Week 31

So lets just say I NEVER WANT TO EAT GIZZARDS AGAIN. seriously one of the grossest things ever, it doesnt taste THAT bad but heavens it was chewy and the thought made me want to vomit. so next time an elder tells me to eat a chicken nugget i wont because it was gross. they tricked me and my companion and it was gross. oh AND im staying in Kuna with sister branham another 6 weeks! we are so excited! CHRISTMAS IN KUNA!!!!!!!!!

So i will get started on my week!

Monday -->sister fisher took us out to lunch and it was sooo good to see her! then we played football in the gym, after we raced to dinner and then we had exchanges so we packed and took sister branham to the church so we could exchange for the next day

Tuesday---> sister cole (the stl) and i had a good day we visited with a less active lady and talk to her about family history and christmas, then we knocked on this door that never answers and i was like well they probably arent home and i knock again and count down 5,4,3,2,1 and RIGHT as i said 1 she opened the door #smallmiracle and we invited her to the christmas party! after that we went out and saw a ton of YSA kids and invited them to the open house that night. then we taught a lesson to a recent convert in the YSA, we went over the christmas story but the side that was happening in the americas and how all the signs were occurring and they knew that christ was being born and that he would soon come to see them and teach them the gospel! then we switched back and i got my lovely companion back! its always nice  when you miss your companion. we went on rides and saw more YSA less actives which turned out really great. after we raced to dinner which was o good i felt like i was eating in a french cafe it was the classiest breakfast for dinner i have had yet on my mission so yummy. then we headed over to the meet the mormons open house

wednesday--> sister cannon stopped by in the morning to drop off some sheet music and we showed her our room because its so cute! then we had my last district meeting for transfer 5, weird. then we saw our old seventh day Adventist friends they are sooo cute we showed them the he is the gift video and they loved it a ysa girl brought us chick fil a from meridian for dinner and it was AWESOME! i missed that:) we went on rides and then came back and did records in our area book

thursday--> after we weekly planned we went out and invited TONS of people to the ward christmas party, mostly less actives but some investigators! we found a part member family who was thinking about coming back to church so that was super cool! we found some good information while on rides for the ysa one girl was married and had a baby and another so we thought girl was actually a boy so that was helpful.  we stopped by an investigators house who had been kind of avoiding us. :( he said he would would watch the he is the gift video and he wasnt getting what he wanted from his church so he is going to start reading the book of mormon! YAY!

friday--> we had a stake missionary breakfast and talked about how we can improve the missionary work with the stake president. i guess its just how i was raised but i dont understand why so many people here have an issue with sharing the gospel and having friends that are nonmembers, the advantage of being raised NOT in idaho or utah, people dont branch out here and share the gospel they just stick in their own groups which is why we get 0 a big fat goose egg for member referrals. sorry for my rant then we saw a less active we have been working with and she said she isnt getting what she wants from the other church and all they talk about it how bad mormons are and how they cant be right so you shouldnt go there and she hates that. she said i love my mormon ward family and they never talk bad about people and arent negative and if they are the conversation quickly gets changes and she missed having that at our church not the non denominational church she was attending. we went out and invited a bunch of people to the christmas party and made maps for our tracting blitz, then we went to the ward christmas party it was so fun and we had a bunch of the less actives we invited to come actually came! it was soo awesome there was one woman who hadnt been in a church building for 30 years! so that was awesome!

saturday--> transfer saturday!!!!! WE ARE BOTH STAYING and we are sooooo happy! we visited an investigator and asked her son where Jesus was born and he goes ummm in a catholic church?? hahaha we were all like what the heck? nope Bethlehem. then we did our tracting blitz! sister b and i found someone and invited them to watch the he is the gift video he goes well i meeting with jehovahs witnesses but i know i wont join their church so yeah i will watch it and you can come back next friday and we will talk about it!! AHHH  so cool! tracting really works! mostly nos but some yes! we had a good dinner roasted chicken and potatoes and it made me miss aunt jeannes roasted chicken and potatoes and late dinners in hawaii after class:) we had a lesson with a part member family about the priesthood it went really well and i realized that (well i knew this but my testimony of it grew) that if we didnt have the priesthood we would just be another christian church but we have the authority of god to act in his name and help us fully access the atonement and really come closer to christ.

sunday--> we had a stake missionary meeting with all the ward mission leaders and missionaries and the stake president. we talked about how for every one baptism we need 8 investigators so we gotta keep moving if to reach our goal we need 6 more by jan 1st ahhh i think its possible IF the members helped more ahah oh we will try our hardest. i was really spoiled to have 5 baptisms in my first 5 months haha so spoiled, we went to both wards and then we told harvey and Dorothy ( the 7th day advenists) and told them we were staying oh they were so happy and gave us a giant hug haha love them.  we had dinner with an awesome family that i totally felt at home with them:) we watched the christmas devotional and then said goodbye to an elder who was getting transferred and thats when they made us eat gizzards and then we went home! btw we got 27 lessons this week!!!!!! BAM our standard of excellence is 15 thats an all time high for me!:):) so that made me happy! well i love you all but i have to go this email took me literally FOREVER but have a great week!

xoxo
love 
sister abby wasden:) <3

Week 30 (!)

So i would have some great pictures for you...but i would forget my camera at home! so sorry!! this week was great, i was a little homesick because i wasnt with family or in hawaii or at home. so that was a little hard but my companion and i talked about traditions we had so it was a little better. so my week!

MONDAY i helped sister branham apply for colleges which took forever but it was good. it made me miss byuh so much bc she was applying there! then we went to a part member families house for dinner and family home evening and we made sushi! YUM i LOVE sushi it was great. and i learned a really cool magic trick with cards. i will get perfect at it and then show you when i get home in 11 months.

TUESDAY i actually exercised this morning! its so hard when its cold:( we tried to visit a bunch of people but no one was home. so we went home and had lunch. then we saw a less active who really struggles with the fact that there is one true church and we are trying to get her back. so we visit and share messages with her. but we think she was smoking again bc her house wreaked of pot soo that was just lovely. it is interesting the things people use to self medicate instead of turning to the gospel that they KNOW makes them happy. sneakkkyyyy satan. we went and contacted a referral and apparently she wrote about the sweet sisters that stopped by on facebook so that was cool!!:)

WEDNESDAY we had a good district meeting and then we saw our old seventh day Adventist couple. they are like grandma and grandpa b in their 80s and HILARIOUS if we dont come over by Thursday in the week they call and check in to see if we are ok! its so sweet.  then the zone leaders came over and killed the turkey for the family we live withs thanksgiving. president myers told the elders he had service for them and made them killed pluck and gut the turkey it was kinda gross but reminded me of the time peter killed the turkey in our back yard haha nothing i hadnt seen before. i helped plucked a few quill feather things. funny story, i thought it was sneezing when it was throwing up dying and i go look guys its sneezing! and then they all go nooo sister wasden its gagging because its DYING! oh how innocent i was. we had a good talk with one of our investigators and talked about the things he needs to do to get back to coming closer to christ. we came home later that night and made daddies apple pie for thanksgiving.

THURSDAY thanksgiving all morning we visited people guessing they would be home. it was a miracle becaise we tried a part member family that is never home and they invited us in for DINNER!!!!!! we had a great chat so that was good. we went home to have dinner with the myers and my pie actually turned out pretty great. afterwards we met up with some missionaries and played board games until it was time to go home .

FRIDAY we weekly planned and had a meeting with our ward mission leader and then we had a lesson with some investigators that are taking it super slow but progressing.  then we had a long chat with a less active and he gave us some magnets that he made that im sending home today.

SATURDAY we did service all day we helped an investigator put up her christmas tee and then moved horse chip food stuff around horse stalls #cowgirl

SUNDAY we took over the second and third hours to talk about the #sharethegift FAMILY IF YOU ARE NOT GIVING THE MISSIONARIES REFERRALS SHAME ON YOU YOU NEED TO BE THE ONES HELPING MISSIONARIES! i expect all those pass a long cards to be given away to people in your ensigns. ASAP. we taught some lessons and one of our investigators has been taking the lessons for YEARS and it seems like she is REGRESSING. so when we left we were really down because all the members are like you two need new investigators and its like ok yeah you are telling me why dont you go out and invite your friends because we are working out tails off trying to find people and are having NO success and you are doing nothing and wont help us out. its really frustrating. but we decided that obviously God doesnt want that for us right now because we are doing what we are supposed and our time will come, eventually. its hard but good for me to have to fully rely on the lord and see that i need to learn patience because that is definitely what im learning. i gotta go because sister fisher is taking us out to lunch YAYAYAY so excited!!! love you all! and happy birthday to grandpa b! also the duck dynasty holiday cd has been on repeat for DAYS its great thanks mom. well i love you all and pictures to come next week!
xoxo
sister abby wasden

Week 29

first off big thank you to mom for her wonderful package. it made my week. and those tights are so soft and i love my shoes they keep my feet soooooooooo warm. so thats been nice. and i love all the pictures that you sent of the house they look so great now i need the basement pictures!! i cant wait until the living room furniture is done!
okay for my week,

Monday we played soccer in the snow and had a big snowball fight with a bunch of missionaries it was pretty funny.

tuesday we saw some less actives and then we visited with one of our sweet investigators. we went on rides and saw a few people then we had dinner and raced over to the meet the mormons (the open house they do) and then the zone leaders dared me and sister Brahman  to eat hot peppers if they did so we all ate hot peppers it wasnt that bad. #challangeaccepted

wednesday we did service all morning helping this lady clean her house and then we raced to our practice to sing our song for zone conference then our kuna choir went to lunch we saw a bunch more people nothing too interesting just #savingsouls

thursday we had an awesome SUPER AWESOME zone conference but for reals it was great we had a great musical number and awesome trainings. i bore my testimony and realized that i really know how to get the courage to listen and act on the promptings of the spirit which is pretty cool. it was so long though. 8:30-5:30 woah.

friday we saw MORE less actives and then i got my wonderful package from mom and it was SOOOO GREATTTTTT ahHhh! we did our nails with our new polish while we weekly planned. then we saw our ysa investigator it gets frustrating when people come up with the stupidest excuses ever as to why they cant pray read or go to church. really like oh i have to feed my chickens. WILL THAT TAKE ALL DAY? i just want to yell SATAN IS DISTRACTING YOU but i dont. that wouldnt be good, we had an awesome dinner it was sooo good!!

saturday we got a call to do service so we helped a lady move in. we had lunch with our ward mission leader and his family. we taught some investigators about family history we went on rides with an awesome sister and we had some great visits.

sunday we had a punch of ward councils well 2. we saw 2 investigators and beat our weekly goal of 20 lessons by 1 yeahuhhh!!! so 21 lessons!

ummmmm yeah i think thats about it
love you allll
xoxo
sister wasden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 28

oh boy ill tell ya. ITS FREAKING COLD HERE. IT HASNT BEEN OVER 32 DEGREES IN A WHOLE WEEK. mostly between 0-7 degrees everyone says oh you should be used to this... um doesnt mean i like it. and i think west coast cold is worse than east coast cold. also people here dont ever plow the roads they just let it pack down and become GIANT sheets of ice. not to mention this is the first time ever my companion has driven in snow haha its hilarious. she LOVES all this snow. she woke me up " SISTER WASDEN LOOK AT ALL THE SNOWWW! also i have been very ill this last week i had a cold so much of the week. i think the storm came so i could rest and get better. but thats just me. so i guess i will tell you my week now:):)

MONDAY
or as we like to saw PDAY we played baseball and volleyball inside we have a good zone because the majority of us are dorks and dont care what other people think. we raced to get our shopping done. the zone leaders were having a rough day so we got them some funny presents and dropped them off at their house on our way home. then we taught a part member family about the importance of prayer and why it was important the Joseph smith prayed. it was good.

TUESDAY
a set of elders said they needed help at service cleaning, and we get there and its spotless. the guy wanted us to dust everything. so we did. he lost his a wife a number of years ago and needed help. then we helped organize cans at the Methodist church food bank. then we visited some of our ysa investigators. sadly they ARENT KEEPING THEIR COMMITMENTS. it was sad but we will keep working with them. more and more. we did rides with a ysa kid and she accidentally locked her keys in the car haha so we had to drive her home to get her keys:)  we taught a part member family about eternal marriage idk what their thought were but i think it went well...:)

WEDNESDAY
ohhhh district meeting with the district over lord or thats what he calls himself. i had skill check and did telestrations again and as usual EVERYONE loved it. we went out to lunch and then we taught a recent convert the plan of salvation. we stopped by to see an investigator(kinda) and talked outside his door for an hour. boy it was cold but it was good. we gave him homework to read alma 32 on faith. we got a snack and then went to visit another investigator. she is in her 80s and is scared to get baptized she has been taking the lessons for yearss. then we came home quickly ate dinner and went on rides with sister myers (the lady we live with) we saw a few people then came back home and found a song to do for zone conference sister cannon asked us to out a special musical number together.

THURSDAY
it snowed like CRAZY we got over a foot of snow. eh. i was sick at my worst in attempt to save miles we walked around our neighbor hood and it was so cold. alas no one was home. we saw our old seventh day Adventist couple and talked about the law of moses and how it was fulfilled and so we can eat pork and the sabbath is on sunday but they believe very different things that gods laws never go away so you have to ALWAYS follow them. he is funny tho kinda like grandpa bartels we saw some more people we came back at night and planned because it wasnt good to drive at night. oh and i FINALLY got my letter from zach and brazil!!!!

FRIDAY
we helped the other sisters with service and then we had choir practice with our little group for the musical number. we had dinner and then walked over to a less actives house and had a good chat lesson. i finally finished the whole book of the power of everyday missionaries its such a GOOD BOOK AHHHHHH.

SATURDAY
we made elder adamek cookies (the pianist for our song) because its been a rough practice and then we delivered them they loved them! we had lunch with our ward mission leaders house and then we had another new member lesson. we got a call from a potential investigator and she was frantic needing help moving so for a few hours we a got 12 missionaries together and helped for a few hours.  in the cold.

 SUNDAY
went to church then tried to see some people but a few werent home and some were. we had a good lesson and dinner and then we practiced our song with the missionaries again. its going great!
well i gotta go its been a good week and this letter has taken FOREVERRRRRR okay ttyl! love you all
xoxo
sister wasden

Week 27

waaaaazzzzzzz upppppppppppppppp??? so kuna is pretty great. im sad about leaving all the people in middleton and worry if they are progressing or regressing but what can i do. just write them. and now i am here to serve the people in kuna so its all good.
seriously guys mail. i got 5 letters this week and it was glorious all from none of you. previous companions and such. oh i FINALLY got caitys letter tho. YAY! took 8 days to get here. WHYYY?? and i never got the thing cami said she was sending from hawaii....:( did caity ever update my blog a bunch of people told me that needs to be done so idk i guess my readers are really wanting something new. i mean you could say im pretty much the most popular girl. raise your hand if you get the reference i cant see who did that but i will just trust that you got it.
so my week was pretty great. for realz.

monday we played in the gym and emailed and taught a lesson to a less active family. then we came home and made brownies with nuts in them for elder short the car coordinator you know incase we ever go over miles... hey remember when we made you your favorite brownies??? yeah we got this down. the elders came by and picked them up to take to elder short in the morning.

tuesday we walked a dog maggie for exercise we got ready and visited a lady and helped her clean and get her kids ready for school. she was telling us all her marriage problems and such and i thought why do so many people tell missionaries their WHOLE lives. but i just listened and helped. we taught lesson 2 (plan of salvation) to one of our YSA investigators and his fiance. we invited him to be baptized and he said we would pray about it. and he says bapdititized its so funny! we were driving by this fruit stand and the guy looks ysa age and everytime we joke about help lets go teach him. but this time we said sister branham actually pulled over AND WE GOT OUT AND TAUGHT HIM! it was crazy we talked about god and taught the restoration and gave him a book of mormon and he said he would read it because he just finished his other book and he had nothing better to do. so we will go by this week and see how he is doing. we had dinner witha fun family and the mom was a nanny in WESTPORT CT when she was in college so she knew right where i was  from. i actually hate it sometimes because people when they know where you are from automatically judge you. like oh thats the rich part of ct and i have no idea how to respond i didnt live like what they think most people in new canaan live like but they are right it is the rich part of ct. and so then they automatically think you are a spoiled child that they nannied. so i just try  to prove them all wrong that im normal!!!!!!!!!!!! i think i did a good job. because i am pretty weird you know. we quickly dashed over to meet the Mormons (an open house like deal) it was sad only 20 people were there. 10 were missionaries. and 1 was a nonmember. come one kuna you can do better than this!!!!!

wednesday was a slower day. some appointments cancelled on us and we spent a huge part of the day trying to find some ysa kids. we chatted with a lady who was having a rough life and shared some scriptures with her. we came home and did records.

thursday weekly planning!!!!!! boom roasted i love this day. we did service for this old couple harvey and dorothy and they told us how tey met they are in their 80s and hard core seventh day adventist and harvey loves to tell us what they believe its so funny. but they love when we come over and talk our ears off for hours and we are laughing the whole time. we came home ate and finished weekly planning. we saw one of our investigators and committed him to stop smoking we said we would stop eating candy and desserts except for once a week if he would stop smoking he agreed and its been hard sister branham has a candy addiction but we are helping each other out.and this deal means we dont have to eat desserts at members homes! YAY! except for sunday. we had dinner and then  we got a referral from the spanish elders of a less active. so we went to go see him. it didnt go very well but we had a part member family accross the street so we decided to go try them. that morning we prayed to be an answer to someones prayer and boy was that the case. this lady has been struggling with deciding to come back to church her husband is persuading her to go to his church which is a big anti mormon materials producer so thats not good. and her daughter wants to keep going to the mormon church. she is using a different version of the bible and doesnt believe joseph smith could be a prophet if her version of the bible sayd no man can see god and joseph smith said he did. so she is really struggling with that. we spent 3 hours there helping her. she said we were the answer to her prayer and she would pray about what we said. it was rough and we were drained none the less.

friday we met with the stake president to talk about how we could better work together to better our area. he made me take a picture by the ute flag and sent it to dad it was pretty funny. then we had a great zone meeting about the importance of the book of mormon after that we saw some more people and saved some more souls. the usual

saturday we did service for a potential investigator and were there all morning it took forever we were helping her move. we saw some more people and then contacted a referral it was super dark and we were getting directions over the phone because we dont have a GPS and we didnt realize but we were SO out of our area and zone haha we were almost in the middle of nampa. but we invited him to church and he CAME! we came home and did records. #classicmissionary #thatmishlifetho

sunday  we had a great sunday we had ward council and then the ysa and the kid we contacted came! we went to the family ward 1st ward and talked a lot about missionary work  we taught 3 investigators lessons and had a fun dinner afterwards we taught a less active lady about the importance of service in the church and we realized that if everyone said ehhh i dont want that calling there would be NO CHURCH to go to and no one to learn or teach from. then we got a personal invite to have homemade ice cream at president cannons house WHATTTT?? that has never happened before!! he invited our whole district to come over and just hang out chat and eat home made ice cream. it was awesome and we were the first to ever do that! we have the coolest mission president! we came home and did numbers and guess what WE DOUBLE OUR NUMBERS FROM LAST WEEK! last week we had a low low low 12 lessons but hey jack this week we had 24 son!!!!!!!!!!!! it was great #hardwork

so yeah that was my week. pretty great im excited for thanksgiving and christmas its just around the corner. and not like im counting or anything but 44 days until we get to skype!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):):):)
love youuu alllllll
love
sister abby wasden

Week 26

to all you who thought i wouldnt make it this long or wouldnt go, myself included, i can say that i am a third done and will be home in less than a year WHAT? thats unreal. okay so the deats on kuna
its a lot bigger than middleton 10000 more people. and 2 stakes our ysa covers both stakes so we have HUGE boundaries so thats cool. i love my companion we get along super well and literally laugh 100% of the day. and we teach well together. i really miss middleton some days and just wish i knew everything and everyone including their stories and family trees but it will come eventually kuna is a lot slower than what i left but im excited to make it BOOM AND EXPLODE with baptisms ! ummmmm well lets get started with my week

monday---> TRANSFER DAY WHAT? shopped moved unpacked emailed ate pita pit yum and taught a lesson so that was good. and omigosh its cold. yuck.

 tuesday--> we met a crazy lady who thinks robbers live in her attic and rob her every night. so that was cool. then we did service which is pretty much all we do in kuna but that cool gotta help a brother out. everyone here loved the previous sister which is good but we are different. she was very soft spoken and thats not me haha so hopefully change will be good! we had kunas version of iNight they call it "meet the mormons" and they had a great turn out so thats good! oh my goodness my new district leader is so funny its ridicuolus but he isnt trying to be. he loves dungeons and dragons magic the card game and everything else nerdy. he is currently writing a book series and but me and sister branham is as characters so thats cool. he told me that i am a nerd and he is a geek and he one day hopes to be a nerd like me to be smart. so that was funny.

wednesday--> district meeting with out "district over lord" said in a snape voice or so thats what he calls himself. we had a rental car and had to go to nampa to switch back to our chevy cruze from the shop afterwards we went to service and i got paint ALL over me in my hair and clothes and then one of the elders thought it would be a good idea to paint me and my companion... so we have painting clothes now... thanks elder christensen. then we went to a baptism that one of the elders was having it was cool i love baptisms.

thursday--> so we were supposed to weekly plan but guess what we did ALL day instead.... service #ohhhhkuna then we stopped by this ladys house and she gave us fresh apple cider! it was awesome and then we had dinner and a meeting with our Kuna 1st ward WML and let me tell you he is GREAT an awesome ward mission leader super active and wants to help. i cant wait to to really work hard here

friday--> HAPPY HALLOWEEN! we weekly planned and then we did MORE service!! and then we visited some people and we had to be in early so we did face masks and wrote letters:)

saturday--> it rained ALL day and we taught a lesson in the morning and then we did service the remainder of the day and burned the trash pile. we had to teach a 60 the law of chastity who is currently breaking the law of chastity so that was awkward a little bit. we had stake conference and they talked about member missionary work and i was a little sad because the example they used they didnt credit full time missionaries AT ALL they actually said how it was mostly the members who taught them basically everything. they didnt talk about the need to help the missionaries just to be good neighbors. so that was dumb. we went to bed

sunday--> was stake conference president cannon came and that was cool. after that we went out and taught some investigators and less actives we had dinner and then taught more lessons so that was good! we came home and went to bed:)

so that was my week we are going shopping today and playing so it will be fun i will send some pictures and everyone better send me mail. okay love you all!
xoxo
Sister Wasden
ps my outfit caity and i put together is the last one

Week 25

I am sad to say goodbye to Middleton but im so excited to start the next transfer in KUNA! its pronounced cue-nah like a pool cue que idk? yeah its bigger than middleton about 11,000 people so im way pumped! my new compi is sister branham and from Tennessee she is so great!!!
this week was so crazy i had a feeling i was leaving and i was right.

on monday we got permission to go to nampa and it was great. i got to go to TARGET AND COSTCO. we made t shirts for the district and then went to the YSA FHE and carved pumpkins. then we went to an FHE with a family and got a new investigator!

on tuesday we had interviews and they went really well, we came back from nampa and had lunch and then taught a lesson with one of our investigators and invited him to inight! he said he would come! we had dinner and then headed off to inight! we had 3 investigators there it was wonderful.

wednesday we had district meeting and it was my LAST district meeting in middleton. so sad:( we did paper plate awards and then did district service and moved one of our recent converts into an apartment.  we had a lesson with a less active lady and taught her the word of wisdom she said she would quit when the rest of her coffee was gone and just wouldnt buy anymore.... NOT THE POINT but i guess we will settle. we had dinner and then we were going to go on rides but we were at the church and jessica my 12 year old recent convert ran to me and started crying because her family wasnt staying for young women in excellence and she finsihed her personal progress faith just in time to present it. so we decided to stay and support her instead.

thursday we started to weekly plan but then we had a lesson after that sister fisher took us out to lunch to say goodbye to me:( it was so sad i cried! then we made maps for the tracting blitz, we had dinner and then taught the plan of salvation to a family that went well!

friday we had a lesson with becca and jordan i felt so sick after dinner and so we went home and you guessed it i was throwing up ALL NIGHT. i was so sick and my dear compi took care of me.

saturday came around and we listened to the transfer call and im going to KUNA! so excited. we decided i should go out to the tracting blitz bc of my health so i slept and packed. we met up with the other missionaries for lunch and then i had one last lesson with seth aubree and zion, then we went to the stake harvest festival and had a blast. afterwards we taught a lesson to a new investigator that the elders were handing off to us!

sunday. my last sunday in middleton, it didnt feel real and honestly it still doesnt. middleton is all i know but that is about to change shortly. but i am so excited. i said goodbye to people and church and enjoyed the primary programs:) it made me miss NC a lot and all my kiddos. after church we stopped by some people i wanted to say goodbye to. then i had one last lesson with the becks and kevin is done smoking 100% he said he is going to make sure im at his baptism and wants to get sealed in the temple OMG I WAS FREAKING OUT AND THAT MADE MY DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! afterwards we had dinner at the Ah Yous and they made me Shoyu chicken! then we made visits and i saw some more people to say goodbye to! we came home and i packed!
i gotta go because have to go to walmart and stuff but i love you all so much!!!!!! have a great week and i will chat with ya next week! write me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
xoxo
sister wasden

Week 24

OMGOODNESS IT GETS SO COLD HERE!!!! It was 41 degrees when we woke up to go to the gym this week:( i already whipped out my sweaters. YIKES.

Monday--> we carved pumpkins! it was so fun! So i made a cool connection during my personal study. I have been frustrated because i felt like i have had responsibility role a lot of my life and i just wanted to be "taken care of" and not necessarily take care of anyone else which is stupid. but as i was reading my patriarchal blessing i counted the time it said either"be mindful of this great responsibility" or "you will be responsible..." and it was 6 times. so i just accepted that i will have to be the responsible one or take charge for whatever reason and i should just accept it instead of wish to have a lesser role. these are the roles that god has given me for whatever reason and i should just learn to be the best i can be.

tuesday i got a hair cut/ trim nothing big. we had a lesson with out new investigator in the YSA we never know how interested he is but he keeps setting up times to meet with us and he will ask a really insightful question everynow and then so thats been cool! Sister Cole made us Tikka Masala and home made Naan and it was SOO GOOD! i have missed ethnic or inside joke for our family" the element" food a lot! you dont get very much diversity in idaho....

Wednesday--> we had a good district meeting and played a fun game about leaving and making commitments with investigators we had a few other good lessons and then someone dropped us dinner off at our house because they forgot so we got to eat at home which was kinda nice actually. we went on rides with sister fisher and then we came home and got ready for bed

thursday-->we weekly planned and then taught a lesson to a lady who used to be jehovah witness and now non denominational but wants to learn more about us. we taught the plan of salvation and she was brought to tears. i think she knows its true she has just been brainwashed over the years from all the different faiths. she has a hard time accepting christ and moses as prophets bc it doesnt say specifically in the bible and they were prophets. i was like WAHH?? if moses wasnt a prophet who is!!!! but she is trying to let her guard down so she can accept what we are teaching her.sister fisher made us halibut for dinner with mango salsa it was really good

friday--> it was a sad day grandma carol left to go back to california! but she said she would write us and i told her to find the sister missionaries there and become their friend!  I sent mom her birthday package. we had a busy day we had 3 back to back lessons in 2 hours. i was exhausted. then we went straight to dinner, then to rides and then a meeting. so it was a busy non stop day. i slept well that night

saturday--> we had a meeting with the 9th WML and then we stopped by donnas and had a quick lesson then we met up with the missionaries of middleton to have our first tracting blitz! i loved it! all the missionaries tract out one companionship's area for 2 hours. we rocked it! we taught 9 lessons gave away 3 pamphlets 8 phone number cards and a book of mormon and got them one golden investigator! it was so legit! we are doing our area next week and we are so excited! then we all ate lunch together and discussed who we saw and our success im not a big fan of tracting at first and then i get into a groove and i really like it. we had a "code" word penguin and who ever used it most got the most points we won! after the blitz we taught the gospel of jesus christ to a less active lady. it went well and she is really starting to learn so much about the church she had forgotten. we had dinner and then we had a lesson with a previous do not contact. she was soooo nice! she has a testimony and reads her scriptures and prays but she just doesnt see the need for church attendance... well okay? but she invited us back again to chat and share a message.

sunday--> we had our early 7 am meeting and folks you would be to proud of me i woke up at 6:45(call me a sinner i dont care) got ready in 5 minutes and i actually LOOKED decent and was on time to the meeting. #missionaryskills then kevin was in church! YAY! and we had an kid come to the YSA who just wanted to learn more that wasnt a member so that was cool. then we taught a lesson at the becks and KEVIN QUIT SMOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i am so happy! i can see the blessings in their lives as he is trying to live the word of wisdom and follow gods commandments! it makes me sooo happy!!!!  then we had a great dinner with the lady who has a food blog so we were spoiled! shout out to sister gunnell! her blog is called www.melskitchencafe.com she is feeding us after the tracting blitz on saturday and we are sooo excited!!!!!!! then we taught the gospel of jesus christ again for like the 10th time this week and both my companion and i thought we both needed it more for us than the people we were teaching. we needed to better use and know how to use the atonment in our own lives. im not going to lie. this transfer hasnt been easy. but i will admit i have learned A LOT. about me and how i want to be a person. a lot of working on myself trying to be more obedient or christ like or a better companion in general. but its been good for me as hard as it might have been. transfers are next week and so is my 6 month mark. nuts huh? raise your hand if it feels like ive been gone that long. (im totes not raising my hand btdubs)
well i love you all sooo much
also dont forget about me and the snail mail i mean come on send me some love please!
#dontforgetmeplease #dramatic? #probs
xoxo
sister wasden

Week 23

aloooooooooooohaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! whats good whats going on? so i bet you are wondering about the subject of this email well, my companion and i were out conatcting people and she rings someones doorbell and it breaks into 5 PIECES it was SOOO funny! luckily they werent home so nobody has to know it was us! but its a good story right?
so here was my week...

monday we played zombies again. the things missionaries do. but you gotta have some fun! my district is interesting but elder schlub is seriously dwight i even have a picture to prove it. i will see if i can send it. i might need peter to do a photo shop job for me haha we did FHE with the coles and we talked about bullying and that its bad and not to do it and it was interesting to see the kids open up and say that they have bullied or were bullied and how they have tried to change! it was awesome!

tuesday we did service for this lady/investigator and she had SO MUCH junk. it was mild scale hoarding but in an apartment that stinks yuck. but we helped her organize ad clean stuff out. we had another new member lesson with Jessica and its crazy she knows so much without us even having to tell her and she is only 12 so thats pretty awesome! we went on rides with sister fisher and met this really fun family from hawaii that has a less active son that we were trying to get to come to the YSA branch! he said that he maybe wants to go on a mission so we are working on that! {[(i had a hard night because sometimes sister wright will say not nice things and i just have to learn to brush them off and move on. something i have learned in the last 4 weeks it to bite my tonuge. she ALWAYS has to be right. and she thinks she know so uch more than me and so if we disagree or she is wrong i just go silent because i would rather know i am right and save a fight than argue with her and have contention. its hard because it happens often but there is no point in arguing with her, at least on the little things. big things i stand up for myself but like the meaningless things suuuuurrrrrre you can be right.)]}

wednesday we had district lunch together then we visited this lady that has bipolar and is really struggling with er self worth and how to apply the atonement. i was gladi h ave had so many experiences in my life that made it possible for me to connect and help her out, even though i have never had to personally suffer from it i was able to share how my loved ones have dealt with it and i knew how to help her feel better. we set a baptism date for one of our investigators but we arent sure her parents will let her be baptized until she turns 18:( but at least she has the desire to be baptized. we saw a crazy lady and sadly she didnt have any super nuts stories this time:( sister fisher made us dinner THAI FOOD and SUSHI! it was so good and i was craving thai bc we never get it here. something i miss about the east is all the diversity. we went to a community apple cider fest it was fun they had homemade donuts a fresh apple cider not the same as the pumpkin blaze or stew leanords but it filled a little hole in my heart for the fall. then we visited a ladt whose excuse for not coming to church is she cant find shoes but in reality i dont think she is trying very hard. she has them in a box in her garage and WONT let anyone help to her to find them. so thats sad

thursday we weekly planned and helped the elders with the zone vision for zone meeting our dinner for about feeding us and went out of town so we fed ourselves and went on rides with one of our ward missionaries she is sooo sweet, sister mckee! she loves to come out with us and we love her coming so it works out great!

friday we had a great zone conference and had a fun lunch at sister drapers! elder schlub did some free style rapping for us #thebest here is elder schlub with a fake mustache.
we talked with a guy whose wife is a member but he isnt and he just loved chatting with us we talked about family history and he just kept going and going. then the family we saw earlier in the week took us out to dinner! and oh my goodness Polynesians talk forever. so i just sat there and listened.

saturday we went to a baptism and i got to see elder boswell! his hair is STILL dyed pink from the color run! he has gotten a hair cut twice!! we had a lesson with a less active lady, we taught the plan of salvation and she asked how do we know we lived with god before here, and we explained it in some scriptures and she asked if jesus was just the savior for this world or all of them and i guess i never realized it but my companion answered and clarified that jesus is the only savior ever. which i dont really understand that but i guess i will need to study that some more... we then taught a new member lesson and then had dinner with the relief society president in YSA and and some other ysa kids then we went on visit with a girl in the ysa who just got back from her mission a few weeks ago! 

sunday was fast sunday and i actually really like fast sunday! even though im hungry i feel like its 100% worth it. we had 3 wards councils and we were SO SO SO SO busy it was crazy it was so cool to see because jessica zion and devin all bore their testimonies and it was amazing, it felt like i was watching my children get up there. after church we taught kevin about tithing and fast offerings and he said he would pay them gladly when he was baptized!!!!! and we went over the baptismal questions and he only has hang ups on the prophets but its okay because i know he will get a testimony of prophets eventually! and then will get baptized! Then we had breakfast for dinner and it was great! we dont get it very often and it is nice when we do so mom keep that up! then we visited a less active family. on our way home we stopped at the fishers and i got to watch the video of alex opening his mission call! WOW PHILLY! what are the odds that caity and brad JUST moved from there haha they will still be close tho to send him things. and SPANISH thats AWESOME! we came home and i went to bed!
well thats about it. i am learning a lot. how to deal with people and get along.     i made a bookmark with sanjays picture so he cant say i never loved him. and here is my selfie for the day. we were taking our zone vision picture and i got bored haha 
well family i am truly grateful for the opportunity to teach learn study and grow everyday even though at times its really difficult but i know it will be the best for me!
love you soooo much!
xoxo
sister abby wasden

Week 22

what the what i can not believe its already half way through the transfer now thats nuts. whats new whats new. um general conference was soooo good! its easier to stay awake as a missionary bc the whole time you are thinking i hope blank is watching right now!
anywho on to the nitty gritty

monday--> i got emails from so so many people. i felt so loved LEX wrote me and this was so great! then when everyone was all together in the downtown building we played zombies. and boy was it fun. its like tag but you turn out the lights and then if youre tagged you are a zombie and you have to act like a real zombie and everything. i have some pretty big bruises bc i tripped but it was SO worth it bc i got some one to be a zombie. gross huh?? ess okay tho. we had FHE with the becks and kevin said that he is opposed to baptism and doesnt feel he is quite ready for it but its something he thinks he wants in the future!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH I FREAKED OUT can you tell????? it was so great.

tuesday--> we made general conference fliers  and updated records we went on rides with sister fisher and then we had another lesson with the becks! kevin really wants to stop drinking and smoking but like any addiction its a process! but that makes me so so so so happy

wednesday--> we had a wonderful district meeting i had the skill check and it was AWESOME. so my wonderful sister sent me photo booth props ina package and so we split up into two teams junior and senior companions and i had random words i found in the BOM and the first team to have had everyone show me the word and then run get a prop and stand infront of the background won and we took a picture it was sooooo fun! we had a lesson with zion then we went on rides with sister weiss and talked to so many people! which was cool. after that we had dinner and the family we ate with owns an alpaca farm so we got to feed and pet the alpacas! Then it was Reginas Baptism sister d and i taught her just as much as the elders so even though it wasnt my ward i still count her so she as my 5th baptism. And it as so special because her son Zion that i taught baptized her! was a cool sight to see

thursday-->we weekly planned and let me tell you that being a missionary is so cool because we get special perks. we got to see meet the mormons and holy heckle it was SO good! everyone and their mother should watch it.we had dinner at one of our ward mission leaders homes and its fun for me because its kinda like being with brad and caity they arent really similar at all but something reminds me of them. i got to pet their cow so that was cool! and i named one of their chickens Phyllis. then we had a lesson with a new investigator it was interesting because she would tell us what she believes and how its different like how she believes moses and christ werent prophets so we asked her who was a prophet and she couldnt tell us what she really beleieved she kept saying i dont know how to explain it i just know it. but in reality its like do you really know it bc the truths im explaining make so much sense and i am explaining them. so that was a long lesson 2 hours. just to get through the restoration. goodness.

friday--> its friday friday gotta get down on friday everybody looking forward to the weekend weekend. my life. we went out and saw some old ladies and we ran into this lady that was having a bad day and she just started balling and telling us her whole .life story so i gave her a hug and then she told us how much she needed us and how its been such a hard year for her. we told her that her heavenly father loved her and was never to far away. we prayed with her and prayers as a missionary are powerful because you can help them hear the things they need even if you dont know all about their life. so that was cool. we had a new member lesson with a kid and his house smelled so bad but i got through it and just taught the gospel. trying not to focus on the stench. we had a lesson with jessica and the coles! i just love both of them!

saturday--> I LOVED CONFERENCE we watched both session ats the coles house the whole time during neil l andersons talk about joseph smith i just kept think uncle jonny needs to listen to this! he need to hear it! we did FHE with a less active  family and the dad finally joined us after going over for months! we played church bingo! we went on some more visits and had a great chat with two older less active ladies and invited them so watch general conference.

sunday--> and more general conference! we watched the first session at the fishers and the second one at the mcdonalds my two favorites or some of them i dont have 100% favs but were M. Russell Ballards and Richard G. Scotts those were sooo good! then we went to a less active ladies house and talked forever and she told us the reason why she hasnt been to church in forever and i think we are making progress on her coming back! (i had a rough time with my compi but i think we are starting to work it out. i hope that i can learn from this and move on hopefully which i know i will eventually. just takes time...) 
and today im writing you!
well i love you all and gotta go. gonna play more zombies!!!!!!!!!! love you
xoxo
sister abby wasden