Awesome Sauce and Cool Beans = MIRACLES!

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry this is shorter, I forgot I hadn't finished it until now when I am almost done with e-mailing... oops!

This WEEK was AWESOME! There is a lot to be said for choosing to be happy and work hard. Miracles happen and we get to taste what it feels like to have Heavenly Father backing us %100!

Earlier this week we decided we wanted to do something for Jenaya because she has been sick, so I got the brilliant idea to take our vacuum to her house and vacuum it since they don't have a vacuum yet. It was awesome to have her open the door look at us, look at the vacuum and then say. "What is That." 

"Our Vacuum, we came to Vacuum your house since we love you, you are sick, and you don't have a vacuum!" She let us in and let us clean all the while shaking her head saying "you guys are crazy!"

Yesterday we were talking to our investigators Sean and Josephina and we told them how we had vacuumed her floors and how after the office lady saw us and had a "panic moment" when she saw the vacuum thinking we were soliciting it. They told us they actually had an extra vacuum someone had given them and they asked us if we wanted to take it and give it to her! I was in totally shock and I couldn't quite believe it! We will be giving it to Jenaya later today and I can't wait! It really is so cool to see moments when you recognize there are still really good people in the world today! 

Like I said this week was amazing but sadly I don't have time to share more of the many miracles we saw this week. Love you all and thanks for all the love and support I got this week! I haven't gotten this many letters and packages since I was in training! You're all the best!

Love,

Sister Blood, the 1st :)

Fall in Milford

Week 40! Half Way!

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was good with the usual up and downs of missionary life! We didn't have a lot of success finding new investigators but we did have some awesome lessons with Jenaya. She didn't make it to church which was sad, but Adrian, Leigh, and Rachel came again! Adrian, Leigh, and Rachel also came to the Spanish baptismal service which was awesome! Adrian speaks a little Spanish so he got a lot more out of the talks then we did since we don't understand Spanish. Best part about when the Spanish branch has a baptism... they always have lots of good food after! Haha just kidding, the best part is that they have another soul who has come unto Christ in their branch!

Yesterday in church during Relief Society we talked about prayer and the sister teaching in the branch shared this awesome video from Mormon Channel so I decided I wanted to share it! We all made our own "I pray" Signs so I included a picture of me with mine! I am challenging you to make your own I pray sign and post it and/or the Mormon Channel video on your Facebook; and send me a picture.  http://www.mormonchannel.org/more-videos?v=3738361705001

Perks of being in the Bible Belt, you get things like the 10 commandments posted outside of the City Building! We decided it was a must to take a picture with it :)

We got to go to Manhattan Wednesday to do some service with the bishops storehouse and we drove by Kansas State. I must say I think they have the coolest looking football stadium I have seen so far! 

All of the English Speaking Missionaries in JC at FHE up on Post. 

The Kansas State Institute building, it's an old home that was donated to the church and then converted into the institute building :)

So in the mission world your trainer is your Mother if you are a sister and your Father if you are an Elder. For Sisters your "Dad" is your first District Leader, and for Elders your "mom" is the mission age oldest Sister in your First District.I ended up being the oldest mission age Sister while Elder Mitchell was being trained so he is my first "son". Haha, so we took a family picture. He is in the middle and the Elder on the far left is Elder Boman his trainer. Missions are funny, especially when you make faces!  

Love you all!

Sister Blood

Rain, Miracles, and Military

Dear Family and Friends,

Jenaya is progressing fabulously! We introduced her to family search this past week and she loved it. The coolest moment was when after almost an hour and having not found anything yet we ran across her grandfathers draft record from WWI. This spirit was so strong as she read out loud the information on the record I am positive some of her family where there and may have had a part in leading her to find that record, which lead to her finding many others. Her heart was softened, which was great because she is quite the coffee drinker (She was drinking between 2-3 POTS a day), and we had to break it to her about the word of wisdom; but she took it really well and actually quite her coffee and tea the next day after she told us she was going to go home and drink 6 pots that night (friday) before she had to stop on Saturday

. I am pretty sure she wasn't entirely joking, luckily her husband was home and wouldn't let her drink that much. He was pretty irritated when he found out she had 4 pots one day last week when he was at work, that is roughly 40+ cups of coffee, to say she was hyper is an understatement. 

After Church when she was talking to the Branch Presidents wife after she told her she was hoping to be baptized in the next few weeks! Another miracle was how many people, especially sisters, in the Branch came up and talked to her during church and told her how excited they were to see her back! She commented her first week how surprised she was how few people talked to her the first week she came, which is why it was such a miracle the branch sisters reached out to her so much. Testimony Meeting was fun, it was interesting to have to explain to her why their are children in sacrament meeting, the churches she has attended in the past all had childcare so just the adults went to the sermon. She was really surprised when I told her that even primary children will bear their testimonies, then 6 or 7 primary kids in a row got up and bore really sweet testimonies. As surprised as she was at first I think they really touched her heart too! Miracles are happening in JC! 

Another really cool experience this week also happened while we were on Family Search with Jenaya, I got on to my tree to show her how you can include pictures, I went to my Great Grandfathers Royal Oscar Heiner and clicked on a picture I hadn't seen on their before, on the back of the old picture was the note. "Taken in Kansas City MO, While on an LDS Mission." That was so neat to realize my grandfather served a mission in roughly the same area I am serving! It really helped me to feel even more connected to my ancestors! Turning hearts in both directions, thank you Elijah!  

Love you all!

Playing with Balloons

The awesome-ness that is the Junction City District

Elder Boman, Sister Boman, Sister Howell, Me, Elder Lorado, Elder Jacobson, Elder Carlson, Elder Bohman (the District Leader), Elder Hulse, Elder Mitchell.

We all were supposed to wear Yellow... I don't own yellow so it was decided my hair was "yellow".

Another zoo picture

"Thanks so much for the Ball! It was fun and odd to come home one day and find it sitting outside our door. I had no idea you could send balls in the mail! "  Ball Sent to Sister Blood from Harmonie Wheeler

Conference was AMAZING!

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry this is going to be a really short one, I am not sure what to write about, haha. 

Conference was AMAZING! I was so excited when Elder Bednar started speaking, as soon as he said he was directing his message to non-members I was literally bouncing up and down because I was hoping and expecting him to share the story about his two little boys. He shared it with the Derby Stake back in March and I loved it so much I have shared it multiple times with people here in JC since they obviously weren't in Derby. We had three investigators come to the last session with their back door neighbor which was awesome! They had come to church a few months ago but their neighbor had gotten busy and hadn't invited them back again, then we happened to tract into them earlier in the week (we chose to knock on their door because it was completely dark and they had a well lit porch). We invited them to conference and to let us come back again, he didn't have his schedule but said he would talk to his back door neighbor about coming to church, and they actually did! 

We also passed a Less Active member who just moved from AZ. We were walking opposite directions and we tried to say hi but they didn't respond, we got about 15 feet apart and Ikea (the LA) spun around and yelled to us, "Are you guys Mormon?!" We said yes. She was really excited and really surprised to hear we had a church building "clear out here". She gave us her info and we were able to stop by and see her yesterday. She is awesome, she moved to JC to start over and is very excited to get back into Church. God is aware of us all. Even if we aren't aware of the fact his restored church is all over the world. We are never completely out of it's influence! 

We went to the Zoo last Monday with Jenaya and RaCail, it was a blast. Little Zoos are a lot of fun! 

Love you All!

Sister Blood 

We went to the Zoo last Monday with Jenaya and RaCail 

Little Zoos are a lot of fun! 

 

Sacrifice of Military Families

Dear Family and Friends,

Well there isn't a whole lot to report for this week. The mission is still going good, the military is still moving people in and out of our ward, and a bunch of the fathers in our ward are about to be deployed. As missionaries we aren't supposed to discuss politics but it is interesting how being here in JC I have learned more about the current state of war than I did all the years before I came out. The difference being, for the first time in my life I finally understand how much of a sacrifice these military families actually make to serve our country. They part at each deployment not knowing if they will meet again in this life, and then they find strength in the Atonement and their temple marriages. Sad to admit, I didn't think much about the military before I left on my mission, but I know that my view has been changed forever by these families that I have had the opportunity to serve. 

Urgent: I need your help! I need you all (well those who are in Utah and already guaranteed to have the movie in your areas) to go tomeetthemormons.com and request that it come to Manhattan Kansas. I believe the zip codes are 67202/03 but I could be wrong so double check before you enter it :) That would be a huge help because we really want the movie to come to Kansas!

Huge news of the week. We found out our mission The Kansas Wichita Mission, is the top baptizing mission in the North American Missions! Now before you wonder how we beat the Utah missions I will explain. The North American Missions don't include those on the East Coast/ Side or those on the West. It does include the more Central US missions, Idaho, and Canada! This is a huge miracle because a year ago we were lucky to break 30 a month, last month we got 61 and this month our mission wide goal is 75. Then 85 in Oct, 95 in Nov, and finally 100 in December! We are really growing our faith and being as diligent as we can. Please keep us in your prayers that we might be able to find all of those people who will be counted among those found in the next few months. They aren't numbers each number represents someone who is found and brought to Christ!

Love you all!

Sister Blood 

 Elder Hulse and Elder Carlson, they have their suits on inside out in case you were wondering 

Look who I got to see! My "Mom" Sister McDermott

Cop gets Mormon.org pass a long card

Dear Family and Friends,

Wow this week had so much happen in it, I can't believe it was only last Sunday we meant our new investigator Jenaya (Jenni). Since then we have taught her lessons 1 & 2, she came to church and had a small church tour. She told us that she is really beginning to feel and believe that our message is true and that it is what she needs to help her heal from some of the trials from her past! We are so excited! You hear stories about finding insanely prepared people but I didn't think I would find one on my mission! Most the members thought she was already a member who had moved here because she dresses so modestly, she has basically the same dress standards as the Sister Missionaries do, and she adds a lot of really good insightful comments to the lessons, which is so awesome! She really is our miracle of the week, I can't believe how fast she is learning and accepting what we are teaching her, she really has been so prepared, it's not even funny!

On Saturday when we were teaching her the Plan of Salvation there was this really crazy moment when in the middle of the lesson she said "guys I have a confession..." Our minds were racing, thinking she was going to tell us she actually wasn't interested and that she had just been stringing us along... "I am actually starting to believe you guys." We freaked out and couldn't stop smiling, neither could she. She said she hadn't had as many "lightbulb" moments this close together about religion as she had during our lesson. In her prayer she thanked Heavenly Father for sending us to teacher her and "blow [her] mind", and that this was the closest religion she had hear to her own beliefs. It was so amazing!

A really cool part of our first lesson with her for me was towards the end she voiced her concern about what would happen when she let her family know that she was starting to look into the Mormon religion and that this was the path she was going to start taking. I felt so strongly the need to share a bit of Sister McCarrick's story, how she had joined the church and had her family react not to kindly and after she finally started to mend those relationships she felt impressed to go on a mission. And how unexpectedly she had been told it was time for her to go home but she had already seen some miracles in her family with their heart softening a little bit. The spirit was so strong and when I finished she thanked me and told me how much she needed to hear Sister McCarrick's story. So even though my Amazing Companion isn't here in JC her story and testimony are still touching people here and helping them to find hope and strength to continue to press on! 

Hailey's baptism went so well, there were a lot of the YW that came to support her. She has been going to YW for over a year and a half and is now finally an official member! She even decided on her own to invite a good friend from school who isn't a member! It really is so cool to see how much she has changed in just a month! Being a missionary is AWESOME!

Oh wow, another story from the week, on our way home from dinner on Tuesday we were driving with a member and they got pulled over because one of their headlights was out. When the Cop came back to give the driver his licence the member gave him a Mormon.org pass along card and told him to check it out! That may have been the craziest way I have even given away a mormon.org card.

Love you all!

Sister Blood :)

Are Deacons  Allowed to Drive?

Hailey's Baptism

Sister Blood with pet Cockatoo

See a view that will take our breath away!

Dear Family and Friends,

This was a bit of an interesting and very long week. It feels like last p-day was two or three weeks ago. The week started out really hard but I was able to make a 180 degree change on Friday. Sister Dean shared a quote with me from a successful swimmer when he was asked what the key was to his success. He said "I kick when I don't want to kick, I stroke when I don't want to stroke." I can't even count how many times I said it this week. It really helped to keep me going this week when I really wanted to stop. And because we kept going we had an awesome miracle last night. We were on a team up with Sister Medina trying some of the possible Part member families in our branch. We knocked on a door and found out that the members had moved but we ended up talking to the very young military couple that lived there for over an hour. The wife grew up in a cult and her family got out when she was 13. She loves Christianity and has been wanting to find a church to go to. She had a really good family friend, who was an elderly gentlemen who was a member, when she was 13-16 who would bring her a copy of the ensign every month and told her about our church and his beliefs. Her parents forbid her from going to any church after their experience in the cult they had finally gotten out of, so she said reading the Ensigns was her "church" every week. She is now on date and is really excited to come to church. The more she talked to us and asked us questions about our beliefs the more excited she became. She is meant to be Mormon! 

Even though this time on a mission is incredibly hard, and sometimes very overwhelming it is 100% worth it. There will be moments like last night when we found Jenni, and moments when you see someone you have worked with for a long time make it to baptism that make all of the hard times worth it. Life is the same way, some days, weeks, and even months or years will feel so hard and like the hardship will never end, but they will. Be of good cheer and as President Uchtdorf said last conference (paraphrased) "be grateful in your hardships and don't wait for the rainbow to thank God for the rain!" When we are going through trials we can often be like someone climbing a hill, we look down out our feet staring at all of the hard boulders and rocks that are in our path, we look ahead and see a long road ahead of us that filled with obstacles along our road. We know there will be a beautiful view when we get to the top but sometimes we wonder if it will really be worth the pain of climbing. As we climb we can either be angry and bitter at how hard the things in our path are to get over, or we can look at how beautiful the trees are around us and take note of how interesting some of the things we come across are even if it is something we have to figure out how to get over. We can take heart in knowing we can look back and share with others how amazing and massive that bolder we had to get over was and how it strengthen us! Then with out even knowing it we will break through the tree line and see a view that will take our breath away!

When we are in the middle of trials it feels like that is all we will ever know, but even when we feel like we have stopped moving we just have to keep going. As Carie Thompson likes to say, "keep turtle-ing upward". We are moving forward and closer to the top of our climb, even if it feels like we have stopped. And when we really do get stuck Christ is there to help us out of the mud, or over the rocks that are too big to climb. Take heart, he isn't there just when you need help with what you can't do on your own, he is there with you every single step, he walks and climbs beside you. He is always there talking to you and encouraging you to keep going. He has climbed this hill before and he knows the best route. He is our Savior and our Older Brother. He loves us more than we can imagine. This I know with all my heart in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN!

Love you all

Sister Blood    

Hills and Trees in Junction City

Are these sunsets for real?