Monday, April 13, 2015

Week 42

Aloha Fam Bam + extras
well well well we have had yet another cray cray week. I really love Kuna for realz even though its chalk full of eternigators (eternal investigators) and most of the less actives arent very happy that we come by. But living with the myers is truly like living at home their kids in a weird way are kinda like siblings or cousins and their grandkids are just like my nieces and nephews. so in all honesty i kinda want to leave. that sounds twisted doesnt it? but its so much harder to leave when you have deeper connections then if you dont, the wards just feel like a home ward, and i get homesick easier because it feels so much like home but yet its not. so sadly i hope this next week i get transferred. The only thing that I dont want to get transferred for is our YSA investigators baptism on march 7th. he is so prepared for baptism and i am so excited!!!!!!!!!! this week we went over the bapitsmal interview questions with him and they all start with do you believe... and he goes i only have  1 problem with those questions and we look at each other and are like uhhh okayyy what is that? he goes well, i dont believe... I KNOW all those things are true. *mind blown*  he is crazy awesome the definition of the term: golden investigator, he also tricked us on sunday, he was late to church and so we texted him asking if he was coming and he was like nope and we kinda freaked out and asked why and he said bc i dont wanna and our hearts sank, like 2 minutes later he walks in the door to the chapel and whispers tricked ya! oh i was so annoyed i truly thought he was regressing but silly me because he has such a strong love and testimony of the gospel
we had a ward activity this week volleyball it was fun but not very many people came we spent all day inviting people to come but not a single soul we invited came, we probs gave out like
 20 invites:(
zone conference was pretty great we had some hilarious skits on how to give a solid commitment and how a ward council shouldnt go and what to do at dinner appointments. we all made them pretty hilar. we had good training on the atonement and how it is infinite and on giving solid commitments. we spoke in church on sunday in the 1st ward and i spoke on how we can do missionary work through service. every one said it was a great talked and they were "floored" so that was comforting, i felt like it went well but wasnt positivo. the ward counsil was super impressed with the "work" we have been doing because our progress record was filled front and back, but i still feel like im not very busy so i think to myself what would they do if i really felt like i was off the wall busy? which like i said i love kuna but i think it goes back to the lord trusting the ward. i feel like for the most part i mean im not perfect and can always work on my self to be better but i feel like im am doing everything i can for this area right now, and we still dont have any investigators that are wanting to make that commitment in the 1st ward. the ward is great but it just makes me think if i feel like if they feel like the work we do is phenomenal and we are like WE NEED MORE WE ARENT DOING AS MUCH AS WE COULD maybe god doesnt feel like they are ready to take care of those investigators that need to be found yet so still i plant seeds every day hoping one day some one else will be able to harvest. just like we get to do with Tony, our YSA investigator.
Family, (quote from my talk) "The Lords work will go on whether you choose to be a part of it or not, so be a part of it, and if you arent change today and help the Lord in this great work and bring those around you into the fold of God"
I have to go but i love you all so much and you should write me and email me!
Have a great week. Be jealous that iget to meet an apostle and shake his hand saturday! our day with Elder L. Tom Perry!
Love
Sister Abby Wasden

Week 41

What a crazy week. it has been totes cray cray but good. SO monday we literally played volleyball for FOUR hours but im getting better. usually i cant serve more than 2 or 3 times in a row and i have a 22 serve streak it was unreal every one was freaking out like WAZZI or Walsquad (dont get that one) KEEP IT GOING. finally i messed up my own streak, when i went to set the ball i did it funny  and my hand went back weird and we lost that round. but hey it was sick. after p day we had dinner and then we made valentines day sugar cookies with a lady in our ward to give out to our investigators and less actives!
tuesday we had exchanges and i havent really had a great time on exchanges ever but i went to nampa with sister breen for the day and boy ill tell ya we had a BLAST she lived in hawaii for a few years so we reminisced about our island life and went to the phenomenal hawaiian food in nampa it wasnt papa oles but it was pretty good. its called island kine grinds. we had a blast. then we went out contacting former investigators and this one lady was like oh sorry im not interested i found my life path number in this other church and we were both like uhhhhh a life path number? it was super weird. #stories but we took a bunch of pictures that day!
wednesday we had district meeting and that was pretty fun as per usual and taught our YSA investigator that is getting baptized soon, we drew the plan of salvation on the white board and it looked so detailed and AWESOME so that was cool.
thursday was the temple and can i just say it was awesome. im kinda sad that we cant go more often but i think i appreciate it more now. we got to sit down with the temple president and ask questions and just talk about the temple. that was pretty cool too. i just thought a lot about the missionary i am and thought about how i can be better what i need to do to be a better missionary person and disciple of christ. it was so nice. we had dinner with all the missionaries that went and a testimony meeting at President and Sister Cannons house, i bore my testimony about progression and testimony vs conversion how we need to be converted not just have a testimony and how slowly but surely im being converted and i came home and got my package from mom and dad it was AWESOME i loved it they know me too well. clothes never let me down
friday i woke up ill so very ill so we stayed home that day and i rested and more sleep but i worked on my talk that i have to give next week. saturday we went back to work and wished people happy valentines day gave out cookies and had dinner with a part member family and had a good lesson.
sunday 6 hours of church but one of the high counsel speakers in the YSA went crazy talked for 45 minutes about stuff that really shouldnt have been said gave ridiculous examples and i and many others felt very uncomfortable and i was a little upset about it bc we had our investigator there.( like he gave an example about this RM sister that went to go put on short not long garments to try clothes on and he was like my opinion of her forever changed and he was appalled that she would even think like that so she could wear shorter clothes. guys dont understand that girls have all different lengths of garments and we had investigators there! i was so annoyed but i figure that the lord will take care of anything wrong that happens)  later we taught our 7th day adventist grandparents but even when you show them scriptures that back up sunday sabbath he STILL says like well they probably just couldnt get together on the saturday so they moved it to sunday a few times hahaha they crack me up but its all good
well gotta go sorry about last week!
love ya
sister abby wasden









Week 39

Woah Guys Woah. We have a crazy story for this week, its pretty awesome!
we had zone meeting on tuesday and found out we are having a mission conference at the end of the month and a zone conference right before that. We are having elder l. tom perry come!!!!!!!!!! ahhh we are sooo excited! after our meeting we went tracting for a few hours what i gathered is that now i know the members neighbors more than they do. they have some work to do getting to know their neighbors. we went on visits with the young women and it went pretty great
tuesday we tried visiting less actives and some investigators but everyone is sick so they said to come back next week. :( we taught a lesson to our eternal investigator frances and found her son told her not to join the church which is why she is fighting getting baptized and going to church so that was sad. we taught the restoration to an investigator thats had quite a few missionaries but she is coming closer to fully accepting that this is true
wednesday we were sick of our room being cramped so we re arranged it but i forgot a picture! so next week! but we have a TON more space now!  we weekly planned and went on rides. oh and president myers got a puppy! but it wasnt the kind he wanted, he sent his son to get it but didnt realize it wasnt a pure bred so he didnt really want it so now he has a dog hahaha but we are enjoying it until he gets a real german shorthair puppy ( for hunting)
friday we had a missioniary breakfast with the stake and talked about our areas with the stake president we saw some less actives and tried more people that really just didnt want to see us:( we went to sports night and ate our hump day cake
saturday all our plans fell through so we did service for sister myers and then went on rides with the ysa. we felt like we had done nothing all week but come to see when we counted up our lessons that night we had 25 lessons already for the week
sunday we had meetings and more, at the ysa there was a newly returned missionary who served in the las vegas mission guess who was his trainer.... JARED MURPHY small world. and he knew Justine Tucker (my freshman roommate) too! such a small world! a kid in the YSA came up to us and said so i have been to church 2 times now and want to take the lessons and work towards baptism. HEAVENLY FATHER ANSWERS PRAYERS!! he really does because finding someone with a baptismal date is our goal and was the highlight of our prayers. i bore my testimony in the 1st ward and then there was no one to teach the gospel principles class so i just got a book and started teaching its amazing normally i would be nervous and think omgoodness i am teaching right now but it went really well and people thought that i had prepared the lesson so that was kinda cool. oh how the lord blesses his missionaries. 2 of our lessons cancelled but we had one that went really well with a part member family. OH one last funny story. so i was reading in mosiah for my personal study and i was so into the story in chapters 15-20 and i had this thought oh abby you probably shouldnt be unapproved books and i PUT IT DOWN and then i realized that silly me IT WAS THE BOOK OF MORMON! sooo funny i have really learned to love the book of mormon and reading the scriptures. i just want you all to know that i know we have a loving heavenly father and that because he loves us he sent us jesus christ and that our savior died for you and me so that we could live with our families for forever. i know that the church of jesus christ of latterday saints is the same church that christ established here on the earth and that joseph smith was the prophet chosen to restore the gospel and saving ordinances here on the earth. i know that thomas s monson is a prophet of god and will lead and guide in a direction closer to christ. i love this gospel and i love that i get to share it with those that havent heard it even if i get shut down 90% of the time. at least im planting seeds. i love you all!!!!
love
sister abby wasden





Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Week 38

ALOHA!
This week went by so slow yet somewhat fast at the same time, I really dont understand time on the mission, its hard sometimes because you look back and think woah ive been gone 9 months and then you look forward and you are like how the heckle am i going to do another 9 months of this and then its like what oh no i only have 9 months left. so many emotions in such a small time period. so this week on:
Monday i waited in my car for 2.5 hours so i could get my new companion because as per usual the assistants were LATE. but its all good. i am with sister nelson she was in the MTC with me so that was nice because it was like getting an old friend as your companion.

Tuesday we saw harvey and dorothy and got dropped by an investigator. we went with president myers to a less active families home, their mother in law is on the verge of death so they had the elders give her a blessing then they gave the husband(dad) a blessing  for his injured hip and then he told his wife he needed a blessing and pres myers told him he needed to do it, he hadnt used the priesthood or been to church in 30 years but with some help gave his wife a priesthood blessing. it was one of the most heartfelt and spiritual blessings i have ever heard. we went to the open house and that was okay not too bad.

Wednesday we had a good district meeting. we played a game called the probability game i challenged elder lines to lick a puddle and he lost so he had to lick it it was sooooooo gross! BUT HILARIOUS!

thursday we planned and tracted. got no where tracting but it killed time.

Friday we made a list of people to see and some were home we go to have some good progress. we went to sports night which was pretty fun, i accidentally kicked the soccer ball right into this elders face... oops.

Saturday we visited a part member family and then had dinner with our ward mission leader and his family. after that i felt no bueno we we went home and we watched a few church movies on Joseph Smith. it was awesome one was a documentary and pretty interesting.

Sunday was a busy day as  per usual we were at church from 7-4 had a quick lesson with brandi and then dinner with the a fun part member family. the dad will sit there but doesnt interact much. we watched the restoration dvd and you could see that he is thinking in there. one day he will just blow our minds and tell us he wants to get baptized when i have no idea, but he is progressing. slowly. well not much else to tell but NO ONE WRITES ME ANYMORE I AM NOW REBUKING YOU IF YOU CAN NOT TELL!  love you,
Sister Abby Wasden




Monday, January 26, 2015

Week 37

crazy how time has flown by im starting my 7th transfer today which means i only have 6 more left. weird to think about. so sister branham left super sad but im with sister nelson who came out with me from the MTC so its awesome!

this week was super super crazy we had a lesson with a less active and our investigator we found out that they are moving to payette so lost our 1 investigator with a baptism set:(

tuesday: we saw a few people but it was a slower day trying to see people that sister branham wanted to say goodbye to.

wednesday: we had interviews with president, we helped out and painted harvey and dorothys bathroom after that we taught a lesson to frances and she wanted us to read the book of mormon we went on rides and saw a few less actives members

thursday: we had to take sister stevens to nampa for her temple trip and we knew sister branham was leaving so we were trying to see all the people we could after our rounds we went to the mission home to pick up sister stevens

friday: we had a combined district meeting and went to lunch with everyone sister branham said goodbye to more people and we had dinner with a cool less active family it was super good, we stopped by harvey and dorothy and said goodbye:(

saturday: we had 2 breakfast appointments and we did service moving bales of hay they were 70 lbs and i was super sore it was cool though i felt like a boss. we got ready for the baptism afterwards and then we went to middleton for kevins baptism it was awesome!!!! i had to give the talk on baptism and it was kinda scary but it was awesome! we went to dinner on the way home and it was so fun!

sunday: was busy bc we were trying to see a billion people we had dinner with the bishop and his family then we taught a lesson to brandon and wyatt they are a riot and had been avoiding us for like weeks and FINALLY agreed to do a lesson, they even SHOWED UP EARLY to the lesson it went great and we had a lesson with a PMF and talked about eternal families which went great. here are some pics, of my week well I gotta go! Love you all!
Love
Sister Wasden




Week 36

one week left then we get put in a blender and then we get thrown everywhere... im a little nervous because sister branham has been here for 7 1/2 months so she is 99.9% leaving so thats sad
this week was busy but not really.
we played volleyball monday

tuesday we tried pretty much everyone and no one answered we tried more visits and went to the open house for the church

wednesday we had district meeting and then we tried to visit more people but no one was interested then that night we helped out with the youths mutual

thursday weekly planning so fun sister branham and i have a good time every day we had a deep deep comp study about the millennium someone brought us chickfila for dinner it was the BEST we taught our 7th day advenstist friends and we taught our investigator frances she just WONT PROGRESS

friday we taught a few less actives and had some awkward run ins with YSA that dont want to be found... we went to sports night and had an investigator there so it was awesome! we played soccer indoor #thebest

saturday we had bfast with a less active lasy then we did service all day long we cleaned out horse stalls and moved wood chips over their poop. then we taught a lesson to a PMF and we cant give the dad commitments because it doesnt really work out well  but he listens so thats good

sunday was busy with church from 8-4 then we taught a lesson to this girl who has such a strong testimony but she wont get baptized until after she gets married in the summer:(

im sorry if my letters seem boring or with out any details but there really isnt much going on right now... i wish i could have my letters filled with stories of baptisms and new investigators but obvi thats not what god has planned for me. im learning patience slowly but i guess its what i need to learn. love you all
have a great week!
love
sister abby wasden

Week 35

Hellooooooooo Youtubeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! So everyone i have now passed my 8 month mark this week! weird.
on monday we played volleyball all day

tuesday we tried 11 people and not a single soul home. it was a little rough. just a smidge depressing but its okay

wednesday new years eve what what???? we had district meeting and then we visited some people and after dinner we had permission to play games with missionaries because there was no work on new years eve so we played fun games

thursday we weekly planned and taught a few lessons afterwards

friday we tried all morning to find less actives and we taught a few lessons and invited a bunch of investigators to a baptism and went to it but no one showed up that we invited:(

saturday we  ended up seeing a ton people today and mom you would be proud but i made a super good pasta it was to die for sister branham accidently ran over a flower pot it was soooo funny i almost peed my pants we got it all figured out we went around delivering our christmas thank you cards and taught a bunch of lessons we had a good dinner with our ward mission leader and saw a few people

sunday we had church from 7-4 and i got hi on in the ysa 3 times. 3 times people i was like what the heck man im a missionary and i felt like i needed my tag tattooed on my forehead we contacted some people and taught an awesome 1st lesson to a new investigator so hopefully that will go some where
well i gotta go love you all email me back peeps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<3:)
love
sister abby wasden