My New Companion, Sister Seymour is pretty awesome!

Dear Family and Friends,

True to Kansas form, the weather bounced all over this week. But never fear! We Sister Missionaries know how to wear lots and lots of warm layers so that we don't freeze in the cold! 

Transfers were weird this week, because I got my new companion at 6:30 in the morning and I didn't have to go to Wichita to get her. It was kind of sad not being at the transfer devotional, since I know a lot of the missionaries who went home this transfer. It was also really nice having time to actually unpack and clean the apartment without it cutting into our normal work time!

 

Sister Seymour is pretty awesome! She is from Portland Oregon, and has been out 7 months. She actually was in a tripanionship with Sister Deppe and Sister Palmer in the MTC, so my last three companions all came out together, which is pretty funny... at least I think it is! 

This week was a pretty regular week, well other than transfers. Elder Bean stayed in Lake Shawnee so now we have Elders Bean and Seamons, and Sister Blood and Sister Seymour; together we are going to unite and light Lake Shawnee on fire with the missionary spirit! It is going to be EPIC!

Funny story of the week, Elder Bean and I both can fit in the suitcase the military issues. So I really am travel size! Elder Bean is in the suitcase in the picture where it is zipped up, which is impressive since he is 6 ft 3, but he is a bean pole!

other picture is Sister Seymour and I at the library :)

 Love you all!

Sister Blood :)

Sister Seymour & Sister Blood at the Library

Sister Blood, Travel Size

Elder Bean, ready to travel, in the suitcase

So little time!

Dear Family and Friends,

So little time, so little time. Okay so the best part of the week was getting to go back to Junction City for a combined Zone Training with four zones all together! It felt so neat being able to drive back into Junction! I love that place so much! They had some of the ward members help out with training so I got to see some of my favorite people and give them hugs and high fives! I love those people so much it's crazy!

The whole conference was inspired and I learned so much! I feel completely revitalized spiritually and ready to get to work again with Sister Seymour here in Lake Shawnee! Sister Seymour is actually serving here in Topeka already so I already know her and she is AWESOME! 

After Zone Conference Sister Deppe and I got to visit with sister Bell one on one, which really helped us both. Then when she discovered our dinner appointment canceled she insisted on eating with us, so we got to eat dinner with Sister Bell in Junction City, that was a blast! I love Sister Bell so much!

Best part of the week was getting to see Jenaya after dinner and before we headed back to Topeka. I love that Woman so much, and it was a much needed visit for us both. I am fairly certain one reason President felt inspired to do a combined multi-zone conference in JC was so that I would have the chance to visit with her.

Well that's about it!

SHave a wonderful week! Love ya!

 Sister Blood

Sister Bell with us at Dinner

Reflective elevators 

Dying Elders, they die together in 3 days, hence why they are on the floor, as if they died already. 

Best part of this week was going to the temple!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well without a doubt the Dear Family and Friends,

Well without a doubt the best part of this week was going to the temple! It was really cold at the beginning of the week, but thankfully it was warmer that day. It amazes me how how the number of trees changes right at the Kansas Missouri border. Missouri has a lot more, which is kind of unfortunate since I really like trees! It's crazy how many missionaries they pack into a session at the temple. I got to sit on a folding chair this time, which made it unique! The Temple president came and talked to us before the session started and told us about the painting that is on the wall in the first instructional room. He said both the Missouri and Kansas Governors got a tour of the temple and they both said it looked just like their states. Well Kansas City is right on the border! 

As a zone we decided we were going to study on the way up and back. It was really nice having a peaceful bus ride to be able to prepare us for our time in the temple.

The experience for me was very peaceful. I wish I could share more of my experience, but this email wouldn't do it justice. I love the Kansas City temple and was grateful that this experience was such a good one, and much more peaceful then the last time I was there. 

The work goes on in Lake Shawnee! Lots of talking to people, and not finding a lot of people. One day it snowed hard enough they parked our cars. So we had one day this week when the wind chill was below 0 and two days later the temperature was in the 60 degree range. I thought Utah was bipolar, I now see I am wrong... Kansas is much much worse! 

Love you all!

Happy Valentines this week!

Sister Blood :)

Sister Deppe and I

the BEAUTIFUL Kansas City Temple

Me and President and Sister Bell :)

The Beautiful Kansas  City Temple

President and Sister Bell with me at the KS Temple

Sister Blood & Sister Deppe 

From 70 degrees to a current temperature of 5 degrees...

Dear Family and Friends,

This was another great week up in Topeka! We had some awesome miracles, like having three potential investigators who were referrals from other missionaries turn into new investigators! Sadly it snowed so they didn't come to church, but they have a lot of really good potential. I am definitely getting to know the area better, and am actually able to navigate to most general areas of the area which is exciting for me! Sometimes I still get disoriented out in the country about where north is, but I am happy that I am no longer always lost. The work is picking up and we are actually getting a teaching pool! They are not all solid, but the fact we have a pool makes it so much easier to motivate ourselves to go out and find more people to add to it! I love being a missionary! I am completely at peace that this is where I am supposed to be right now!

We had exchanges this week which was fun. I stayed in Topeka with Sister Gurr and Sister Deppe went to Lawrence. Sister Gurr is a pretty funny sister, so I got a lot of entertainment  being her companion for the day. 

We get to go to the temple tomorrow in Kansas City! I am super pumped to get to go again. I am positive the Kansas City Temple is now my favorite temple! I am sure some other stuff happened this week but I can't remember what... 

Oh ya! We got to go down to Osage city a few days ago with a member. It took almost a hour to get down there but it was cool. We got to meet a really sweet sister who was down there. I love long car rides so it made me happy that I got to sit in the back seat and watch the pretty rain covering the  Kansas Landscape as we drove by! :)

Love ya!

SIster BLood

We went to Denny for breakfast with Ben and his son Jordy this week. 

Pictures from the Mini MTC

Sister Deppe

9' Python ... I Hate Snakes

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a week of miracles and really hard trials too. It was one of those weeks you feel like you are fighting Satan in hand to hand combat all by yourself; the result, you feel really drained and down. But thankfully we have been given the wonderful gift of Pray to be able to turn to our Father in Heaven and ask for help in getting over the trials and things Satan tries to tell you are true. I am also very grateful for music and Organs in the Chapel that I get to go play, to help me feel uplifted. 

I got asked to speak in Church which was really cool! Earlier in the week I was able to eat lunch with my cousins who live a town over and they asked me if I had to state the one best thing from my mission what would I say. I thought about it and ended coming up with, being asked to speak on Sunday and told I could pick my own topic. So I did the Roll of the Book of Mormon in conversion. I am grateful for how much easier it is for me to give talks after being out for a year. 

Related to the Book of Mormon talk we had a really cool experience with Ben this week. We ended up having a really inspired conversation with him on Wednesday about why he needed to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. He remembers things that he hears better then he reads, so he decided to listen to the Book while he was at work. He picked up where he was at in Alma 11 and listened to over 24 hours of the Book of Mormon audio finishing it Friday! It was crazy cool to see how finishing the Book of Mormon helped him grow and gain a new perspective. It was cool how much he retained too. He has been loving being able to cite stories from the Book of Mormon and have discussions with us. He decided he wanted to know the book even better so he started it over again today and will be done listening to it all by Sunday. The Book of Mormon is "So Sick"! ( I don't understand this slang term, from her Mom!) So get yours out and study it today, and everyday! Conversion doesn't happen in one moment, we all have to be converted little bit my little bit every day! 

Love Ya'll!

Sister Blood :)

Lunch with Maria, Blair Loving and Boys

 Me and Arterial, Sister Thompson's 9 ft Bemires Python

Sisters Blood and Deppe with Potato and Tomato
Ben's Bull Pythons

For those who don't know, I am terrified of snakes, the fact I was able to hold pythons is proof you can accomplish just about anything if you put your mind to it. 

Week 53 One Year!

Dear Family and Friends,

Despite my own doubts I have now been a missionary for a year as of Thursday! I can't believe it's actually be a whole year, it feels like an eternity, but at the same time the longer I am out the less time it actually feels like has passed since I was at home. 

This week was awesome! We didn't have a lot of success other then the 11 Less Actives that came to church. We seem to be in a drought of investigators since we now have 1 solid and 1 not so solid investigator. We kept on going with faith and I know that God will bless us as we keep going forward with great faith that Heavenly Father will provide as we are obedient and steadfast! 

I've been reading Jesus the Christ this week. Wow that book is super addictive! Sadly we don't have as much time as I would like to spend reading everyday, but what time I do get builds my faith and knowledge of Christ so much! I know that he is my savior and that he really lived and walked this earth!

Love

Sister Blood!

Elder Shaffer with the hole he carved in his pie. 

Sister Blood and Sister Deppe out Tracting

The perks of your cousin serving in the Mission office, you get notes of encouragement on the back of your packages that have a "lay over" in the mission office.

Lake Shawnee = New Beginnings

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was AWESOME! It was also really long since it felt like two weeks in one with transfers happening. I can't believe it's only been a week since I emailed last. So much happened this week in a very good way! There is so much I am not sure where to start.

Leaving JC was really hard since I love so many of the members there, but it was good. Going down to Wichita was kind of an adventure since we almost lost my bike off the bike rack because of how much the wind was blowing on the way down, plus the added wind pull as the semi passed us going the opposite direction on the little highways almost proved to be to much for my bike. It was CRAZY how cold the wind was while we were out getting the bike re-attached for the last little bit to Wichita, I can't even explain how cold and painful it felt. With the windchill it would have been at least -10 below! On the way back up to Topeka we had to stop twice to fix my bike, then the Spanish Elders were nice and stuck it on their rack which worked much better. It was a really long day of driving, but it was cool to finally get to TopC (Topeka City). 

Lake Shawnee Ward is the 

East and South part of the city. It includes another ghetto which I am excited to see, and an Air Force, Air Field (Forbes Field). Both having super ghetto parts and a military area, in my area are common themes, of all my areas so far. 

Super cool miracle was meeting some recent converts and the investigator who lives with them. Sister Deppe was kind of nervous because they don't usually like new people and they are easy to offend. As we were sitting talking to them I got a really strong impression to share a Jewish Parable a friend who just got back from their mission to Ohio shared with me that Monday. The spirit was crazy strong and it was exactly what they needed to hear because of the trials they are going through. After I finish and testified to them of how important it is to put God first in all things they looked at each other and one said. "Wow I really like her." "Yes, I think we are going to learn a lot from her!" We were totally amazed at how the spirit worked! I love inspiration! I love when people feel inspired to share things with me in emails and then that week I share it with someone and it is exactly what then needed to hear! It's awesome! 

Another crazy moment was going with the Ward Missionary Ben (who is a recent convert of 6 months) to see an investigator Shelbi. A member who lives in the same house as them and is also her Ex-boyfriend was sitting in and was a super "dark cloud" and little devil. I couldn't focus and the spirit was gone because of the contentious spirit he was bringing in. I felt so strongly he needed to leave the room, so we could talk with Shelbi alone. So filled with the spirit I turned and asked him to please leave the room so we could have a lesson with just her. He was pretty offended but he left the room. We said another opening prayer and the spirit returned to the room. Ben had his Jaw on the floor and told me I was a "Bad-A" missionary, and that I had more guts then any other missionary he knows. It was a surreal moment feeling so strongly the need for the guy to leave and feeling the spirit fill me as I told him to leave and he did. The lesson was amazing with Shelbi and really helped her and us to know what she needs and wants as she comes closer to Christ. 

The next day when we saw the Member I asked to leave the room, he told us how he had been offended and upset, but how as he was pondering on it and thinking about it he had personal revelation about how he needed to change and be better. He wasn't upset anymore! It was crazy! Lesson learned this week, NEVER BE AFRAID TO FOLLOW THE SPIRIT, even when your head tells you it's a crazy thing to do!

Love you all! 

Sister Blood

Lake Shawnee Sister! Ya-ya 

Gas Prices below $2

Silly Picture of Sister Blood & Sister Palmer

Sister Deppe & Sister Blood