Let It Snow!

Hello Friends and Family!

Another week passes by but this time, this one begins with snow! :P Not fun. There's ice on the ground and the Elders helped scrape off our car for like twenty minutes this morning. Terrible. But it was nice that we had some help! We had breakfast at this little place called Long's Bakery. They had yeast donuts that were so amazing! I had this pumpkin cake doughnut and one I don't even remember the name of but it was so good! It had caramel frosting and peanuts and a chocolate kiss on top. Day = Made. Then we went to Mickey D's and I had white hot cocoa. Yum! So the day started off right despite the bitter chill of winter setting in. This one is supposed to be worse than last. :P Yay...

Yesterday was stake conference! It was way good! We had so many awesome speakers including President and Sister Cleveland. Sister McKendrick and I were in the choir. We sang A Child's Prayer and Come Thou Fount. I love Come Thou Fount! So that was interesting! The speakers had different groups stand. They had the families of missionaries currently serving in the stake, temple workers, and us full-time missionaries stand. It was pretty funny. We had the best seats in the house up on the stand and so when they called us we were the only two missionaries so we just stood up in front of like 500 people. Funny. It's so weird to think that there's a force of over 87,000 missionaries in the world. It's even weirder to think I'm one of them... Crazy! Reality hits you like a ton of bricks...

We had one of the coolest lessons taught last night. We had a member of the ward who is Spanish come with us to talk to our Spanish family. They sat for the better part of the hour discussing the doctrine and he asked questions left and right. I didn't know what they were saying completely but I knew EXACTLY what was being said. It was so cool. The spirit was definitely there. We got to the root of the problem and he is going to do some wrestling again. He has an earnest desire to know if this is the way God wants him to go. He wants black and white facts in the Bible but I know if he can put his trust in God and really read the Book of Mormon and have that earnest desire to pray he will receive his answer and be blessed. We know he's making the right decision and we are letting the Lord take over now.

Thursday-Saturday we worked and got in some lessons. It was great. We saw one of our progressing investigators and she is coming so much closer! We should be able to work with the nursing home and get her to church. So cool!

Wednesday we had 9 lessons! So cool!!! Total grace!

Tuesday was the preface to Wednesday. We had tons of lessons and lots of miracles.

Then Preparation Day we had lots of fun with all the Elders and Sisters together. President wants us to become more unified so we are now required to go on obligatory "dates" with the missionaries in our zones/district/areas. Super awkward. We don't have to like each other. We just have to love each other. And be best friends. But hey, if it gets us the spirit and helps us become a more unified mission then by all means I'm good to go get some food. It's an adventure.

So that is my week in a nutshell! We see the Lord's hand in every thing. It's really cool to see and have so many wonderful experiences. Everything we do is so centered on Christ. I know I've got my work cut out for me but I know that I'm not alone. Members and missionaries alike are hastening the work. There were lots of talks given on the Spirit of Elijah and family history work. There is always more work to do! Let's find our cousins! (Joke from Stake Conference. They had a song talking about family history work. Too funny.)

Anyways! I have had a lot of questions about Thanksgiving and my comp so here are the answers!

1. We will have Thanksgiving with one of the members in our ward. The Elders are going with someone else. Either way we will have dinner. :)

2. Sister M is from Highland, UT. She's dying. AKA going home in 15 days. (Dec. 2.)

3. I am doing great! Every week is a new adventure and we learn lots. I know what to do, and what not to do, and try my best with the Lord's help every day.

I love you all!!!

Sister Halverson

WE GOT A NEW OVEN!!!!!!! These are the first fruits of my labors! :) Sugar Cookies!

Snow.... Yay.......

Our obligatory breakfast date. Elder Busath is the blond one, then Elder Lorsch, Sister M, and myself. :)

Impromptu P-Day Dance Classes

Hello Friends and Family!

This week was quite the miracle! We had great times with less active members and are finding people to teach left and right. We're getting so much done and learning a lot! I'm so glad it's p-day today that's for sure! I'm going to run around like a headless chicken and get my energy out. I think that's the key to keeping myself sane haha. Getting a good workout in is like Manna out here. Can't tell you how many times I've been anxious and realized I needed a good work out. So there's that! I'm just going to give y'all a quick recap of the week and then a little bit more of the miracles! :)

Monday was the same as it's going to be today. Prep day and then dinner and FHE. We got the car washed and had some fun taking pictures. At the gym in the Stop 11 Chapel, this siter was giving all of the elders dance lessons. It was so funny seeing them against the wall trying to do splits! Oh! And none of them can do the worm! Go swimming! Turns out butterfly technique doubles as a killer worm move! Haha! :)

Tuesday we taught a sales man. He went on and on forever but we taught him about the Book of Mormon! HA!

Wednesday we picked up a former and are now teaching her. She has a learning disability and is trying her best to be a good grandma to her grandson whom she is adopting. (Long story) But it was cool!

Thursday we were all over the place with teaching and finding. Oh we also have weekly planning which is three hours of sitting there bored as we plan the next week. Lots of fun... But we got it done and are doing good.

Friday We had these bomb.com taquitos!!!! Home made and fried!!! Thank you brother Olguin!!! So good. It was a fun day.

Saturday we helped the Relief Society with their Souper Saturday. It was a blast! We learned how to knit (or in my case tie knots) And also ate some deliciouso soup!

Yesterday was a nice rest. We taught some families, got our people to church, took the sacrament and had a lovely nap before going out to work. Great week!

The Lord has blessed our lives in so many ways! I'm so grateful to be a missionary on the Lord's errand. It's truly a blessing. I get to work with such great missionaries! And Sister M is kinda legendary! She goes home on the 2nd to Highland, UT where she is from. Crazy! I love you all! Stay warm!

I love you!

Sister Halverson

Elders doing splits?

Burnt Marshmallows... It's Like Eating Cancer!

Hello friends and family!

Don't worry I'll explain the title in a second! :) This week was really good! We had a great Prep Day! We got our own car!!!!! A Chevy Cruze! I'm doing terrible with my picture taking but I will show you more next week! So excited! And on top of getting a new car...WE GOT A VACUUM!!!!! :D The one we had was this beat up old dirt devil that looked like it had been through the ringer with the elders. It couldn't stand up on it's own and picked up basically nothing. But this new one! YAY! It works, it stands up, and it picked up everything! I don't even want to talk about the stuff this baby pulled up today. Eew. But now the house is clean and disinfected! Perfect. :) We are going to get a nice car freshener too! When we got it last Monday we had it washed and they sprayed this cherry vanilla car freshener and it smelled D-Vine! I will find it if it's the last thing I do! :)

So we met with this very old woman who knows a lot about the Bible but wants to learn more. It's pretty interesting. She's one of those who grew up being warned and having fear thrown at you to do the right thing or be thrust down H E double hockey sticks. And I only worry about bringing her to church because we don't normally talk about being cast down. It'll be an experience! But she's great! We read the Bible to her and then the Book of Mormon and shared a lesson with her. It's fun. Minus the fact that she smokes. And is 83. Weird combo right?

Wednesday we had interviews with President! That was WAY fun. I got to hang out with our new zone and talked to President. Who wouldn't love that? Haha me actually. I'm terrified of President and his assistants. Which is weird because they're such great guys. Too funny. We just had a really great week this week. We had dinner with the Wade family who invited everyone over in their family so there was the Mom and Dad, Sister Wade and her two sisters, her husband, and five little kids. Plus four starving Missionaries. We had a blast talking to them. We just had a lot of fun and shared a message with them. Everyone here is so nice! We are fed a lot and they're super funny. Last night we had dinner at the Tapia's. Sister Tapia comes with us when we teach the Sanchez family. (Our Spanish Family). We had authentic Mexican food and homemade tacos. TOO GOOD!!! I lost track of how many I ate haha. Just kidding, I only had like five small tacos. It was the best. And then we laughed and got to know everyone. It was fun. Turns out I met their daughter when I was in the MTC! And I actually knew Sister Tapia's MTC comp from WSU! That was so interesting!

Friday! We got to carve pumpkins with Bispoh Weston! We were also allowed to watch Hercules and roasted marshmallows! This is where my title comes in. So I like to comet my marshmallows or burn them. Sister Weston doesn't like it so much. So when I told her what a comet was she was like, "It's like eating cancer." I laughed so hard. So it is going to be my mission as an RM to make this into a T-shirt and mail one back to her. Priceless. :) It also snowed. But we don't talk about that haha. No snow! Not yet!

I'm so thankful to be on my mission right now though! We have seen many miracles this week and every week we've been here. It's so cool to see the change in people and in myself. It's safe to say I'm not the same person I was leaving home in August. Definitely not. And that's a good thing! I've realized I want things more like schooling or learning different languages and working hard for my future family. Weird to be thinking about that right now because I love the work I'm doing! It's a blessing to see these families come closer to each other and come closer to God. I have for sure seen His hand in my life. More like in my every moment. He truly loves each and every one of us and I love learning of His will for us every time I open my scriptures or teach an investigator.

 

There was a convert baptism this week (on Saturday) and we were asked to help with her! She forgot a towel and we had to dry her off with extra baptism jumpsuits! Too funny! It was cool seeing her be baptized by Elder Lorsch (His first!). Definitely felt the spirit. :)

 

I pray that all of you at home are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and all your love! I definitely couldn't be where I am today without my wonderful friends and family back home.

Love you all!

Sister Halverson

2 Ne 30: 5-6

Sister McKendrick is always cold so I call her Sister Lizard!