Tuesday, December 9, 2014

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












Monday, December 1, 2014

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