A Catholic Father, a Baptist Priest, and a Mormon Missionary

Dear Family!

Another great week! But when is it not! I mean this is the life. Bear Lake doesn't sound nearly as good as Appleton Wisconsin, where the apples are ripe already to harvest! But next year you can take me to see this Juanito Bandito. I have his shirt already. So. Crazy stuff here. Sister Rousseau goes home on Wednesday and guess who just got an email saying she is training? Sister Goldwater. And possibly a Sister Trent too. So that is awesomely terrifying. But on the bright side that means I get to finish my mission off here! Yay! No more transfers!!! I am so happy! 

So Josh invited us to go to mass with him. So we went to St. Pius Catholic church on Saturday. We show up and the Father is like right there, he didn't look to thrilled with us being there. After mass we were talking to Josh when he invited the 2 Fathers to come talk with us, again both didn't really want to but they did. We started talking about the family because they had a really good family conference coming up. We talked about Elder Eyring going to the Vatican for the marriage and family symposium and they just opened up. We ended up volunteering for their family conference that will be in a month. It was a cool interfaith experience where we could unite in the same beliefs in defending the family. Also Josh came to church with us! It was great!

Then Sunday after church we had an appointment with a family, Jennifer and Jed. They are Baptist and had a lot of questions so we brought a very knowledgeable family from the ward, the Bowmans. We show up and they had invited their pastor...oh boy! It was an interesting meeting. It had potential to blow up but it was pretty good. Everyone walked away with the Book of Mormon and an invitation to read. We will see what comes of it. I feel like the people here in Appleton are very educated, it's making me study my Bible a lot more than I ever needed to before. 

So we went to a less active member's house but she wasn't there. Her son was there with 2 friends. None of them were super religious because I think they have never gotten the chance. They all were open but we went to visit one of them, Jayden, and he is reading! He is keeping commitments! It is great! He is 16 and he lives with his family and his aunt's family. Every time we go we meet new people! 4 people in the house are reading the Book of Mormon! Yay! That is so exciting! Jayden is coming to the Young Men's President's home tonight. His whole family is very supportive, it's so great!

We did see Deborah! She also came to church Sunday! She is very free spirited! We are trying to help her find her family. She has had a complicated past so hopefully we can find her links. We set a baptism date for October 17th! It'll be good. We are having her meet with us in member's homes this week. She is so kind! 

So Kristy's son Deandre is preparing for baptism. She has been praying to find her 3 boys suits but she hasn't been able to. She found them all suits this week for $8.50! The boys were SO excited! They looked so nice on Sunday! She said Deandre woke her up, before her alarm went off, with his suit on and told her he was ready to go!  Too cute! We are helping her other son prepare for his 8th birthday and get him excited. 

So we met Alex this week, he is friends with several young men in this ward. We met him at the church and had a really good lesson and he committed to be baptized! It's great! All of his friends are prepping for missions. What better way than helping your friends! Also we went on exchanges with the YSA sisters so we could transition our YSA aged investigators. We met with Brandon. He is just so solid! He went to church 2 weeks now and is so excited for baptism! He knows its true and it just makes sense! We met a really cute Spanish family too that we are handing over to the Spanish Elders. You can just call us the Appleton referral center! It is funny with the rotation of our investigators. So many great people! The orchard is red and ripe! So sweet and delicious!

So we are doing laundry right now at a really cool laundromat. They even have a tanning bed. It can help improve my watch tan ;) Anyways! It has been just great to see the work of the Lord progressing! I am excited to see what the next 2 transfers bring! It has just been so amazing to see the enabling power of the atonement help us carry on. It is only through him :) I hope you continue to all have fun with spontaneous vacation. Maybe in a few months we can spontaneous back to Wisconsin! Eheheh! I love you all! Be safe! 

I love you as much as bed bugs love biting!

Anne

The measuring cups can't measure

My dearest family!

Where does one begin. First, it is crazy hot. God blessed me to withstand the cold, I need to do a little more praying on the heat. I swear my companion doesn't sweat. She still wears sweaters and cardigans and here I am in a t-shirt wiping off my gallons of sweat. You're welcome :) Funny story about weather. So Monday we had a little tornado apparently come through. Sister Rousseau and I had a great sleep and woke up in the morning with the alert on our phone. We didn't think it was a very big deal, we went outside though and the wind had down quite a bit of damage. There was tree debris everywhere and signs knocked over. However this Friday we woke up to a huge storm! Sister Rousseau may have woken up yelling, "I don't want to die!" It was pretty sketchy. We kept checking the phone for an alert but didn't get one. We are still safe and plan on staying that way. 

This morning we went on another dairy tour! There were 7,800 cows at this one! It was great! We stink but that's ok! We almost got to see the cows calving but not quite. We did get to go to the calf stalls and stick our hands up calves mouths! It was great! It was funny! I never had the bravery to do that before. Our tour guide was pretty funny and he thought it was amusing. We got to see there prize cows too. Their winner is worth $400,000. That is a shiny penny! I got to pet $400,000 dollars! It was in my hands! Anyways. 

So this is going to be all out of order because I forgot my journal! So miracle #1. After church we were chatting it up in the Relief Society room when a member rushed in, "Sisters! An investigator is waiting at the door looking for missionaries!" So we booked it on over! Her name was Deborah, she had biked to the church. She met with missionaries 2 years ago but was at a place in her life when she couldn't do much. But she really wanted to meet and learn more. Her grandma was mormon so she had connections and good memories. It was sweet! So last night we went over with Nikisha, who by the way just got called to be a ward missionary, and shared the Book of Mormon. It was great! She is a sincere learner! God has definitely led her here! It was all so crazy! 

Sister Wheeler was able to drive us out to New London this week and it was so great! We got to see Brandon again! He loves this gospel. He has always struggled with religion because it never quite made sense to him or lined up. As we taught the Plan of Salvation he just loved it. It made sense. The loves this church! So he agreed to be baptized on September 12th! AND he went to church on Sunday to the YSA ward! And he loved it! On his way back he had lunch at the Wheeler's house with us. They are all gamers and connected really well. Brandon was just beaming. So he is now transitioned to the YSA sisters but we will still get to go to his baptism. He is a great Young Man! 

We had dinner at a member's and had to go to a Relief Society activity afterwards. It was pouring rain and we were driving and we drove past this man walking. We were about two miles away when the Spirit couldn't yell any louder, so we turned around and went to go talk to him. He name is Josh, he is in his early 30s and he has to walk with a walker. He liked to party and was driving home and got in a terrible car accident and broke his neck. He said it is how God saved his life. It is his tragic blessing. He became catholic after and has loved it. We gave him a Book of Mormon and when we came back the next day he was sitting outside reading it! He is just fantastic! I can't wait to see where this goes! 

Friday I went on exchanges with Sister Pope! It was great! It is always fun to switch things up. We were going to a member's house for dinner and she lived in this apartment complex. There was only 3 visitor parking spots which were all full. So we asked this lady where we could park and she kindly let us use her spot! After we parked we went up to her and thanked her and introduced ourselves. When we introduced ourselves as Sisters she exclaimed, "Oh! Sisters! Do you have an extra Book of Mormon? I am looking for a church to go to!" Why yes, yes we do! It was great! Her name is Shantel! Lets just hope she keeps her appointment and reads! We also met a guy who built the Washington D.C. temple! He just loved it! He got to share some really cool tidbits with us. He needs to be Mormon. 

We also met another really cool family this week! It has just been miracles falling from the heavens. Again, I don't know what is going on. It is such a fantastic thing. It truly is a marvelous work and a wonder. There is no way God could not be in this. This is his work, and I don't know how I am blessed enough to be a part of it! I wouldn't rather be any other place! I love this work! I love all of you too! I hope you have a blessed week!

I love you more than I want to be a cow!

Anne

Onward! Ever Onward!

My dearest familia!

It has been a really good week! Just full of mucho miracles! I don't even know how to handle myself! We got to go apartment scouting this week for the mission office this week! That was really fun! We taught several lessons to building managers :) It is really fun apartment shopping though. Don't worry, you can still send letters to this address until further notice. 

So that family we were teaching is getting a little scared, we are going back this week to see what is up. They probably heard something bad about the church. We keep praying for them though! We got cut a ton of miles this week so we weren't able to make it out to New London to see them and Brandon. But we did call Brandon and guess what! He read all of 1 Nephi and loves it! He is so excited about the Book of Mormon! We are trying to get some YSA people up there this week so he can go to the YSA ward! We will see how that goes! Miracle!

Friday was a miraculous day! We went to see Gabe. He is 18, his mom is less active and he is not a member. Since the last time we met with him he has been reading everyday! And he can tell the difference in his life! So he agreed to be baptized August 29th! So exciting! We are trying to get him transitioned to YSA as well! He would make a great missionary!

Then we got a referral from the 2nd ward's elders. They met this woman in the park and had a nice little chat. Got her address and name and sent us. We showed up at her doorstep and she has been waiting to read the Book of Mormon for 15 years! She has read the Bible every year, she just felt she needed more. She didn't know where to get one! So we promptly gave her a copy! She was so excited and she wanted to be baptized! So she is working towards August 29th as well! It is amazing! She was supposed to come to church this Sunday. We were pretty sad she didn't show up, so we called her. She had gotten sick but she has been reading and she also has finished 1 Nephi! In 2 days! She said she took breaks to go to the bathroom and eat :) She is so cute! And she loves being called Sister. So we call her Sister Dawn! So exciting! Huge miracle! We are going there tonight with a member. 

Also Nikisha's husband Walter has been a lot more open. He still "isn't interested" But he is interacting with us, and the members more! He came to sports night at the church! Nikisha took us to one of the young men's mission farewell party. It was great! They had a lot of non-member friends there! Sister Rousseau is always on the prowl. 

A sister in our ward Sister Rose, is really good friends with Valine's old neighbor Rich or Richie by the way! She knows Valine and Paul too! Small world isn't it! 

We met another really awesome scientific nerdy guy! It is great because our whole teaching pool was basically women so we have been looking for potential priesthood holders and God keeps blessing us. He out did me though in nerdiness I had a hard time keeping up. He gave really good life advice which I love. He had met with missionaries in college 12 years ago. He was super excited to read the Book of Mormon as well. It will just be hard to catch him considering he is a workaholic. 

We took one of the youth out tracting with us and lo and behold we ran into the doctor we met a couple weeks ago. He happened to be standing outside of his friends house at that moment and we happened to be walking somewhere and passed him. Coincidence! I think not! It's incredible. I don't even know. 

We have been praying and fasting as a mission for each area to have a progressing investigator and for 75 baptisms by the end of September and we are definitely seeing the blessings as we work together in unity and charity. There is such power in prayer! I love it! I am so grateful that the Lord allows us to see all these blessings! He is too merciful! I love Him so much and am forever indebted! 

I love you more than all the diapers that are having to be bought with all these babies!

Anne

Happy Fourth!

Dear Family!

So much happened this week! I don't even know where to start. Let me pull up my planner. First off, who knew it was July! Wow! Appleton celebrated it on the 3rd which was weird. You should celebrate the holiday on the holiday. I guess I should just hop right on into the good stuff! Nikisha and Bubbles got baptized! It was a beautiful baptism! The ward was so great! They planned the whole thing and all they left us in charge of was filling the font. I got to go practice the organ while it filled because guess who played this Sunday? I did! Oh it was scary! Anyways it was such a good baptism! The Spirit was incredibly strong! Sister Adams-Hart got to come back and pack all of her stuff. She is being transferred again to Madison. I feel sorry she is hopping around, I know how that goes, I am glad it wasn't me though! That sounded terrible, it wasn't. She is excited. Kristy, a recent convert of 3 weeks, gave the talk on baptism at the baptism. It was so great. All these amazingly strong converts! They are so solid! I just got an email from Tina, she just called as a ward missionary and so did Fred! I am so excited! At the baptism Nikisha the Spirit just hit me and helped me see how big missionary work is. It is so much bigger than what our focus of "missionary work" is. The Lord is just orchestrating this beautifully masterpiece. Placing everyone where they need to be. It is beautiful! It was so sweet to see a mother and daughter get baptized together. It made for a special spirit. It was so cute. Nikisha and Bubbles were just beaming.

Sister Adams-Hart, Bubbles (Bernistien), Nikisha, Sister Trent, Sister Rousseau

Walter (Nikisha's husband), Sister Rousseau, me, Sister Adams-Hart, Nikisha, Kristy (got baptized 3 weeks ago!) The two red shirtboys are Kristy's and middle is Nikisha's

Good times! We went up to a little town named New London this week and found some great people. One was named Brandon, he was a potential. He opened the dorr and said he thinks we would disagree on some topics and that it just isn't his thing. So we asked him what his concerns were. And he said he believed in both science and religion and he had gotten some Christians really upset over that. You know me, I just lit up! That is one of my favorite things! I could talk to you all day about how religion and science are inseparable! He in turn just lit up! He got really excited to! It was exciting! Now he REALLY wants to study the Mormon religion! If only we met more people like that. I don't even have to try to connect. I just get my nerd on. If only I had glasses.

Then! Miracle! Another one! We went to our first return appointment wo this lady named Jill. Last week we saw a really cute house so we thought to ourselves we best go knock on that door. It is super cute. So we did and we found Jill! She was so great. We came back this Friday and her whole family "happened" to be there. The Spirit totally set this up. We got to teach their whole family together! It was beautiful! The husband, Joe started going off while were talking about the apostasy and he was sure we were still in that apostasy today. We asked him what it would mean to him if he knew there was a prophet. He said it would mean so much to him, that he could have the guidance and clarity in this world. So we told them about Joseph Smith and then we testified of a living prophet and he just started tearing up! Then they all committed to be baptized on August 29th! It was incredible!

We have been praying a lot for families lately. One morning we both were praying hard to find a family. We went to visit an investigator and found out she was in the hospital. We went to go visit her and her doctor came in mentioned how he knew some mormons and left. Later we were walking out to our car and guess who we passed in the parking lot. This doctor! He accepted a Book of Mormon and said he would share it with his FAMILY! Then he mentioned how he knew a member here as well! We got in the car and we both knew he was an answer to our prayers. We called the member that he knew and now the member is working with him! So cool!
The fourth was crazy, we didn't have any set appointmen
ts so we just went finding all day! It was great! There were many people. Many interesting people!

I am glad you all had so much fun! The pictures looked like a blast! The ice cream sounded amazing. Now I wish I would have bought some today. Last Monday we went and visited a dairy farm, I will include pictures! It was great! Fully robotic! They are high tech out here!

I love you more than ice cream!
Anne