The disbandment!

Dear Family!

I love being a missionary! There is so much to write about but I have not yet been blessed with that kind of patience. Someday you will hear all the stories! First off as you make this monumental decision in which sport car to get, just remember that a convertible is necessary. You must, there is no other way. And way to go for selling the tin can! If your other car needs a home I would happily be considered as a candidate. 

We got a call from our mission president. As much as I love that man, getting a call from him is nerve racking. A sister had to go home temporarily and Sister Adams-Hart got sent to replace her. She was supposed to only be there for 2 weeks and come back, but we got another frightening call and she will be coming back to collect all of her stuff. It was a fantabulous week as a trio. I highly recommend it. We were made for each other. So now Sister Rousseau and I are embarking on our adventures alone, together. We are still having a blast together though. It is a match made in heaven. She is as bold as bold gets. I love it. We have many fun adventures together. 

So this week during wonderful weekly planning we got a miracle phone call. A woman from Washington called. She was baptized a year and a half ago and was in Wisconsin visiting her parents. She was calling so when she came to church she would have a friendly face to sit by. Well she happened to be calling from her nonmember mom's phone! And said they would be at the house and that it would only take a few minutes. So we showed up at the house and Tori and her parents, Roger and Patricia were all sitting down ready for a lesson! Tori goes on to explain how she had not spoken to her parents in 7 years. They never got along. Ever. They could hardly be in the same room together. But the gospel changed her so much, that they have been in the same room together for 4 days! Her mom was just beaming! She was so thrilled. She testified of the change in her daughter and how it was a miracle. Also that the whole thing was no coincidence. They were all crying and the Spirit was so strong. We testified of eternal families, it was beautiful. Tori told us that when she was meeting with the bishop to get a temple recommend to go to the temple she just didn't feel worthy because she didn't honor her parents. She thought there was no way to repair the relationship with her parents. Yet two weeks later there she was sitting in their house. They all agreed to come on Sunday. Tori and her dad showed up, the mom was a little overwhelmed. We are going to help them paint their house so hopefully they feel a little more comfortable. Especially when Tori does go to the temple I think the blessings will just flow on her family!

We also met with a really cute old couple. Usually older people are set in their ways. We met them last Saturday and shared the Book of Mormon with them. They are very Roman Catholic, Donny and Diane. We helped one of the ward members move in next door so that is how we met them. So this week we brought the members over. Donny started off by asking about his reading assignment we left last time, 3 Nephi 11-12 and the intro. He read all of it and read more. He was so excited that there was a record of Christ visiting others! He was very knowledgeable and was thrilled and he is going to convert himself. He stated that he was not looking to be converted just for knowledge. He immediately followed by asking if he could please keep his copy of the Book of Mormon and if we could give his wife her own so they could both mark up their own copies :) It was so cute! With his thirst for the truth I don't think we will have to teach anything. Just answer questions. He guided himself through the whole lesson. 

This week is going to be really exciting! Nikisha and her daughter Bubble (Bernastein) are getting baptized on Wednesday night at 6! They are so excited! It has really been fun working with them! You can just see the glow in them already! The gospel changes peoples lives! It is the most wonderful thing in the world!

I hope you all have a fantastic fourth of July! Be safe! Make wise choices in convertibles. Have fun with sweet baby Keeganne. I love her already! I would love pictures to hang on my wall of her :) I am glad you enjoyed Wisconsin cheese! That is so sweet of the Briggs! They are a wonderful family! 

I love you more than all the fireworks in the world! 

Anne

A blonde, a brunette and a redhead knocked on a door...

Dear Family!

This has been just an utterly fantastic week! Oh my goodness! I don't know where to begin. Probably from the beginning. But the ending is so great. It's all great! We will go with the beginning. First I was absolutely shocked and scared and just distraught about being transferred. I didn't want to move again, let alone be in a trio. Let's just say there was lots of prayer. Heavenly Father kept placing people in my path that were thrilled about Appleton and several people gave me family members to go visit. So that was a huge comfort. It was sad to say goodbye to those I love. The work really was just blossoming in Racine. We got to have dinner and meet with the Petraciks again. They are so amazing. They are a part member family but the non-member husband just blows me away. He is just an undercover Mormon. He has a greater testimony than most members do. I was glad I got to meet with them again. I hope when we do our roadtrip back here that we will come back to him being baptized. 

Packing was less fun. I managed to fit everything and not even have to wrestle with my suitcase to close it. You'll see why with the package coming your way ;) I should never get more than necessary. It is just so unnecessary. 

So on the way up, we got to ride the fun bus. Which is just a 15 passenger van. It was fun needless to say. We had a blast. My stomach was in knots I was so nervous. We arrived in Appleton and I discovered that my trio was all you could ever ask for. We have a blonde, a brunette and a redhead. I've been assigning the youth to make a joke out of it. You gotta do something with it! I mean we are literally a walking joke! One young boy told us one he already knew. I will tell it to you terribly. A cop was chasing a blonde, a brunette and a redhead. The blonde, brunette and redhead went and hid. The redhead hit behind a pile of cats and when the officer came up she said, "Meow". The officer kept going. He got to where the brunette was hiding, behind a pile of dogs. She called out, "ruff!" He kept going. The Blonde hid behind a stack of potatoes and she cried out,"potato!" We had a pretty good laugh because it was a fitting joke, seeing I am from Idaho. 

This trio though is the dream team though! It is the best thing that has ever happened to me. These sisters are amazing. Appleton is on fire! We had the most amazing week of my mission statistically speaking. It's incredible. We are three peas in a pod. Sister Rousseau is from Utah, she is the most fabulous missionary I have ever had the pleasure to work with. She has no fear and just speaks by the Spirit. She comes from a family of 12. Ideally, she would love to have 22 children of her own. Sister Adams-Hart is from California, she reminds me of Angela through and through! It is so much fun! Wow! My first companion who can relate to my nerdiness. It's wonderful! She is so kind and wonderful! Sister R. goes home at the end of this transfer and Sister A-H has been out almost 5 months. We have been having such fun together and such success. They had a baptism here last week for Cristy. She is incredible, she already has a calling as ward missionary and is bringing her friend in the gospel, Nikeisha and her daughter Bubbles. They are getting baptized next week. 

Everyday I have been in Appleton I have met someone with a connection to home. The Landeens in our stake, their daughter is here in our ward! Someone else who was companions with one of my friends from school. People who lived on Broadway. A Wheeler family who the husband and wife graduated from Skyline. The list goes on! It's fun!

Friday we got invited to go to youth conference to teach the youth how to teach. Pres. Cutler and his wife were there. After we taught they did a roleplay and had two youth get up and do a roleplay to invite somebody who was hitting on you to meet with the missionaries. It was a hoot. 

Saturday and Sunday were incredible! We were able to teach 15 lessons and hand out 6 Book of Mormons and get 5 new investigators. That usually happens in a week, not a weekend. We were able to go on splits with a member! We can get twice or even three times the amount of work done if we wanted! So crazy!

Here is the best street contacting story. We were driving to our lunch appointment and we are in the turn lane and the car in front of us isn't going. The guy gets out of his car and asks us if we can use our car to push his car. We answer with this isn't our car but we'd love to push you! So we put our hazards on and all three of us go out to push. His car won't go out of park so we can't push. We call the police and a tow truck to help him. So then we start talking to him and we explain we are missionaries and what we do. We exchange info and he and his girlfriend agree to meet. Then we decide to give him a Book of Mormon, Sister Rousseau is explaining it and writing our number down as the cop showed up and then we were good to go! It was pretty great!

It has just been a fantastic time! There is nothing I would rather do in the world! I love this work and I love those I get to work with. I love my Father in heaven and this chance He has given me! Not only that but He helps me through everyday. I don't know where I would be without my mission, nor do I want to know!

I love you all so much! I hope you have a great week! I hope Molly has Keeganne soon! That poor girl! Take care! Take pictures! Eat food!

I love you more than all the cheesecake in the world!

Anne

Surprise!

Dear Family,

Wow! I got a major surprise Saturday morning. I am getting transferred. Big surprise number 2, I am going to Appleton in a trio. This will definitely be the beginning of an adventure! I only got 6 weeks here. I only have 3 transfers left. Lets hope my mission president will let me settle somewhere. 

It was a good week here in Racine! We continued to go out tracting everyday to place a Book of Mormon! We were still successful! We handed out 9 this week! After today we will beat the record I had with Sister Packer of consecutive days in passing out a Book of Mormon. We found a couple families this week! That was exciting! It was a really hot day and we had 20 minutes before our dinner appointment, so we knocked doors around the area. The last one we had to go inside a front porch to get to the door. It was a sauna in there! Sister Casas and I were sweating dying! The lady that opened had a family and was interested. She didn't let us in but we had a god chat, gave her a BoM and set up a return appointment. We stumbled out of the porch and could finally breathe again. Wow, it was hot!

Last night we didn't have much time again. We felt impressed to knock on a row of 5 houses. The first one we go to, she accepted a copy! All the rest of the doors didn't work. Did you know hardly anyone uses their front door here? When I say the front door didn't work I mean it didn't. They were stuck. They either talked to us from a window or came out a different door. We didn't get anymore out. We got to the car and right before we got in we felt impressed to go to one more, we did and it was a beautiful family that accepted one and said we could come back. It was great.

We met with a part member family. The husband is not a member, but we discovered we should be. We taught the Restoration and he just kept bearing powerful testimonies of the church, the current prophet, the Book of Mormon. His only hold up is the Word of Wisdom. He will be baptized some day. The sisters are going to keep meeting with them weekly. 

We had the blessed opportunity to go to Barbara's baptism! It was so wonderful to see everyone again! I got to see Tina, Fred and Sister Stewart as well. It was just a wonderful service! You could feel the Spirit strongly. I loved it!

Well now I get to go through the wonderful packing stage again! I loved my time here in Racine. I will go wherever the Lord wants me to go. I definitely have a testimony that this is his work and he 100% knows what he is doing! Be safe in whatever you end up doing this week! Good luck to Molly and baby Keeganne! I expect a bajillion pictures!

I love you more than all the stars in the universe!

Anne

Keep Going

Dear Family! 

Just another good week! We are having such a streak with these Book of Mormons I am getting more anxious! We will never stop! So far we have 25 Book of Mormons for 18 days straight. It is a miracles right there. I got permission to go to Barbara's baptism this week. Hopefully we can just find a ride! I am pretty excited for that!

My brain is honestly not working right now so sorry if this letter is not up to par. This week we got to go to institute and the activity day girls came and they brought us a basket of food. To serve us while serving. It was sweet. We have a good ward. 

So one day this week we were determined to get more than one Book of Mormon out. It was rather amazing. We walked onto the town square. Went up to one man  and gave him a card then he asked if we were giving away free Book of Mormons. Yes! So we gave him one and set up a time to come and talk to him. Sadly when we went to our appointment that address didn't exist, but that's ok. He has a Book of Mormon and hopefully he reads it! We were able to give another one away lake contacting. Then we were able to go and see a potential investigator, she wasn't home but her niece was. She was super excited and ready to take a Book of Mormon so hopefully more comes from that!

So last week we were able to give a Book of Mormon to John. He requested a Bible, so we gave him one of those as well. We set up an appointment to come back. He gave us a call saying he would be busy, but he could meet us at our church. Yeah! So he came and we and a church tour with him and got to know more of his desires. This guy is searching. and he is going to do what he can to find it. He easily committed to read and pray and come to church. Sunday, 15 minutes before sacrament he came! The members were so good about talking to him and sitting by him. He stayed for the first two hours but had to go. He is coming to a little ward activity this week too! We have high hopes for John. He is keeping commitments and is looking. I don't know what more you could ask for. It is a blessing! 

Everyday is a beautiful day with many miracles in the works! I love everyday. Some more than others, but that's okay :) I hope you all had fun camping and what not this week! Sounds like lots of fun adventures! Summer is hitting here hard. Temperature wise, it isn't super hot but boy is it humid. It is getting gross! And it is only June! But lots of people out waiting for the gospel! I am grateful to be here during this time to share it. I love reading Nephi and his faith and courage, knowing that the Lord will always provide a way. He really does!

I love you more than all the ice cream in the world! 

Anne

Another Day, Another Miracle

Dear Family!

It's a good day to be a missionary! What am I saying? It's always a good day to be a missionary! So what happened with my week? That is a good question. I have to look at my lifelines to remember. I have one less day to write you about because of memorial day. That is probably why my week felt so short. Good news! Barbara is getting baptized next Saturday! I hope President lets me go! I can give her your picture then! It is perfect for her. 

So last Tuesday after emails we went and taught David. I met him on exchanges. The Sisters surprised me because he is deaf! They didn't think to warn me to you know, prepare :) That's ok! We had a good lesson with him. President said we could teach him because he is deaf. Well we went back and he read every day AND prayed about baptism and read the Restoration pamphlet. He really wants to get baptized how Jesus did. Now I am pretty sure he understands and is super prepared. But he signs fast. And I only know gospel terms well and he doesn't. So we both know what the other doesn't. It was hard teaching, I hope we can get a real interpreter to come in and help this week. He just lit up though. He feels the love of God! Such a huge miracle! He is a precious son of God.

We played basketball with the Elders and I actually did well for once in my life. I wrote it in my journal because I am pretty sure that will never happen again. We went tracting after pday. People just really enjoyed being mean. Everyone is comfortable with the church they don't go to. They already have Jesus. But we kept going because Heavenly Father has prepared the one. Everyday he does. So we kept knocking and knocking. 10 minutes until we had to go, we knocked on Kelley's door. She was shocked because guess where she was 4 days before? At the Book of Mormon musical in Milwaukee. The missionaries were outside the theater handing out over 1,800 Book of Mormons and she really wanted one but the missionaries were busy talking to others. When she came out they were gone. What are the chances missionaries would appear on her doorstep only a few days later. No chances, it was meant to be! I thought that was neat that it had an effect out here too! We can make the good out of everything!

Wednesday we had a wonderful Zone Conference. I love those! They are so spiritually edifying! There were many testimonies from converts and how their missionaries helped them. My heart just tugged for Tina. I can't believe I was blessed enough to be a part of her life. We are going to the Celestial Kingdom together! I can't wait for her to go to the temple and experience those blessings. She is just a wonderful daughter of God. We talked a lot about the Sabbath as well. I am thankful for you and raising us to keep the Sabbath. It is one of the most overlooked things now days. I am grateful for the sabbath. 

The only bad thing about Zone Conference was how long it was. We expected to be home 2 hours before we actually did and we had a booked night. We cut our last appointment of the night short and skidattled to go find someone to give a Book of Mormon to. We had only a few precious minutes left at a quite terrible time. We had impressed in our mind a certain road that was on the way home. We drove down it, stopped to say a pray asking to be led. We looked up and decided to knock a certain house. We knocked this man steps out of his house and introduces himself as Reverend Quincy. My heart dropped because I have seen those kind of introductions go downhill fast. But we introduced the Book of Mormon and testified of it and offered him a copy. He said he was thrilled to receive a copy of it and to read it! My heart was just filled and is filled with gratitude to my Heavenly Father. He is really there. 

Friday we kind of had a similar experience. We had been busy all day with service and whatnot. We helped a couple garden, which was loads of fun! Got double fed! The Briggs took us to an Italian restaurant. It was so good! With so much food! I had lasagna. We again had only a few precious moments to go find. We went to a mormon.org bible referral. John was there and said he wanted a Bible because he felt something was missing in his life and he needed to know Christ. So of course he took a Book of Mormon too and we will be meeting him again at the church! He has so much promise!

I just have so many stories about those perfect line ups! I will just have more to tell when I get home. Last one. Last night we met a mother and a daughter. So beautiful and full of the Spirit! The daughter was consuming the Book of Mormon before we even left. I am sure you will be hearing more about them to come! So many tender mercies this week!

I discovered the Briggs had Rummikube the other night. I tried really hard to not brutally cream my opponents. I tried so hard. Oops. I can't help but win that game. 

I am so excited Tyler got ordained an Elder! Wow! That sounds so wonderful! He is a great addition to our family! I can't believe McKay is home. Everyone is going home. Kristen next week, Michael 3 weeks and Devon in a month. 

I am just so humbled to be out here. It is the most wonderful experience.  I know God is in this work, it is His. The miracles I have seen I cannot deny it. I know He loves everyone so preciously and individually. His love is deeply embedded in everything. I love Him. I cherish this time I have to gain a deeper relationship and knowledge of Him. Thank you so much for your support and prayers for me and all the other missionaries. 

I love you more than I love looking at Lake Michigan!

Anne

The Book of Mormon Musical in Milwaukee

The Book of Mormon Musical in Milwaukee

For the past 2 weeks, missionaries in the Milwaukee zones have been contacting theater-goers attending The Book of Mormon musical, offering them the real Book of Mormon. They were able to give out a total of 1,861 copies!  The following article about our missionaries was published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on May 28th .

Theater-goers headed into the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts this week don't quite know what to make of the Mormons doling out copies of the Book of Mormon outside "The Book of Mormon."

Some eagerly accept. Others look away and laugh. Some offer a curt "no thank you," and keep on moving.

"A lot of people think we're part of the cast," said Elder Ryan Haueter, 20, of Utah, whose soft, boyish face defies the honorific bestowed on missionaries in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

They are not, in fact, part of the cast. Haueter and his white-shirted friends are Mormon missionaries who see the uproariously blasphemous Tony Award-winning musical as an opportunity to spark discussions about their faith.

"I think the play is great," said 21-year-old Zac Hadlock of New Mexico, as he handed out books, and cards with the LDS mobile apps, outside the Marcus Center on Wednesday night. "Whether it's accurate or inaccurate, people have questions. And it's a great chance for us to tell them what they want to know about the church and about us."

The touring production of "Book of Mormon," by the folks who brought us "South Park" and "Avenue Q," winds up a two-week engagement at the Marcus Center this weekend.

The missionaries have given out so many books — 1,300 in the first week alone, Hadlock said — that they were offering mostly app cards by Wednesday.

None of the young men owned up to seeing the show. They live a Spartan existence as missionaries — no movies, no concerts, no news media — during what is usually a two-year stint.

Except for the few hours set aside for prayer, study and meals, they are out until 9 most nights, knocking on doors in a quest for converts to Joseph Smith's uniquely American faith.

But they know enough about the show from snippets they've seen or heard, and the questions on the minds of theater-goers — "So, what's up with those 'magic' underwear and 'eternal marriage?'" — to know it's an outrageous, often vulgar sendup of Mormon theology and the angst and struggles of earnest young believers like them.

They don't appear to take offense. Though some theater-goers clearly do on their behalf.

"We hear it every day, so it's nothing new to us," said Haueter. "It's American to make parodies of things. And it's from the creators of 'South Park.' So, what do you expect?"