The Lord is throwing His children at us...

This week was fun! We had sister training on Tuesday in my old area. It was fun to go back again. :) We got to drive up there with the spanish sisters so I didn't have to drive.  Thankfully.  On Wednesday we had interviews with President Packard.  It was so good!  I talked to him for a long time, he is so awesome.  Wednesday morning we had a lesson with a less active and it was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced.  I don't even think I can explain why.  It was such a weird lesson.  I am pretty sure I left high.

 

We got 4 new investigators this week and they are all teenage girls between the ages of 13 and 16. :) They are all friends as well. They are so awesome and all so solid, it's fun to teach them.  Oh and also, the girls brought two new girls to church :)  The Lord is throwing His children at us.  I was telling them about what it's like to be a missionary and they all got so excited about it. :) Missions are definitely in their futures. :)

The 15 year old that is being baptized this weekend invited her whole family to come to her baptism, they are really supportive of her choice.  As far as I know her family isn't interested.  Hopefully that changes after they see her baptism.  She picked Love at Home as the hymn she wants sung  :)  Her dad is from the Dominican Republic and speaks only spanish so she can't ever talk to him, which is sad.  She wants to be an accountant. :)  She is really smart and funny.  I wish I was as awesome as her at her age.

 

We signed up to be volunteers at the local blood drive, I am so excited! :) It will be a lot of fun.

 

On Friday Kelly came out with us to visit a less active. :) It was good to see her and the kids. Brian and the kids were there (at church Sunday), I am calling them today to set up dinner sometime this week.  :)

 

Saturday night we taught a guy who speaks only french.. So I played with his two year old son. He was so cute! 

 

Did anyone watch the broadcast on Sunday? You should go watch it. :) Deal?

 

Today we are playing water balloon dodgeball.. :D  Oh and we haven't had any hot water in the last 5 days.  It's a bummer. Showering is no fun! It's okay though because cold water makes your hair healthy. :)

 

 

Rubi's baptism

Sister Shea :)  She ordered us a special cake.  She is a cancer survivor and SO awesome!

Tuna ruined my life...

My week was really great!  Monday we taught our new investigator.  She is 15 and so awesome!  She wants to be baptized, we are thinking next weekend. :)  We get to see her again tonight which will be great!  We met a less active in our ward that has to get part of her intestine taken out because of food poisoning she got from Wendy's!  Oh gross.  A woman in our ward came out with us on Wednesday to see someone in Central Falls.  She grew up there, and Central Falls is a pretty sketchy area.  She was telling us all about it and then took us to her favorite pizza place.  She told us that it's where she used to go when she was a single momma with her daughter.  We went contacting in Central Falls, it was so much fun!  We got to talk to so many people, someone gave us a fake number. :) Oh well right? Their loss.  We were in the area tracking down less actives and we just talked to people on the streets.  :)  No door to door.  We have 3 new investigators and so many potential. It's crazy busy, but so good. :)  We went and contacted a man from Haiti and he only spoke french.  Luckily, Sister Hurst speaks french too.  Sister Hurst's family is french so she decided to learn it. She has been taking lessons the past 10 years.  Pretty cool.  He came to church the next day!  He had no idea what was going on. :)

 

I was able to go to Rubi's baptism!!  It was so wonderful. I am so proud of her.  She got a lot of crap from her husband right before too and she still made the decision.  Her 16 year old and her 6 year old were there to support her.  I could tell it meant so much.  She knows what she wants and she goes for it.  I am glad that I got to go too.  It was much needed. :)  While we were in Weston I got to see my recent convert and her husband.  Thank GOODNESS.  I love them so much. :) 

 

I had a lemon poppy seed muffin on Tuesday, so that was pretty great.  I tried tuna. Thinking it was chicken. NEVER AGAIN.  I hate that I tried tuna, it ruined my life. haha :)

Training is going really well, it can be stressful, but it is no where near as bad as people told me it would be. Isn't President Packard so sweet? :)

 

It has rained so much here the last few days. A crazy amount. It's nice because it gets rid of the humidity. I dropped an 8 pound weight onto my chin while we were working out. May not seem like much, but when it's on your face it hurts more than you'd think. :) haha I am loving being able to work out in a gym every morning.  It helps me push myself. 

 

I have a lot of pictures to send, but I left my cord at home.  So next week. :)

Sisters get all the dinner appointments....

This week has been SO much fun. :)  I don't even know where to begin.  I am living in Cumberland, Rhode Island, and my chapel is in Pawtucket. :)  So far it has been wonderful.  The members are calling us to set up splits and appointments.  I love it!  The new bishop is so funny.  He knows how to get down to business, he had a list of things for us to do before we even got there.  I like him a lot.  My new companion is awesome. Her name is Sister Hurst.  She is 22 and from St. Louis, Missouri.  Training has been a lot of fun. :) Sometimes I forget that she just got here.  We have a lot to do, so planning hasn't been stressful yet. :)  which is nice.

Sister Hurst and Sister Kendall

We are teaching our first investigator tonight together.  It will be a lot of fun I think.  I also spoke at the musical fireside on Saturday.  It is something that the missionaries put on and it travels all over the mission. Only full time missionaries perform, so you can imagine the sweet Spirit that comes from it.  I was supposed to write about an experience in my life that changed the way I lived.  I wrote first about a talk I read once and then Sister Jordan made me change it to something more personal so I talked about dad.  I will have to send it to you.  I had everyone crying, including myself.  I have heard that it helped a lot of people though, which is what I was hoping for.  I talked to a lady who asked me how I came to terms with dad's death because she needed help doing the same.  She has my number, hopefully she calls. :)  I am glad that our struggles and triumphs are able to help other people.  It does make it more worth it, times 100%
 

Elder Moser (old Zone Leader and best person ever), Sister Kendall and Sister Hurst

 I have met two people that I knew before my mission.  Crazy huh!?  It's really cool though.  Church was awesome, it is in an old bank building so it's very different than a normal church house.  We get to teach gospel principles every other week with the elders.  The elders we are working with are named Elder Vargas and Elder Lopes.  They are both from Brazil and they are great missionaries.  They weren't excited about sisters though because they are afraid we'll take all of their dinner appointments.  I told them not to worry. :) OH AND GUESS WHAT!?  Elder Vargas was baptized by someone in our family.  What the?   It is crazy that I am working with someone that our family baptized. It's cool stuff. :)

My "sunburn" is going away. :)  No worries.  I cut 3 inches off my hair because it was all dead and nasty.. Now I have layers and it is so soft. :D

I did get the GPS.  It is adorable! :D  I love it so much.  One of the elders in my old area let me borrow his until I got one of my own.  So, crisis avoided. :)

President Packard is so excited that I am living in their ward (Brian and Kelly).  He said it is truly inspired and he almost sent me to Merimack, NH but he kept getting a prompting to send me here.. Hmm. :)   I did get to go visit Brian on Saturday.  It was SO good to see them.  Avery and Kason are adorable and I got big hugs from both of them. :)  President likes people to stay in one area for 6-9 months.  It's been hard though with all the new missionaries and the new areas they have had to open.  I could (stay for 9 months in this area). :D This area is going to be my baby.. I would love to stay here for as long as I can! :D

Stephen is the husband of my first convert De De. He is hilarious and we always made such fun of each other.  He is a softy and cried when I left.  I think he misses me more than De De does. :)

Stephen and De De and Sister Kendall

Sister Kendall and Sister Calder

The Dowlings with Sister Kendall from the Weston 2 Ward (they were kind enough to let Sister Kendall skype from their house for 2 hours on Mother's Day!!)

Donna (in the middle) bought the Sisters their Boston Strong t-shirts

Rhode Island Here I Come!!

So as a matter of fact I am being transfered to serve in Central Falls, Rhode Island, on Thursday.  IS IT REALLY UNCLE BRIAN'S WARD!?  I thought it might be but I wasn't totally sure.  I am SO excited. :D I will be training a new missionary in a new area.  Should be interesting.  I can't believe that's Uncle Brian's ward. Whoa.  I wonder if President Packard knows.  He'd be so excited. :)  I'll have to tell him today.  I think this is a major answer to prayers too.  A huge one.

This past week was crazy!  I was on splits in Boston for most of it which was a lot of fun.  I feel like I have two sets of investigators. :)  We have a new investigator and she is so awesome!  She is a recovering alcoholic and so solid. Crazy story with her, we wanted to have a member come to the lesson with us.  We have a member in our ward who is also a recovering alcoholic.  We tried to invite her, but it didn't work and was too short notice. A few days later our investigator texted us and said she wanted to see us again and that we had a friend in common.  The member we wanted to bring to the lesson is friends with our investigator already!  Our investigator told us that they were driving and passed the Boston temple when the member, Jaime, said,"Hey that's my church's temple." Then our investigator asked what church she belonged to and when she found out it was this church she almost died.  She told Jaime that her saying that was an answer to a prayer and that this is the church she wants to be apart of!  How cool is that!?

I am SO nervous for the transfer.  I will be in a new area for sisters and I have to train.  It will be a lot of work, I hope I can remember to do it all. I can't wait though.  This area will be everything I make it to be.  I am sad to be leaving Weston 2, I love this ward so much.  I also love the people we're teaching.  My companion and I mush so well together.  I hope my next companion and I are the same.  We have so much fun and have grown pretty close.  I will miss her.  I will also miss the elders I get to work with.  They are THE BEST.  I have no idea who my new companion will be.  President hasn't even decided yet.  He interviews them today and tomorrow and then he decides. 

 

Rubi is being baptized on the 15th, too bad I'll be all the way in Rhode Island.  :( Oh well.  I am bummed about Rubi too. :(   I didn't tell her. :(  I couldn't..  It made me too sad.  I do have to get used to it. This is mission life. :) I have already learned so much, I can't wait for more.
 

It is so hot here now.  Think Utah heat with 90% humidity.  It's fun. :) Oh and I may or may not have cut 3 inches off my hair.

Have you ever read the talk in the Ensign that is about Adam and Eve being equal in the garden?  It is so good.  I think it's in the March or April Ensign.  It's so true, women are just as important.  My Bishop here explained it in a way I really liked.  He said that women come here with a natural ability to love, serve and to bless others.  Men don't have that, the Priesthood is the way they can connect in ways that women already do.  Cool huh. :)  I totally agree that women should feel like they belong.  The RS is the oldest running women's organization in the world. :)  The temple is an amazing place. I love teaching people about it. I don't like it when people fight against things they think are man's law.  The fact that only men hold the Priesthood is God's law.  They aren't fighting against man, they are fighting against God.