Semana 22 Painted Mountain/ Blanco Vista: Mission Prom and Butchered Chickens

Good morning! This week was full of fun service projects, zone conference, exchanges, and looking for people to teach! All in all a good week in the work of the Lord. 

Monday: Today after pday we had dinner with the Villagomez family and did some street contacting. Sadly not a whole lot came out of walking around, but this is life. 

Tuesday: Today we got to talk to this cool landscaping guy named Enrique! He is interested in the gospel and we are planning on doing a lesson with him on Sunday! We also taught Roberto and are going to pass him off to his missionaries soon. He wants to get baptized! Sadly he lives in the Pennwood branch though. Other than that we did a ton of contacting, our studies and District Council. 

Wednesday: THE ACTUAL DAY OF DAYS! Not only was it zone conference (aka mission prom) we also got to butcher chickens, and ended the day off with Sushi and the Stewart family. Let me explain. This morning we had zone conference which was super fun. We were able to hear the mission presidency speak and enjoy fun trainings with tons of other missionaries. I love how many different times we roleplay because it really helps my Spanish. After zone conference we changed into the oldest clothes we own and headed up to the mountains. Literally. It dropped about 20 degrees by the time we got to our destination. Some members in the Elders ward needed help butchering chickens, so naturally we said we would love to come help. The only part I didn't do was the actual killing. It was a blast! We had so much fun and it's such a useful skill. After that we came home, showered as fast as possible and rushed to our Sushi date with the Stewarts! I don't really like sushi, but it was so good to see them. They already look so much happier and relaxed after all that has happened. I'm so happy for them. All in all it was a fantastic day full of training, service and the spirit. ALSO! The Elders got a great picture of me with the chickens and let's just say the chat thought it was hilarious.... see the pictures for screenshots. 

Thursday: Today we had a bunch of lessons lined up however all of them canceled on us... big sad. We were able to get our weekly planning, the mission devotional, and a ton of street contacting in today which was awesome! Having a hard time finding new people to teach this week! Tonight we also started exchanges and I got to chat with Hermana Bough. She is awesome! We had a great time and I strive to have as meaningful prayers as she does one day. 

Friday: Exchange day!! Today we started out with a Restoration walk with Sonny. He seemed to enjoy it, though Sadly said he didn't want want commit to a baptismal goal yet. He did say he would come to church though! Hopefully next time we can bring bring ward member with us on our walk. We got our studies done, had an awesome English class with one other the Elders investigators, and then had a recent convert lesson with Josiah about the importance of prayer, going to church, and reading our scriptures. Which really got me thinking. Prayer is so important in our lives and it is our connection with God. So why don't we do it more often? As missionaries we pray all the time, and it's something I can't wait to bring home with me. Our exchange day ended with some since shakes and a pep talk about how awesome missionary work is.  

Saturday: Today we did a zoom call with Samira and enjoyed practicing our Spanish with her! We also did some service shoveling mulch today! My back is already sore, but the workout was definitely worth it. It's been a while since I've done some heavy lifting. After we had a dinner with our friend Ismari! She made us taquitos and we got to teach her about the Book of Mormon! How awesome is that?! After her lesson we had a really cool miracle. We were walking around and Hoody was trying to fix his car. We knew exactly who to call, this Elder is really good at fixing cars. So we called Elder Martinez and he came and helped fix the car! We gained so much trust with Hoody, and hopefully will get to teach him the Restoration soon! 

Sunday: Today we had Sonny and Enrique come to church with us! They both loved it, and hopefully they come again. After all our meetings we had dinner with the White family. They are super nice and I really felt at home there. To end off the night we had a lesson with Elias and it went well! I took the lead on the lesson and only had to be rescued twice. So all in all, a success. 

Love you all! Please keep me updated on your lives! I love to hear about them.

 

Butchering chickens!

        

Beautiful scenery

Exchanges with Hermana Bough

Shakes and pep talks!

Sonic for the win!

SUSHI

Semana 21 Painted Mountain/Blanco Vista: OFFICIALLY 6 MONTHS OLD!

Hola todos! I'm so sorry my email last week was a little discombobulated. This week I am doing much better and have really worked on seeing the positive sides in everything. That has never been something I have excelled in, however, I am so thankful for the grace God gives us when we make mistakes! This week went by so fast I blinked and it was pday again! Also, I've officially been a missionary for six months! I can no longer claim the new card.... ah! I can't believe I am already a third of the way done! It doesn't seem real. 

Monday: Honestly, not a lot happened today after pday. We had dinner with Sister Harley and her cutie kiddo that calls me page and my companion book... because he doesn't quite understand that Paige and Page are different.... ;) After that we just contacted and enjoyed a relaxing night to a crazy week. 

Tuesday: Today was the day of days. I officially turned 6 months old. To celebrate we went to Korean BBQ!! I have never had it before but the place we went to was legit because they didn't even have forks..... which meant Sister Sellers struggled hard to learn to use chopsticks left handed. However, the food was AMAZINGGGG! We had so much fun, we cooked all of our own meat at this cool grill at our table and our food came to us on a little conveyerbelt. Ahh! So fun, I love new experiences. Some people in the zone also came by to say congrats for surviving this long which was pretty nice too! Ok, fun celebration stuff aside we had a really great time today with missionary work too. We got the Stewart's house empty and cleaned, visited our friend Zoila who we haven't been able to get ahold of in a while, and went to Centro Hispano! I made cupcakes because we were doing a lesson on food and they were a huge hit! Our class is so fun! I'm pretty sure they are teaching me more than I am teaching them, but I'm having a blast learning all the vocabulary they are learning in English, in Spanish. 

Wednesday: Today we did a TON of work on contacting. We contacted members, did four hours of street contacting, and called a ton of people who have been formerly taught by missionaries. Sadly, we didn't find anyone new to teach, but we did trim down our area book and make room for some new people. So, hopefully soon we find some new people to teach who are willing to let God prevail in their lives. I feel like we totally gave it our best go today. We walked close to 5 miles just around parks and neighborhoods! And to top it all off we talked in only Spanish for all of our walks! Yes! The blessings are bound to come eventually. 

Thursday: Today our main focus was social media. We did social media finding, posted on our personal pages, and came up with a game plan for our three new ideas on our Instagram page. We are running a new logo and tag line, starting a new reels series about English idioms and phrases, and running an incentive ad which involves giving away a free laptop to a Centro Hispano student in a Instagram giveaway!! Ah! Crazy right? We drove all the way to Centro Hispano and took pictures and videos from about 4-7. It was a blast! Talking to so many people who love the Centro and love the missionaries really got me pumped up to make our Instagram page the best it can be. I've also learned so many cool tricks and tips, who would have thought I would become a Facebook and Instagram advertising expert by the end of my mission? Not me! We also taught this really cool guy Chris and put him on date for BAPTISM! Sadly he lives in the other mission so we sent him off as a referral on date for baptism. Lucky them. We also planned an awesome week. Thursday's always get me pumped up and ready to be a better missionary the next week. 

Friday: Today was the day we finally got to do some teaching! We have been working on getting people to answer our calls so we can share with them the gift of eternal life, but no one seems to enjoy getting calls from random girls they've never met, weird right?! That's ok though because we had an awesome lesson with Josiah and got him pumped up to get the Priesthood! We also met this really cool guy named Arnulfo who is planning on coming to church with us on Sunday. He told us he has been looking to build a relationship with Christ and was lucky to have run into us. We also taught our friend Zoila and taught her about CPR or, Church, Pray, Read. After our lessons we had a social media meeting and ended the night off with some contacting in the park, because desert nights are BEAUTIFUL! The hot is still not worth it, but the nights are beautiful. 

Saturday: The morning started with a walk around RR with Sonny! We managed to teach him the whole Plan of Salvation and he had so many good questions. He still doesn't want to come to church, but we are working on it. After our walk we came home and did our studies and wrote our talks for Sacrament meeting in the branch. This is my second time giving a talk in Spanish, and writing it takes forever! But, it really helps your Spanish. After that we went to a baptism and brought our new friend Ismari. She is on date for baptism on June 5th! She is super awesome, the other sisters in our district have been teaching her but, she speaks Spanish so we are now team teaching her and she will get baptized into the branch! We ended our day by making an ad video for the zone leaders with some cute members, and finishing planning our lesson and making cookies for Young Woman's tomorrow!

Sunday: Today we gave our talks! They went over pretty well. Mine was about member missionary work and was kinda bold! I gave a whole 12 minute talk in Spanish that I wrote by myself! Pretty proud of that one. Next task is to not have to keep my eyes glued to my script the whole time....! After that we taught the lesson in YW for our English ward which was super fun. A lot of people were out of town because it is the first week of summer. We had Chris and Sonny come join us at church which was super exciting! They both seemed to like it. Ismari our new friend joined on our Spanish zoom and we sent her our talks as well! We had dinner with the Thorne family which was a blessing because they are so fun and we haven't been fed all week. They invited a single sister from the ward over as well and we had a blast. She even got us cute little notebooks. After that we basten over over Hoody's house and brought him and his family cookies. They are so nice! Hopefully they want to learn more soon! Overall a good, busy, and exhausting Sunday. 

I actually took pictures this week! You're welcome! So many that they all didn't fit in the first email! So, you get more. Woot woot!

Centro Hispano

Korean BBQ

A fun first!

Food on a conveyor belt!

Something new!

Saying goodbye

Sister PAGE <3

Flower delivery to celebrate 6 months on the mission

Morning walks with Sonny

Pizza cut into 8 slices! #ifyouknowyouknow

Language study plan

English class about food

Semana 20 Painted Mountain/Blanco Vista: Moving week

 Well, well, well the tag line is not about moving so sorry guys!! The Stewart Family is headed to live with grandma and I'm so sad to see them go! We spent a lot of our week helping pack, goofing around and enjoying them before they left. Service really does make the world go round.  We have had a lot of random things happen this week so let's get started!

Monday: Today after pday we went to the ward FHE but we didn't stay long because no one brought us food and we had no investigators there. Big sad. After that we went to a lesson with the Mora family because we are teaching their two kids who haven't been baptized! I could really feel the spirit but we are going to have to up our game because he is nine and not super focused. 

Tuesday: Today we had three big ticket items that took up basically our whole day! We had district council in the morning and got to stay after because President Reese bought everyone in the mission bagels for hitting our goal of 3,000 followers on insta! After that we had interviews with President. I have no idea why, but these always make me so nervous which in turn makes me forget to ask him things.... oof! But, I still had a pretty good interview and he spilled the tea about next transfer already!.... Finally we had Centro Hispano. We are back to teaching English. Only we are teaching the beginner class instead of the advanced class. It is hard but I am liking it. We have 10 people in our class and it is so much fun. 

Wednesday: Today we started off slow and got all of our studies in! It was nice to take it slow and take a break for once. This is what not super busy missionaries get to do every morning. Lucky! Anyway after all our studies we contacted, taught Carlos and Mario again, street contacted and worked on Facebook! We also went over to the Stewart's house and read the book you are special. Everyone loved it and we were able talk talk about Heavenly Father's love and prayer. The spirit was really strong and I literally love them! 

Thursday: Today was busy, busy, busy! We had a bunch of meetings for social media, then we posted and fixed up our social media, then we posted on our personal pages. Then we did some studies and headed out to lunch with Sister Ness. She is really kind and took is out to this Mexican restaurant. We had a blast talking about her temple service mission in Honduras and building member trust. Afterward we headed over to the Stewart's to pack up! I packed the downstairs while Sister Edwards helped get the Loft under control for the second wave of yardsales on Saturday and Sunday. We had a blast chatting with Ari. After that service we stopped at TJMAXX to get Ari some jeans and a cute shirt for Sister Edwards to alter and make fun! Sister Edwards did a great job piecing it all together! Pictures are at the bottom. HUGE MILAGRO TIME! After all that we went to the park to do our weekly planning. There was this cute family there and we both felt like we should go talk to them. So, on our way out we said hello and he asked us to stay! Turns out he had recently found Jesus and was working his way up to finding a church to join! We were so excited to talk to Hoody and his family and we will see where this leads. Such a blessing after a really long day. 

Friday: Today we went back to help pack and knocked out Ari, Dillon, and Sister Stewart's room! Upstairs is done! Woo! We stopped at Canes to treat ourselves and then went to contacting. We contacted contacted ton of members and at least got some meals for the week. Then Sister Stewart took us out to eat at Chillis to say thank you for helping so much. It was so fun! We played a question game and had lots of laughs. Afterwards we swung by some houses and sadly no one answered. So, we headed home and did some language study to end the night off. 

Saturday: Today was crazy too! We got up early, set up the yard sale, changed, went to the stake breakfast, went back to the yard sale, helped take it down, left, went to a couple lessons that ended up canceling so we did calls and studies, then went back at night to help finish off the house to move out Monday. We finished off the kitchen, and pantry! It was tough but we lucked out with a TON of food so...... all worth it. We talked in Southern accents all night to keep the spirits up! So much fun! I was so glad to give it our all to help the Stewart family this week because they so desperately needed it. I love them! 

Sunday: Honestly. Sunday was a rough day. But, since this is supposed to be a positive email it's spiritual thought time. In come follow me this week it taught about light! This is one of my favorite things to study. I have learned to love the light that the gospel brings brings our lives. Christ truly is the light and life of the world. If you haven't done come follow me this week I highly recommend. It is so interesting to see God chastise blunt and overbearing. I've had a lot to learn on my mission and i am so glad I have progressed in finding that balance. 

Ok that's about it for the week! I have some pictures for you! Yay! Love you all! Not too many but there will be lots next week! I hit six months tomorrow and we have lots of fun plans! Picture of me in a sweater because it rained and it was a literal milagro! It was actually chilly all day and it rained sooooo much! It poured!

Beautiful Hermana Sellers! Yay for rain in the desert!

Packing the Stewarts kitchen

English class! My favorite!

New jeans

Semana 19 Painted Mountain/Blanco Vista: FELIZ CUMPLEAÑOS A TI!

 Buenos días mis hermanos! Como a estado? Creo que mi Español es mucho mejor! Mi gramática, no, pero, gracias a mi compañera porque ella es un maestro bien. Ok! If you managed to read that without Google translate congrats! Welcome back for all those who just used said Google Translate. This week was crazyyyy. Well, not really, but, if there us one thing Sister Edwards has taught me it is to tell everyone and their mom about your birthday. We have received soooo many presents from both members and missionaries! Crazy! I know what I'm doing the last three weeks of October. I'm expecting packages, I also take card and cash. Alright intro aside it has been a fabulous week, so onto our daily updates because I love you guys. (I also just stink at journaling so) 

Monday: Today was my first full day of responding to Facebook ad comments for our Centro Hispano page, without Sister Edwards help. Oh my goodness. There are so many. Which is a good thing because that means our ad is doing well, but also hard because I have have have good grammar. However, I made it out alive..... sneak peak I survive two more times this week too. Honestly everything else canceled on us today so we spent a ton of time making goals for the Facebook and Instagram and making post schedules. I'm learning so much about the business side of Facebook it's so cool. I can't wait to apply it for my personal training and potentially help others as well. No new people to teach sadly. 

Tuesday: Weird Tuesday was Pday!  We had a blast going to Cactus Joe's yet again. I've lived in this zone for tooooo long.

I keep accumulating cacti! Pero, bueno anyways, we also went out to lunch as a big district while everyone else was hanging at the transfer building. After our fun day we went straight to Centro Hispano and spent the rest of the night teaching English! Nos vemos greeting and attendance! 

Wednesday: Today we went to a social media meeting all the way up in Pennwood by Centro Hispano... but, it was super useful. I learned a ton about ad making and other useful things. We also went to mutual and learned their dance for girls camp. The secret is out. Sister Sellers has  negative 25 moves..... oof, but the girls thought it was funny so that's all that matters. After that we helped the Stewart family pack up the downstairs and label things for their garage sale Saturday! Woot woot! 

Thursday: Today we had a meeting with our new friend Cassandra. She is the coolest. Fingers crossed she wants to learn more! We also had a fabulous time teaching English to this sweet guy named Darian. He is also starting to really listen to our spiritual messages and his English is already so much better. We ended our day with dinner at Sister Sibley's house and yet another centro shift and drive to Vegas zone. RIP our miles..... Looks like we're going over for the 4th month in a row! Yes! 

Friday: Today I flash backed to Kenya and shoveled gravel for 3 hours..... We helped this man fill his foundation with gravel and we used only our blood, sweat, tears, a few shovels and a wheel barrow. Luckily they lived in the boonies so it was only like 76* in the mountains. After that we came home, did studies and contacted ton! Then we had a lesson with our friend Tim! He said he wants to make it a goal of being baptized and when he gets back from vacation we can talk about a date! How cool is that?! We love him! To end our day we helped Bridgette dip strawberries for the Blanco Vista fiesta tomorrow. 

Saturday: Today was Sister Edwards birthday so we had a blast talking with lots of missionaries who visited. We got up super early to help Sister Stewart set everything out for her garage sale and then we went home and cleaned the church with the branch. Josiah had a ton of questions about the temple and we are excited to see if he gets to go soon! After our lesson we went and had a blast at the branch Carne Asada. For those who don't know Carne Asada can be used like the word BBQ in English. As a food and an event! I forgot to take pictures but it was so much fun!! The food was soooooo good. I almost died of a food coma I ate so much. We ended off the day with more birthday wishes! All in all a good birthday. 

Sunday: Today sadly none of our friends came to church. But, we had a blast celebrating the mothers in the ward! We had so much fun eating and sharing stories about our moms. We even had a bell choir preform in sacrament meeting! But, best part of the day I got to call my momma! 

Ok, not gonna lie I didn't take too many pictures this week. Depicted is my list of notes I took while teaching an English class on the table, and a birthday selfie with the Stewarts...... I'll make sure to take more next week.

English class

Semana 18 Painted Mountain/Blanco Vista: The Blanco Curse

Hola everyone! As I mentioned there were transfer calls late Saturday night, and, I am staying in my area again, with my same companion. That's four transfers (or 7 months) in Blanco Vista and Painted Mountain!! Ah! I'm still the driver so, poor Sister Edwards. Hopefully we can make this transfer a fun one!! Sister McBride, Hammond, and lots more all stayed in Blanco Vista for four transfers so we call it the Blanco curse. 

Monday: Today was full of miracles! Our dinner ended up canceling so we had no dinner hour, and hungry tummies. So, we decided to walk to China-a-gogo and street contact while we were at it. On our way we met an awesome family, helped them move into their house, and are now teaching them! But wait there's more! After that we went to Liliana's house. She is 11 and is living with her dad who is a member but doesn't remember getting baptized. She told us she wants to be taught and so in one night we found 4 new people to teach! Let's go! 

Tuesday: Today basically everyone canceled on us, we had a weird English lesson with a guy in Mexico, and then we helped Bridgette clean up her house. Afterwards we had dinner with the Peña family and that is always a blast! I actually contributed a lot in Spanish woot woot! We ended off our day with the last Centro Hispano shift of the transfer. But, don't you worry because the Centro Hispano Facebook and Instagram are still ran by yours truly! We will still also be working there on Tuesday nights. Currently prepping the best video ad Facebook has ever seen. 

Wednesday: Today we helped yet another person move, but this time it was into RR! What?! Crazy. After the move we walked to the park and actually did our studies for once! Woo! Then we drove to Josiah's baptism interview!!!! Luckily he passed and we were all cleared for Saturday. We contacted and taught another English class to a guy named Darian. Then we tried to meet up with some people, no one was home, so we came and taught an English class to this really cool girl who also wants to learn more about the GOSPEL! So awesome. Her name is Alexa. 

Thursday: Today we ran again with Ari (we've been doing that everyday) we had some Social Media Specialist trainings, and then it was back to the Stewart's house to help pack. I'm so sad they are moving! But, I'm also excited for them to start a new chapter. Afterwards we taught Tim the whole Plan of Salvation and he ate it up! Please pray that his family will allow him to come to church guys! He is so awesome, he just needs some family support. After that we had dinner with the Adling family and then we went to Adriana Young's house to meet her and her cute little guy. She is a new member in our Spanish branch. We then finished off the day with some Spanish study and contacting.

Friday: Today we ran with Ari again and then stopped by to help pack some more. She is getting faster everyday! After that we had a weird hour before a huge zone service project so we contacted a ton of people in our car, and then headed over to the service project. We were clearing out an old office building and all the furniture was being donated to a place called Opportunity Village here in Vegas. They help people with finding furniture at very low costs and even free. The desks have been in high demand with everyone still going to school online here and we are excited ti see the progress it makes. We were there most of the day until we met this fun lady at 4:30 named Cassandra. She is so spiritual and fun! Hopefully we can show her the way! After that we had an inspirational dinner with the Crockett family. They are so close to the spirit and hearing their stories was so cool. We ended off the day by putting up our new Centro Hispano Ad on Facebook. Fingers crossed its money well spent this month. 

Saturday: The big day! We started off the day helping a community rummage sale in Blue Diamond township! It was so fun! Pictured below are our amazing finds including a $200 climbing ropes for $5 with no tears in perfect condition, and a super cute planter that now needs some baby cacti! After the sale, we did some street contacting and other teachings until 3:30! Then we headed out to the church around 3:30  to fill up the font. After we turned it on, I wrote my talk for the baptism, we went on a fun walk, and taught and English class. The font takes 2+ hours to fill up and you have to be there the whole time just in case. Josiah came 30 minutes early and was super excited to see everyone! We had the baptism and it was amazing. I haven't felt the spirit so strongly in quite a while. Josiah got up and bore his testimony and it was really cool to see just how far he has come and let others hear his story. His family all came to support him and I am excited to see where his future lies. I also got to see Sister McBride which I was super happy about! I miss that cutie. All in all a fabulous day! 

Sunday: The day of days. So much church! Ahhh! However it is always a blast to see who came to church. Today we had a whopping nobody come to church so that was sad. We had dinner with the Harleys and Blazey came! So that was fun. Not really sure how much he is progressing but alas. That's really about it for Sunday!

Sister Sellers, Josiah, Sister Edwards and Mc Bride

Happy Baptism Day Josiah!

Sister McBride got to come back for a visit!

Yard sale finds!

Studying in the park

Sister Edwards and Sister Sellers

Las Vegas and me

New zone.  Yay for Elders!