Kalamazoo

This week has been

Hilarious

Spiritual

Sweaty

Sticky

Fun

Happy

Sad

Exhausting

Saturday after I e-mailed we got to go to a baptism in Muskegon and since it was our P-day.... I GOT TO GO TO LAKE MICHIGAN!! It is so pretty I loved it.  We had fun.

Sunday I said all my good-byes to Big Rapids... so sad :(  They made me a great B-day cake at FHE! It was red velvet! yaaayy!! It was really hard to leave all the people that I just love. 

Monday was my birthday! Yay.  S, the guy with one leg took us to lunch which was fun.  Then the transfer van was really late but the missionaries at the stake center gave me a cake which was fun! Then I met my new comp.  She is great! Her name is Sister V and she is from Idaho. 

So my new area is Kalamazoo.  I work on the Campus on Western Michigan University.  It is  super cool to teach College kids! They all have a sincere desire to learn!  We don't have a car, so we walk to campus and around campus all day... This week has been SO hot so that was fun... The humidity here in Michigan is insane.... I am melting all the time.  But it is good! Also there has been some INSANE rainstorms here... it is so cool I love it! 

We have quite a few of really cool investigators and we had a lot of super cool lessons.  I also got to go on Trade-offs to St. Joesph Michigan this week which was fun! 

Sunday was so great, cool story for you, so since the YSA branch I am in covers the whole Kalamazoo stake, members from my old area go there so I saw a few familiar faces... and the best of all was I got to see E at Church!! He comes to my branch now and it was the greatest to see someone I taught as a participating member of the branch! Made my whole day!! He told me he had a dream I came to serve in the KUB( Kalamazoo University Branch)  So what the heck!!?? So cool!! I love the cool things that happen on a mission it is the best! 

Fun Fact: So we taught this guy on campus... he never wears shoes.  I asked him how God has revealed himself in his life and his answer...

"Through Drugs... especially shrooms...." 

yaaaayyy college kids!! It is cool though because in his next lesson he had some really good insight and stuff so I think the gospel will help him out. 

Love you all!   Missions are the best! Hopefully I can send picks... still having camera Issues. 

SUPRISE!!

Surprise #1 I'm online today... I forgot to tell everyone, since it is the last Saturday of the transfer it is P-day! 

Surprise #2 I'm leaving Big Rapids to go to Kalamazoo.... right in the Middle of training... WHAT THE HECK!!!??????? 

Ok, so it started off as just a normal everyday week.  Monday was pretty uneventful, I napped as usual.

Tuesday was great! We had a few cool lessons and we got a lot of rain.  Luckily we were inside for most of the day.  Also we had a sweet lesson with J, the woman who we met on Sunday at the apartments, we had a sweet lesson with her and some members.  She has the CUTEST kids... they were a little distracting because of how cute they were.

Wednesday we had our last district meeting.  Super sad :(  We also taught a cool guy from Africa and we asked him why he was interested and he said because we were persistent wooo!! 

Thursday was a little rough... We door knocked all day and people were not very nice to us.. Some guy told me I my testimony was not from the Holy spirit and I got pretty mad....  I waited to get off the porch though... no worries.  So we got ice cream to make it better of course :)  All is well though, because people will question us! It happens to super legit prophets all throughout the scriptures.....

Friday we got t-calls I AM LEAVING!!! What the heck!!! I did not expect that AT ALL!!!!! So I said lots of good byes :( nooooo  I don't want to leave in the middle of Sister E's training but luckily I know Sister A (My last comp in Three Rivers)  Will take great care of her....  So we had our last Uno night at L's and I have a quote for you....

me:"  I'm not getting married."

Larry:"What??!! I thought you was coming back to marry me! I was savin up my pennies for a tux!"

(He was joking..... I hope)

Well make sure to not send anything to the Big Rapids Address. Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME ON MONDAY... too bad I can't e-mail.... 

Fun fact:  Pokemon go is hastening the work of salvation.  We found 1 potential from it and talked to an investigator who we haven't seen in a while.  We keep singing the spirit of God like a Charzard is burning

Michigan Rainstorms

Hello fam! Hope you all had a great time in Lake Powell... those of you who went.  Well here is the update on my life for the past week. 

Tuesday we were super busy.  M came out teaching with us again and she taught S (the less active we door knocked into) and they had a really good conversation about how it was perfect timing when the missionaries knocked on their door. It was really cool to hear people bear testimony of God's timing and I love knowing we get to be on hand to do that.  We also brought a cute member couple to a lesson with C and L and it was a crazy lesson 

Wednesday was another busy day.  We taught the Media Referral D, and he said that reading the Book of Mormon really helps open his eyes to God's hand in his life... SO COOL! Then we taught a super cool first lesson with this girl we met in the park and she called us our sisters and it was super fun.  We are in the park a lot to teach so we have made friends with some pretty interesting people there :)

Thursday was carfast.  We weekly planned which took a while then we went out to door knock in the rain and it was CRAZY!! It was so much fun because it was just POURING!!!!!! Like Crazy! I was drenched and we were laughing so hard it was so fun! It was the most rain I have ever seen.  No one was interested but we were super happy so it was ok! I loved it

Friday was Zone Conference and man, it was truely what I needed.  Everything in Missionary work is inspired.  It is amazing.  I've been thinking a lot more on how I need to focus on the atonement more in Missionary work and that was like what half of Zone Conference was about.  And We worked on finding which has helped A TON.  Also we were out of milk so we went to the store during dinner and we ran into this guy who we have ran into 3 times before and talked to him for like and hour and it is so interesting because he doesn't want to learn from us but he says he will refer people to us and he wants to line us up with his sons.. (ha no)  So I feel like he knows what we say is true but whatever. He is super cool to talk to though! 

Saturday we door knocked for 6 hours! Long day but super fun because we were out by the Muskegon River and it was super pretty and people were nice!! A lady even gave us Lemonade.  

Sunday was AWESOME! We got a Older couple to help out with missionary work in the branch and they are so cool! Also both of our investigators named D came to church haha AND we taught a sweet lesson with M(The atheist) In the park  The spirit was super strong, but he just still doesn't know if he believes in God (That is the goal of my mission to get someone to believe in God)  Then we felt like we should go stop by a less active's home and it turned out they had moved, but it was so cool because when we were on their door step a lady asked who we were and we told her and she invited us to come down to her apartment when we were done... so we did and we had the BEST lesson with her and she is amazing!  The spirit works miracles!!

Fun fact:  You know you've been out for a while when your investigator and companion start talking about snap chat filters, movies, and apps  you have never even heard of and he asks where you are from like I lived under a rock.... also when your e-mails slowly start to decline.... WRITE ME! 

Life is great! Church is true! I am a child of God and so are you!

HAPPY B-DAY AMERICA!!!!

Hello everyone! It has been a crazy week in the MLM! I think I say that every week, but whatever!  

So Monday we had a super fun p-day, we walked around main street Big Rapids and saw some cool stores and a parrot!! Yay!

Tuesday we picked up a new investigator from a media referral.  He is cool... that was about all that was cool that day.....

Wednesday we were busy! We taught C and L.  It was a pretty good lesson, but they are still struggling with coming to church... and it doesn't help that C is super scared of water to get baptized.  They are so fun though.  Then we taught D., our last lesson with her before she got baptized! We also helped old ladies to do their nails at the nursing home.  It was super fun.  They are hilarious and  say funny things. 

Thursday we had a super cool finding experience! We door knocked into this guy and he was listening to sweet music so I complemented his music and we talked for like an hour about tons of stuff because he used to go door to door for sails.  He was super nice and very religious so he said he'd be willing to meet.  It was awesome because sometimes it is good as a missionary to remember you still are a human and not just a missionary so you can relate to people. We drove down to Wyoming that night for trade-offs

Friday... funny story about Friday..... so the Wyoming Sisters were on carfast that day and they have bikes to ride.... I HATE RIDING A BIKE IN A SKIRT!! It was so funny though because my skirt kept getting caught on the bike and it would fly up and I would flash people (good thing Sister S. let me borrow her biker bloomers so I wasn't completely flashing people)  I also almost broke the bike twice because I kind of crashed  and we had to get our hands dirty to fix it and it was just a very... foggy, funny, Friday.  Man.  Many things have changed about me on my mission but my ability to operate machinery and be coordinated have not. 

Saturday we had D'S BAPTISM!!! yay!! It was super great.  She is amazing and she has been waiting a long time for this.  There wasn't a ton of people from the branch there so the Elders in another area had to come and help out but... hey we made it work.  .  We celebrated the week by getting milkshakes of course! 

Sunday was also great! It made me so happy to see D confirmed in church.  She is so great and hearing people call her Sister L just made my day.  We also found out we left the chicken from the baptism in the kitchen... ooops! Oh!! Also Sunday! Remember the people we door knocked into a few weeks ago who were getting married soon and they just pulled up out of their car right as we were leaving their porch? (Z and P were their names)  yeah, well I had a feeling we should stop by Sunday evening, so we did and we knocked twice and they weren't coming so I started writing them a note and.... SHE CAME TO THE DOOR!! We were able to have an awesome lesson with her and we picked her up as an investigator again! I was so happy!! I LOVE that couple!!  So excited to teach them!   It was funny because Sister E wondering  why I wanted to go back so bad and after the lesson she was like... ok I get it! They are amazing!

Monday... THE FOURTH!! So much fun!! Remember last fourth when I had a mental breakdown because I was terrified to go on my mission?? Yeah well this fourth was A TON better.  We had A FULL P-day!!! From 10-10:30 at night!! It was so fun! We went to a fair with our district and watched a demolition derby.  We had a blast!! 

All I can say is I am so happy I decided to serve!! My mission is super hard and super stressful but SO WORTH IT and SO FUN and Just amazing. 

Sister E and I talked about how great Alma 30:44 is this morning... look it up!! 

Fun fact: This week we found rare roadkill treasures including a smashed porcupine and a snapped in half snapping turtle.  Also we almost ran over a live turtle so we got out to take a picture of it and guess what.... IT WAS TOO FAST!! Turtles are supposed to be slow... what the heck! 

Also I am sorry this e-mail is SUPER long. 

Straight outta Detroit

Hello all! Crazy ups and downs this week!

Monday- great P-day... we had planned to do fun things but... we just napped... for 2.5 hours.  It was needed! 

Tuesday we taught a 101 year old!! She was so stinkin cute! She was scared of what would happen to her after she died so we just testified of eternal families.  It was a special moment.   Also we got to see some sweet cows!

Wednesday We had district meeting, and then we helped old ladies do their nails at the nursing home! It was so fun they are adorable!  Also, I stepped on a rusty nail while door knocking.... luckily the guy whose pourch we were on was super nice... he gave me some shoes... then later that day we had a fender bender.... (Not my fault... )  So it was a little stress full. 

Thursday we got to go to the temple!! It was super great! It was amazing to be with Ruth Ann and Marilyn doing baptisms for the very first time.  The spirit was so strong and it was a very special day! The drive was long and crazy, but it was worth it. Also for the first time in a few weeks we got to teach Charles and Lacey! We brought a member with us and it went well.  Charles has a lot of questions but they have a sincere desire to learn. 

Friday we had lots of appointments bail.  But we got to do service for a super cute old lady who may be interested in learning more! That was great! Also we had a lesson with a lady who we visit a lot but she doesn't want to be mormon and we asked her if she had prayed and asked if it was true... and she had! She just doesn't want to be a mormon... funny huh?  We are working on that. Also.... WE HAD CURRY!!! IT WAS THE BOMB!! A super cool British guy and his wife moved into the branch and made us like Bombay house equivalent curry.  #BLESSED 

Saturday we door knocked and it was HOT! But one person pulled over to give us water and another lady let us sit in her shade and drink water... people are so nice sometimes! God works through his children a lot.  Also we taught Ruth Ann the restoration and her testimony has grown SO MUCH!! 

Sunday was WONDERFUL! Marilyn and Ruth Ann both talked about how amazing there experience was at the temple.  It was a great meeting and the spirit was amazing.  Then we were out finding people and we door knocked into a super cool guy who is a great family man. He was awesome and super nice.... hopefully he will meet with us! Also Charles and Lacey came to FHE!  It was so great because they weren't going to come but we randomly decided to drive by to check on them and so they came.  It was so great because the people there answered a ton of their questions and helped them a lot.  Man, I love being a missionary. 

Fun Fact:  We got offered to take shots by our neighbors the other night.... 

I challenge you all to read 3 Nephi 17 this week.   That is my FAV chapter of the Book of Mormon. 

Love you all! 

Christ High- Marilyn

Great week! Happy fathers day to my Rad Dad Papa Joe! Also Happy birthday to my boyfriend Jude and Hannah Dehlin (Who will probably not read this)

Monday we had a Zone p-day.  Super fun! We did water balloon stuff and slip and slide stuff and other stuff.  

Tuesday was great as well.  We had a lesson with an amazing referral from a member.  I just love her.  She wants to change her life and be better and is just so solid.  Also we taught Ruth Ann at Burger King which was fun. Also we had an AMAZING lesson with this girl we found walking down the street she is amazing.... but she just isn't answering our phone calls right now... DANG IT!!! 

Wednesday we had district meeting, always great.  We talked about Prayer and how it is good to pause while praying so we are listening instead of just talking.  Then we had dinner with Steve and helped him around the yard a bit (Steve is the guy with one leg)  Sister Eisert got to see his leg bone knife.  Steve is my fav. 

Thursday we had planned to have a lesson with the girl we had one with on Tuesday but... She shined us #Sadface  Marilyn was coming with us and so we invited her to go finding with us on campus. AND SHE DID!! SHE IS AMAZING!!! I love her.

Friday we had a great lesson with Tammy.  Also we had dinner with Ruth Ann.  I just love her!

Saturday was the baptism!! Sister Trent came and President Jacobsen came and we had a ton of food there and it was just the best! Baptisms are the best!! 

Sunday (happy fathers day/ birthday to Jude and Hannah)  Great day at Church.  Marilyn made the best comment in Relief society about how instead of doing a line of coke she gets high on Christ.  IT WAS SO GREAT I LOVE HER!! We also had a great FHE and stuff.  

 

Fun Fact:  There was a cricket in the baptismal font so I had to get it out and chase it around before we filled it and I had to squish it and it was nasty.  Also another Larry quote (Sister Hepworth was playing piano)

"Don't quit your day job"

Man I love my  mission.  Sister Eisert and I had a long discussion about that today.   God makes way more of our lives than we do (Acts 17: 28-29)