel. she had just gotten into a bad as car accident like 3 months ago. She fell asleep when she was driving. She died. when the ambulence got there she was dead but they were able to revive her. she died two more times after that. She is now alive and well. part of her skull is missing, so if you touched her head you would touch brain not bone. it's really neat. But she now see's life differently than ever before. she does not take anything for grantid, she hard out believes in God and wants to do anything to follow him! she is so excited to learn from us and wants to come to church hard out! it's so exciting! the Lord is preparing his children. 

Well, i love you all. i love my  mission. Most importantly i love the Lord. That is my motive for everything now.:) hopefully it stays! ha

This week absolutely flew by!

 Holy Cow! this week absolutely flew by. i can't believe it. It got to friday and i felt like it was tuesday still. i don't know where it went. I couldn't even believe it was Sunday yesterday. so weird. This week was just a wonderful week to do the work of the Lord. 

it's interesting because i go through cycles or patterns of life or work here. For a time i will be completely okay and fine with talking with everyone i see and other times i will get so nervous that i will come up with all the excuses in the world of why not to talk to them. None of which are valid because we are all children of God and need to live with him again someday to have complete happiness and it's my responsibility to share that with them right now. However, each time i come to understand the atonement a little bit more and feel the power of it in my life. I know that if christ did not suffer then there is no way we would be able to receive answers to our prayers. We would be able to receive help and guidance, or strength, support and comfort. all of those things come to us because Christ suffered for us. He did not just suffer for our sins, but all of our pain, sickness, temptations, sadness, mental disabilities, insecurities, and emotional problems as well. He understands every little or big thing that we go through because he's felt it the exact same way. it's truly humbling to know that the Savior did that for ME... for you...for everyone. What a blessing, what a miracle. I am so grateful for the help and strength that i receive each day as i ask for it through prayer in the name of Christ. He is my Savior, he has become my best friend, i love him. I know i couldn't do any of this without him because he keeps me going. He helps me realized i can't give up on people because He NEVER gave up on me. It's so humbling.

    So we have been teaching this family. Or the kids of the blair family. The mom is not interested and does not believe in God but she doesn't mind that we come over to teach the kids. So we planned for them to all come up to the VC and their mom was going to bring them up. But she ended up being asleep, so she couldn't. Malcolm the 13 yr old boy really wanted to come so we told him that we would arrange a ride. His sisters Cassandra(17), brittany(15)  and alexandria(12) were going to come as well. so we arranged for  bishop to go and pick them up. Which in the meantime he had received a prompting that morning that we were going to need him for something so he texted us and asked us if we had visited one of our investigators or if we were going to that day, and if not then he would. But he still felt like something was missing, like he was being prepared to be our ride. It was so neat. So when we called and asked him, he was so keen to help and do what the Lord asked. So when they came we found that only malcolm had come, he said his sisters weren't feeling to well and didn't want to come. We were so thrilled just to have him come though, even though we were disappointed his sisters didn't come i believe it was supposed to happen that way. We showed him around and talked to him about if he had prayed to know if the book of mormon was true. He said he did the night before but he didn't receive an answer. We asked him if he felt anything while he was praying about it and he said "ya, i felt like a spark of joy go throughout my whole body!" i just about jumped for joy! He received a very specific answer to his question. He began to get excited as well. We showed him around more and he was telling us how much he like what he was learning and that he believed it and would even be baptized. He didn't know what it meant to be baptized at that point but i know he was so sincere. He said his mom wouldn't let him and she thinks it's a dumb religion but he doesn't he "thinks it's awesome'. It was so cool to see how sincere he was. i love it. i was so happy that day!

    Our investigators from a few months back... Iri & vinnie. We have seen them around and stayed friends with them after they told us they don't want to learn more. However, we invited them to the Christmas lights and they came! they actually loved it and said they wanted to come back, We were able to catch up with them and they said that one of their goals this year is to start coming to church regularly. Which is really cool because when we were teaching them before they didn't see the need for organized religion and to attend church. The Lord has been preparing them and softening their hearts. I love it! So they came to the VC the other night and we showed them around and showed them God's plan and the temple and it was really neat. They are keen to learn more and they had tons of questions. Which some of them were answered in the lesson we taught them months ago, which goes to show that we didn't explain things very well! ha but it's all good, i hope we are better teachers now!!! ha 

    I am getting nervous for transfers this week but i know i will go where the Lord needs me. There is lots for me to learn! ha 

    Vicki, has really grown to love us! You can tell she trusts us, however, i believe she is still having a hard time trusting God. She just can't ask!!!  I wish she would because i know she would receive so much help and blessings!!! Please pray for her, her dad just went to the hospital for many problems. They are struggling. Her dad and her little girl both have cancer. she is a single mom and her mind is like scrambled eggs all of the time. I love her so much. 

    I will be sad to leave my area. i love my ward, it's become like a homeward to me. i would absolutely feel comfortable living in this ward! The people are so great and kind, it's wonderful. 

    Yesterday, we got a taste of what full time proselyting will be like. sunday after church we had a lunch/dinner around 3 and we were out the rest of the night with no breaks! it was so much fun, it was pouring rain! We were able to get 6 other lessons!! which is amazing because we barely get over that for an entire week!

    We taught an atheist last night, Shawn, who has become our new investigator. I am looking forward to teaching him again. He was saying his whole life he's just pushed it away with out trying to understand but as we taught him last night he was so sincere and trying to understand. He wants the happiness that we talk about and is willing to try it out so he can have that happiness. He prayed at the end of the lesson too! it was so cool. Pray for him as well. :) 

    The Lord is blessing us with so many people to teach and although many are slow movers and probably wont' be baptized for a while i have faith that they are in good hands and will get there:)

Well i love you all heaps. REMEMBER to look for the blessings that God has given  you. He truly is blessing you everyday!

many times people think that God isnt there because they have all of these problems and they aren't seeing the little ways he's blessing them. But remember that God is blessing you each day we just need to look for those blessings to see them and then we are grateful. 

*make a gratitude journal and you will see how much God truly is blessing you:) love yaz!

Some interesting things happened but very cool!

So this week was a good one.

some interesting things happened but very cool!

So we went to this recent converts house, she is very bold so sometimes its really scary to talk to her. And she started to tell us that she made a mistake in being baptized and she doesn't get anything from the scriptures anymore. She doesn't see the point in scriptures or going to church, and she feels like this kind of life isn't for her. sister Prince and i just sat there and didn't know what to do or say. We tried to talk to her about it but she would just throw out another reason why it wasn't for her. Sister Prince started to get upset and cry so she quickly stood up before they noticed and asked if she could go to the bathroom. And there i was in the room with this women, her recent convert of a month brother and her  NM mom. uh, i didn't know what to do so i started to be bold. It was really neat though because she's done something like this before and we aren't sure what to do and it gets awkward but this one was the worst. it's like she is the only right one and the way she thinks is the only right way. i don't know how to describe it. She's lovely just dont' know how to address her concerns. anyway, the spirit was leading me to say all these things and th spirit was really pretty strong. Usually when this happens it leaves. I am so grateful that it was guiding me with what to say. Nothing was working and then i just told her that we don't know or understand what it is she is going through, however, there is someone who does. Our savior jesus christ and our heavenly father. I bore my testimony to her of how if she turned to them for help, they would be able to help her and comfort her. At this point sister Prince came in and then asked her if she remembers the first time she received her testimony of the book of mormon. The lady said "you expect me to remember over 12 months ago?" and sister prince said, well my experience was over 8 years ago and i still remember. And then she started to cry, it was the spirit as well as sadness for this lady. This lady then dismissed her brother and mom and said she would like to have a word with us. sister Prince and i both freaked out inside.. what was going to happen. She comes closer and sits by us, she then began to cry. What was once a tough lady had now become a tender lady. She expresed to us how hard it has been for her to get along with her missionary gone. she thought she was doing ok but she's just having a hard time. Things aren't as exciting as they used to be and she doesn't feel as though she fits in the ward.

It was so sad to see her break down, but it was a perfect example of what it says in PMG about iceburgs. We only know the part of the iceburg sitting on top of the water when there is a much deeper and more massive chunk under the water. All those things she told us at first were just tiny compared to the real problem she was facing. When we share personal spiritual experiences with others and follow the spirit, we can truly help them how they  need to be helped. We can also help them open up. it was amazing and my testimony grew heaps.

So yes, Kristin Smith came and visited me at the VC. It was really cool to connect mine and Taylor's missions together. She is a really neat girl and we became pretty good friends in the hour that we visited. She's a great girl. And being a missionary is the best part because i helped her with some things and was hopefully able to build her faith. it was neat. She said she really needed what i shared and what we talked about. 

Sister Prince and i are getting along so well.. I love her heaps. I used to get annoyed at her all the time but now we just talk about it straight away and it goes away and we enjoy each other once again. I love it. we are now always laughing and doing the work with one heart and mind. She is a great companion, i would love to stay with her for my whole mission, however, i know i wouldn't learn much. She keeps me in the right way and keeps me going. Her hard work and diligence is a great example to me. I love that about her, everything about her. So many people think that we are twins or sisters. ha it's great!

Please continue to pray for my investigators One of them is vicki, she is in the picture below. Lovely lady. poor thing though, her 3 year old daughter and her dad, who is old and living with her both have cancer. she has 4 kids and it's struggling with all the stresses of life. I know that the gospel will bless her life and i think she see's it too. She was able to recognize an answer to her prayers, which was awesome. She grew up under circumstances where you were never allowed to ask for anything. So she has a hard time asking for anything in prayers. We finally were able to get her to ask one thing. It was that she wouldn't be as stressed. The day that she asked for that, she said she didn't have any stress and it was a normal stressful day. It's amazing to see that the Lord answers prayers. I know he does, but my favorite thing is when people recognize his answers.

Sister Prince and i gave talks in church this sunday.  It was great! i wasn't even nervous. I love how the Lord blesses me with that ability. I felt like the spirit spoke through me and it was great. I know a lot of hearts were touched from the talks given by us.

We went to wendy's today! finally! i love wendy's. I finally had a frosty! i 've been wanting one so badly! it was so good and worth $3! ha so expensive here!

Holy Cow!!! It's already Christmas!

Holy Cow!!! It's already Christmas, time sure flies by when you get older... and i'm only 20!! i can't imagine when i'm 40 or something!

So this week was pretty crazy. We have been doing temple lights tours and i am so exhausted from the constant, everynight tour giving. It is really exhausting! but all is well. I am enjoying it at the same time. It's amazing how much the Lord blesses you when you are on his errand. Even though we are in the VC the majority of the time we are still progressing well in our area. This week we've gotten two new investigators. Vicki and Yvonne. Yvonne is sister horsecrofts neighbor. She lives next to casey's old house. She was one of the ones who came to the missionary fireside and the ward activity and loved it. She wants to "become a member of the congregation"(that's what she expressed to bishop at one of those events). So that is really cool. She's really keen to learn more. She's searching for all the things that the gospel brings in life. Purpose, a greater hope for the future etc. Vicki, lives next to our WML house. When we left his house the other day, on a crap day, we stopped and talked to her as she was outside. We had a great talk and she allowed us back. She is searching for God again. I'm excited to continue to teach them and bless their lives.

Our ward is flourishing. Yesterday at church we were able to get 2 of our investigators there and 6 less actives. It was so amazing. I love to see the Lord's hand in the work, he certainly moves the work forward. We had to go to our less actives house, Dawn. We've been trying to get her there for ages and we'd always call her in the morning and she'd tell us she was too tired and didn't feel well. So this week we had talked about us coming over to help her get up and ready with her kid. She agreed. So we called her and she gave us the same excuse and i responded, "ok we'll be right there to help you get ready this morning to come to church." She agreed. ha it was awesome!! and she came and loved it, she really wants to change her life around,but is having a hard time doing it on her own. Please pray for her too. 

Other cool story for the week is the indian family we've been working with, the Madhavans. He's been less active for years because he was offended by being accused of doing something he didn't. It was a big deal. So he's been visited and fellowhsipped for many years. When we came over the first time he was sick in bed. He's had very bad health issues. But the next time he came out to visit with us and has been progressing very well since. It's amazing. We really do love them, they feed us often and tell us "if you ever need anything, just give us a call. and i MEAN it"(imagine this in a thick indian accent, i love it). we know he does(mean it)! But we went over the other day and taught him the word of wisdom. we were scared to do so, but we did it out of love and he felt it and said that we have changed his life. He's come to church 2 times now and said that he is coming back to church for good. It was so cool!!! we changed someones life. he needed us to come! others have been for years but the way we approached it and the way we showed our love changed their hearts:) such a neat experience. We are going there for Christmas dinner, i am excited! They prepare really good indian food for us all the time and they are planning on making our favorite!

So sister Davis, a sister in our flat, has pink eye we think. And last night at the VC, one of the new elderly couples filling in temporarily, sister Gordan came up to her and said " you know what really works for pink eye? breast milk. and there is a lady over there that just walked in that i'm sure would be happy to step into the other room and provide some for you". O my goodness, it was so funny! I mean come on, how awkard would it be to use someones breast milk for your eye. a stranger!! and how awkard would it be to be the other person who was like "uh...".  "would you mind if we used some of your brest milk for this sisters eye?!" ha such a funny story!! ha

So Chael is doing great! still progressing on getting baptized. We set him for January 11 this week. We go through a lot of hurdles but it's gonna work out! We are excited. Please pray for him and our new investigators. This week he told his friend about him being baptized and she tried to hard to convince him not to, he was sad because right now she is his only true friend, other than his new ones in the ward, and she's even turning her back on him . He's worried about telling his family now. He doesn't want to lose them and the only friend he has. His friend is not going to leave him but it's sad what he's going through. Also the night before church, his ex wife and her mom came over and took  his daughter away from him. For some reason they thought he wasn't taking care of her... they were drunk. It is sad. But he loves the commandments. It's so cool to see him accept them. We've had to be really patient with him, but it's worth it. The Lord is helping him and answering his prayers.

So cool experience. This week sister prince and i went into the temple for lunch. Temple food is always good. But since we can't do initiatory or a session then we are disappointed of course but we were able to sit right outside the chapel in a waiting area and just hear the hymns and fill the spirit of the temple. is was so nice!! I love the temple and i can't wait to go back in to it and actually do a session, it will be bliss.

So i'm trying to remember my funny stories but i can't.... i know sister prince and i laughed a lot this week so that was nice. we are really starting to grow close:) It's nice trusting and loving your companion. She is such a good missionary and i am learning so much from her. It's great. She really pushes me to be better.

Oh ok so this week i really wanted to grab some food before we did planning, so i asked sister prince if she had to go to the bathroom, because i wanted her to so i would have time to grab food without her saying we need to do planning! haha but she didn't...so she looked at me funny and said "do you need to go to the bathroom" and i looked at her and said "no". so we stared at eachother and she was so confused so i had to explain to her what i was doing. haha she laughed so hard! and now we use that as an inside joke all the time to just laugh at things. It is great! The mission is so much fun, i'm starting to get used to it and it's almost 1/3 done. i'll have been out 6 months by the end of January! That went by so fast, well at least i think so! i really love my ward, my bishop, my area, my companion and the sisters in my flat. i've gotten really close to sister Mclemore. She is great and i am so grateful that we have eachother. I learn a lot from her.

So when is taylor getting married? February? is that what i heard. That is neat, and really soon! Is it weird not having me home to decorate? How does the tree look? i'd love to see it.

Also i will be hopefully skyping on  your Christmas day at my normal email time. around 10 or11 or 12 here which would make it 4 or 5 in america... not sure. we might call first to make sure it's working. We will be doing it at the bishops house, i sure hope it goes through and that the internet is working. If not we will call you from his phone. His skype address is "wordgems" look it up and we'll probably do it from his if my account isn't working or if i have forgotten it, which is very possible. I am getting excited to skype. Remember i only have an hour, so please don't have so many people there, just our family:) i love you all and miss you and i wish you a merry Christmas!!! I"m closer to Christmas than you are! i call on boxing day( the day after Christas, it's a holiday here.)

I have been working on growing my testimony this week and one of the things i did was actually this morning. I took each commandment and wrote out the promised blessings of them and then wrote the blessings i've seen from each commandments in my life. It truly was a testimony builder to see that God does keep his promises. I love the commandments, obeying them brings me happiness, it give me a happy conscience, it also brings peace and the spirit into my life. So worth it. i love obeying my heavenly father. They are there to keep me save and protected and i have certainly seen that. I know that the church is true because i know that the book of mormon is true. I love the book of mormon. It truly brings a sense of peace into my life, it helps me with my attitude and brings the spirit into my life.

I hope we can all remember the true meaning of Christmas this year and think what can i give FOR  Christ.

Btw that reminded me, a lady bought our grocery's today. It was so humbling.:)

Also there is a man that plays his guitar outside the grocery store every day. So we started teaching him when we would see him on p-days. He was really excited about the gospel and actually has family that are members. They have been surprised and excited, he says, that he is reading the book of mormon. He says that he tell everyone about us, that we gave hima book of mormon and he feels that he is heading the right way. So many other churches come to him every day and try to convert him but he says that he used to listen and take there stuff but he doesn't anymore because he wants to conver to be a mormon. He loves it so far and we haven't even taught him much. He feels the spirit we bring he says. Its cool how we can change lives without even realizing it. I encourage you to give a book of mormon away this Christmas:) It can change someones life