The week was a success

I look high.. I can promise you that I'm not though.. :) haha

Birthday Girl!!

My week was good. :) We found some less-actives and signed up for some service, so that's good. :) One of our investigators, Cindy, missed a step and tore all the ligaments in her foot.  Ouch. 

Everyone in New England are wimps about the snow.  I am really surprised because it snows here a lot. They cancel everything even if it barely starts to collect on the ground. 

I spent Wednesday in Central Falls. That was a lot of fun. I got to see all my girls (Heaven, Ana, and Athena) and some of the members that I love. :)  It was a good day. 

We spent most of Thursday planning and then we had to go into Warwick to practice for the musical fireside. We were there for a while. It was fun though. :)  On Friday we set up for the RS activity.  Our RS president went all out. 

Saturday was my birthday! Yay! It was such a good one. I am spoiled. We visited members for most of the day. Kassy, our investigator, turned 13 that day too. Her step-dad bought us a cake and sang us happy birthday. :) It was fun. She is a cute girl. 

Church was cancelled yesterday because of snow.. Sister Giblette and I have both been sick. Darn colds. We went to visit our recent convert, Asia, and her family. We watched Joy to the World, cheesy but good. Then we drove to Warwick again for the musical fireside. :)  The musical was so good!!! You invited Brian and Kelly! :D I was so happy to see them. SO happy. 

The week was a success.

Now in my window :)

Tree before we decorated it

Tree after it was decorated. :)

Garland that we thought were individual bells

We were making faces :)

My beautiful flowers. :D

colorful marshmallow hot chocolate! What will they think of next!?

The hat Sister Giblette got me :)

my dear Kassy. :)

The birthday cake from Kassy's step dad

Norwich City Hall

Me!

The Wauregan has a cool history.. It used to be an old hotel where rich people would take their prostitutes.. Sketchy.. Then it got a little classier and Abe Lincoln stayed there! He is the coolest!! :D Now it is a swanky apartment complex and still slightly sketchy, but only at night.

SO creepy..

The harbor. :)

That's a high school.. People call it Hogwarts around here

There are dinos in Norwich :)

They are floating on ice! hahahahaha

My hands were SO cold after this :)

Goodbye teen years :)

It doesn't feel like it's almost my birthday.  Not at all. It's so soon though. :) I don't know if I'll get a cake. But it is the night of the musical fireside! I get to speak in it again and Pres asked me to talk about dad like I did last time.  I am excited, but nervous. :) It's Kassy's birthday that day too (one of our investigators). :) So that will be fun, she is really excited. I will be 20! I am so old.  Goodbye teen years. :) haha

My week was great!  It has been a lot of fun.  I spent Tuesday in Providence, RI.  I got to walk around Providence all day.  I loved it!  The buses are fun because you get to meet so many people.  I got to go to Brown University, there are a lot of smart people there.  We were almost spit on by a little boy in a window. haha 

We got to go to MLC on Wednesday.  MLC is mission leadership council. :) There are 12 zones and a zone leader for each one and then they are, I think, 10 sister trainers.  They travel from all over to get there.  :) It's a lot of fun.  Sometimes we try to cram into the mission home.  It's a party. :) We made it there in time and did not hit any traffic!  Thank goodness!  I absolutely love President and Sister Packard.  They are the best.  I can't wait for you guys to meet them! :)  

Thursday was such a good day.  We planned for Zone Meeting with the Groton elders. Then we went to visit Jeanne.  I love her so much!  She has become a great friend.  Sister Paetzell came with us and was able to relate really well.  After we had a lesson with Roxanne.  Sister Lewis (super awesome member) came with us.  Roxanne is the best.  Her husband is coming with her to the musical fireside. :)  Oh and Roxanne wanted me to tell you that she says hello.  Had dinner at the Edwards.  She made really good soup.  I love the winter because of all the tasty soup. :)  We met a potential investigator that night too. 

Friday was Zone Meeting.  It was good.  We went to the McClain's too teach Asia one last time before she got baptized. :)  Their family is the best.  :)

Asia and her family. :) She just got baptized and she is adorable.

I have had over 10 baptisms.  But that's not the important part.  I mean, it is important.  It is our goal.  But if I can bring people closer to Christ in anyway, then I know they will accept His gospel at some point.  I want to get as many people close to Him as I can, even if it doesn't result in baptism while I'm around. 

We made our skit this morning (for the Christmas Conference next week.... they let the Elders write it, brave sisters!)  It will be pretty good. 

Nothing else too exciting going on.

Sister Giblette colored my toe :)

There has been a lot of rain and then it gets really cold at night, so it all freezes.  We finally got some snow today. :)  But now it's raining so it won't last very long.  It has been chilly.  I absolutely love my coat though, it is saving my life. :)  it hasn't limited the work yet, we will go out no matter what.  Unless they red dot us. :) 

It snowed!

The giant lit rose in the green by our recent converts house. :) So cool!

I hit my nine month mark!

My week was wonderful! I hit my nine month mark and now I have less time here than I have to go. It is crazy and as much as I miss you guys it will break my heart to leave.  I have never been happier and I have met so many great people who have changed my life. 

 

My Nine Month Birthday!!!

 

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun!  I had to eat two dinners!  The first one was so very fancy.  They made two turkey's and eight different pies.  I got to spend it with some of my favorite people from the ward. :) Our ward mission leader and his wife were there as well as our old RS president. She is a sweetheart and we have become good friends.  The people who fed us are the Steele's. :)  They are awesome.  He flies his own plane all over the place and knows a whole lot about space.  They took good care of us.  

 

Turkey place setting we had for dinner

 

Then we went to Lori's house, our potential investigator. We got to meet her whole family! They are so so good. Then we went to another potentials house. Spike and Garadee. :) They live in our same apartment complex.  We had a lot of fun there as well.  They are both so funny. :)  They had warned their friends that Mormons were going to be there, so one of the guys tried really hard not to swear and by the end of the night he decided that he likes Mormons. :)  I was so blessed to be surrounded by incredible people all day long.  I felt full until Saturday.  So much food. 

 

We got to see a shooting star. :) 

 

On Sunday, church was postponed because of icy roads.  We went in at 12 and only stayed until 1. :) The best part was when one of our less-actives got up and bore her testimony of the truthfulness of this church. Oh man.  I can't even tell you how excited we were. :)  Nothing else really exciting this week..

 

Beautiful Sunset!

 

 

 

Funny Face!

Epic sister win. We blocked in the elders. :D haha it was great..

The Quest for the Brass Plates

Life in Norwich is fantastic. :) I am absolutely loving my mission. The people here are incredible. The Lord has blessed me so much and I could not imagine being anywhere else. I still have moments where I am thinking in my head," it would be so cool if I could tell my future kids and grand kids that I went on a mission." Then it hits me that I will be able too. :) It's funny to me. The only bad thing is that it is so cold!! We have no snow, but we have wind chill and humidity.  Blah. 

 

We are going to three different houses for Thanksgiving.  AHH!  So much food.  We are going to a members home first, then the next two are at potential investigators houses.  It will be worth it. :) 

The past few days have been good. :) We got to see our investigator, Roxanne. She is the one that wrote you that sweet letter. We taught her about covenants.  It was really good to see her, we love her. 

 

We got a new elder in our ward. His name is Elder Orgill.  He is a lot quieter than the last elder we had here. :) haha 

 

We had a lesson with our investigators Kassy and Gordo.  They are both really energetic kids.  I absolutely love them! We got to see them at church on Sunday too, which was so good.  SUNDAY WAS THE BEST! I'll tell you about it in a second.  

 

I have learned to clean really well on my mission.  I may be a neat freak when I get home, you may not believe me, but I am thinking that's my future. :) 

 

We found an awesome Book of Mormon board game in our library.  I think it is from the 70's or 80's.  It is called The Quest for the Brass Plates.  It is actually really fun even though it's cheesy.  We played it with one of our recent converts and her mom.  I lost. :) haha 

 

We met some people this weekend that we haven't been able to in the last three months.  It was SO good.  

 

I ate venison again.  This time in a stew.  It wasn't terrible. :) 

 

Okay, now for Sunday.  Here are four reasons why it rocked.

1. Lori came for the first time in years.  She is a potential investigator. She makes the coolest cards and has the most adorable house in the world!  You guys would love her.

2. Like I mentioned before, the Dunns came to church.  They stayed all three hours!  The Young Woman were so welcoming and sweet to Kassy. :)  I need to buy them all candy bars. 

3. We were really worried about who would be the speakers in Sacrament.  We didn't want to scare Lori away and we were nervous about it because a few weeks ago one of the speakers stood up and talked about how much families stink and that he hates them.  He said that he is afraid of having a family, because his was so disfunctional as a kid.  (not the greatest message in the world)  He meant well, but it was interesting. The Lord loves us, so He sent us President Coates from the stake presidency to speak. :) It was great.

4. Miriam just got baptized and her family isn't super excited about it, but we went over there and her husband actually sat down and talked to us.  Which he has never done before.  It was cool. :)  She has two boys. The older one is not happy about her joining a religion. I have no idea what they are teaching in the schools over here, but it is SCARY. There has been more than one kid we have come in contact with that has had a huge problem with religion when before he was fine. They aren't "allowed" to teach religion but they are allowed to bash on Christianity. Not cool.

The people in New England are the best!

These last few weeks have been a blur, but good news is, is I wrote it down. :) 

 

I am not getting transferred! WOOOOO! 

 

I finished Jesus the Christ!  WOO!  It is such a good book. I think I am going to read it over and over for the rest of my life.  

 

We went on exchanges with the Sisters in Scituate.  I got to spend the day with Makelle Bailey.  She is awesome! I love her. :) 

 

One of our members, Sister Sullivan, had surgery on her hip.  We went and visited her in the hospital and she was up and walking the next day!  

 

I have come to love apple cider.  It is so good over here because of all the apple orchards. 

 

We stayed the night in Franklin, Mass. so that we didn't have to get up at 3:30 in the morning to be at a Mission Leadership Council meeting by 7.  Elder S. Gifford Nielsen from the 70 came and he requested a special meeting with all the mission leadership. :)  It was so cool!!  He just spoke in conference about exclamation points.  He is six five.  His wife is adorable.  We drove home with Elders Batts and Brimhall. They are hilarious! I am going to miss being stuck in traffic with elders. They are hilarious. We spent Saturday in Westerly. One of the sisters has been pretty sick, so I stayed and took care of her while the other sisters went out to catch up on the area. It was a good day.  I got to study a lot.  We spent Monday in New Haven.  New Haven is pretty big.  I thought Central Falls was sketchy.  New Haven is worse, but it is such a cool city!  We were there to train sisters.  Yale is right across from the church building. :)  

 

The people in New England are the best. I get to meet so many of them from all different walks of life. :) I love it. 

Picture Week

No official update this week.  Just stories by pictures :)  Love it!

Our Pumpkins!!

(Blurry) Pie Eating Contest

Trunk or Treating dressed as each other :)

Beautiful sunset

Go Stansbury!! I wore my stallion colors on Friday to support State Playoff Football Game :)

Go Stallions!

I just live in this beautiful place!

Miriam!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Bishop's Wife

ME!!

Sister Giblette!

I am really so very blessed to be a missionary serving at this time

I am doing well. :) Sister Giblette and I found out that we have two more sister companionships that we are in charge of.  So the next two weeks of our lives are going to be insane!  Tomorrow we will be in Bridgeport, Wednesday we will be in Boston, Friday we will be in New Haven.  Next week we will be in New Haven again and then in Scituate. :) whoa.  So much fun though!!  It will be a party.  Heavenly Father is continually throwing His children at us. :)  I am really so very blessed to be a missionary serving at this time. So blessed.

Our Bishop's wife, Sister Seal, took us up to New Hampshire for Sister Giblette to get her crown put on. While we were waiting for her to go back, President Packard walked in. :) It was good to see him.

We had to be in by 6 on Halloween. We carved pumpkins and watched church movies from the 80's. We only watched the movies that we hand out to people.  So we watched Together Forever and The Testaments.  It was fun! :)  We did get some trick or treaters.  We handed out candy to them.  One of them was dressed up like and old person and I thought it was a real old person!  I was so impressed.  At the trunk or treat we gave out pass a long cards. :)

We had our ward Fall Festival on Friday.  We had over 30 non-members come!  We have a lot of work to do with those non-members. :)  I dressed up like Sister Giblette. :)  I entered into the pie contest (never again).  We got to help our investigator, Roxanne, at her Harvest Bazaar on Saturday. We got to meet her mom and her son. :) It was so much fun!  We went to the adult stake conference that night. It was so good! We drove in with one of our investigators, Miriam. She is getting baptized on Sunday :) I got to see so many people from Central Falls.  It was awesome!

We were asked to be a part of a phone conference last night with Pres Packard and all the zone leaders. Our phone died in the middle of it, and it didn't just lose power.  It is full on dead.  Oh well.

This is silly but, the other day I was looking for a rag in the church kitchen and I couldn't find one.. I couldn't find a sponge either and I needed to wash some dishes.. So I stopped in my tracks and said out loud, if I were my mom what would I do. :) 

I forgot my cord so I can't send you any pictures this week. :( Sorry!

Time is FLYING by

My week was good, nothing too exciting. We met with some new people from our ward, which was really good. I tried fried plantanes. They were pretty good, interesting. 

 

We went on exchanges with the sisters in Westerly, RI.  They have no heater, wood floors and so many windows.  I feel so bad for them!  We ended up turning the oven on to heat the apartment. 

 

We spent some time making invitations for our investigator Miriam's baptism. She is getting baptized on November 10th. 

 

We went to visit a less-active in Plainfield.  When we pulled up she was outside with her kids.  The minute she saw us she booked it inside.  It was so funny!  We won't bother her anymore.

 

We helped some women in our ward move.  They had about two weeks notice and 19 years worth of stuff to move.  It was good fun. :) 

 

Okay, so on Saturday we had a baptism of an 8 year old named Chloe.  After the baptism there were six boxes of 16 cookies each left over.  They always make us take the cookies home!!  So we decided to hand them out as we did stop bys.  Towards the end of the night we stopped by Sister Stiggle's house and she told us that the primary were eating cookies the next day and that they had already brought them to the church.  Sister Giblette and I left that lesson freaking out!  We gave so many of those cookies away.  So I went home and made some cookies.  We brought them to church the next day and the primary said that they had their cookies.  The ones we took were extras!!  We gave boxes of them away at church.  It was funny. :) 

 

Sister Kendall and Chloe

 

 

I have a bruise on my nose from blowing it so much. -.- 

 

The cider is so delicious. :)

 

 

I can't believe that I am almost half way done! Time is FLYING by.