Fresh apple cider and famous cider donuts

I am doing well. :) Life in Norwich is good.  It makes me really happy that Boston reminds you of me. It is such a cool city! I am so excited to show you around. :) Get ready for some walking.

We got to go on Wednesday to make cards at a potential investigators house.  She made us the most delicious apple cider! It is SO good out here. I made some pretty cool cards. :)

We got to go and be apart of Stake Reporting.  The missionaries go and report on the work in the wards. :)  I think it was the first time sisters were invited.  It was a lot of fun!  Afterwards we went to dinner at 5 Guys.  I love being on my mission because I have a million guy friends. :)  It is good. 

There was a lady in our ward, Sister Wilbur who had her apartment flood a few weeks ago.  She is on the six floor.  So it was weird, nobody knew where she was for a few days.  But we found her and she is back home safe and sound. :)   Oh she was in a hotel.  Safe and sound except she had no car and was only fed breakfast.

We ate dinner at a really cool old school mansion. It was beautiful! It is from the 1700s.

We read D&C 50 with a woman in the ward, Sister Sullivan. It is such a good chapter!

The elders in Waterford had a ton of winter stuff for girls because sisters used to live in their apartment. So we now have a ton of coats, scarves, and gloves to help us attack the cold.

On Saturday we were asked to sing at a baptism.  I can't sing to save my life and neither can Sister Giblette.  It went alright, one of the elders recorded it. -.- not cool.  It was a 9 year old convert and her 8 year old friend. :) Molly (9) and Olivia (8). Molly waited a year so she could be baptized the same time as Olivia.  Funny. :)

Yesterday was such a good church day! We had 10 non-members at church! Whoop!  We got a new investigator, Nashmere, he has so many good questions.  We also had such a good lesson with our investigators the Dunns. They have two kids. Cassie (12) and Gordo (9). So it is hard to get them to focus but yesterday we talked about the restoration and they asked so many good questions. :)

Roxanne is one of our investigators. She is an incredible woman. Today is actually her birthday. She grew up Catholic, but has always been searching for more. Her older brother joined the church 4 years ago or so and the family was not happy about it at all. He passed away 3 years ago from cancer. Which is so very sad, and she still has a hard time with it. She is good friends with our ward mission leaders wife, so she never got too far away from the church. Sister Lewis (the wife) invited her to meet with us and she has been with us ever since. :) I love her SO much. You would love her too. She wants to be baptized and loves what she is learning. Her husband is very supportive, but is happy Catholic. She can't see herself worshiping without him. But we are all pretty sure that her entire family will be baptized eventually. :) There is no way they won't be.

 

Today we are going to the cider mill to get fresh cider and famous cider donuts.  We are going with our zone to the Cider Mill in North Stonington. :) They have a famous old steam engine mill that crushes the apples and makes cider right in your face and straight into the bottle.. :) YUMMY! They also make famous cider donuts, I have heard they are delicious.

 

We got to go to the Temple on Monday

My week was good. :) We are having a Fall Festival on November 1 so we have been inviting everyone we see.

I had a hard time staying awake on Wednesday because the doctor told me to take 2-3 benadryl for my hives and those things knock me out.  It was a struggle to stay awake.  I fell asleep in the middle of planning.  It was good though. :)

The people over here love to make BBQ ribs. I have found a new love for banana peppers. They are SO good.

Last week we went to CentralFalls to help out the sisters, they were stressin'.  The sisters there are stressin' because all of the good solid members in the ward are moving.  So there has been a lot of strain put on the few members who are solid enough to have callings.  It was good because I got to see Heaven, Carmen, and Jocelyn which made me super happy.  I miss those girls. :) I really love that area.

We went to a dog park with our  recent convert, Katie. It was cold, but we watched some huge dogs attack each other. It as freaky!

We taught the Gospel Doctrine class at church on Sunday. We thought we were teaching the youth so we came up with a game of jeapordy.  We decided to still play it.  I almost had to break out into the song, Love at Home. :)

We taught a Bible class on Tuesday to people in an old folks home.  That is one of the best things we get to do! They are awesome. :)

I can't wait to see you on Christmas either!! WOO!


Missionary work is so much more than baptizing and handing out BOM's.  It is about making a positive difference in the lives of others.  That's how we bring others closer to Christ. :)


We got to go to the temple on Monday.  It was incredible!  I love the temple!!  We had to wake up at 4:50am.  Soooo early.  I drove, but it was alright. :) We had a lot of fun, the elders we drove are hilarious. We then got to spend the day in Boston. It was kinda crazy because the last time I walked around Cambridge was the day of the bombing.  It was a lot of fun though. We saw some cool historic stuff. :)  I'll send pictures.

Sister Giblette and I in action :)

Walking on North end of Boston

Coolest bridge in the world

a suh-weet stadium/train station

Boston

Paul Revere

my companiero

where the Boston Tea Party was planned

The blocked up window is where Paul Revere and his friend jumped out after they lit the lanterns warning the people that the British were coming.. Super cool. :)

You can imagine my excitement when I saw this building. SO COOL

More of Boston

Couple of older pics:

Sister Mariano's house.. It was SO hot so I look like I am melting..

This is Tori and she is now in Utah at BYU

I can't believe I'll be home this time next year!

Thank you so much for the package! It made me smile. :) The socks are wonderful, I have them on right now. I also love the tights, they are going to keep me super warm. The mustaches are hilarious! My companion and I took some funny pictures with them. I decorated our stairs with the leaves and the stickers are really cute. :) You are the best. :) thanks for all that you do for me! Papa and Grandma are sending me mo-tab and jerky!! I am so blessed. :) haha

I don't know if you got to see Elder Christofferson's talk or not, but you should watch it! It answers some of the things you asked me about in the letter you sent to me. :) I also thought Neil L. Anderson did too. You should also read the talk in the most recent ensign about being a widow. It was SO good. 

I can't believe that I will be home this time next year.  My week was good. :)  I made baked spaghetti for a member, it was pretty good.  She thought it was funny that I did that. :)  We teach a Bible study at the old folks home.  It is so much fun and we already have a new investigator from it!  His name is Leo and he is a sweet guy.  We went up to Boston last week for our mission leadership conference.  Sister Giblette is an STL now too so we think we will be together for awhile. :)  Which is good. She's awesome. We went up to Warwick, RI to help with some training on Friday.  After the meeting we all went to Fire&Ice for dinner.  It was so tasty!  It's in Providence and that's where I want to take you guys when you come here next fall. :) You would love it! 

 

Conference was incredible!! I had so many questions and they were all answered in profound ways. Heavenly Father definitely knows who we are and what we need.  It's incredible.  I felt like the main message was that we as a people need to start putting God first.  I love conference!  It is so wonderful. :) It was so sweet when President Monson brought up his wife, he misses her a lot.  I love that the church will never change its stance on our moral values.  Never ever. :)  Elder Holland was on Saturday.  He gave a really powerful talk about depression and overcoming it.  He also talked about how glorious the resurrection will be when we see our loved ones in new bodies and free from pain.

 

Yesterday we went to New Hampshire for Sister Giblette's tooth.  Best part of the trip was we found a chick-fil-a! I haven't had that in 7 months. :) haha 

 

 

We also taught early morning seminary yesterday. Those kids are up and at the church my 5:45 every morning.  That, my friend, is dedication. 

 

I have what the Dr thinks is strep.. I am not entirely sure, all I know is that I have never had so many random sicknesses in my life until here on my mission. He put me on antibiotics and I woke up this morning with a rash all over my face. BOO! 

Thankfully, I don't have to renew (her driver license) while I am out here.  It was crazy expensive and kinda silly if you ask me. 

 

We have not heard from our less-active that never came to church.  It's a huge bummer and she is impossible to get a hold of because she is always gone and taking care of her momma. 

 

The pitbull was so scary. I was sitting on the ground and it just came running out of the apartment door barking at me.  I may or may not have peed a little bit.

Sister Wives? HA! :)

The last two weeks have been crazy! It is getting chilly, this week is supposed to warm up though. You can send me my thermals if you'd like. :) 

For the first time on my mission we were called sister wives by a less-actives husband.  

We went to the DMV to renew Sister Giblette's license, I thought it would be really cool to get a CT license. It cost her 120 dollars, so I changed my mind. :) 


We met a less-active who said that us dropping in on her is exactly what she needed to come back to church and then she didn't come.

I realized that I talk about my mom a whole lot. :) I bring her up as an example of things in almost every lesson. 

I was almost eaten by a massive pit bull. 

I got to spend this last Wednesday in Central Falls. :) It was really good to be back there, I missed it.. It was fun to know where everything was and who the people were too. 

We met and incredible potential investigator. She is so great and I can't wait to spend some more time with her. :) 

I got to paint a porch and eat deer.. I ate deer!  I have successfully avoided clam chowder thus far.

The RS broadcast was fantastic! We had two of our investigators there. It was perfect because the whole thing talked about making and keeping covenants. 

I had this overwhelming feeling on Saturday of how much I love our Savior. I have grown a deeper understanding of what He did for us and what it really means for each of us. It's wonderful. He is wonderful. :) 

Short and sweet...

This week was pretty fun. :) I don't have much time so I can't give you a ton of detail. :( I will send a big long one next week though!

The baptisms went great. The girls are so good. :) I am very proud of them. It is crazy to think about how God has to trust us. It's definitely something you have to earn as a missionary and as a ward before the Lord will send His children to you.

No fishercat sightings. Hallelujah.

Thought we heard a fishercat outside our door...

Good morning! :D

I am doing so great. I love this mission more and more everyday.  It's incredible.  Connecticut is wonderful. It is SO pretty here, we drove through a state park on our way to a dinner appointment yesterday and it was incredible.  I am so blessed to be here.

Our week was crazy!! We went on exchanges with the sisters in Westerly, Rhode Island on Tuesday.  It was a lot of fun.  We got up at 5 to teach early morning seminary.  I liked it. :)  I hope we get to do it in our ward sometime soon. We read 1 Nephi chapter 5 with them.  It went really well, there are only two kids in the class. The people over here would be so grateful to have seminary offered in school.  It is a blessing.  

We volunteered at an old folk's home and fed them lunch. :) Then for a work out, they did chair dancing.. It's not as crazy as it sounds.. They do aerobic exercises in their chairs.. We didn't participate. :) haha

I got to see the ocean! AHH! Then on Wednesday we drove to North Brookfield, Massachusetts to help with Zone Meeting training.  It was a long drive, but it was a lot of fun. :) I like training other missionaries because I feel like I learn more than they do.  I get so much out of it.

We met a lady who was baptized into the church 15 years ago and decided to go back to being a Catholic. I have never heard anyone do that before, but she is still friendly towards the church so we are visiting her Thursday. :) She fed us rhubarb.

We met a guy named Buffalo Bill Tail. He is suh-weet!

We had a mini missionary over the weekend, her name is Danielle.  She had some good questions, I hope she goes on a mission.

Friday we drove up to Groton, CT for interviews with the Mission President.  It was so great, he is fantastic. :) We were given some training that totally changed the way I will forever do things.  It was the greatest.

Yesterday was Sister Giblette's birthday. :) She is 21 now.  My companion is the best and the ward is awesome. :) We have two baptisms this weekend.  It will be really good.  Although, we only taught the girls two lessons maybe.  So we didn't do much. :)

Today we were going to hang out with our district, but we have to cut our pday short so we can meet with a family nobody has heard from in a long time.  It will be great if they don't cancel on us. :)

We are slowing turning into fall. The nights are pretty cold and the days don't really warm up all that much. The trees are starting to change colors too. :) The work is going GREAT.

Sister Giblette and I literally thought we heard a fishercat outside our door.  It was not cool and not a fishercat. Thank goodness.
 
I have never tried orange marmalade.. Sounds interesting. I hope it was good. :) I have accidentally ate more nuts on my mission than any other time in my life.. It's at least once a month now.. Kinda funny. :)

Alma 27:17-18 describes my life right now

So, I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am.  I can't stop smiling and I am loving it here in Connecticut. Sister Giblette is the BEST.  We have a lot of fun together. :)   Such a blessing. :)  President Packard said he had such a strong impression to put us together.  He is so very in tune.  I love it too. :)  He is such a great man.  We have interviews with him this Friday.  He wants us to come with a question.

The people here are just as fun as they are in New England.  We had a lady tell us that she is super stressed because her 1.7 million didn't come in the mail.
  

Can you look up all you can find about fishercats? :)  I have not seen one yet, but the elders tried to tell us that they could take down a full size deer. So we were terrified of them. We live on the edge of a forest and are surrounded by trees. :) They are everywhere.

One of the sisters who went home last transfer left bags of her clothes here. We went through them and got to take home some of her things. :)  It is suh-weet.  We have things for us and things we can give to our investigators.  

We got to go to mission leadership council on Wednesday. It was a lot of fun to be around other missionaries and receive the training that we did.  It's so good to see how others are doing things.  You learn so much. :)  I got to see Sister Calder!  It was awesome!  Our zone leaders are so great.  We did the training with them at Zone Meeting and it was fun to get to work with them.  They really get "it."  

I finally finished and sent in my blog entry.  It is something you can look at.  My blog entry isn't up yet though.  I don't think. Go to reallifeanswers.org

Janica's blog entry for reallifeanswers.org:

When I was four years old my dad passed away in a tragic accident. It was completely unexpected. Losing him was really hard on my family. My mom, only 22, was now widowed with two kids and another on the way. I have two younger brothers who have had to grow up without a dad. Our lives were not going the way we had planned. It felt like the hole my dad left when he passed was never going to be filled.

I am blessed to say that I have grown up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was always told by those around me that I would see my dad again and that he was safe. As I got older, the loss of my dad really troubled me. I desperately wanted to know for myself that I’d see him again, because words were not enough. The beautiful thing about this church is that we are encouraged to ask questions. We are encouraged to take all of our doubts to God, and to let Him give us our answers. I had not yet done this. I was lacking the opinion of the One who matters most: God's. I also needed to come to know for myself that our Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us. A major part of the plan He has created for us is the promise of eternal families.

  My answer to my two big questions finally came; the hole my dad left was, in many ways, filled. We have Heavenly Father’s authority and power to bring families together for eternity in our temples and my family had this opportunity in the Salt Lake City temple on February 23, 2013 through someone holding the proper power and authority directly from God. When in the temple, my family and I promised to God that we would follow Him and keep His commandments. In return, He promised us that we would be together for eternity. This is a promise we can all have. That day, sitting with my family in the temple, my answer came. My dad is safe. He is happy and I know without a doubt that I will see him again. I know now that our Heavenly Father has a plan for my family and that he has a plan for you and yours.

Now, this doesn’t mean that I don’t miss him and wish he were here. I really do. I don’t think that pain will ever go away. What I have now come to know brings me peace of mind and so much hope. If you have lost a loved one, don’t lose hope. You can find peace and happiness in this life through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I can promise you that God knows you and that He still speaks to His children upon the earth today. I challenge you to ask God and come to know if these things are true for yourself. It took me 16 years too come to my answer, so never give up, He will answer you.

We took 50 pass-a-long cards to our ward mission leader on Saturday for his 50th birthday.  It was a lot of fun, he appreciated it. :) 

We saw the nastiest rat the other night.  It was HUGE and I thought it was a opossum. 

Church was  awesome, we had a new investigator there.  Her story is crazy, but she has been so prepared to hear the gospel.  I think the coolest thing I realized this week is that we should boast in our God.  Read Alma 26, it's one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon.  I also love Alma 27:17-18, it describes my life right now. :)

 

Oh and by the way. Papa and Gma sent me dried fruit. :D Aren't they the bomb? I need to send you a picture of it. :)